Does African Man Love Himself?

By Hakeem Babalola

Being in a deep study of the African man would expose him. It seems he hates himself. No, he does not hate himself but he does not want to be himself. He likes to copy other types of men. He has completely forgotten that the only way for him to command respect is to be himself; to find a course of plan suitable for him and his environment.

When a man voluntarily throws away his culture, language, religion, and ways of thinking, he is actually burying himself in a fad that will likely hound him to his grave. When a man surreptitiously believes the aggressive propaganda of other men that labels him a third class fellow, then he is implicitly placing his children’s children in a sky-high tomb.

One of the worst thing that could happen to a man is to watch other men rape his daughter or mother or wife or sister. When that happens and such a man laughs it off, then he has only cowardly postponed the date of his death. And then he dies every day afterwards. When he is on his knees begging those who have stolen his properties and raped his mother, he is invariably saying I am unworthy and I am at your mercy.

The African man likes building castle in the air. He derives pleasure in building a house without foundation. He enjoys being treated with excessive indulgence, making him believe the world has been invented for his entertainment. He naively believes others while he passionately mistrusts himself. He is ever ready to follow other men’s perspective of life at the expense of his own.

Other men have been using their low but beguiling voices into making the African man abandon his self. After the partition, his religion, language, lifestyle, and even ways of thinking were taken from him. When other men told him that his religion was evil, he echoed evil and abandoned it. They accused him of being too masculine and he accepted femininity. He has blasphemed his own religion and now the gods are angry with him.

Where and who should he run to? He is confused. And he does not know himself anymore. He could neither go forward nor backward. He is stagnant. So he is ready to accept anything including femininity as defined by other men. See what they have turned the African man to. They have inspired and helped him split on himself. Hum, their enslavement has always been a solace to him like a prayer.

Is the African man cheating himself? Because he often collaborates with his deceiver to steal from himself. He goes all about using Africa’s name in vain. Sometimes he hides under cultural promotion and, or helping African poor children whereas he’s only satisfying his inordinate ambition and that of his deceiver. And he does this with impunity and deadly ignorance. When will he come to his senses? When will he know that every step he takes in this direction annihilates his type; even himself?

Most of the time, the African man thinks he is very smart and thus helps other men to mock his roots. He shows them the smooth and blistering pace to go about it. He provides them with the necessary logistics in order to increase the suffering of Africa. The African man is ready to sell his brother and sister for mere porridge. And then he complains of not making any progress!

When African man shuns the curable leaf in his garden and pays a fortune for other men’s leaf, he is willingly saying his own medicine or herb is quite inferior. When he siphons his people’s money to other land, he is telling the whole world that he is a perfect idiot. When he traffics his own people to other land for money, he is saying that he is as useless as those he traffics. But he is too greedy and violently involved to understand.

What should he do? Let him sit himself down. He needs to meditate. He needs to look in retrospect and highlights where things have gone wrong. He must go back to his own gods and repent. He must resist the temptation of serving other gods. The African man must start afresh. Let him teach his offspring the culture, language, religion and social life of his ancestors.

For African man to live in this new world order, he must believe in himself. He must design a way of life suitable for his type. For instance, if democrazy is being practiced in other land, he may want to find the system that best describe him and his environment. Even if other men are going forward, he may want to go backward. The point is not to be like them since he can never. This is the only way other men would respect him. Let him endeavour to think independently.

It is also important for him to know that he would remain the scorn of other men if he continues to borrow money or asks for favour of any kind. Let the African man go back to his roots. Let him read his history. Let him discover Kwame Nkrumah. Let him listen to Bob Marley and Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Let him want to be.

African man needs penitential through arduous journey to holy places to seek forgiveness for his sins, and he should not do it by proxy. Let him go on a journey barefoot. He is to pray, fast, and to give alms to the needy. Most especially he must remain chaste during this peregrination. This isn’t a punishment in a way since confession plays a more important part in people’s spiritual lives, as they turn inward to assess the state of their souls.

It can also serve as a luminous experience, which takes him to the margin of a new reality. When he comes back he shall be on a higher level. As he goes along, he must take pen and paper. He must write in capital letters, and swear before gods:

HENCEFORTH, I SHALL STOP DECEIVING MESELF. FROM NOW ON I SHALL STOP COPYING OTHER MEN. NOW I KNOW ONLY MESELF CAN BUILD AFRICA. NO OTHER MAN WILL BUILD IT FOR ME. TIME TO BE. TO BEEEEEEEEE.

Author’s note: The african man in this article is a parody of African leaders with the exception of Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere and a few others. Come to think of it, why should Africans need visa to go to other African countries?

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