This archive report was first published on 15 June 2020.
Published on June 15, 2020, by Jenerali Ulimwengu, Chairman of Raia Mwema newspaper and an advocate of the High Court in Dar es Salaam.
As I watched the video of George Floyd's brutal murder, I couldn't help but think of the countless Africans who were forcibly taken from their homes and sold into slavery. The same forces that have ravaged our existence and raped our collective conscience were on full display in that video.
But why has Africa been absent from the conversation surrounding Floyd's death? Is it because we have been beaten into an unthinking wilderness of individuals, unable to summon the simple wisdom that requires us to lessen our weakness by maximising our solidarity?
Our diplomacy has been reduced to a pedestrian level, far removed from the grand ideals of Julius Nyerere. We have lost the sensibility to recognise injustices and call them out when they are meted out to our brethren and sisteren.
As a result, we are incapable of summoning the requisite anger and outrage when we see the same injustices committed against ourselves. It is such brutalisation that takes away our humanity, erodes our dignity, and crushes our civility.
Malcolm X once berated African-Americans for denying their African origins, and asked them: 'You ask what did I leave in Africa? I tell you, you left your mind in Africa, or something to that effect.'
Conversely, what would tell anyone who is asking what he has to do with those black men and women in America? My answer would be: 'Those people who you sold into slavery took a portion of your mind with them to America.'
