AFRICAN, RESPECT THYSELF!

“He who has no respect for himself has no respect from others.”

That the African has lost the respect of the other races as an equal race that needs to be treated with dignity is putting it mildly. And this bluntly put is the fault of none other than the African himself.

Why do I say that? Have you seen anyone with respect for himself who bleaches his skin with dangerous chemicals just to look like another race? Would anyone with a sense of respect for himself again use dangerous toxins nicely couched as “relaxers” to straighten his hair just to look like another race? Tell me if treating you God-given language with contempt whilst hailing that of others to the high heavens is a mark of self-respect. You may also have heard the saying “yevu kuku ye nye ameyibor gbagbe” literally meaning a dead “Whiteman” is equal to a living “Blackman”. Can you imagine! I bet you know that the term “mi broni” literally meaning “my white person” is term of endearment!

Look, any people worth their salt do not make it their profession to always go bowl in hand begging for “aid”. But is this not the official duty of our governments? And you call this a government of people who respect themselves? Please, give me a break! As Keba Dabo rightly notes in Aminata Sow Fall’s The Beggars’ Strike, “Poverty has never compelled people to beg; poverty has never excluded self-respect, human dignity.” It should rather impel them to be ingenious. Let’s get it straight, a self respecting person is a master of his own destiny and architect of his own fate. And in pursuit of attaining his fullness on earth employs to the fullest his God-endowed mental and physical capabilities.

We as a people have got it ingrained in our psyche that everything about us – physical characteristics, culture and history – is infinitely wrong and as such, we are the first to deride ourselves. But there lies the problem, once, you start belittling yourself you open the floodgates for others to do likewise.

Just take our physical characteristics as a case in point. Are we that ugly that we can’t sing even one line in praise of our beauty? So every time we have to praise the beauty of our women it is always in reference to the Caucasian as evident in the very popular line “mi broni”. I need not tell you too that having a Caucasian as a partner is a huge status symbol not only that, to count yourself among the beautiful your vital statistics has to be like that of the Caucasian as the standards of beauty clearly shows in our foremost beauty pageant the “Miss Ghana”.

Again, tell me what is so wrong with our hair that we have to go through hell, literally to have it look like that of the Caucasian. Remember those days when our old folks had to put those “straightening combs” (presupposing as the name does that our hair is crooked) into fire until it was hot then use it on their hair? These days it’s the “relaxers” (I wonder if that means our hair is tense).

What points are we driving at? That God is so ugly that we do not want to look like Him? After all, does the Good Book not say that we were created in God’s image?

Then comes the “backward” culture. In our eagerness to be accepted as “civilized”, we have abandoned our way of life for that of the Caucasians. So, the “educated” African wants nothing to do with our local dishes. Ask any child to write an essay on my best food and it will be “… the food I like best is rice and stew.” You know what is funny about this? The average Ghanaian thinks rice is the “Whiteman’s” food and so by associating himself with this food he is enhancing his social status. But for your information, rice is an indigenous staple crop! And that thing about being “bush”, you remember those days in the boarding schools when eating even kenkey with your fingers earned you the insult “bush boy” and of course some lashes? Yes, “bush” meaning uncivilized or backward. That’s the way we see our way of eating.

Language…the least said about it the better. Ei, if you can’t express yourself in the “Whiteman's” language better not open your mouth in public. How many times have we not made fun of people who couldn’t express themselves in the “Whiteman's” language? If you’re not lucky, your first name becomes the grammatical error you made. You hear parents boastfully say that as for my child he speaks only English. On the other hand, if one is unable to express himself in any of our local languages it is no big deal, after all, “…that’s not my language.” But is the “Whiteman’s” language your language?

Our religion has also been so debased that very few people want be associated with it. After the Europeans have knocked it down with ignominious tags like satanic, fetish, animist and polytheistic and left it for dead, the “educated” African has taken it upon himself to cut off its head probably taking a cue from the saying that if you kill a snake, cut off its head. Just check out the Nigerian and Ghanaian movies being screened on our TVs and you will get what I’m driving at. It’s always Christianity versus “traditional religion” and of course the former always emerges victorious. Not to mention the fact that God and his angels are always “white” and Satan black. Have you ever seen a black angel or even the picture of an angel painted black?

Man, get serious! No one who not only accepts his inferiority and hero-worships others but also depend on them for his livelihood ever earned the respect of that people. How did you regard colleagues who copied your work in school? Tell me how you regard people who though can fend for themselves have made it their profession to beg for their livelihood?

san-kofa