Building African and black pride

By Stirling Gapara

Recently, I was at a seminar and for the umpteenth time I heard a storyline that used to concern me but has now really begun to irritate and anger me.

This speech, presented by an African, is no doubt familiar to most people and it is about how backward Africans and black people the world over are. Amongst the several things spoken of at this seminar was how black people are lazy and dishonest, their inability to save money and how wasteful they are with the resources they have.

Instead we were told about how the Indians and Jews are frugal and wise with their money and resources and how they look after each other whilst the black man puts his own down. Of course, as always, the speaker in about thirty seconds only beseeched us Africans and blacks all over the world to take inventory ourselves and make a change. 

What particularly saddened me was how the speaker, in over an hour got a thunderous applause from an African audience on a speech that belittled black people.

This, my fellow Africans is something that just has to come to an end. Yes, we live on the richest continent on earth but have the poorest people. Indeed African countries are known for corruption, diseases and poorly managed economies.

But has anyone really questioned why this is so? Are black people with brains no different from anyone other human being cursed? Has anyone ever taken stock of the damaged caused by colonisation on the African continent and its people? What about slavery? No doubt someone is angrily shouting that how long are we going to blame colonization and slavery?

I do not have answer but what I do know is that the effects of colonization and slavery are still very much being extensively felt up to today. Shouldn’t we also be concerned why the developed world hardly ever talks about how world trade ensures Africa and its people remain third world?

I am not for a second suggesting we ignore the evils on our continent. Or close our eyes and pretend black on black violence in the USA does not exist. Indeed we must uproot and expose the evil on our continent and anywhere else where there is a black community.

Let us stop the victim mentality and feeling sorry for ourselves. We have to start managing our economies better so that all our citizens benefit.  Appointing competent leaders in all spheres of life just has to become our highest priority.

My point is that as Africans and black people it is time we started building pride in ourselves instead of magnifying our ills and shortcomings all the time. We have heroes that we need to start celebrating and ranting and raving about.  It is time we told the world about Ugandan heroes. We should be holding in the highest esteem the great achievements of people like Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere, Samora Machel , Kwame Nkurumah, Mo Ibrahim and Strive Masiwa.  Do we know that Garrett Morgan, an African American invented the traffic lights? Or that the automatic elevator doors were invented another Africa American, Alexander Miles? Do we know of other inventors like Mark Dean, Patricia Bath, Georger Carver and several others who are and were black people?

As we castigate the evil on continent let us also build black pride. If we do this then our generation and those that follow will know that they are not a cursed people.  We will see ourselves as people with enormous challenges but as capable and proud as any other people group.

The writer is a Zimbabwean working in Uganda