I am writing this post because of @fisteganos who seems to have a thing for the villain of the movie black panther. Although Michael B. Jordan was an excellent actor in the movie, his motive to inflict pain on those he considered as being responsible for the black man mishap caused me to ponder on when violence becomes a good option.
A black history and a time to let go
Some blacks have in my view what I call a contorted view of history slightly, I am black and that exempts me from being wanting to intentionally hurt the feelings of black men everywhere.
Sure there was slave trade, but do people know what it means to let things go? Using past grievances as an excuse to hurt your fellow man just doesn't cut it. I know that racism has not totally gone under, but until the black man stops running from his primary responsibilities in his country to fulfill those of others abroad, then Africa is doomed.
When I say doom, I mean it economically, socially, religiously, in terms of infrastructure, science, technology and in so many ways.
We blame our colonial masters as we like to call them but the truth is the wise countries have patched up and moved on while the unwise ones have created a mental prison for themselves and held themselves captive there.
Let's start from here. The colonial masters brought the concept of their own religion and took ours away for sale in museums. Now, we fight and kill ourselves in the name of a religion of foreign origin while we forget that although the religious texts might make reference to violence and previous cases, we forget that it is we the black man who ultimately kill one another and not the so called colonial masters .
In the black panther movie, Erik once said he has had to kill his brothers (black men) to be prepared to fight the black panther and establish black domination...well according to him.
Now here's the twist the "brilliant" villain never saw. While the idea is to right some wrongs in his opinion, he has forgotten that he KILLED HIS OWN KIND. No matter the excuse, he made the conscious effort to do that, he had a choice and he made it.
He also doesn't know that he has killed someone's father who is also black, someone's brother who is also black and someone's husband who is also black, leaving a trail of dead black bodies in his wake just to be ready enough to kill the black panther to avenge his father's death. Guess what he killed more black men than to prepare to kill one black man to avenge another black man. Where is the sense in that violence?
It also translates to the fact that another orphaned child could rise up and come for him because he has also committed the same crime he wanted his fellow man dead for.
Violence is an endless cycle of kill or be killed and people sometimes forget when they do mass targets that not everyone is guilty of it.
The sins of the father should never be visited upon the son unless the son walks in the path of the father.
So back to the subtopic, I often pity blacks who complain about racism because of an unfavorable situation. Why not convert that unfavorable situation into an advantage? South Africa was also colonized but look at them growing economically, what is the excuse? We blame Hollywood for having the "sticks and stone" impression of Africa, but what have we really done to change that? Ever watched Africa magic epic? Now does that prove them right or wrong? How many space movies have we shot? How many spy movies? Who will spend billions of naira on a movie project knowing fully well that the CD will even come out before the premier date? Is the the white man's fault?
Before you shout what about Africa magic urban, ask yourself this is that all we have to offer? What happened to creating our own African Marvel studios and producing our own super heroes the way we like them? I guess we never attempt but wait to simply criticize. Africa! it is time to wake up and sit up.
Some blacks still believe that the colonial master is totally responsible for the killing of blacks in the hood by making drugs and guns easily accessible to them. Remember this, instead of grooming educated young men and women, you allowed them roam unsupervised and mingle just about anyhow without caution and later they found guns and drugs and killed themselves, yet we somehow managed to blame others. Think I am lying? ask Tupac and Biggie, they killed themselves and it was solely a shame and a slap to the black community.
We as blacks copy bad customs easily and still fault those we copied them from when we had the choice not to copy it in the first place.
Blacks had the opportunity to turn a bad situation into a good one. They were taken as slaves to practically learn about the business of agriculture under the guise of plantation farming, they learnt more about hotel and catering management under the guise of nursing. But guess what instead of returning to Africa to develop that continent to world standard, they stayed and opted to be killed while Africa was waiting patiently to welcome them.
There are two popular sayings, one is African while the other is general...
The way you treat your clothes is the way others will treat it
Charity begins at home
Africa was the clothe and they treated it like rags, so those who colonized us still treated it like rags even after independence. While we were dying to receive approval we forgot we didn't need it. We wanted to be accepted in another land while we denied our own land but we complain we were treated like rags.
The truth is Africa, you need to wake up and grow up!
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Seeing this post reminded me of what happened earlier today.
So I am on instagram, and I see a meme which says, "Africans are happy about Wakanda, but they have forgotten Zamuda"(or something like it). Now Zamuda is the African nation portrayed in the movie, Coming to America.
So, seeing it to be a joke, I said "Africans want spaceships in our own land, we are tired of a story only about love in another man's land"
Few minutes later, the individual sends a private message, asking that I desist from commenting on his posts and he doesn't want to argue.
i apologised and promised not to comment anymore on his post. but he continued, saying I shouldn't discriminate between African countries, and I should remember that I am black.
I couldn't believe it.
I reminded him that these countries are fictional countries.
The problem with Africa being unable to reach the height she can is the innate belief that we are of lesser worth to the westerners. We believe that different means bad, we believe that their ways are how things are supposed to be.
