Ogbu Kalu writes:
I wish to make a few comments on Dialogue no 657 that raises the
matter of our dysfunctional ebony kinship. Surely, it is important
to analyze a problem. African frustration with their ebony kins has
many strands especially as the hostility surfaces in the most awkward
circimstances as when Alan Keyes attacked Obama on racial grounds. I
suggest that we seek solutions. Dialogue nos 657 and 661mentioned
some examples of African culpability. It would appear that the whites
are playing divide and rule, using us to attack us. It runs deeper;
we should explore the ways that we, Africans, distrust African
Americans and create suspicion. But my main contribution is to argue
that the fact that the ebony kins now categorise themselves as
African Americans, (herteafter AA)provides us the pathway to build a
healthier relationship. All healthy relationships and conflict
transformation must start from the grassroots; that is, in our work
places, social transanctions, and lifestyles in disapora ( whether we
feel that we are exiles waiting to return home, or as those who have
crossed Jordan and burnt our bridges). I suggest five areas that we
could deploy to strengthen our ebony kinship and cultivate the
African dimension in the African American identity: (i)
intellectual-- we should intentionally create intellectual fora to
discuss the cords that bind. This would involve doing serious
research into African American history and conditions. The new home
in America has definitely reshaped them, created specific conditions
and identity problems. They have to contend with declining visibility
and the loss of gains made during the Civil Rights era. Meanwhile
Latino/as are taking over in many areas. I wonder whether the
critical mass of African scholarship on African American themes has
declined.AAs,on their part, have to engage in much more than safari
scholarship about African conditions. We must always ask the question
whether there are any areas in which both parties could benefit from
the experiences of the other. In open dialogue, stereotypes and fear
might evaporate. African scholars tend to complain that AAs have
absorbed the white anthropological images of Africa/Africans. It
could not be otherwise given the melting pot ideology and education
patterns. Even the children of Africans have demonstrated this. On a
recent trip home, I watched an African child who became visibly
shaken as soon as we landed in what should have been his motherland.
He asked the mother, in typical American directness and assertion of
personal rights, whether she was certain that they were safe and that
she had not endangered his life by her decision to come to "this
place".A summer conference event should take place around this
theme. (ii)cultural and ideological-- the quest for roots among AAs
has a long history of creativity in Africa and opposition from
integrationists. A study of the career of Wilmot Blyden would unearth
his frustrations against the integrationists. He resorted to
labelling them suggestively according to the fairness of their skins.
We must not forget that Ethiopianism as an evocative
ideology started among the AAs and catalyzed and mobilized African
nationalism. It inspired many AAs to assist the training of our
people, many of whom became leaders. At the outbreak of the First
World War, it was rumored in eastern, central and southern Africa
that AAs were coming to rescue their ebony kins. Admittedly, a
combination of a lack of historical consciousness and an enervating
spirit may have robbed contemporary AAs of the sense of black
manifest destiny that McNeal Turner, Delaney, Crummell and others
espoused. White settlers were frightened about these "Ethiopians" and
their influence on indigenous agency. The stirring lecture by Blyden
in Lagos in 1891 entiltled,The Return of the Exiles exemplifies the
environment that I am alluding to. We should work with AA cultural
groups to re-energize this connection. (iii) social--a Dialogue
contribution mentions intermarriage. Unfortunately, this may be the
worst dimension. In many universities in Nigeria, most of the AA
wives deserted their matrimonial homes. Exploitation has
characterized this dimension: visa wives, troop comforters who are
deserted as soon as one graduates,and other varieties that expose
certain moral flaws in us, may have created a bad image for Africans.
The moral tone of our lifestyles deserves open, critical discussions
among us because when one finger touches oil, it has an effect on
all fingers and the international image of the continent.Ethnic and
national associations appear ineffective in the type of social
control model that worked at home. (iv) economic--the criticism on
Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson should be nuanced because both openly
advocated weaving Africa into the economic empowerment project for
blacks.Jackson certainly tried to entice Clinton to looke beyond Asia
in his economic miracle for America. As the style of doing business
in Africa determined the structure, many indigenous leaders used the
opportunity to create avenues for self-enrichment.One military ruler
in a southeastern state was noted for his first qusetion to
prospective investors, where me own? Some American corporate leaders
have continued to show interest in assisting African nations.The
billboard about the glasses supplied by Walgreens apparently left the
impression that the Governor of the state was providing free glasses.
Every effort should be made to connect with AA business men instead
of always dealing with whites. Can you imagine the impact on our
ebony kinship if the recent Nigerian contract with disreputable
Halliburton was given to an AA group? (v) religious--this is the most
prospective area of contact because before the first white missionary
society was formed, AAs were already evangelizing Africa from 1791.
You could read Lamin Sanneh,Abolitionists Abroad (Harvard Univ
Press,1999) and Kalu,African Christianity: an African Story
(University of Pretoria,2005). When mosquitoes decimated white
missionaries they scoured colleges and West Indies for black
evangelists.When I told a group of Presbyterians that the
Presbyterian Church in Nigeria and the Baptist Church in Cameroon
came from Jamaica, they were unhappy with their secretary for
inviting me. Those interested in this area could see, Horace
Russell,The Missionary Outreach of the West Indian Church (Peter
Lang,2000), Nemata Blyden,West Indians in Africa,1808-1880: The
African Diaspora In Reverse (University of Rochester
Press,2000).Recently AA religious history has re-appropriated the
spirituality of slave religion and the roots of black liturgy. Many
churches want to work with African churches.The gospel singer, Ron
Konnelly has been out-doored in Ghana. I heard him sing Yoruba songs
so wonderfully at Jesus House in Chicago. It warmed my heart towards
conflict transformation. There are rich opportunities for healthy
contacts and revitalization of ebony kinship. I suggest that we think
about these and exercise some agency to recover the years that white
locusts have eaten.