Alibi wishes to share this with you. That Alibi is on a mission. Enjoy. In a message dated 11/1/2007 7:23:45 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time, cafeafricana1 writes: Idang Alibi on thursday: I agree with Dr Watson(2) (http://dailytrust.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=3962) (http://dailytrust.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3962&pop=1&page=0) (http://dailytrust.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=emailform&id=3962&itemid=99999999) Written by Idang Alibi, ([log in to unmask]); 08036938729 Thursday, 01 November 2007 I was simply overwhelmed by the torrents of positive responses I got to the first part of this two-part series on Dr James Watson’s comment that the Blacks are less intelligent than the Whites. I have never had any experience quite like this since I started writing on this page some five years ago. I received over a hundred phone calls commending me for speaking the mind of the average African man who is genuinely concerned about the way we are. I received over 400 text messages. Even as I was writing this yesterday for today’s publication, the phones never stopped ringing and only one thing was on every caller’s call or text message: "I agree with you completely. Continue to tell us the home truth. That is what we need to hear to be able to grow". I must confess that I am pleasantly surprised because it is completely contrary to what I had expected. It is not what I had dreamt of at all. I was waiting for a storm of very angry reactions from pseudo- intellectuals, and ‘ patriotic’ black men who are usually very touchy when they think the dignity and pride of the black race have been assaulted. I expected that there will be many of such who will accuse me of being a sell-out or a self-hater. We are not a people given to deep introspection. We take things as they come and have an incredible capacity to endure wrong things for so long and not get angry with ourselves or with anybody else with a view to changing things for the better. Readers’ objective, and not necessarily positive, reactions to a writer’s piece, is to the writer what spectators are to a football player on the field. It helps to urge you on even if some do not agree with you. But when, as in this case, every single person who read the piece calls to congratulate you and say some nice things to you, you feel good and want to do more. I wish to announce to all who reached me to say that they too are worried about the unpleasant state of the Blackman that I am immeasurably heartened by their disposition. When a people begin to worry about the unsavoury state of their existence, it is a clear indication that sooner or later, something positive will happen to those people. This is because every revolution begins first in the minds of a people long before the actual revolution comes to take place. The fact that we who ought to have regarded Watson’s testimony about our inferiority as an insult on the basis of pure emotion are saying that what he is saying is a painful truth gives me confidence that our mindset is changing for good. Immediately after most of our African nations achieved their independence, it would have been pure heresy punishable by a fatwa if a white man said we were inferior and a Blackman said he agreed with him. Late Senegalese president and poet Leopold Sedar Senghor and his fellow Negritude poets who loved to romanticise our so-called glorious past would have asked that Watson be roasted alive. It is a good thing that even at that time, our own Wole Soyinka who was not a part of that groovy train of romanticists told the Negritudists that "a tiger does not proclaim his tigritude". He acts. He pounces on his prey. Soyinka’s tigritude jibe is still relevant today for those who are branding Watson as a racist. A man who is said to be inferior does not proclaim that he is not inferior. He acts it. He shows it. That is the challenge facing every African man or woman today. Because last week’s piece struck such a responsive chord as seen from the positive reactions to it, I have now decided to write a book on this subject. When a people begin to admit some honest but painful truths about themselves and their failings the way we have started doing now, that is a cheering indication that they are poised for a positive change. I may not have the gift of prophecy but I can see now that even if the Blackman is suffering a curse, that curse has run its course and he would soon be delivered of every veil that seems to be covering his eyes and every spell that has benumbed him and made him incapable of self-help. Last week, at Alesi in Obubra Local Government of Cross River State, the Katsina-Ala Ogoja-Ikom-Calabar Highway, a major trunk A road that links the North with over 12 states in the South-South and South-East zones of the country was about to cut into two. Maybe as I write, the road may have effectively given way, cutting off the South from the North of our country. A TV crew got to that spot and interviewed some commuters whose cars, lorries and trucks got stuck in the mud of the deep crater on that portion of the road. One man told them in faltering English that there is too much "sufferness’ in this country. In like manner, I want to say that there is too much "sufferness" in being black in this world today. This is because being black means you will live in the rundown part of neighbourhoods even in your own country and have the worst possible deal from your own government and the governments of other countries. Right here in Nigeria, white oil workers in the Niger Delta areas live in quarters that are simply heavens on earth while the natives who share fences with them live in squalor. What sort of life is this? Without even dying, a black man suffers hell or has a foretaste of it while still here on this planet. Too many things are wrong with the black man. Any black man who does not take steps to make heaven has automatically decreed for himself double hell because right now he is in hell. We live in hell-holes called houses and have a hell lot of time with all manner of hellish predators. We must suspend a sense of righteous indignation and really focus on the fate of the black man. We are not pathfinders of any route to anywhere. We are not pacesetters in anything. We are not discoverers of any hidden truths. We are not inventors of any useful tools. We hardly make insightful statements. Our leaders cannot lead. They cannot follow. They do not learn from recent or past history. They do not listen to anybody. They do not lean on anyone for support and wise counsel. They are just like that. We the followers are no better. We do not initiate anything for the world to copy from us. We cannot even copy any worthwhile thing from anybody. If we copy democracy, we will debase and give it an idiotic name called "home-grown democracy". What is that? It is a kind of democracy in which a goat stands for an election, his name is substituted with that of a sheep and after the vote is cast, a dog is declared the winner. It is also the kind in which a candidate who emerged number 14 in his party’s governorship primary is manoeuvred to be number one, the number one is manipulated out of the race, confusion ensues and to get out of the quagmire, a candidate is conjured from nowhere and manipulated to become governor to superintend the affairs of millions of people! Home-grown democracy is pure crap. Democracy is democracy anywhere in the world if you are honest, my friend. It may not be the same as the brand practised in the UK, America or Arabia, but any reasonable man will recognise the spirit and principle of democracy when he sees it. Our home-grown variant of democracy is pure euphemism for thuggery, rigging, violence, manipulation, falsehood, injustice, unfairness and our apparent inability to govern ourselves. Anytime an African country approaches a transition, citizens and foreigners who have business in that country are filled with trepidation. Some citizens living in volatile areas begin to run back to the relative safety of their tribal enclaves. To be concluded next week. ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