By Zik Gbemre
Have you ever wondered if there is something wrong with the Black race? This question comes to mind when we consider the fact that for centuries, the Black race has not been able to fully and truly live out its full potentials as a people. It has always been ‘them’ against ‘us’- in the advancement of the Black race.
It is as if something happened to the Black race which brought about its fall and current deplorable state globally. But we are not looking at that here right now. While we do not wish to bore you with history, however, there was a time when the Black race ruled across the world. As a matter of fact, historical accounts reveal that the first occupants of Egypt and Ethiopia were Blacks. But conquest upon conquest, including that of Alexander the Great, brought about its ruin. And the white man, having the knowledge of writing and keeping records, practically rewrote the history of the Black race dating as far back as the days of Noah and the Arch, which is from where all human race and tribe evolved from. Many have argued that this was done to substantiate their propaganda of ‘white-supremacy’ and as the people who brought about civilization to the world. Just like the red-Indians, who were the first occupants of the place now known as America, were decimated, and are hardly heard of today, that was how the real occupants of Egypt were dealt with. Yes, there were primitive societies in Africa, but they had their own level of civilization back then, though the degree of that civilization differs from one place to another.
The first greatest inventions were by the Hamites, even though modern history has not given justification to the work they did. This was explained by Arthur Custance in his book Noah’s Three Sons. In his book, Slavery in History, Gurowski writes, “Architects, artists, merchants, mechanics, operatives, sailors, agriculturists, and shepherds of ancient Egypt were undoubtedly of Negro stock” (meaning Blackmen). Other writers like Thomas Sowell, John W. Weatherwax, etc. substantiated these facts in their books. Volume 18 of The History of Nations says this of Africa, “The African continent is no recent discovery; it is not a new world like America or Australia. While yet Europe was the home of wandering Barbarians, one of the most wonderful civilizations on record had begun to work out its destiny on the banks of the Nile,” which is in Africa. Upon return from his voyage to Syria and Egypt, C. F. Volney said: “And this race of Blacks who nowadays are slaves and the objects of our scorn, is the very one to which we owe our arts, our sciences and even the use of spoken word,…” The Bible’s account of the first high rise building was the Tower of Babel, which was initiated by a Black man, Nimrod, a Cushite, another word for Ethiopia. The great pyramids of Egypt were built by the first dynasty of Pharoahs, precisely the 18th dynasty, and they were all Blacks. The fosils, wall paintings, arts and other materials found in these pyramids (some of which were stolen, hidden and distorted by white archeologists), are proof of these facts. The problem with the Black race was that they do not keep records of their history, and even what was left of their history were re-written by the Western worlds to portray white supremacy. That is why even till today, the major global media like portraying more of the backwardness and things wrong in Africa than anything good. It is this agenda of white supremacy that gave birth to Apartheid, slavery, racism and all forms of attributes that are degrading the black race.
Regardless of all these researchable facts, THE GREATEST DANGER TO THE BLACK MAN IS NOT THE WHITE MAN. THE GREATEST DANGER TO THE BLACK MAN IS THE BLACK MAN, and his intrinsic desire for glory where he has not worked. That is why the issues of tribalism, ethnicity, nepotism and what have you, have always been a problem with the black people, especially those in Africa. And one of the factors that drives this is sheer Greed, and gross lack of love for one another as blacks. This disunity amongst the black race, regardless of the continent they are, is the major reason why we have not been able to get ahead of others we are far more endowed than, in the areas of civilization, development, and advancement.
So, with the world protest against racism, about “Black lives matter”, all as result of the death of George Floyd and others like him that were killed by US white police officers, there is also the need for the black people, be they in Africa or anywhere else, to address the intrinsic problem they have as a race, when compared to others.
According to recent article by social commentator, Reno Omokiri, while lending his voice on the George Floyd and the Black Race issue, he noted what he called “The Greatest Love of All.” In his words: “God created diversity. It is Satan that created racism. How do I know? The first-time racism occurred in Scripture (“Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married”-Numbers 12:1), God punished the racists. Many people have asked why I am yet to comment on the George Floyd case, and the truth is that I am not as concerned about Blue on Black killings as I am about Black on Black killings. For every Black man killed by a White cop, there are over 20 Black people murdered by their fellow Blacks. The death of George Floyd is a tragedy. Officer Chauvin AND HIS CREW must be charged as a lesson. But the Black race must learn our own lesson. Protests are good. But destroying infrastructure in Black neighborhoods doesn’t help George get justice!
“Many Africans who have never travelled out of Africa are sadly unaware of the tragedy of Black disunity. They are shocked when they first get to London or New York and expect the Blacks they meet there to embrace them, only to be scorned! When I first became a resident in America at age 9, the only people who ever called me ‘African butty scratcher’ or who told me to go back to Africa, were my fellow Blacks. I lived in Albany, California, which was very White in the 80s. Not once did I experience that from Whites! We Black people have to start loving ourselves. Then and only then will we be valued. To a large extent, we don’t love or even like ourselves. If a Black African goes to Europe or America, too often, it is Whites in those countries who are friendlier to him than his or her fellow Blacks. I remember when I first went to school in England, I was stuck in the underground. Naturally, I was drawn to asking other Blacks like me. Not one of my fellow Blacks even listened to me. The first White man I asked entered the tube with me and took me to my school. Look at the knife crimes in London. Who is killing who? Look at the murders in Chicago. Who is killing who? Even look at the abortion rate per race. Who is killing their unborn children? These are uncomfortable conversations Blacks should have.
