African Brothers Are Forever

Haile Selassie (c) Getty Images

Who will unite Africa?

Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia had that dream.
In May 1963, when the Organization of African Unity was formed, the Emperor prayed "May this convention of union last 1,000 years". I am sure he was really looking forward to a day when the African man will realize that brothers are forever.

The late Bob Marley chorused:

Africa unite
'Cause we're moving right out of Babylon
And we're going to our Father's land
How good and how pleasant it would be
Before God and man, yeah
To see the unification of all Africans, yeah
As it's been said already
Let it be done, yeah
We are the children of the Rastaman
Many members of the black race in different parts of the world because their forefathers were sold as slaves from Africa, look to Mother Africa as Zion. They all want to come back and at least see the land of the birth of their ancestors. 

March 8 1964: The New York Times published  these excerpts from an article titled 

"An Emperor Tries to Unite Africa; A generation older than other leaders. a moderate among radicals and Africa's last feudal monarch, Haile Selassie has taken on the task of forging Pan‐African unity"- {African leaders frequently say their peoples demand union. This is probably oratorical overstatement, for African peoples simply do not know each other. Land routes from one country to another are primitive; railroads have been built only to the sea. There is, and has been, little commerce between or among the states of Africa.

Additionally, the boundary lines that divide the continent were not drawn to accommodate tribal or racial groupings or to establish viable economies. but to suit the commercial plans of foreign powers in the 19th century.}

African peoples simply do not know each other.

China Achebe of blessed memory gave this thoughts in the poem title "Beware Soul Brother".

Take care then, mother’s son, lest you become
a dancer disinherited in mid-dance
hanging a lame foot in air like the hen
in a strange unfamiliar compound. Pray
protect this patrimony to which
you must return when the song
is finished and the dancers disperse;
remember also your children
for they in their time will want
a place for their feet when
they come of age and the dance
of the future is born for them.

We watch helplessly as brothers kill brothers in Nigeria. Brothers killing brothers presently in South Africa. There is a dearth of leadership in today's Africa. May one arise that will bring to pass the dreams of our heroes past. 

Today I am in tears I read and watch and notice the torpor that characterizes the xenophobic violence in South Africa. 


I decided to visit the African store today and buy palm nuts from Ghana, pepper from Cameroon and Banga spice from Nigeria. As I watch the mixture simmer, I do pray and hope that in our lifetime, that a movement will arise that will cause African peoples to truly know each other as brothers indeed. 


 Editor, RealRelationships Magazine

                https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/08/archives/an-emperor-tries-to-unite-africa-a-generation-older-than-other.html

I read a post by Sonnie Badu PhD and I shook my head. Just imagine how a fellow African brother thinks. While many are going at great lengths to foster unity, my brother with Phd is posting what a reader described as disgusting. No words to describe this. Prof Achebe says "Beware Soul Brother"
"Beware Soul Brother- Take care then, mother’s son, lest you become a dancer disinherited in mid-dance hanging a lame foot in air like the hen in a strange unfamiliar compound."