Opinions of Thursday, 18 June 2020

Columnist: Kwame Ayipe

George Floyd's murder: A case for African awakening

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In the words of the immortal Malcom X, "The day that the black man takes an uncompromising step and realises that he's within his rights, when his own freedom is jeopardised, to use any means necessary to bring about his freedom or put a halt to that injustice, I don't think he will be by himself".

Malcolm X's words perfectly encapsulate the state of Africans in America today.

Strolling through my Twitter feed this past week, I happened to chance upon GEORGE FLOYD, a name that kept appearing on my Twitter feed. The information about it was not clear, they say curiosity kills the cat, but curiosity rewarded the proverbial cat with a big meat, that is information about George Floyd's not so surprising murder.

It was not surprising to me because from the very onset of the white man in Africa, my people have been killed beyond count and have gone unscathed, and this continues to happen to this day. And as usual there is riot, a demonstration which fizzles out and things return to normal; Police brutality against blacks.

From Antwon Rose, Michael Brown, Ezell Ford, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott to Erica Garner who uttered the now famous words as George Floyd, 'I CAN'T BREATH', there have been numerous riots against the killings but it still persists.

In the quietness of my room, I asked myself, What is the solution to this problem of my people being constantly killed in another man's land?

Marcus Garvey's plan of Africans in the diaspora came to mind, but I thought of what if the Africans on the African continent unite and become a powerful continent, one that would stand up for the rights of it's citizens everywhere, as Chinese became respected by whites when they became powerful.

I have always wondered why Africans would not focus on developing Africa and finally realize that the white man never has our interest at heart over theirs, and this is evident throughout African history.

The assassination of Patrice Lumumba by the Belgians in Congo, assassination of Gaddafi, the so-called abolishment of slavery in America, colonisation of African countries, IMF and World Bank loan conditionalities, the list can go on and on.

To cut the chase and be specific, it is only Africans who can make their life better.

Demonstrating against the white man in his own country and yet no real changes are seen should be an eye-opener for us but we shouldn't put our hopes that a change will occur because no matter the burning we do oppression will still continue.

Let's not forget the contribution of blacks to the civil war in America and after it were still oppressed, let's not forget Martin Luther Kings civil rights movement, yet Africans are still killed and no real change takes place. Sometimes these police officers go unscathed.

All I want is for my African brothers and sisters to realise that is time we awaken as a people, it's time we unite, it's time we made Africa for Africans, for we can never be truly free in our oppressors land, and we can never be free when those home also yield to the same oppressor.

George Floyd's murder is the white man telling us to get off his land.

It should be a point for us to rise a people.

AFRICA MUST UNITE

#AFRICA MUST AWAKEN.