“A race without authority and power, is a race without respect…we allow the world to adjust itself politically without taking thought for ourselves, we would be lost to the world in another few decades.” These were the words of Marcus Garvey.
In the heyday of Garvey, he campaigned for the autonomy and independence of Africa and more especially the independence of the Africans in diaspora. Through the Universal Negro Improvement Association UNIA, he advocated the return of Africans in diaspora to Africa – their root. He made an attempt to relocate the Negroes to Africa but the vision was not all successful. Even so, his message was very important at the time, it is more important now.
Africans and especially the blacks are currently a race without power and respect as within our economic relevance is being exploited and dehumanized in ways that we must begin to seek another form of independence from our economic, political, religious, cultural and cognitive enslavement.
The emancipation the peoples of Africa must now seek is to emancipate their minds. Garvey once again warned, “the fall of nations and empires has always come about first by the disorganized spirit,—the disorganized sentiment of those who make up the nation or the empire.” Africans at this current time are working with a disorganised spirit coming from the failure of leadership, the hijack of electoral systems, loss of belief in Africa’s greatness and economic subjugation as well as cultural and religious surrender.
These have led to the wave of emigration, the endless search for validation educationally, politically, socially, religiously and culturally from those who have kept Africans subjugated.
Garvey and other leaders of the Africa for Africans movement who fought for the future generations may be sad how Africans have failed to design their future as many have no sense of pride in their identity.
Garvey did dream, “All of us may not live to see the higher accomplishments of an African empire, so strong and powerful as to compel the respect of mankind, but we in our lifetime can so work and act as to make the dream a possibility within another generation.”
The leaders of Africa have failed to embody this dream, galvanise the energy of the youth – dominated population, harness the God-given resources for the benefit of the people. As the day passes, it seems herculean to try.
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In Spite of these failures, Africans must behold their future and the continued emancipation and restore belief in Africa and work for her greatness.
In the continued fight for independence which no longer centres on politics, but of course, Africa’s politics is still directed from outside of Africa. The independence being sought is mental freedom, economic liberation, cultural resurgence and spiritual awareness – the pride and dignity of self as the call for return to the roots beckons.
A lot of people keep wondering what returning to the roots means. Yet, a lot are confused of what it will entail. It is not a complex idea that cannot be attained. It is an idea that started a few years ago and thankfully, many who have arisen to the call to return to the roots are raising their voices and making necessary impacts. Root is the source. Africa is the root.
In questioning where our people are headed and the futility of the road which we are treading, let’s foray a little into the topic with a focus on the Igbo. I have also noticed in discussions among Pan-Africanists, return to the roots is one of the key messages. This message is driven by Africans who are fighting for Africa’s rebirth.
Using rebirth in describing this new and important journey, one can call it; renaissance, rediscovery, reawakening or revival, but the succinct description of what I want to drive at is done by Collins Dictionary. It defines rebirth as “a new or second birth, as through reincarnation or spiritual regeneration.”
This call has gained a lot of interest because the Africa in us questions where the continent is headed. A lot has happened to the peoples of Africa that it only makes lots of sense that we begin to return back to our roots. We cannot seek Africa’s rebirth if the peoples are stagnant with their victim mentality which has led to so much deprivation and exploitation.
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While we seek Africa’s regeneration, In Igboland, back to the roots calls for a totality of rebirth of the Igbo person – who is a component of Africa. The rebirth of the Igbo person is very important from now where the whole essence of being Igbo person is gradually and quietly fizzling away. It is a concerted effort – by the Igbo people, to systematically remove themselves from existence. It seems a goaded effort to the noose. It is a self imposed attack on their identity, values, traditions and culture.
The Igbo person of today is shifting from what he is always known for to where he may soon be unrecognisable except for a drastic turn around. As it is happening to this society, it could be a familiar occurrence in other African societies.
In homesteads, hamlets, or evening eatery conversations, many are worried over the political, social, religious, cultural and economic status of the Igbo person. Apart from the systemic policies meted on the Igbo people by the state, the Igbo person and his whole essence is being scrambled for. And the speed at which the Igbo people are losing out is quite worrying. To regain their-selves, the Igbo person needs to return to the roots.
Why the call to return to roots?
The call to return to the roots has inadvertently been misconstrued by people who quickly termed it a return to paganism. This is an act of resistance by those who have not been schooled or those who are cunningly ignorant to the future of Africa.
A lot of people also think that the root is in being diabolical or going back to medieval Africa.
It is a call to the reinventing of the totality of self, patriotic to the community and state and recognition of the whole essence of being through rejection of subjugation, exploitation, victimhood and external influence. Recognition and return to working hard, appreciation and safeguarding of the environment and sustainability of cultural vestiges. It is a rebirth of long lost technologies in science and medicine, the sustainability of the wisdom in the traditions and spirituality, the recuperation of Africa’s civilisation which was dumped to copy and absorb westernisation. It is a recognition and support of Africa’s talents and skill. It is a regain of authority and power and respect.
The Britons were once subjected to slavery to the Romans. Some were captured, brutalised and humiliated. When they were freed, they returned to their roots and built their civilisation on self-reliance as they forced and maintained the respect from others including colonising countries in Africa. History is a guide.