Natty Bongoman
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 10, 2008
- 403
- 191
When I joined, I had read a long topic and formulated a reply. However, I saved it, because I had wanted 'kujiunga na kupiga hodi kwanza'. I am back now, but I can't seem to find the topic post. It was about an author who discussed Afrikan's problems and its causes as he saw them. Problems such as why we are disorganised, amongst many discussed problems. Please post a link if you know it. the following was my response.
PARA 1: Quote ["The education of African people is an urgent necessity. It is a matter of life and death. We cannot abide another generation of children who have no identity and who are ignorant about Africa."]
* What has changed from Malcolm X days? I have my own ideas, but would like to hear my brethrens and sisthrens ideas and summations.
PARA 2: Quote [What is the purpose of an education? He said that most black people have been 'trained' to think it is 'to get a job with one of the 'fortune 500' companies.]
* Who did this training post Malcolm X era? We, obviously, havent forgotten the Afrikan proverb why havent we heeded it? (I must inject here, that rural villages likely still do)
PARA 3: Quote [So, how have African people become such a fragmented and disorganised group of people today?]
· Excellent question, but in my opinion, the authors answer in this paragraph isnt good. Noteworthy, the omission of the Jews. They have undergone attacks If one was to relate history one might notice that Israel and India are relatively new nations independence-wise (1940s), and also China was once invaded and ruled these three nations have progressed tremendously because of unity and education. There are better reasons for Afrikans problem based on the question quoted above.
PARA 4: Again, here I have problems with the authors take. Post independence to date, Afrika has had many talented and educated sons and daughters to the contrary of his claims. While other disciplines of education easily lend themselves to brainwashing based on westernism, health and science are universal. Furthermore, no one but ourselves allowed and still do, the pervesion of rap music which started as conscious Afrocentric sound and style. In my opinion, we tend to lump blames to outside forces even on our on own screw ups.
FIRST RED PARA: The author here is too quick to lay blames or praises based on little known actions of little known individuals. What did Danny Glover do? At least, Oprah built a school in Afrika. Is such an educated author really unaware of how Collin Powell became a pariah within the administration he served and subsequently refused to continue serving because he was against Iraq invasion, and pushed for Darfur actions ?
I also noticed the good ole habit we Afrikans have of expecting to rise to the top overnight without much sweat and struggles based on his take on Mandela. The author wanted him to do what Mugabe did, how did that work? The author wanted Mandela to do what history tells us about what Idi Amin kicking out Indians, how did that work then? The author wanted him to do what history says our esteemed Nyerere did with Azimio la Arusha and utaifishaji how did that work? Whether we like it or not, white South Afrikans are Afrikans, and they are the ones who were running that strongest economy. Mandela was smart enough to realize that kicking them out would cripple the economy, but assimilating them would eventually facilitate sharing of wealth. It just wont happen overnight, it wont happen under leaders more interested in power than developing the masses In fact, in my opinion, what ANC fiasco going on now reminds me of how many Afrikan leaders with good intentions towards their people got intoxicated by power and started in-fighting that became divisive, tribalistic, and detrimental to the very people they prophecies to fight for. Could this power struggles produce Afrikans ready to run the diamond conglomerate and deal with white importers and their trickeries, do we have leaders whom self-interest isnt at the core of their wanting powers and easily corrupted by neo-colonists? Why is it that these Indians, Lebanese, whites, et al are benefiting from the said minerals business? Did they colonise the country or were they given rights for peanuts as long as they filled the few Afrikans pockets, the very same Afrikans who are busy making it difficult for locals to achieve said status while making it so easy for these foreign swindlers? LET US LAY THE BLAME WHERE IT SHOULD STRONGLY RESTS, then after that admission, we can force the change. Then again, are we the Afrikan masses united enough to affect change?
REST OF PARAGRAPHS:
This is a long piece, thus I will now paraphrase based on my take:
· The author has shown the results of history, but has portrayed bitterness (rightly so) without really injecting WHAT WE CAN DO in laymen terms should say a teenage read the piece. We certainly, need to know history, but instilling it in a manner that provokes anger while not saying much about what an Afrikan reader today can do, doesnt seem to me, to affect change. Yes, he spoke of bad education, but what has he said about good education and how to achieve it?
