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| Author: PRINCE FODAY |
Racism, slavery and hegemony are at the centre of human existence and its volatility is continuing to create conflicts. The issues may be felt as critical to discuss and a trigger of such deliberation is like trying to take a hot cake. However, no matter how hot the cake may be, the end result is to find a way of taking it tactically for consumption or purpose. Some may eat a cake without having knowledge of its ingredient. It is this weak knowledge on the concept that leads to derogatory understanding. The Chambers Concise Dictionary defines racism, slavery and hegemony as follows:
Racism is the descendants of a common ancestor, those who inherit a common set of characteristics, such as a set of descendants, narrower than a species, a breed, ancestry, lineage, stock, class or group, hatred, rivalry or bad feeling between races, believe in the inherent superiority of some race over another’s, discriminatory treatment based on such believe.
Slavery refers to a person kept as property, a person submissive under domination, a person who is submissive devoted to another, a person whose will has lost power of resistance, a remote control.
Hegemony means leadership, preponderant influence, one of state over others.
A view of the explanations from the dictionary will give us a pre-knowledge into the concept. However, can this be a necessary and sufficient knowledge on the issues? What mankind needs is a further dissection of the issues, so as to provide a clear understanding of the explosive packages. There are members of the human race that are using the tools of racism, slavery and hegemony to create an irrelevant social line. Are we not all equal before God? How can we continue to make differences when we all have the same mechanisms? We are all born in this world, live for couple of years (whether long or medium or short terms) and our end result is death. No human being is better than the other, regardless of colour, ethnicity, regional orientation, continental, national, leadership and worldly acquisitions. Our point of equilibrium is that, we are all human beings and hailed from the first creation of God, that is Adam and Eve.
Racism
A race is simply linked to colour differences like blacks or whites. The concept of racism does not end at colour but embraces every discriminatory feature, ranging from colour, ethnicity, regional, religion, education, economic and all that are creating a social line. Racism exhibits a divide among human beings and can generate conflicts. Many conflicts and hatred in society can be identified with racism. The ongoing human clashes as a result of racism are costing lives and reducing national income from productive human beings. Someone told me at a Baobab tree (social gathering) that," he wants to change his colour from white to black". Those that heard the comment at the gathering laughed, but from my view, there was sense in the social dynamics. The late Michael Jackson might have changed his complexion to show the world that colour is nothing to trigger a conflict, though there may be an alternative opinion. Looking at Africa, one could see where a tribe perceives the other as different, thereby disregarding the national and global identity. An ethnic group may feel better than the other(s). Most of those educated are conceiving the idea of a better position than those not within the circle of elites. Most educated and fortunate to be part of the governance in Africa are creating a social gap, one of the by-products of racism. These by-products of racism still continue as a result of greed and social dominance. In the United Kingdom, I can see evidences and happen to be a victim many times. The first scenario was when a teenager expressed a monkey action to me. The other was in a social gathering by an adult. I took both circumstances as ignorance on the part of the racist. In my home town in Sierra Leone, we have both white and black monkeys. The adult’s behaviour was ignored from a legal perspective that he was drunk. However, there is a saying that, “it is what is in the heart when there is no wine in the head that comes out when wine is in the head”. From a legal understanding, there are actions from a drunkard and minor (those below 18 years) that are not legally enforceable. The subsequent racist acts were within an institution. However, would the acts warrant me to make money by suing the culprits? No! I knew the level of understanding of the offenders and took them under the group that desires reformation, and yet to see the true light of social coherence. One of the factors of the racist actions is from the misunderstanding of the Bible on Genesis 9: 25 (where Noah is quoted as saying: “cursed is Canaan. Let him become the lowest slave to his brothers”). The other factors are hinged from PEST (political, economic, social and technology) power and the issue of the slave trade.
Slavery
The word slavery triggers the issue of slave trade. Slavery generally means an unreasonable behaviour by the advantaged person over another or an exploitation of human services. The unreasonable behaviour is dispensed through inhuman treatment. Human exploitation can be as a result of unreasonable reward for services. The slave trade is definitely a bitter experience to think about. It is good that the issue of slavery is being put behind us, though there are still pockets of a neo-slavery (a new form of slavery) around the world. Slavery was not only evident around the history of slavery, but all over the world, and Africa is no exception. When I look at the society I hailed from (that is Sierra Leone), I saw and still continue to see inhuman treatment and unreasonable reward for services. In the case of the Diamond area of Tongo Field, kenema District, Sierra Leone, West Africa, miners were ill-treated and not properly compensated for services. There were situations when those miners suspected of stealing diamonds from their employers were subject to severe beating and mal-treatments. The mal-treatment and unreasonable reward for services are common with both public and private sector institutions. For the case of Sierra Leone, is it not a form of slavery for the past National Diamond Mining Company and Sierra Rutile Limited to contaminate streams supposed to be meant for drinking and generating income in the community with acid, the company living on 24 hours electricity whilst the community lives in blackout, and comprehensively a weak social obligation? The issue of the neo-slavery was recently uncovered in the Great Britain (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/modern-day-slavery--mira-s-story-172506301.html#S8quShZ) and more are yet to be unveiled in other parts of the world.