“Right there in America, many East Coast Blacks don’t like West Coast Blacks. And many Blacks on both American coasts don’t like African Blacks. Caribbean Blacks don’t like African Blacks. How then can we expect others to like us if we don’t like ourselves? We cannot behave as if #BlackLivesMatter only when a White person does the killing. If Black lives matter, it should matter above board. It should matter when Blacks kill Blacks and when Blacks hate Blacks and when Blacks discriminate against Blacks. We Blacks are very reactionary to racism, and we should reject it. But do we love ourselves? In South Africa (SA), did we love ourselves? How many Black people died at the hands of fellow Blacks in SA? We must reject racism amongst ourselves first.
“In Africa, many of our well-known comedians have made tasteless jokes about dark-skinned Blacks like Lupita Nyongo. In America, Blacks sororities and fraternities reject fellow Blacks if they can’t pass The Brown Paper Bag Test. Simone Biles became the most decorated American gymnast. While the world was celebrating her, we Blacks were denigrating her (Google it) for refusing to ‘fix’ her hair (chemically straighten it to make it less nappy). We seriously have our issues.
“In Nigeria, we have a President who favours his own Fulani tribe above other Nigerians. A man who killed 347 Shiite men, women, children and infants. What the White police did to George Floyd is not up to what Fulani herdsmen are doing to Nigerians. If a White President says ‘constituents that gave me 97% cannot be treated same with constituencies that gave me 5%’ and then goes on to exclude Blacks, there would be an uproar. But it is happening in Nigeria. And we accept it!
“Recently, some young persons have been killed by the police in Nigeria. Ditto for Kenya and South Africa. Where was this George Floyd level rage? Or is it okay for Black police officers to kill Blacks and not okay for White police? Isn’t that racist? In Nigeria, a Governor’s son (Nasir El-Rufai), labelled a whole ethnic group and called an Igbo mother a bed jumper that he would pass around to his friends. Tueh went the sound. Many of those raging over George Floyd defended him. A significant challenge with the Black Race is that every Black person wants to be Black when a White person kills or is racist to another Black person. But few of us are Black enough to be Black when a Black person kills or is racist/tribalistic to another Black. Right now, there is an episodic massacre ongoing in Southern Kaduna. Black herdsmen are killing Black pastoralists. If I put up the pictures on social media, Twitter and Facebook may ban my account. We should care about George Floyd. We should also care about Southern Kaduna.
“In Southern Kaduna, you see the frontlines of Nigeria’s ethnic and religious divide. A young man, Bello Shagari, put up a tweet saying (inaccurately) that the Southern Kaduna Massacre is a hoax because someone told him. I responded by listing 3 Northern Muslim journalists who confirmed that the massacre is real. It has not escaped my notice that Bello is of the same ethnicity of those suspected of being the perpetrator of the killings. And we want to settle the George Floyd matter when we have not settled our genocidal hatred of each other. I have lost track of how many times Nigerians and Kenyans, or Ghanaians and Ivorians or Northern Cameroonians and Southern Cameroonian have trended on social media because of their international beefs. We do not like ourselves, and we expect others to like us, and when they don’t, we shout racism. Have we forgotten Whitney Houston’s song, The Greatest Love of All (originally by George Benson)?
“Let us be truthful to ourselves. THE BLACK RACE HAS NOT YET FOUND THIS GREATEST LOVE OF ALL. THE JEWS HAVE FOUND IT. THE ARABS EXUDE IT. CAUCASIANS HAVE IT. THE ASIATIC RACES HAVE IT. LATIN AMERICA HAS IT TO AN EXTENT. HOWEVER, WE, THE BLACK PEOPLE, DO NOT YET HAVE THIS LOVE. AND UNTIL WE DO, WE WILL NEVER TRULY FULFIL OUR POTENTIAL. We will keep on investing in arms to kill ourselves when we should be developing farms to feed ourselves. The worst is that we do not even take responsibility. It is the White man’s fault. It is the Arab. It is our climate. It is… No. It is our fault. And it is our duty to find a solution! And until we find a solution, there will be many more George Floyds in America and many more Southern Kaduna Massacres. If it were not so sad, I would have found it amusing that those Nigerians who are rightly calling for the trial of the cop responsible for killing George Floyd are not angry that Buratai, who allegedly masterminded the killings of 347 Shiite men, women, children and infants, was not punished for his crimes. Rather, he was promoted.
“I urge Nigerians and other Africans to do locally what they expect others to do globally. Only then will we have the moral authority to condemn incidences like George Floyd’s killing.”
These are hard truths that we all must embrace as a people, and ask ourselves some soul-searching questions. The black race is their own worst enemy. We really do not have that love and unity amongst us as a race, to thrive above others. And that is why other races, which include the Western Whites and the Asians, will continue to enslave us and do whatever they like against us as a people. I still remember my personal encounters with Black African Americans and the Black African Caribbean some years ago. And from my own observation, they do not like the black Africans from the African continent. In one of my trips with my family, I had an encounter with one Black African Caribbean, who made me trash an empty school bag of my little daughter, as she insisted that it was an extra luggage. Despite the fact that I opened the said school bag for her to see that it was empty, she held her ground, and was quite hostile and unhospitable towards us. Even when my little daughter then, cried because I trashed her school bag, the said black African Caribbean was not moved. Luckily for us, I was able to buy the same bag in a duty free shop. No white person will do that. The black African Americans, or British or Caribbean whites, are just hostile to our own fellow black Africans. They get angry when they see us, and they do not hide their disgust. Though, few of them are good, but majority of them do not want to set eyes on Black Africans from Africa Continent.
Zik Gbemre.
June 11, 2020
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes as if Those Were Our Causes