· Simply put, we live in an age where education competition seems to be the rule of the day. It is what gets people and countries respect and hence an equal (though bitter) respect from the west, the last to emerge from dark ages, and the least willing to give it up. China is now feared and are no longer push-overs nor as the author quoted a French racist a race of workers for white rulers. India is now reaching that plateau The author premise of we are in the west to serve whites achieves what? To a young Afrikan or a descendant, that almost sounds like telling them you have no chance to become otherwise. It is silly to expect that blacks in the west are going to leave the west in mass exodus. No, they are natives to the west, and need to be told history and how to not become the victims ala their ancestors. They need to be told that given the circumstances, their reach to the top isnt guaranteed based on racism of whites and the rich not wanting to relinquish the goodies easily, but they can lay a foundation for their sons, daughters, and grandsons, granddaughters to achieve that. In other words, they should accept struggles of achieving the Bachelor degree and work for the system while laying foundation for their kids to achieve doctorate and be sought by the system. Simply making young black mad without pointing out realities and opportunities to be achieved with difficulty today while laying foundation for better tomorrow for the race would simply send to hatred and street thugging, ultimately, falling into the trap of incarceration and its after effects.
· We need to highlight positive history of the Afrikan empires and civilizations while whites were in caves, thus instilling in young minds that it can be done, and we are not hopeless race as we are depicted to be. We need to highlight positive heroes and inventors who despite hardships more than we are experiencing, managed to do so much without receiving much credits we need to point out that the traffic lights were invented by Blackman, gas mask, peanut butter and about 75 uses of peanuts, train engine combustion component, street fluorescent lights, lobotomy, inoculations, and many more inventions whose credit was never given to blacks intentionally so as to strip pride and make us feel useless. We need to highlight the Shaka Zulus whose military strategies were admired and copied by whites, the Timbuktu and Egyptian universities which taught the Archimedes, the Platos and many revered whites scholars we read in schools without knowing that they were taught in Afrikan universities as minorities by Afrikan teachers much like the reverse today. There are so many of these historical facts that will simply put much pride in a young Afrikan and Afrikan descendants abroad, that they will want to study hard and repeat history with credit to them. Heck, we need to even highlight the Oprahs who started as poor and discriminated by whites to becoming feared and respected by white Presidents. Highlight the black man and the lady who went to the moon as part of scientist team of astronauts. These are things that will make a difference rather than statements like we are here in the west to serve whites are we blinded by rage to realize that now there are whites serving blacks? How about highlighting that?
· We also can not minimize corruption as being not a reason for our collective poverty. A corrupted leader does take the country decades backward. Zimbabwe started out as a country that fed many other countries to a country that begs for food. Dont let the author minimize the effect of our corrupted leaders being a huge part of the problem. Many of us Afrikans, expect and want to reach the top quickly. As such we do anything to individually do so, often at the expense of majority today and in the future. Instead of building foundation for next generation to build on, we break it and the cycle repeats with the next generation. No building to show now or tomorrow. We fail to internalize that the Americas, the New York city, didnt rise overnight or within one generation. Let us not kid ourselves, whites swoop in when opportunity opens up they cant corrupt one who wont accept corruption. They cant bribe one who wont accept bribe.
· Finally, we need to examine ourselves and the education we receive. Divide n Conquer is alive and comes in many formats. If you study in Russia, he studies in India, I study in USA unless we combine these studies with our cultures, we are doomed. As it is, each one comes back thinking his education is superior, never compromising, shunning cultural relevancy, and ultimately affecting coup and/or comes to power dismantling the previous progress because it wasnt what he/she perceives to be superior education. Teaching in Swahili isnt the answer, no one who learns in English forgets Swahili. The trick is to remember utamaduni, while mastering the international language and skills. It is a global village, like it or not.
ALL IN ALL, WHILE THE AUTHOR IS IN COMMAND OF HIS FACTS HIS APPROACH IS OF DIVISIVENESS IN THE WORLD THAT WE YET HAVE CONTROL OF. WE NEED TO EDUCATE OURSELVES SO AS TO COMPETE WITH ONES IN CONTROL, AND COMMAND RESPECT. WE NEED TO PUT NATIONALISM AHEAD OF INDIVIDUALISM, AND ONLY THEN WE CAN RISE UP AND BUILD A STRONGER AFRIKA. WHY WOULD A BLACK WESTERNER, A SLAVE DESCENDANT, WANT TO COME TO AFRIKA RULED BY CORRUPTION, FULL OF TRIBALISM, AND SELF-DESTRUCTING LEADERS??
