Africa, the most blessed of all continents in the world, is the roots/origin of all Negroid on earth. As many of you already know, the colonization of Africa by Europeans, which lasted for nearly five hundred years, consisted primarily of the whole sale exploitation of our natural resources and the removal of both large numbers of human beings and vast amounts of raw materials. This enormous evil was, and continues to be, compounded by the fact that the hallmark of this odious enterprise was that it’s operation required little or no infrastructure. That is why after centuries of suffering, most of Africa was left with what can only be described as a bare skeleton of the apparatus required for economic development and effective administration.
However, as a result of the balkanization of the continent, the Africa of the European colonial expression persists and the resultant chaos and disorders have equally affected Africans in the Diaspora who, as products of European slavery, now find it difficult to trace their roots.
One of the most enduring legacies of European exploitation of Africa has been the forcible removal of millions of Africans. I am convinced that enslavement of our people deprived the continent of so many of it’s young people and consequently placed a very low ceiling on our future development potential for many, many years to come. It is very clear that the future course of African development cannot escape the negative impact of these historical antecedents.
Taking the example of French colonization in Africa, the French who administered their large African possessions as French West Africa and equatorial Africa-2 countries were the same people who divided them into 17 nations at independence. In my personal reflections, I have always thought of the Afro-Americans as the biblical Joseph who was sold into slavery by misguided brothers who professed to be patriots. Joseph was not unduly embittered; he was later to become the rescuer of his people from the poverty and injustices in which they found themselves. The Afro-American commitment of the African cause has proverbial values. That commitment will not be duly realized until they support wholeheartedly and contribute to the development of their brothers and sisters here in Africa. The struggle for the independence of African nations has started by Afro-Americans. I need not go too much into that history, but political independence for a fragmented people has exposed them to worse exploitation.
The Afro-American is strategically placed to help Africa to develop towards a profitable future. This is a fact which must be recognized by all and sundry. I am sure the dream of the immortal Martin Luther King Jr., which is indeed an African dream, will manifest fully and the black man, where ever he finds himself, will be able to hold his head high.
