ninehillsRAMBLE in the JUNGLE
Africa
By Wanaku Verdzekov · · Africa & the Gulf of Guinea
Tags: africa, naming, indigenous-justice
The term "Africa" does not mean what people who live on the motherland think it means.
This is one of those "intellectual" problems where the so-called masses do not seem to grasp the substance of the situation. Where does the term "Africa" come from? I wonder if schools on the continent teach things like that to the children born there.
Anyway, to get to the point: if you are black, dark-skinned, brown, chocolate, etc., and think you can walk into any country on the continent and be welcomed with flowers, milk and honey, you are in for a surprise. Just as you cannot walk into any tribal community and start sleeping with the chief's wives or the women of the tribe without some formality (or protocol).
What I am saying is that before the Europeans brought their system of policing communities with batons, guns and prisons, some of our tribal communities already had systems for dealing with these same issues. The question now is: what happened to those systems? Would the indigenous communities of the continent have given it the same name, "Africa"? Maybe not.
As long as we do not know more about ourselves than people from outside the continent do, we will be on the receiving end of injustice. And that is not a prophecy. It is happening. Right now, it is.
— Wanaku Verdzekov
Reading & grammar
Reading level: Gr 9–11
Understand
- What question does the author ask about the name "Africa"?
- What did some tribal communities have before European policing?
- Why does the author say knowing ourselves protects us from injustice?
Grammar focus: present perfect vs past simple. "Has never been" (present perfect) links the past to now; "happened" (past simple) refers to a finished time. The author asks: "What happened to those systems?"
Try it: Write two sentences about your country's history, one in present perfect and one in past simple. Explain the difference.
Discuss: Research where the name "Africa" may come from. Should names given by outsiders be kept or replaced?