Now, I am a Christian, and I thank God for that, but because I am a Christian and know that my ancestors were pagan worshipers does not make me call them barbarians, they were different, and that was the light they had.
Somehow, our past has been painted as being all evil. Now instead of us to learn the truth, we blame the westerners. The easiest way to lose your power is to blame someone else for mishaps.
If we get too sensitive, we won't be strong. If we are not sensitive, we won't be kind. We need counterbalance.
I love the Wakanda movie. Though made by Whites, we were reminded of the depth of Africa. By portraying Wakanda as being hidden beneath the forest, they are telling us that there is more hidden in us than meets the eyes. With the technological achievements in Wakanda, they are telling us that we have more than we let on, if only we realise that we are a great people, and wear our origin with confidence.
In as much as we think we should bleach because light skin is better, and we think that relaxed hair is better because kinky hair is archaic, we will never find out what we possess. (Just to mention a few shallow thinking lines)
Africa is great, but we need to accept it first.
This reply by far is the most beautiful and stems from a beautiful mind which grasps the movie the way I see it. You not only successfully spoke well, you stirred beautiful points home.
We always feel we need the Western approval to succeed, whereas we have the resources, the mind to grasp the technical know how, the man power and the never ending stream of ideas, sadly we have relegated ourselves to the back seat once again because we wallow in a contorted state of self pity.
I wanted to add something to my post which you reminded me of. Blacks feel bad when they are left out at awards but forget they are neglecting their own BET awards. Why not make yours world class and the envy of all?
Blacks feel they have made it if they enter the Forbes list, but what stops us from having a black "Forbes" company that will be world class?
Someone once said if a company refuses to hire you because of bureaucracy and you are qualified, work hard and buy the godamn company.
It's easier to blame others for our deficiency but better to man up and do what's right.
Africa has spent so many years brooding, it's time to grow up and get work done.
Period.
Lol.
We really don’t need to have “our own superhero movies”! That’s being a copycat! We don’t tell stories that way! We tell stories the way Nollywood tells stories; family drama. Asking us to make our own superhero movies would be like asking a snake to walk upright.
And you talked about black kids roaming the street instead of getting an education? You think they didn’t want to get educated? Why do you think they say “if you want to hide something form a black man, put it in a book”? Who was in control of the schools? Who made the rules?
Lol. C’mon!
It’s true nobody should be dwelling on the past and wallowing in self pity but c’mon, we need to always recognize both sides of the coin.
You think South Africans are having it all good? You think their progress is solely because blacks decided to forget about the past?
Apples and Oranges man!
Glad to have you here, you made your points, I made mine. Let's go back to teasing each other with our whatsapp statuses...lol
Edit: Let's have some fun...
If we feel Nollywood does it right through village movies, let us not feel bad when we are described as a jungle (as we prefer to tell our stories) because I cannot remember seeing sky scrapers or sub way stations in the village movies.
Actually you are wrong there, it's not only black men who don't read. Because the saying is popular doesn't mean it holds true. We accepted it to be true and we felt pity for ourselves. In some countries in Europe, education is free to encourage even the white folks to go to school. In Africa, become a drop out and watch the society give up on you because they have deemed you a collosal failure. Why don't we make efforts for rehabilitation? Instead our politicians prefer to use the uneducated ones as thugs instead of pushing them forward. I guess the white man is our politician right?
South Africans are not having it all good, they prefer to suck it up, cover their asses and focus on growth. The largest telecommunication company is MTN, which happens to be a South African firm. Our leading source of entertainment and news (DSTV) is also a South African brand. When a Nigerian brand (TSTV) was about to launch, we killed it with our own mouth before it even launched.
Don't get me started on quality control protocols in Nigeria. I am using Nigeria as a reference because I reside here. Imagine a situation where the number one university (OAU) in Nigeria could not consume drugs for headache manufactured by it's graduating pharmacy students because the water was not pure. Whose fault is that.
Quick question: If you are about to board a flight and you hear this plane was built by a Nigerian and is about having it's first flight (minus testing) will you not change your mind?
The reason is because we know the truth which is: "we are the problem ourselves"
P.S. Blacks actually sold their fellow kin into slavery just to be on good terms with the white man. WHOSE FAULT IS THAT?
Oh my goodness! Please permit me to say this.... I loooooove you @ehiboss! No one else seems to be able to stand up to the very eloquent @fisteganos. I love this very superior argument!
Oh really? 🤔
@mosunomotunde, thank you.
Colonialism and slave trade are definitely the bedrock of underdevelopment in Africa but it's been decades. You don't fail when you fall down, you fail when you refuse to get up. When Africa begins to understand that no one is gonna come build their home for them and that just as these western countries they deserve better then they'll wake up. It's good to see there's other people thinking this way. Good read! Resteemed even.👏🏼
We need to come back home and build
We all have a part to play
When I say doom, I mean it economically, socially, religiously, in terms of infrastructure, science, technology and in so many ways.
We blame our colonial masters as we like to call them but the truth is the wise countries have patched up and moved on while the unwise ones have created a mental prison for themselves and held themselves captive there.
