THE PRIDE OF BEING AFRICAN: REAFFIRMING THE TRUE AFRICAN IMAGE AND IDENTITY

INTRODUCTION:
Africa is a vast continent with a history equally diverse, interesting and immensely rich. Its vastness is easily noticed in the organization of the activities of her numerous people. Africa was the birthplace of the human species between five and eight million years ago, as archeologists and scientists have recently proven. The African people speak myriads of languages, practice hundreds of different religions, live in a variety of environments and engage in a wide range of economic activities. Unfortunately, this beautiful part of the African continent has been mellowed and watered down by sentimental ideologies, most of which are directed at debasing the African and devaluing his dignity. Over the centuries people from different parts of the world and especially the western world have mocked and robbed the “African soil” of its heritage, values, image and identity. Some believed and thought that Africans (black race) are incapable of reasoning.  And this has not only stigmatized the African man, but have most times compelled him to even think and believe that he is really inferior to his European counterpart.

DEFINING THE AFRICAN IDENTITY AND PERSONALITY TODAY
Who is an African? The question of who is an African is not just that of identity but also that of existence. This is to say that Africans and non-Africans both exist. In our contemporary times, we have to accept that identities and terminologies do change as circumstances change: before now there has never been such a thing as a historical African identity. As time passed on and with greater interaction with non-Africans: Arabs and later Europeans, this sense or necessity of an Africa identity started to take root, especially in the diaspora. The idea of ‘Blackness,’ however is a term imposed at the moment of conquest by the colonial oppressors, not by Africans themselves. ‘The people of Africa’ is more than a name, it is connected to indigenous rights and issues of sovereignty. The concept of Africans and skin color are not verifications of each other. Simply put, Africans are the natural people of Africa: The hair, the diverse skin, is all specific adaptations to living in the African landscape. ‘African’ refers exclusively to the historical people of Africa as well as their descendants in the Diaspora. The historian Alik Shahadah unfortunately notes that the most distinctive feature of this African identity, beyond relative or subjective similarities, is the history of global race-based oppression of the whites.’ The concept ‘Black,’ or ‘Blackness,’ tells you how you look without telling you who you are, whereas Africa, or Africana, relates you to land, history, and culture.
A cursory glance at the ideas which have so far been expressed in the relation to the concept of African personality, such as the idea of Negritude, such as the idea of Negritude, Ujamaa, etc, shows that they were all originally meant to liberate and restore values of African personality as well as call for the unity and oneness of the entire black race. They reveal the African mind, and for the first time, the African man is able to express his personality through asking fundamental questions about the significance of human life and experience in the universe. Notably too, one must note that the ideas of African personality were articulated by Africans in Diaspora, who living amidst several other cultures and people were naturally instigated to define their uniqueness. African personality characterizes the African’s human life and experience. In other terms, African personality is at the root of the universe authentic presence in the universe and the goal of African’s life and action is to promote African personality. There is thus today, an invitation to the blacks to critically examine their origins or cultural heritage.

THE AFRICAN MAN’S BURDEN
The racial discrimination of the blacks dates back to the Berlin conference of 1885, when colonialism was given an official face. There was from this era onward, the domination of the black nations by the colonial masters, who had during the conference, partitioned African countries amongst themselves. European countries became “masters” of everything in Africa which was of no value. African nations were subjected to foreign domination and exploitation. The reigning governments at that period were forcefully seized from African rulers by the new rulers and self-appointed masters and those who tried to resist were ruthlessly killed. Having taken charge of the African nations, the colonial masters began to humiliate, to rule and to exploit them. They began to move to their countries, everything they found in Africa which was of any value, and thus in the opinion of Walter Rodney paved way for the underdevelopment of Africa.

ARROGANCE OF EURO-CENTRISM
Ethnocentrism generally presupposes a practice of using one’s own culture as standard or measure for assessing other people’s habit and culture, with the presumption or belief that one’s culture is superior to all others. Xenocentrism on the other hand is the direct opposite of ethnocentrism. It describes the natural tendencies of an individual to place disproportionate worth upon the values and beliefs of one’s own culture relative to others. It is a belief that one’s culture is inferior to the other culture. A classical instance of Ethnocentrism is found in what has been identified in various quarters as the ‘Arrogance of Euro-centrism:’ a scenario where European whites imposed their cultures, and particularly the blacks to emulate and put into practice. This was matched by a corresponding xenocentrism on the part of most black cultures, who learnt to disregard their heritage, and rather uphold the European way of life. This tendency has influenced greatly most of the cultures and traditions of African continent, annulling the otherwise characteristic patriotism, communism, unity and solidarity, known to be integral part of traditional African societies. It’s unfortunate that Nigeria as a country is a victim of this menace, a peril that has continued up to this very day. For instance, most Nigerians today do not patronize their home-made or locally produced goods. Such goods are considered as sub-standard (Aba made). They prefer foreign goods, which are seen as ‘original’ and qualitative. The wealthy people in Nigeria today are good examples of this reality. They live comfortable and luxurious lives, driving exotic and very expensive cars. They parade themselves around cities like demigods making every other person around feel intimidated. This situation has made many Africans and especially Nigerians abandon their most cherished ideologies, values, doctrines, lifestyles, language, food, culture, dressing, dance, religion as well as mentality to take up the supposed superior way of life of the white man. Lucky Dube in one of his classical music reiterated on the racial discrimination by the whites on the blacks when he observed that; “once we were judged by the colour of our skins, but now we are judged by the colour of flesh.” One also remembers the deed of Martin Luther King Jr., a human right activist who worked tirelessly for equality and to liberate the negative image and identity of the black race in Diaspora.

THE WAY FORWARD
The human person is naturally egoistic and his attitude towards life and others is one of egocentrism, pride and nepotism. Racism prevails in the society only when the individuals of that society in question believe that their race is superior to another. This mentality of the white has been the reason of an African history of slavery, colonialism and even the major reason behind African’s underdevelopment in present times. As a way forward, we must first of all understand and concede to the devastating consequences of racism and tribalism and be ready to explain them to other people for awareness and understanding. We must avoid nurturing feelings of sentiments towards others’ cultures especially those from different races. The African man must rise to the challenges of definition: defining his personality. Africans must learn to express their “Africanness” with pride, avoiding the two extremes of ethnocentrism and xenocentrism, learning to love is of outmost importance; by love we are able to respect and tolerate other people’s culture, beliefs, values, customs and norms as well as be willing to share the political/economic power and resources with all people. The African must also learn to forgive those of other races or tribes who have hurt us or people of other race or tribe.

Furthermore, the African man and people must learn to identify with people especially those from different race. Learning how much people of different racial backgrounds have in common could be a veritable pathway to peace, mutual understanding and mutual coexistence. Conclusively, it must be noted that despite the tribal, color, racial, religious and cultural differences, one indispensable reality humanity remains, which is common to all races. Another indispensable fact is human existence. As was observed by John Donne, ‘no man is an island,’ Humans must of necessity live and experience life in the midst of other humans, and the earlier discriminative attitudes and sentiments are shunned, the better for modern man, who must not only live with people of his exact kind and race.