Why Do I love West Africa/Africans and Particularly Ghana?
I often say that I would have still loved Africa/Africans (or particularly West Africa/Africans) even if I had not been of direct West African descent and I do/would have for a reason. Africans are not only the ORIGINAL PEOPLE that were created by God, but also they are the ONLY PEOPLE that were TRULY created in the image of God. ADAM was a Black man. Everyone else is essentially a carbon copy. Africans exhume originality, from their phenotype (hair texture, facial structures) or the way they dance, to the way they express themselves and their physicality, MY GOD, what a PEOPLE!
I wrote an article titled “THE ORIGINAL MAN” that appropriately describes the Black man as the DISENFRANCHISED FATHER OF HUMANITY for a similar purpose.
Africans and their direct descendants, particularly those in that diaspora who left Africa as slaves or otherwise have contributed so much to the Euro-centric and Post-Colonialism World intellectually, artistically and scientifically, YET they rarely feel like they belong on territories that are currently or formerly-run by Europeans BECAUSE far too often they are treated like SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS if not even THIRD-CLASS CITIZENS only because of their dominant and highly distinguishable culture and phenotype. YET, despite being disenfranchised the SPICES/WAYS OF AFRICA permeate every aspect of a Euro-centric World to the point where one has to wonder HOW BORING would the World have been without AFRICANS and their descendants.
GHANA
There are a lot of countries that I find interesting in West Africa (and not just the French speaking ones, smiling), particularly, BENIN, NIGERIA, SENEGAL, BURKINA FASO and of course, GHANA. But, why GHANA one may ask?
Ghana is the first sub-Saharan African country to shake off colonial rule 58 years ago and has become the destination of choice of DIASPORANS LIKE ME that are looking for a SPIRITUAL HOME and an ANCESTRAL CONNECTION to AFRICA. Ghana also has many direct nostalgic connections to Blacks and Slavery outside of Africa.
“Right of Abode” Law in Ghana
In 2000, Ghana passed a law on the “Right of Abode” , which allows a person of African-descent to APPLY and be GRANTED the right to STAY IN GHANA INDEFINITELY… WOW… HOW WELCOMING DID THAT FEEL TO ME?
I have always envisioned living on lots of land in Africa with a two-fold life… (I) One as a SCIENTIST; and (II) the other as a farmer with lots of land to cultivate and various types of ANIMALS. The thought never left me since I was a child. And one day, while I was in Medical School, a movie was being played while I was lying in bed, which was about no other place BUT GHANA…
I saw the people dance, talk, and learned about their formidable leader KWAME NKRUMAH, who was a VERY WELL EDUCATED MAN, and said to myself, one day I want to live PART OF MY LIFE IN GHANA and return to the land of my ancestors to INNOVATE and share love and knowledge. From that point on, I have been getting more and more affirmation about GHANA and I realized that EVEN THOUGH my ancestors left AFRICA as Slaves and ended up on PLANTATIONS in HISPANIOLA (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic), my SOUL belongs at least partly in WEST AFRICA.
Upon arriving in Chicago, I started watching West African communicate and from afar, I often thought that they were speaking my native language only because of their mannerisms and all. And the most AMAZING THING is that, THEY ALWAYS GUESS that I am from WEST AFRICA or tell me that I remind them of someone from Ghana or Nigeria and always ask me if I am from GHANA or NIGERIA and greet me like they greet the natives. And YUP, just like that I started to identify myself NOT AS A HAITIAN, but rather as a WEST AFRICAN (which makes sense, because it is truly my root based on my native country’s history). Siblings will have rivalries, but I believe that West Africans are the most interesting people on Earth (smile).
REALITY
Modernly, there are around 200 million people in the Americas that identify themselves as of African descent and according to the United Nations, Millions more people of African descent live in other parts of the World, outside of the African continent and IN MOST CASES THEY EXPERIENCE RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION for the aforementioned reasoned, YET, just like in Brazil, the AFRICAN culture continues to dominate all aspects of what makes life TRULY ENJOYABLE. It appears to me that Whites feel that they have to disenfranchise Black culture as to prevent it from dominating theirs and the best way to STRATEGICALLY DEMONIZE/NEGATE everything Black on the surface, and enjoy those very things in private or COVERTLY.
UN RESOLUTION
The UN recognizes that out of the Millions of African people that live out of Africa, most of them have experienced racism, discrimination and disenfranchisement from Euro-centric entities and others. The latter is self-evident in most cases to which one visits EXCEPT in AFRICA and particularly GHANA because that is the ONLY PLACE that is truly the home of Africans.
Accordingly, the US GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaimed the years of 2015 to 2024 as “THE INTERNATIONAL DECADE FOR THE PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT”, to be marked annually on March 25.
In a nutshell, IF YOU ARE BLACK and FEEL LIKE YOU DON’T BELONG ANYWHERE OUT OF AFRICA, RETURN TO AFRICA AND STAY THERE AT LEAST SEASONALLY AND INVEST THERE AND YOU WILL LIVE A LONGER and MORE LIFE BECAUSE OF IT!
However, if you opt to not to go to Africa, I’d recommend countries like CURACAO or BRAZIL and both Afro-centricity and Euro-centricity must co-exist because of historical reasons.
I don’t need to tell you where I will spend A GREAT DEAL OF MY RETIREMENT YEARS which will be WAY SOONER THAN MOST OPT TO RETIRE.
WEST AFRICA… Ready or not, HERE I COME… The WATER returns to its SOURCE and from there it WILL CHANGE THE WORLD…
By the way, NO BLACKS should ever desert the Euro-Centric World entirely because that World was built on their BACK-BONE and they have suffered and invested so much intellectual and social equity in it and deserve just as much RETURN ON THEIR INVESTMENT as WHITE DO wherever WHITES ARE WEALTHY and PROSPEROUS. However, Blacks need to return to Africa and feel their ancestral souls and feel genuinely desired and accepted, UNLESS a BLACK person is an OREO (Black on the outside and White on the inside), but sooner or later he'll be reminded that HE IS STILL A NIGG** (as I accentuated in an article a year or so ago) LOL
IN A RUSH!
Dr. Pete Lorinsis the Chief Editor of LorinsPOST.com. This article was sponsored by www.StrategicOnes.com