"It is a shame that the glorious past of the black man is not
often told of. Who knew that the black man was once revered, with Homer the
Greek being said to have “placed
blacks at a level as being as blameless as the gods”. Herodotus the Historian was the first European to
comment on the physical appearance of Blacks and described them as “the most handsome of men”, such was the glorious past of the
black man. Sadly, many years later another European philosopher, Emmanuel Kant
made the statement “The Negros
of Africa have received from nature no intelligence that rises above the
foolish”. Unfortunately we have heard
more statements of the like of Emmanuel Kant’s
than we have heard of Homer and Herodotus, Chimamanda Adichie calls such a
phenomenon, “The Danger
of a Single Story”.
(...) As one who lives in Nigeria, I can add my voice to his to
say that there is the problem of a faulted education system here too. People
here rarely see education beyond a means to a certificate with which they would
be considered for scarce job positions. It is a means to more income; it is not
for the wholesome development of the person being educated. This, Ashimolowo
pointed out, stems from the fact that European-educated Africans in the early
days were educated so as to make workers out of them. They needed Africans to
serve in various administrative and domestic capacities of the colonial
government. The new colonial government workers usually lived better than many
of their local contemporaries.
As a result, there was a desire in every parent
to educate his child so that they can get the clerical positions in the
colonial establishments. Unfortunately, that impression has lingered. Little
attention is paid to innovation and creativity. We have graduates in Nigeria
who cannot speak or write correct English. We have graduates of Electric
Engineering who cannot fix the smallest electrical gadget.
We can change things.
As Matthew Ashimolowo concluded, “There is nothing wrong with being black”
[Globally Relevant Solution Providers]
"(...)Il est dommage que le passé glorieux du Noir ne soit pas souvent raconté. Qui aurait su que le Noir était autrefois vénéré, et que le Grec Homère aurait" placé les Noirs à un niveau aussi irréprochable que les dieux "L'historien Hérodote fut le premier Européen à commenter l'apparence physique des Noirs et à les décrire comme" le plus bel homme ", tel était le passé glorieux de l'homme noir. Malheureusement, un autre philosophe européen, Emmanuel Kant a déclaré: "Les indigènes de l'Afrique n'ont reçu de la nature aucune intelligence qui dépasse les folles." Malheureusement, nous avons entendu plus de déclarations du même genre que celles d'Emmanuel Kant à celles d'Homère et d'Hérodote, Chimamanda Adichie appelle un tel phénomène, " Le danger d'une seule histoire ”.
(...) Après avoir lu le livre d’Ashimolowo, «Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas avec le fait d’être noir? on se rendrait compte que l'histoire est comme une marée. Elle se lève et tombe. Mais contrairement à la marée océanique, elle n’est pas produite par l’attraction de la Lune et du Soleil; c'est le résultat des actions et des inactions des gens. Nous, chaque personne de couleur peut apparaître et saisir le courant de nos vies.
Nous pouvons changer les choses.
Comme l'a conclu Matthew Ashimolowo, «il n'y a rien de mal à être noir»
Extraits de * Critique du livre par Joseph Tribe
[Globally Relevant Solution Providers]
