The missing link: Self Identity

To millions of young Africans on the continent, when we talk about America, it is the thought of that utopian world, where every hope of an ideal life exist, that that comes to mind. This fact is attributable to the picture depicted by African-American celebrities such as Tupac, Puff Daddy, 50 Cents, Michael Jackson, you name them. These people, despite the lives they live, are in fact the epitome of a demoralized people of African decent.

Can you imagine some one born of black African parentage, denouncing his colour for a colour he would never realistically assume? This is the the case of Michael Jackson. Take a close look at the case of some body like 50-Cents, whose sense of superiority is based on how many people (as a matter of fact, black people) he shot at with a gun. The story is almost similar for a host of others. This, unfortunately, is how the world looks at anything black; be it in the US, in Africa, or anywhere. And unfortunately still, this is the trend that continues to captivate the minds of young Africans on the continent and beyond.

It will however be a fatal mistake for any reasonable thinker to hold on to a view as myopic as that which subscribes to such a believe, as the thought is, apparently, as disturbing to the affected black community as it is to us outside the US. At least so we were made to believe when we received about 27 African-American visitors from the college in the states name after the first high profile Martyr of Civil Rights in USA, Medgar Evers.

Their concern, like many of us, is the slow but painful death of a sense of self identity among a substantial number of black the African-American community. This is what they are indeed keen on restoring. These Homecomers vehemently dispel all suggestions that these bunch of African celebrities represent the realities about the African world in the US. “What do we see?” asked one of them. “It is only black fighting against black and black killing blacks.”

There was the undeniable feeling of self reproach among our dear guests, on the failure to turn this bleak situation round. And, as usual, the mainly white establishment wouldn’t be spared for such. But the blame was unmistakably categorically laid on the approach.

‘No retreat, no surrender’, is the catch phrase. The only way out, according to our guests, is to instill ‘the missing link’. And that is ‘self identity.’