LET US GIVE THEM A GOOD REASON, AND THEY WILL HELP REBUILD AFRIKA TO ITS OLD HEYDEY OF THE LAND PHARAOHS AND MWANAMUTAPA. LOOK AT WHAT THEY LEFT, THE PHARAOHS, THE MWANAMUTAPA, THE MANSA MUSA TIME TO RISE, OR WE DIE SLAVES.
PARA 1: Quote ["The education of African people is an urgent necessity. It is a matter of life and death. We cannot abide another generation of children who have no identity and who are ignorant about Africa."]
* What has changed from Malcolm X days? I have my own ideas, but would like to hear my brethrens and sisthrens ideas and summations.
PARA 2: Quote [What is the purpose of an education? He said that most black people have been 'trained' to think it is 'to get a job with one of the 'fortune 500' companies.]
* Who did this training post Malcolm X era? We, obviously, havent forgotten the Afrikan proverb why havent we heeded it? (I must inject here, that rural villages likely still do)
PARA 3: Quote [So, how have African people become such a fragmented and disorganised group of people today?]
· Excellent question, but in my opinion, the authors answer in this paragraph isnt good. Noteworthy, the omission of the Jews. They have undergone attacks If one was to relate history one might notice that Israel and India are relatively new nations independence-wise (1940s), and also China was once invaded and ruled these three nations have progressed tremendously because of unity and education. There are better reasons for Afrikans problem based on the question quoted above.
PARA 4: Again, here I have problems with the authors take. Post independence to date, Afrika has had many talented and educated sons and daughters to the contrary of his claims. While other disciplines of education easily lend themselves to brainwashing based on westernism, health and science are universal. Furthermore, no one but ourselves allowed and still do, the pervesion of rap music which started as conscious Afrocentric sound and style. In my opinion, we tend to lump blames to outside forces even on our on own screw ups.
FIRST RED PARA: The author here is too quick to lay blames or praises based on little known actions of little known individuals. What did Danny Glover do? At least, Oprah built a school in Afrika. Is such an educated author really unaware of how Collin Powell became a pariah within the administration he served and subsequently refused to continue serving because he was against Iraq invasion, and pushed for Darfur actions ?
I also noticed the good ole habit we Afrikans have of expecting to rise to the top overnight without much sweat and struggles based on his take on Mandela. The author wanted him to do what Mugabe did, how did that work? The author wanted Mandela to do what history tells us about what Idi Amin kicking out Indians, how did that work then? The author wanted him to do what history says our esteemed Nyerere did with Azimio la Arusha and utaifishaji how did that work? Whether we like it or not, white South Afrikans are Afrikans, and they are the ones who were running that strongest economy. Mandela was smart enough to realize that kicking them out would cripple the economy, but assimilating them would eventually facilitate sharing of wealth. It just wont happen overnight, it wont happen under leaders more interested in power than developing the masses In fact, in my opinion, what ANC fiasco going on now reminds me of how many Afrikan leaders with good intentions towards their people got intoxicated by power and started in-fighting that became divisive, tribalistic, and detrimental to the very people they prophecies to fight for. Could this power struggles produce Afrikans ready to run the diamond conglomerate and deal with white importers and their trickeries, do we have leaders whom self-interest isnt at the core of their wanting powers and easily corrupted by neo-colonists? Why is it that these Indians, Lebanese, whites, et al are benefiting from the said minerals business? Did they colonise the country or were they given rights for peanuts as long as they filled the few Afrikans pockets, the very same Afrikans who are busy making it difficult for locals to achieve said status while making it so easy for these foreign swindlers? LET US LAY THE BLAME WHERE IT SHOULD STRONGLY RESTS, then after that admission, we can force the change. Then again, are we the Afrikan masses united enough to affect change?
REST OF PARAGRAPHS:
This is a long piece, thus I will now paraphrase based on my take:
· The author has shown the results of history, but has portrayed bitterness (rightly so) without really injecting WHAT WE CAN DO in laymen terms should say a teenage read the piece. We certainly, need to know history, but instilling it in a manner that provokes anger while not saying much about what an Afrikan reader today can do, doesnt seem to me, to affect change. Yes, he spoke of bad education, but what has he said about good education and how to achieve it?
