Make February 28 a national heroes day

It is February 28th again and Ghana is going to celebrate the Christianborg Crossroad shooting of 1948. Wreaths will be laid and flags raised at the Freedom Monument in Osu in honor of the three ex-servicemen who were killed. Special prayers will be said for the love, dedication and the service the three soldiers rendered the country and peace and stability in Ghana and the world. Relatives of the heroes, Ministers of State, Parliamentarians as well as other important dignitaries will grace the occasion. Impressive parades will be mounted by detachment from the Army, Air Force, Navy, Police and the veteran soldiers. Mention will be made about the occasion and the soldiers and we will go home until next year to repeat the same program.

The modern day child or student does not learn from the seemingly “boring” occasional ceremonies. It is time to institute a well define program such as a “Heroes Day” that will be dedicated solely for studying the contributions of the great ancestors of Ghanaian and Africa. It is said that a nation that does not honor her heroes is not worth dying for and remembrance should go beyond wreath laying and raising flags. It should be composed of the real discussion and study of the works of these heroes.

We have talked about Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey for some time now and luckily for us we have a day dedicated to remember them. But please, let us making the day more meaningful by declaring it a National Heroes Day or Ghanaian History Day (to borrow the name from the African-American History Month). The aim is for us to remember important people and events in our history as well. The primary emphasis should be placed on encouraging the coordinated teaching of the history of Ghana and Africa in the nation’s public schools.

If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated. Look at the American Indian of today, their past has been forgotten because they did not keep records and their traditions are virtually gone; and where are they today? The Hebrew keenly appreciated the value of tradition, half of which were borrowed from their ancestry in Northern Africa as is attested by the Bible itself. In spite of worldwide persecution, he is a great factor in our civilization.

African history is the oldest human history in the World. From Ancient Monomatapa empire to Nubia, Egypt, Ghana, Mali, Songhai, modern day Ghana and present leaders (alive as well as those in transition), our history and heroes have shaped Africa and world history. We have people who did their duties in their respective communities in the context of their time. The Heroes Day should be dedicated to honor and study their noble deeds and give the youth heroes to emulate and continue their legacy.

If we don’t know our history, we will not know where we are coming from, where we are now and where we are going. It condemns us to repeating the mistakes of the past. Heroes often play a prominent role in narratives of remembering the past, because they condense history in persona and make history adaptable to the individual members of the memorial community. They offer themselves especially for the iconographic condensation of a (hi)story to be told; their counterfeits can be printed on placards, T-Shirts and in the consciousness of the youth. It opens our eyes to where and how we are as a people.

In our quest for technical education, history is being pushed aside by teachers who are being forced to teach to the test on issues of math and science. As a result most of the youth have lost their bearing as to the essence of the black man in world affairs. On occasions when history is thought, it is about prominent white men or the white man’s history of Africa. It is said that if the game (animal) fails to tell its story, the narrative of the hunting will always glorify the hunter. No victors have ever written a good story about the vanquished and we don’t expect the white slave master to tell a good story about heroics of our people who fought against slavery. Take the instance of David Livingstone who was a missionary who came to East Africa. He toured the whole sub-region and named the great lake after his Queen Victoria. After many years without hearing from him, the Queen sent Stanley to go and search for him because he was lost. When Livingstone went home, he told the British that Africans were cannibals. But he lived among these African alone for many years and the Africans did not eat him. He had to say it because that was what his audience wanted to hear and despite our many years of hospitality to him, he betrayed us for his selfish fame. Our history is important and should not be left as the White man’s story. We have to tell it ourselves and teach our children the true story. We need the true history of the black man and the Ghanaian, not the white man’s story of us. We have to study it on our own and seek it out on our own. I want the freedom of "you can be and do anything" to shout loud. I want the beauty to be black and the respect of blackness and being Ghanaian to ring.

The teaching of Ghanaian history and the role of our great ancestors in our present day situation is essential to ensure the physical and intellectual survival of the Ghanaian within the broader world society. It is a source of example to follow and according to Professor Manu Ampim, “it establishes the human capacity, potentials, and possibilities”. How will it feel if we got to know that Black people created the pyramids, established the first laws and peaceful societies, organized religion and actually invented the concept of one supreme God. How will it feel if we got to know that Black people created mathematics and advanced medical procedures, etc. The Arabs who are occupying the present day Egypt have no idea how those structures and inventions were made. There is only one awareness from these questions and that is so if we were that capable, what are we doing wrong. How do we reorganize ourselves in the fashion of our great ancestors? The moment the youth start asking questions, society begins to progress.

There are millions of Ghanaian great ancestors to study and emulate. There are great chiefs and warriors who fought so we inherit this land and defended us against slavery. There are great intellectual who fought for independence from colonialism. There are great ancestors who led our migrations to the present day Ghana. There are great ancestors who did wonderful things in Nubia, Egypt, Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Mosi, Ashanti, Dogamba, Ewe, Ga etc. kingdoms. The lives of these Ghanaians are worthy of celebration and further study. They each brought different elements of perfection in our society. Unlike them, we have the joy of hindsight and the better world they created for us to reflect on. They are remembered best by emulating the best aspects of their character, and their resistance. They lived and died to give us a better platform to speak about our misfortune as well as our victories. Consciousness demands that we reflect on their contribution and build on their legacy to bring about a new African future.

On Heroes Day, we will for once talk about OUR OWN HEROES and momentarily stop talking about Abraham and Joseph, King George and Queen Victoria, Abraham Lincoln and Budha. We will talk about Osei Tutu, Queen Nzinga, Mansa Kankan Musa, Kwame Nkrumah, Sergeant Adjetey, Tetteh Quarshie, Jerry John Rawlings, the great black Pharaohs of Egypt etc. There is no shortage of heroes to occupy us and rekindle our minds’ fire. The whites and Jews have numerous songs, poem and movies about their ancestors. They have been so successful in ingraining in the consciousness of their future generations that even we in other parts of the world name ourselves after their heroes. My first name is George after some British King who enslaved my ancestors in the first place.

As at now, we are a people who have lost hope. We have even reached a point where we question our own humanity. We look down upon ourselves and are caught in inferiority complexes. But we are children of Kings and heroes. We are the children of Amen that is why they call us Kwame. We are the children of the Rastaman. We are eagles and should stretch our wings and fly. We are not the poultry chicken that we have made ourselves to be.

SO PLEASE, in the name of God Almighty and for the sake of our own sanity and future, let the youth know they also have heroes they can live up to. Give them the opportunity to learn about these great ancestors instead of the boring march passes and flag raising. PLEASE!

Kwame Yeboah

gyeboah@harding.edu.