Oh Cry the Beloved Africa, You Glitter Like Gold But;
· Ravaged by systematic and endemic poverty but for the elite
· Bed ridden by systematic and endemic corruption
· Cursed by systematic and endemic hatred and rivalry
· Doomed by the tragedy of war, bloodshed and refugee camps
· Held hostage by systematic and endemic greed of the elite
· Strangled by systematic and endemic intellectual dishonesty among the elite
· Hoodwinked by a wishy –washy totalitarian and tyrannical political systems whitewashed with democratic overtones and clichés
· Hypnotized by a systematic and endemic false interpretation of the gospel of freedom and salvation by the church except some few cases like South Africa
· Deprived by a sense of moral consciousness and conscience of accountability
Where is God and what can theology do to help Africa? Where are your moral values? Who is to blame? Certainly not God or the Colonial Masters!What type of Foreign policy will you need for the 21st century that will help to salvage you from these problems? May be a proactive, consistent and coherent foreign policies from your Western Partners whom you claim they are responsible for your plight! How can there be peace in the midst of all these systematic and endemic negative forces?
Wake up from slumber and look up at the burning candle. A perfect response could come from Western missionaries and diplomats whom God has created and put into this world to work in his vineyard as instrument for freedom, liberty, justice, peace and happiness! The elite in Africa must stop shifting the blames elsewhere and stop manipulation, lying, capital flight and dictatorship. We must say know to civil wars and misery in Africa. We have had enough of it in the 20th century, Oh Cry the Beloved Africa.
Oh Cry the beloved Africa, you look so b-e-a-u-t-i-ful and appear to be endowed with rich human and natural resources and yet you are so poor! How come? You smile and treat your guests with so much compassion, warm and welcome and yet you hate yourselves! You fight and kill yourselves with guns, cutlasses, matchets and spears .Why do you blame someone else for your problems? What have you done to prove that you would be better off if you were not colonized and left alone? I thought you asked for independence in the early sixties? What has happened since then with your independence? Are you stuck in dictatorship and greed? Why do you lie that you are poor nations? You live in affluence and how can you say that you are a poor nation? Do you mean poor and subjugated communities or Poor Rich people?
Oh, cry the beloved Africa, you have produced nothing but hatred and violent leaders who incite you to fight and kill yourselves while the flee abroad with their families and friends living us behind to gnash our teeth in refugee camps. What if we stop and reflect over our common destiny? Africa, you have come to America and some of you keep away from Africa! How can an African keep away from an African? Can’t we talk and listen to each other?
We have a common destiny and a common cause ,and how can we just run away from each other like that? Oh Cry the Beloved Africa, don’t we owe each other a moral duty to explore our common heritage and identity and rise to the occasion? Tell me something different about who I am because this is the 21st century. Can I hear some kind words of inspiration and encouragement to testify that we can talk, walk together and eat together without being torn apart by our prejudice, fear, anger and wars?
Oh Cry the beloved Africa, suffocating under the shackles of a victim mentality myth called neo-colonialism and brained washed by the craft of the elite for their greedy desires, whitewashed by a false concept of salvation echoed by the hypocritical and shallow voices from the pulpit. Where is the Good Samaritan? Who is my neighbor because Africa lives in fear and suspicion with everyone? Let me dare invite Africans and African friends to reflect and meditate about who we are and where we must go from here?
I was not asked to be born an African-African or African- American or African- European but I know that I was not born for nothing. We must not go like this forever. Let us stop and hold our hands together and look into the eyes of each other and dance in a productive circle of unity, justice, freedom, liberty, peace and pursuit of our happiness. I can become an American or European but I cannot become an African again. I am already an African. It is fate. I must embrace it and celebrate it by generating a new thinking and passion for life. T
ake up your ostritch heads from the sand and look up at the burning candle. You are the burning candle, arise, shine and leave the world better than the mess you have inherited. Oh Beautiful Africa, turn over a new page and love one another by celebrating your rich ethnic and tribal heritage as a people with a shared sense of purpose and meaning for the commonwealth.
