AFRICAN STATES ‘PROTECT ELITES NOT THE POOR’

Recent protests in Kenya over a cost-of-living crisis and unpopular government policy sparked similar demonstrations in other countries including Nigeria, and Uganda.

In this clip, Zimbabwean human rights lawyer and Pan-African activist Brian Kagoro blames the unrest on leaders ignoring the plight of their people. He was speaking at the 2024 National Security Symposium held in Kigali, Rwanda. And he says many governments only look out for the interests of the political elite and multinationals.

Continued……. In fact, you don’t have to try hard to think of other examples. Recent revolution coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger saw new military leaderships vow to regain control of resources from foreign interests. The takeovers had widespread public support, but the reaction of the regional bloc ECOWAS was very different. It imposed sanctions on the West African countries and threatened military intervention against Niger before it backtracked.

So, when Mr Kagoro says African states can be very ‘efficient at protecting a few elites’ at the expense of their people, he’s not wrong.

Video credit: @KigaliToday

WHITE PRIVILEGE AT ITS BEST

Statistics have long exposed a two-tier system of policing in the US. In 2021, for example, non-profit organisation Mapping Police Violence found Black people are twice as likely as White people to be shot and killed by officers.

But the stark difference isn’t just borne out by numbers. This comedy clip is a good example of ‘White privilege’ when it comes to policing.

Comedian, Mike Feeney, describes how he once got pulled over by an officer who ended up offering him cuddly kittens. A far cry from the experience of many Black people in America who are racially profiled and disproportionately targeted by law enforcement.

Continued……There have been many well-known cases, including: Rodney King, who was brutally beaten by LAPD officers, in 1991, which led to the Los Angeles riots. Oscar Grant, in 2009, was shot in the back while handcuffed by a BART police officer in Oakland. Philando Castile, in 2016, was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Minnesota. And then there’s the case of George Floyd who died during his arrest after a police officer knelt on his neck for over nine minutes, in Minneapolis, in 2020.

The hilarious story shows that policing doesn’t have to be aggressive or confrontational. You can just be respectful to the people you are their to protect and serve. Unfortunately that is simply not the case for everyone.

Video credits: @wilsylvince @comedycellarusa @iammikefeeney

On 15 September 1963, four Black girls aged between 11 and 14 were killed when a bomb - planted by members of the local Ku Klux Klan chapter - exploded in a Baptist Church in Alabama.

Four White supremacists were implicated in this act of terror, which involved dynamite sticks placed under the 16th Street Church in Birmingham - as young children prepared for Youth Day Services.

The resulting blast killed Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14) and Carol Denise McNair (11) - and injured 17 others.

The bombing marked a turning point in the civil-rights movement, and contributed to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by the US Congress.

Continued……Although the FBI concluded that four known KKK members had committed the crime, no prosecutions were conducted until 1977, when Robert Chambliss was tried and found guilty of first-degree murder. Thomas E. Blanton Jr. was tried in 2001, and Bobby Frank Cherry in 2002. The latter two were convicted on four counts of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Herman Cash was never charged and died in 1994.

WHY IS AFRICAN HAIR SO POLITICAL?

Today is Afro Hair Day, so we’re taking a look at why Black hair is so… political! African hair is not just a style, it is imbued with powerful messaging. Black hair, Afro hair, kinky hair - hair that grows out of African people’s heads - has helped shape narratives for centuries. Wambura Mwai breaks it down.

JOHN HENRIK CLARKE ON ORGANISED RELIGION

During the ‘African Crossroads Lecture,’ historian John Henrik Clarke (1915-98) railed against the misuse of organised religion, arguing it has confined African aspirations for freedom.

He was clear in saying to his audience that you don’t have to leave the church, the mosque, or any religion. However, those religions should be used as instruments of liberation.

Continued……Clarke argued, ‘Every single thing that touches your life, every social thing, every political thing, every cultural thing, must be converted into an instrument of liberation, or be thrown into the ash can of history.’

In North Africa, Arabs converted many people to Islam, now the second most practised religion on our continent after Christianity. Meanwhile, European colonisers imposed Christianity on the rest of the continent, while they plundered our the land and enslaved our kin. Our traditional belief systems, tied to the land from which we sprung, were marginalised and sometimes even outlawed.

That is the history of organised religion in Africa, but it doesn’t mean it can not be converted into an instrument of liberation, as Clarke said. However, there needs to be an intentional will to do so.

Video credit: @iasug (X)