It is the convenient seed of cognitive dissonance that solidifies the oppressors’ ideas among his own people. We deserve good things but not they. We deserve justice but not they. Our cultures must live on, but not theirs. The constant installation of propaganda on mass populations that leads to the enabling of the extermination of the people they term as ‘enemies’.
When the colonizers touched the land on our coasts, we had heard of them through the visions of our seers, who foretold the monstrous actions they would enact on the beds of our ancestral lands. They said that these mysterious people were white with red hands…the colour of blood. Nevertheless, in our naivety we welcomed them to our homeland, to our own detriment of course. They desecrated our land, lay waste to our customs and reinforced the narrative that the people of Africa were backward animals who did not know what was best for themselves. All lies; to serve their own selfish needs and justify the carnage they caused on the continent.
Now we find ourselves fighting against an entirely different yet familiar oppressor, they look like us, talk like us, they know how to work their slithery hands through the fabric of our society and they know how to wring us dry of the very essence of our being. They loot ,they steal, they plunder then leave us with nothing … they suck us dry and when asked to account for their riches, they attribute it to some mysterious so called ‘private business’ that has eluded the minds of the common mwananchi.
It’s no mystery, these are the proceeds of looting, each shilling is a brick pulled off of the foundation of our country …and now our house is quite literally crumbling. We know very clearly who the enemies of our progress are. The destruction of our society is a consequence of their sickening greed. The big question is whether we are willing to fight tirelessly for what is right…are we willing to be relentless? Do we have what it takes to free our nation from the claws of tyranny, imperialism and neocolonialism ?
The progression of society is marked by the trials overcome by every generation. I find myself thinking lately, what our future will look like. I think of our struggle and what could be, what could’ve been and what will be. These what if’s plague my mind, like the haunting notes of a fading old tune.
“Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song… ”
Whatif by Shel Silverstein
Though I am unsure of what the passing moments of time hold for us, I know very clearly and certainly that we should continuously and consistently challenge the status quo and question the reality that we are thrust into. If we remain passive in our suffering, we will lose ourselves to the turbulent waves of oppressive leadership. The ship that is our great country will sink into the depths of history, and we will turn into a lesson on how docility is the perfect breeding ground for the destruction of nations. We must remain angry, and we must never forget the pain that has been caused by these holders of office. They are not our leaders…they are a cancer to the body that is our society.