By Olakunle Agboola – Recently I have been engrossed in looking holistically into the problems facing Africa and black communities all over the world and how they can be solved. I had to call friends, academic scholars, psychologists, historians, researchers, and erudite professors just to get to the foundation of Africa’s woes, political upheavals, subjugations, and ravishing poverty in many African states.
The root of the problem is believed to have started many years ago. It was attested that for over 400 years, more than 15 million men, women, and children were the victims of the tragic transatlantic slave trade, which was one of the darkest chapters in human history. This is the root cause of having many people of African descent all over the world including Brazil with an estimated population of 55.9 million, the United States of America with 46.4 million, Haiti – with 10.1 million, the Dominican Republic –with 9.2 million, and Colombia with an estimated population of 4.9 million.
The adverse effect of the Slave Trade
The unpleasant outcome of the slave trade was very huge for Africans and African states. The victims of the slave trade were maltreated as products in the new world, and most of them were not able to get back to their homes. This is the major reason why we have many black communities, which cut across, America, and Europe.
The Atlantic slave trade benefitted slave owners in Europe and America. It had much more negative impacts on the black people taken as slaves and on the continent of Africa. The violation of human rights and the horrendous damage to the African nations in terms of economic, cultural, and social outcomes cannot be quantified and easily forgotten.
Retired Professor Olatunde Adeleke had spent most of his time researching and writing academic journals on the psychological effect of the slave trade on black communities across the world. I had a better understanding of the ‘subject matter’ in a round table discussion with him in London recently.
“My heart bleeds each time I think through the slave trade. It is the greatest crime committed against humanity. Many lives were lost, and many destinies were crippled. Africa’s slave trade is in two parts and many times we see it only from the perspectives of African countries most especially, West Africa and East Africa which lost able and agile personalities to Europe and America. But what about the people who were forcefully taken out of Africa as slaves and who today have become African Americans, Caribbeans or British Africans?
Just imagine a grown-up man, who knows nothing about his root, tribe, or culture and is given a white man’s name. Sometimes we do not understand what many people of African descent are going through while the root cause is the psychological effect of the slave trade, the mental trauma, depression, and the continuous experience of being a second-class citizen being passed from one generation to another. Children ask a lot of questions about why they not treated like the white folks.
There is structural and systematic racism in America and Europe. This is a reality for many people of African descent and this is having many psychological impact on them, especially when they hear what the white folks are saying to them, “we know you can’t go back to Africa and this place has now become your secondary home. But this is our country and not yours. We will design the system to ensure you remain, second-class citizens, while we take the lead. We are still your master and we are better than you.’’
“Systemic and structural racism are forms of racism that are pervasively and deeply embedded in systems, laws, written or unwritten policies, and entrenched practices and beliefs that produce, condone, and perpetuate widespread unfair treatment and oppression of people of color.”
Most Africans are inherently Selfish
Listening to Professor Olatunde, I had a lot of thoughts running through my mind. Like the popular saying that there is no smoke without fire. Africa in history has been practicing the slave trade before the advent of the transatlantic slave trade, subjecting indigenous Africans like them to servitude.
When the trans-Saharan slave trade, Indian Ocean slave trade, and Atlantic slave trade (which started in the 16th century) began, many of the pre-existing local African slave systems began supplying captives for slave markets outside Africa. Slavery was a part of the economic structure of African societies for many centuries.
Today many Africans haven’t stopped recalling the slave trade and sometimes play the racist card. But could the slave trade have been successful or possible without indigenous Africans being part of it? Professor Olatunde believes that many people of African descent in all totality should have it at the back of their minds that their forefathers were part of those who sold them into slavery.
“I have said in many places that most Africans have intrinsic nature of selfishness that needs to be dealt with. It is more of orderly arranging the private world and without it, African States will remain the same. For obvious reasons, it is over 400 years of post-Slave Trade, and you ask if anything has changed about Africans. We are still the same set of people who sold our able men into slavery just to make money. Malcolm X says, “give a black man two dollars, he will sell his generation”. We are just greedy, self-centered, and short-sighted people. This is the major reason why white folks feel they are better than us.
See how ignoramus we are to destroy Congo, Somalia, and Libya. Just look at what has become of Cameroun, Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia. Nigeria could have been the nucleus or the power house of Africa but see how corruption, nepotism, selfishness, and poor leadership have destroyed this magnificent country.
The Europeans could not have been able to independently enter the West and Central African interior to capture Africans and force them onto ships to the Americas. European traders relied on a network of African rulers and traders to capture and bring enslaved Africans from various coastal and interior regions to slave castles on the West and Central African coasts.
Today, it has not changed. It is still the same. The same European leaders are still feeding fat on the network of many African rulers who care less about the development of African States. They will rather steal fortunes from their states, send their children abroad, buy expensive houses, and pile up money digging the floor. Colossal waste of resources has left many innocent citizens in dismal poverty. Tell me if that is not selfishness or wickedness ’’
The Way Forward
Africans repeatedly demand an “honest dialogue or debate about race.” But how can there ever be an honest dialogue about race between blacks and whites when there is virtually no honest dialogue between blacks and blacks? Africans need a national consensus of thinking and looking into the mirror and seeing themselves.
There might be a need to go beyond self and support one another in choosing the right leaders who will put Africa first. But there must be a conscious effort to help many Africans to think tangentially. The revolution of the mind might be the first step in the right direction to win the battle of selfishness, greed, and wickedness ravaging many great minds.
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