DE-Colonize Your MIND!

I am not one to impulse buy books, but when I walked into the book store I knew I had to take this book; Abolition! As I have been working on the Patriot’s diary these past couple of months, I have been asking myself why we as Africans hate ourselves so much. It’s really been bothering me. The book Abolition! gave me some insight as to why. The author Richard Reddie takes an interesting look at the link between the initiation of the Transatlantic Slave trade and the depletion and destruction of Africa’s history and artifacts to yield what we are all victims of; modern day slavery mentality .

I am still in the process of reading but my eyes were opened to one key thing. Where is Africa’s history? The only History I know is political, colonial, pre-independence and post independence stories of African states. While I was reading the book it hit me! The first thing that came to mind when I thought of a random African country was their colonial master or their current political turmoil.

Then I thought to myself, wait a minute, we can turn this around. All we need to do is uncover and understand our great past. Great African Scholars like Cheikh Anta Diop and Ali Mazrui have dedicated their lives uncovering Africa’s rich and prosperous past. There have been eyewitness accounts and documentations found regarding the great Kingdoms of Western Africa, reeking of gold, ivory, stone, ebony and incense. There has also been factual evidence of the grandiose Nubian empires with great architecture. And of course we can’t forget the Egyptian’s contribution to modern medicine in their practice of mummification among other medical discoveries.

I was amazed to learn from the book, Abolition, that Greek scholars like Archimedes and Pythagoras studied in Egypt prior to their great contributions to mathematics. I was even more dumbfounded when I read that Zimbabwe, Mali, Songhai and Ghana were great economic hubs. This is the history that we have grown up unaware of. This is the knowledge that we need to restore our pride and eliminate the nonsensical ‘groping in cultural darkness’.

I was watching a Kenyan show yesterday; it was the typical music video entertainment slot. The videos had the usual infamous theme; parties, alcohol, women scantily dressed and gyrating. It really upset me that that is what we have been reduced to. We have sucked in the callous, get rich quick cultural theme from a certain segment of African American culture. All I can remember saying to my friend who was watching the show with me was that we (Kenyans) have lost our pride.

We are groping to embrace a culture and yet struggle to be African. That is my logical understanding as to why we ape the so called ‘brand America materialism’. We are lost and helpless. Since we don’t know where we came from but know where we want to go, we embrace what is close to what we think will lead us to a future of bliss! How do you cure yourself from such a paradox of being proud of who you are and hating who you are at the same time?

The cure to our current infirmity of cultural rape and slavery mentality is simple; research, read and share the knowledge you have. Here are a couple of books to get you on your way to a clear understanding of the grandiose culture of whom we are descendents of; a beautiful African people.

Abolition! The struggle to Abolish Slavery in the British colonies by Richard Reddie

Destruction of Black civilization: Great issues of a race from 4500 B.C to 2000 A.D. by Chancellor Williams

The Origins of Civilization: Myth or reality by Cheikh Anta Diop

Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology by Cheikh Anta Diop