Hegemony
Hegemony promotes social line or delineate between people. It breeds the concept of a person or group feeling better than the other. One of the sources of hegemony is through leadership. The other can be developed from the inculcation of the concept of slavery, racism and military power. However, having an edge over another person or group of people should not warrant the concept of feeling better than the other or group. A Leader, from management perspective, is one that instructs those governing and motivates (or encourage) them. A boss instructs those governing but does not motivate. Motivation can be financial and non-financial. People are not only motivated by financial rewards for services, but there are other issues (like human relations) that needs to be met to complete the chain. Yes, the world is tailor-made in such a way that people are bound to have an edge or hegemony over others, but this should in no way generate a social line. All human beings are equal before the Supreme Being. It is this parity that should be held, regardless of one’s national, local and institutional position. There are lots of cases in society where people, due to their academic or professional credentials, feel better than those not within the circle of skills. Such aggressive hegemony was experienced in the Gambia when a Gambian medical doctor invited his driver to join them to eat in the same bowl. The Sierra Leonean medical doctor was upset by the invitation. In traditional settings in most part of Africa, the elders will have lion’s share of the food than the others. There are instances of some people stoning the mentally disordered. The vulnerable members of society are in most cases an outlet of ridicule. It is disheartening to see those in a better position suppressing or ridiculing members of society that are in appalling situation. How there can those having an edge in society use their position to amass the bulk of the national cake instead of creating a fair spread for the benefit of all? The common norm in Africa is that those having the edge in governance are using their positions to suppress press freedom, are never properly transparent and accountable, and running public sector outlets as their personal property. There is also an incidence of the Syrian government using its military might to suppress opposition from its people.
Conclusion
The issue of colour is irrelevant, as all human beings belong to the same species (that is Homosapiens). Differences between human beings are as a result of hereditary and the influence of environment. For example, those born in the Great Britain are bound to develop an accent of someone feeling cold. Those born in temperate zones, like Africa, are bound to develop a mild pronunciation. There is the likelihood for someone to be born white in an intensively cold temperature, say the Great Britain. On the other hand, there is a strong probability of someone to be born black in an environment of mainly hot temperature, say Africa. The environment that a person causatively lives has a great influence on one’s complexion. A friend told me, "he lost his skin texture in the Gambia due to the largely hot weather condition and that he is experiencing an improvement now that he is in the Great Britain". Each human being appears to be different, yet still, we all have fundamental similarities. Although we have differences in colour or economy and many more, our equilibrium point is that we are part of the global family, and in addition, we are all human beings with the same internal functionalities. The issue of colour, that is generating racist views, is the creative art of God in designing the same functionary into different forms. To clarify the views held by some of our white brethren or otherwise that is leading to the discriminatory attitude toward blacks, the piece that follows can be helpful:
Reading the Genesis 9: 25 carefully; it says nothing about skin colour. The curse was because Ham’s son Canaan had evidently performed some shocking act deserving a curse. But who were Canaan’s descendants? Not blacks, but lighter-skinned peoples living to the east of Mediterranean Sea. Because of their deprived practices, demonist rites, idolatry, and child sacrifice, they came under divine judgement, and God gave Israel the land occupied by the Canaanites (Genesis 10: 15-19). Not all the Canaanite were destroyed, some were put at forced labour, in fulfilment of the cursed (Joshua 17:13). From which of Noah’s Offspring did the blacks descend? “The Sons of Cush (another of Ham’s Sons) were Seba and Havilah and sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca”.(Genesis 10: 6,7). Later Biblical references to Cush are usually equivalent to Ethiopia. Seba is later used when referring to another people in the Eastern part of Africa and evidently close to Ethiopia- Isaac 43: 3, foot note in the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures reference edition (source: The Book of Genesis).
The practice of slavery was evident in all continents and not only the historical explanation around the issues. In-fact, there is a neo-slavery existing in all the continents of the world. Slavery is perceived to be finished, but this is not the case, as a bird eye view around nations will show that there are still traits of unfair and inhuman treatments of the labour force. What we need now is to identify the perpetrators and take up actions to avert the ongoing inhuman acts.
It is imperative that communities, institutions and nations have to run through leadership or governance, but what should not be accepted are an unfair treatment and the dispensation of the culture of a better human than those leading or governing. The resources of the community and nation belong to all, and there is the need for a fair distribution of the wealth. Those in leadership or governance should not use their hegemonic position to exploit or repress their community or nation. The recommended leadership or governance needed by communities and nations are those that are down-to-earth, promoting fairness, open to criticisms, embark on activities meant to achieve objectives and creating the environment where all stakeholders are reasonably satisfied.
Looking at the global society, there are three categories of people (that is the socially reformed, non-socially reformed and the undecided). Those that are socially reformed are law abiding, do not create social line out of the issues of race, slavery and hegemony, and promotes permanent sound relationship with mankind. The non-socially reformed do not conform to the laws of the land, creates social line out of the issues of race, slavery and hegemony, and in perpetual conflict with mankind. The undecided group are the “scratchy type” and oscillates in-between the socially reformed group and non-socially reformed. Regardless of whatever mirror you may see yourself on the issues, it is time for all mankind to be conscious of the modern call of a national, regional, continental and global united family. The time is ripe for all to stop using our wasted energies in creating a social line and concentrate on making a happy world for all. The world we live in is like a candle in the wind and our individual candles are bound to face an inevitable end, so why can’t we embrace ourselves as a family?
PRINCE FODAY
REPORTER, HUMAN RIGHTS
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
PRINCE FODAY
REPORTER, HUMAN RIGHTS
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
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