Couldn't have agreed any less.... Blacks keep finding who to blame. The Asians were all under different colonial rule as well and couple of decades ago considered underdeveloped countries. But now Africans are seeking their visa and contracting them as experts for jobs and works we could as well train ourself to do...
Beautiful beautiful article @ehiboss. You nailed it bruv! No one could have put it out more aptly! Doffing my hat for you. Respect!!!
You are very right bro, the truth is we are actually deep down conscious of these facts, but because of our attitude towards change, we find excuses by blaming the whites, meanwhile the deed is done, we should look for a way forward
Wow,that's great,I think the black panther is an amazing movie ,lots of talking point ,nice one.
I will hold on to this sentence for long. This is a summation of everything that is important for every black man to know. We need to grow to let Africa as a continent grow.
It also remind me of Django movie,slave movie
In essence, the beginning of the solution is to look inward and stop blaming others for the difficulties we are experiencing. It is easy to point fingers at religion, slavery, racism, colonialism and so on but what about our own contribution? Let’s stop all the blaming and self pity and instead try to figure out how what we can do today to make sure that tomorrow is better for us and our children.
In as much as Africans have to take responsibility, I think we must be real and as human as possible.
As for violence, people will always resort to violence in crazy situations, a good defense and security system will be necessary to curb it.
Sometimes when someone tells me they want to leave the country to find greener pastures elsewhere, I feel like slapping them. Why contribute your quota in another man's land when yours is not developed?
I believe the real slave trade is not what happened in those days, it is what is happening right now. The whites are coming to our abode and using us for their own gain and the blacks are still foolishly going out to contribute to the economy of the whites; moving mountains without moving a pin in their father's land. I don't know when we are gonna get it right. For the whites out there, I am not against you, I am only against my fellow country men who will never think of what to contribute to our immediate community
Black panther causing a lot of banter. I haven't seen the movie, so i can't say much, but the arguments back and forth has given me a perfect clue. I should watch it soon.
Nice analysis, brother.
I think we blacks need to embrace our culture, its time we stop been absurd out of trying to imitate people we cannot resemble.
@ehiboss i doff my hat for you for this mind expanding post.
I followed you between the lines and all the while i could not stop contemplating how we (africans) have lost out on the better side of life because of this inferiority mentality.
This is indeed a wake up call to all and sundry to defend our pride.
This is good,
Recently when President Trump called Africa a shithole, we all nailed castigated him. In my opinion he's not wrong, it's just his manner of approach that's not good.
The Movie
#killmonger like most Africans wanted to prove a point and not to do what's right. He's intention is to prove to the world that Africans can defend themselves and rule the world, not just that he want to be the one to rule.
So everything that will get him there he did, whether good or bad, his despiracy amd thirst for power was unqunchable.
He couldn't live one more day seeing himself fall short of Wakanda throne.
Indeed, Africa need stop come to the realization of its potentials and begin to harness it.
In as much as the the white folks played a role in under developinf Africa. We as Aficea need to wake i0 too...
Thanks for sharing @ehiboss
Can violence against others be justified for the wrongs they do to us?
This is a very trickery question. A "Yes" answer would mean approving of violence under a guide of repaying others in their coin. Much as this sounds deserved, it could also be a call to anarchy.
A "No" answer could mean condoning tyranny and refusing to hold others to account.
My answer therefore is, "Treat others as you would have them treat you!"
Like you rightly said, charity begins at home.
If you ask me, i'd say we have more than enougj resources to build africa from within. Our real enemy is greed and the love of power 😔
I respect your view about colonialism and its adverse effects on Africa but I'm a little bit interested in pointing out that while BP is a cool "all black" movie about a superhero in Africa, the movie really shouldn't draw parallels with societal/sociocultural issues as this because its just a movie.
Back to the topic, we Africans don't have an identity to be honest; people try too hard to seem like what they're not in speech, character and even meals. Our lack of expression has let the culture of Westerners imprint on our society, making it very disjointed.
Simply blaming colonialism won't cut it but in truth, when you consider it, colonialism is actually a big factor.
Interesting point of view...
Well said @ehiboss.
We Africans know our worth, we know our potential but instead of us using it for the betterment of ourselves and our individual countries, many of us go so far to invest our potentials in Foreign countries..
Indeed, African we need to wake up...
Up until tomorrow, blacks keep seeking acceptance in other nations and forgetting their continent and country. It is amazing how so many blacks are doing excellently well in the area of technology and medicine and research out there but won't bring it back home. Is the slave trade spirit still in us? Where we would prefer to be in another's man land than our home?
Rise up Africa
Rise up Nigeria
I love this argument. It's making guys flip the both sides of the coin. One thing I know is that no one grows by staying in the past. It hurts me when I hear and see what the colonial masters have done.
Well, that has been done. Why keep the dead body and looking at it? We can just bury the past and progress. But that doesn't change the fact that a lot of what is happening in the present can be traced back to what has happened by these people.
I better stop typing right now and just enjoy reading these comments...