EVERY nation has its own point of REFERENCE to its history; for example, Germany holds 1848 as the time when Germans showed zeal for uniting various German states, the USA holds 1861 as their sign of unity, and the French hold 1787 as the year when French people rediscovered themselves, and the list goes on.
But which is the year we Africans hold in HIGH ESTEEM? How have we CATEGORIZED our HISTORY? For a long time, African history has been categorized into PRE-COLONIAL, COLONIAL, and POST-COLONIAL, to which most of us feel COMFORTABLE. But which nation has its history directed by INVASION and HUMILIATION?
This then lays my FIRM belief that mostly in Africa, we have MISINFORMED our history, glorifying colonization since it's the one we use to GROUP our history. Colonization is nothing more than just an OCCURRENCE in our LONG HISTORY and hence can never be used to CATEGORIZE our history. Germans have beheld 4 republics guided by the Germans themselves, the French have beheld several republics in which they were their own architects, so why do we accept our history to be ARCHITECTURED by other people for us?
SHAME on all who believe African history can be categorized into such DEGRADING OCCURRENCES. African history should be viewed in two occurrences PRE-MAY 1963 and POST-MAY 1963. It is from these two historic moments that the present Africa has been SHAPED. 1963 marked a TURNING POINT in the history of Africans.
A lot can be said about PRE-1963, but what remains DOMINANT is Africans' complete belief that their GREATNESS and STRENGTH can ONLY be SHOWN through a UNITED NATION. That's why slowly they united to form big EMPIRES which were later split up by European-created boundaries aiming to INHIBIT that strong nation from EMERGING.
In 1963, those great injustices done to Africans and dreams harbored by Africans were put to the TEST in May 1963 when the 32 heads of state met. But also, this year clearly showed how global forces have tried to MANIPULATE and HINDER the African dream of unity from being achieved by creating and sponsoring DISCORD among African leaders, hence inhibiting Africans' wish for their united nation. From the Addis Ababa meeting, BORDERS were upheld, and UNITY POSTPONED.
POST-1963, Africans have been REDUCED to citizens of politically SUB-independent European colonies, as still, the borders imposed upon Africans INHIBIT interactions between Africans of different regions. This Africa still is being PLAGUED with internal wars, secession movements, economic enslavement, resource exploitation, youth unemployment, and frustrations.
Does this mean that generations of Africans have given up on their ancestors' dreams? The NEED for a UNITED AFRICA still remains within every African, and it is more URGENT now than ever. But now, with the RIGHT COMPASS to guide African history, this dream will ALIGN itself, and we shall ACHIEVE it.
