African Pride
By Honourable Saka
"We have
the blessing of the wealth of our vast resources, the power of our talents and
the potentialities of our people. Let us grasp now the opportunities before us
and meet the challenge to our survival. " Address to the National
Assembly -Kwame Nkrumah, 26 March 1965.
Fellow Africans,
today as we celebrate 50 years of the Organisation of African Unity (now called
the African Union), l have a special message for the African youth. To the
youth I say first of all, be proud of your African heritage and cherish your
African identity. We need to constantly remind ourselves that the African way
of life is beautify. We have a beautiful culture, glittering from the most enviable
continent in world.
Our beautiful
culture can be found in the quality of our indigenous food, our music, our
dance, our fashion among others. Therefore the African youth must begin to see
themselves as the most blessed people on the planet earth. For this reason, let
us all say NO to any attempt to divide the African people at any time.
Let us UNITE and
move Africa forward together, with the understanding that we are one African people
with a common destiny. AFRICA IS OUR ONLY TRUE HOME and we got to do our best
to make it the best place for our children. For this reason, hard work,
positive self-esteem, confidence, pride (not to be confused with arrogance), and
selflessness should be our hallmark. We the youth need to decolonize our minds
and begin to accept the Africa’s current challenges as our opportunity to
transform the continent for the future generation.
Across other
parts of the world, young ones are working hard to put the development of their
countries as their ultimate priorities. It is time for us in Africa to show
such patriotic spirit. From this day, we the African youth must accept the fact
that we are leaders and we ought to take the destiny of Africa into our own
hands without waiting for any help to come from the East nor the West.
Today when I interact
with many young Africans on the internet, I foresee a new generation young
leaders who believe that something ought to be done in order to change the
status quo. I commend the works of the many young African entrepreneurs who
have in one way or the other contributed massively to create jobs that are helping
in the fight against youth unemployment. For these efforts, whenever I look
into the future of the continent, I see a continent booming with a lot of
opportunities.
However, the
road to the promise land is not going to be smooth. As hard as we may try to put
the interest Africa first on the agenda, there is definitely going to be a lot
of distractions, confusions and manipulations coming from all aspects. In spite
of this, we the youth must not allow ourselves to be manipulated by any of
these circumstances. Today, the media still remains the most powerful weapon in
the world. The entertainment industry is waging a war against the African race.
From scenes in moves, video clips, foreign fashion among others, attempts are
being made to confuse the African youth to shun their African identity
altogether and embrace alien culture.
Our movie industry is trying hard
to portray the black woman as the most confused woman on earth. From bleaching
cosmetics to indecent exposure, unnecessary sex scenes on our TVs among others,
the minds of our African women are being programmed to see themselves as nothing
more than sex objects. From Brazilian hair to Chinese hair, Peruvian hair was
how it started. Today we have pig hair, dog hair, horse hair, goat hair blonde
hair, brunette hair everywhere. All these have been the result of media
influence designed to confuse the minds of the young ones As a result,
our own natural hairstyles have
gone.
Sadly, the young
men have not been spared either. They are seen wearing dog chains everywhere.
Violent, barbaric and crime
scenes have become the new standard for movies that air on our TVs. As far as I
am concerned, there is nothing African about these. Indeed the war against the
African race is getting more serious and it is time the youth realise that the
challenges confronting us today are far too many for us to be distracted by external
influences.
I am therefore
calling on the African youth to open their eyes and see through the “clouds”. It
is time to go back to our roots and realise the real beauty of Africa. For we
all have a collective responsibility to ensure that the African pride which our
forefathers shared with us today is duly preserved for the future generation.
As I write this,
I'm sinking in the water of hope that Africa will be united and totally
independent from mental slavery sooner or later.
Because today,
many of the African children are still wondering: when will we stop crying
?when will we be free forever ? Oh mother Africa, you will shine one day sooner
or later.
On this special
day, I challenge the African youth to be proud of Africa and boldly show off
their African pride. We must resist any attempt which seeks to confuse the
minds of the young ones to feel inferior about their African identity.
While urging the
African youth to remain focus and passionate about Africa on this great
occasion, I also urge the entertainment industry to make every effort to
promote the beauty of African culture to the outside world. The era of Africa’s
inferiority complex must end.
Above all, let
us all unite and contribute significantly to the development of Africa. Just as
Nkrumah put it: the masses of the people of Africa are still crying for unity
than ever.
Long live Africa
Long live the African
diaspora.
Honourable
Saka
The writer is a Pan-African analyst, anti-corruption
crusader and the coordinator for the Project Pan-Africa. He can be reached on
E-mail: [email protected]