· Simply put, we live in an age where education competition seems to be the rule of the day. It is what gets people and countries respect and hence an equal (though bitter) respect from the west, the last to emerge from dark ages, and the least willing to give it up. China is now feared and are no longer push-overs nor as the author quoted a French racist a race of workers for white rulers. India is now reaching that plateau The author premise of we are in the west to serve whites achieves what? To a young Afrikan or a descendant, that almost sounds like telling them you have no chance to become otherwise. It is silly to expect that blacks in the west are going to leave the west in mass exodus. No, they are natives to the west, and need to be told history and how to not become the victims ala their ancestors. They need to be told that given the circumstances, their reach to the top isnt guaranteed based on racism of whites and the rich not wanting to relinquish the goodies easily, but they can lay a foundation for their sons, daughters, and grandsons, granddaughters to achieve that. In other words, they should accept struggles of achieving the Bachelor degree and work for the system while laying foundation for their kids to achieve doctorate and be sought by the system. Simply making young black mad without pointing out realities and opportunities to be achieved with difficulty today while laying foundation for better tomorrow for the race would simply send to hatred and street thugging, ultimately, falling into the trap of incarceration and its after effects.
· We need to highlight positive history of the Afrikan empires and civilizations while whites were in caves, thus instilling in young minds that it can be done, and we are not hopeless race as we are depicted to be. We need to highlight positive heroes and inventors who despite hardships more than we are experiencing, managed to do so much without receiving much credits we need to point out that the traffic lights were invented by Blackman, gas mask, peanut butter and about 75 uses of peanuts, train engine combustion component, street fluorescent lights, lobotomy, inoculations, and many more inventions whose credit was never given to blacks intentionally so as to strip pride and make us feel useless. We need to highlight the Shaka Zulus whose military strategies were admired and copied by whites, the Timbuktu and Egyptian universities which taught the Archimedes, the Platos and many revered whites scholars we read in schools without knowing that they were taught in Afrikan universities as minorities by Afrikan teachers much like the reverse today. There are so many of these historical facts that will simply put much pride in a young Afrikan and Afrikan descendants abroad, that they will want to study hard and repeat history with credit to them. Heck, we need to even highlight the Oprahs who started as poor and discriminated by whites to becoming feared and respected by white Presidents. Highlight the black man and the lady who went to the moon as part of scientist team of astronauts. These are things that will make a difference rather than statements like we are here in the west to serve whites are we blinded by rage to realize that now there are whites serving blacks? How about highlighting that?
· We also can not minimize corruption as being not a reason for our collective poverty. A corrupted leader does take the country decades backward. Zimbabwe started out as a country that fed many other countries to a country that begs for food. Dont let the author minimize the effect of our corrupted leaders being a huge part of the problem. Many of us Afrikans, expect and want to reach the top quickly. As such we do anything to individually do so, often at the expense of majority today and in the future. Instead of building foundation for next generation to build on, we break it and the cycle repeats with the next generation. No building to show now or tomorrow. We fail to internalize that the Americas, the New York city, didnt rise overnight or within one generation. Let us not kid ourselves, whites swoop in when opportunity opens up they cant corrupt one who wont accept corruption. They cant bribe one who wont accept bribe.
· Finally, we need to examine ourselves and the education we receive. Divide n Conquer is alive and comes in many formats. If you study in Russia, he studies in India, I study in USA unless we combine these studies with our cultures, we are doomed. As it is, each one comes back thinking his education is superior, never compromising, shunning cultural relevancy, and ultimately affecting coup and/or comes to power dismantling the previous progress because it wasnt what he/she perceives to be superior education. Teaching in Swahili isnt the answer, no one who learns in English forgets Swahili. The trick is to remember utamaduni, while mastering the international language and skills. It is a global village, like it or not.
ALL IN ALL, WHILE THE AUTHOR IS IN COMMAND OF HIS FACTS HIS APPROACH IS OF DIVISIVENESS IN THE WORLD THAT WE YET HAVE CONTROL OF. WE NEED TO EDUCATE OURSELVES SO AS TO COMPETE WITH ONES IN CONTROL, AND COMMAND RESPECT. WE NEED TO PUT NATIONALISM AHEAD OF INDIVIDUALISM, AND ONLY THEN WE CAN RISE UP AND BUILD A STRONGER AFRIKA. WHY WOULD A BLACK WESTERNER, A SLAVE DESCENDANT, WANT TO COME TO AFRIKA RULED BY CORRUPTION, FULL OF TRIBALISM, AND SELF-DESTRUCTING LEADERS??
LET US GIVE THEM A GOOD REASON, AND THEY WILL HELP REBUILD AFRIKA TO ITS OLD HEYDEY OF THE LAND PHARAOHS AND MWANAMUTAPA. LOOK AT WHAT THEY LEFT, THE PHARAOHS, THE MWANAMUTAPA, THE MANSA MUSA TIME TO RISE, OR WE DIE SLAVES.
