Special Message To The African Youth On AU Day

African Pride

By Honourable Saka

"We have

the blessing of the wealth of our vast resources, the power of our talents and

the potentialities of our people. Let us grasp now the opportunities before us

and meet the challenge to our survival. " Address to the National

Assembly -Kwame Nkrumah, 26 March 1965.

Fellow Africans,

today as we celebrate 50 years of the Organisation of African Unity (now called

the African Union), l have a special message for the African youth. To the

youth I say first of all, be proud of your African heritage and cherish your

African identity. We need to constantly remind ourselves that the African way

of life is beautify. We have a beautiful culture, glittering from the most enviable

continent in world.

Our beautiful

culture can be found in the quality of our indigenous food, our music, our

dance, our fashion among others. Therefore the African youth must begin to see

themselves as the most blessed people on the planet earth. For this reason, let

us all say NO to any attempt to divide the African people at any time.

Let us UNITE and

move Africa forward together, with the understanding that we are one African people

with a common destiny. AFRICA IS OUR ONLY TRUE HOME and we got to do our best

to make it the best place for our children. For this reason, hard work,

positive self-esteem, confidence, pride (not to be confused with arrogance), and

selflessness should be our hallmark. We the youth need to decolonize our minds

and begin to accept the Africa’s current challenges as our opportunity to

transform the continent for the future generation.

Across other

parts of the world, young ones are working hard to put the development of their

countries as their ultimate priorities. It is time for us in Africa to show

such patriotic spirit. From this day, we the African youth must accept the fact

that we are leaders and we ought to take the destiny of Africa into our own

hands without waiting for any help to come from the East nor the West.

Today when I interact

with many young Africans on the internet, I foresee a new generation young

leaders who believe that something ought to be done in order to change the

status quo. I commend the works of the many young African entrepreneurs who

have in one way or the other contributed massively to create jobs that are helping

in the fight against youth unemployment. For these efforts, whenever I look

into the future of the continent, I see a continent booming with a lot of

opportunities.

However, the

road to the promise land is not going to be smooth. As hard as we may try to put

the interest Africa first on the agenda, there is definitely going to be a lot

of distractions, confusions and manipulations coming from all aspects. In spite

of this, we the youth must not allow ourselves to be manipulated by any of

these circumstances. Today, the media still remains the most powerful weapon in

the world. The entertainment industry is waging a war against the African race.

From scenes in moves, video clips, foreign fashion among others, attempts are

being made to confuse the African youth to shun their African identity

altogether and embrace alien culture.

Our movie industry is trying hard

to portray the black woman as the most confused woman on earth. From bleaching

cosmetics to indecent exposure, unnecessary sex scenes on our TVs among others,

the minds of our African women are being programmed to see themselves as nothing

more than sex objects. From Brazilian hair to Chinese hair, Peruvian hair was

how it started. Today we have pig hair, dog hair, horse hair, goat hair blonde

hair, brunette hair everywhere. All these have been the result of media

influence designed to confuse the minds of the young ones As a result,

our own natural hairstyles have

gone.

Sadly, the young

men have not been spared either. They are seen wearing dog chains everywhere.

Violent, barbaric and crime

scenes have become the new standard for movies that air on our TVs. As far as I

am concerned, there is nothing African about these. Indeed the war against the

African race is getting more serious and it is time the youth realise that the

challenges confronting us today are far too many for us to be distracted by external

influences.

I am therefore

calling on the African youth to open their eyes and see through the “clouds”. It

is time to go back to our roots and realise the real beauty of Africa. For we

all have a collective responsibility to ensure that the African pride which our

forefathers shared with us today is duly preserved for the future generation.

As I write this,

I'm sinking in the water of hope that Africa will be united and totally

independent from mental slavery sooner or later.

Because today,

many of the African children are still wondering: when will we stop crying

?when will we be free forever ? Oh mother Africa, you will shine one day sooner

or later.

On this special

day, I challenge the African youth to be proud of Africa and boldly show off

their African pride. We must resist any attempt which seeks to confuse the

minds of the young ones to feel inferior about their African identity.

While urging the

African youth to remain focus and passionate about Africa on this great

occasion, I also urge the entertainment industry to make every effort to

promote the beauty of African culture to the outside world. The era of Africa’s

inferiority complex must end.

Above all, let

us all unite and contribute significantly to the development of Africa. Just as

Nkrumah put it: the masses of the people of Africa are still crying for unity

than ever.

Long live Africa

Long live the African

diaspora.

Honourable

Saka

The writer is a Pan-African analyst, anti-corruption

crusader and the coordinator for the Project Pan-Africa. He can be reached on

E-mail: honourablesaka@yahoo.co.uk