How often don’t we hear the phrase “inferiority complex”? This is often used to refer to the ‘perceived lack of confidence’. I am not trying to define the term. I want to generate or awaken readers view on the issue and how it can shape our lives. There are so many things we as ‘black’ people think we cannot do simply because we are Africans. We also know that all advanced or developed countries are those of the westerners. We therefore tend to COPY EVERYTHING the white men (westerners) do. {I won’t be surprised to see central heating in some Ghanaian homes}. The big question is therefore this: “IS THE WHITE MAN ADVANCED BECAUSE HE IS A SUPERIOR HUMAN BEING TO THE BLACK MAN?
Is there such a thing as ‘black man’s mentality’?
Is that the source and cause of our woeful under development?
Should we define our own development?
Should development necessarily be everything the white man has?
How would we (sub Saharan black Africans) have developed if there hadn’t been colonization?
Has God got a role in the status quo?
Did God give the white man better brain than ours, and why, if so?
The list of questions goes on. One other question I will like to attempt to answer vaguely is: Why did our fore fathers allow the colonizers to colonize us? I chose this one because it seems easy for a layman like me.
We would have done the same because we are still doing it. We have been made to feel inferior and so we are playing catch up copying blindly all that is foreign.
Anybody or thing that makes us feel inferior will dominate us. If the world is surprised one day by an object from out of this world, so huge that it blocks the sunlight. This object or UFO is unaffected by all the nuclear bombs thrown at it.. What will the people of the world do? The whole world will be made to feel inferior and would believe and do what ever the aliens ask of us. In the long term if we are let loose, we would want to learn from them, not necessarily copy them.
When the white man first made contact with our fore fathers all those years ago, they were shocked to see that ‘moving house’ on the water from nowhere. How did the white man come to us and not us going to them first to dominate them? They had ship, the brains to make ship. Why didn’t we? They needed it more than us. Let’s not forget ‘necessity is the mother of all inventions. They had been fighting more than us for years. Their need to protect themselves and overcome their numerous other white enemies led them to build castles, chariots; invent the catapult, the gun, etc. One thing led to another until they developed the ship. All the thinking they did, helped develop their brain. They fought more because they had fewer natural resources in their cold continent than us. We had a lot of natural resources in the warmth and so didn’t need to think too much to survive. So we can only blame, ironically, the abundance of food, wonderful weather and lack of more enemies.
Now they have ‘everything industrial’ (not natural resources of course), and we have ‘nothing industrial’ but abundance of natural resources. Imagine if we have the ‘brains and selflessness ’ on top of the natural resources. Who would match us? They are using their industrial advantage to exploit our natural resources, including the few brains we have: doctors, nurses, computer scientists, etc.
It is never too late to fix the current state of our misfortune. The problem is we are still trying to do the impossible. We are ‘chasing’ them in their ‘abandoned worn out shoe’. We will never catch up with them. As individuals there is very little we can do. We have our politicians to lead us as one. We need directions from them by way of implementation of very simple and commonsense policies that discourage our strong taste of everything western. The constitution has made all political positions a perfect gold mine for the selfish rich who can afford to buy them. With no money, the selfless brilliant Ghanaian politicians have to kiss goodbye to leading their people.
Now we know why we are where we are: What do we do? I am not advocating a ban on all things foreign. That will be foolish. We learn from them, and apply (as opposed to copying) the knowledge so acquired. It should be a gradual process as we develop our own assorted food and drink, footwear and clothing, medicines, etc. We must first change the political system that keeps out the selfless and conscientious politicians.
LONG LIVE GHANA!!!
By P. K. Blankson
