I watched the movie Malcom X starred by Denzel Washington last weekend. It was not the first time in my lifetime that i came across Malcom X as presented in media (I was not around in the 60's)in all media, books, movies, street talk etc
The movie somehow gave me even more insight of the struggle then..racial struggle. Perhaps i have grown older to understand the issues of the 60's as opposed to what i understood in my early twenties.
In the beginning of the millenium,when i was in my early twenties, black supremacy dominated debates and conversations among young university students in Kenya. Someone appeared very clever and wise debating slavery, colonization and racism faced by African(Negroes)in the Western world. In those days talking about Malcom X, Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey , Nelson Mandela was very relevant and anyone who seemed to understand struggle was ranked very highly. I did not make it to university, but had the privilege of having been part of the University of Nairobi fraternity. Most students even science students invested a huge chunk of time trying to answer the question why Africa was is in the situation it was then also, a lot of time and mental activity was spent trying to retrace Africa's history in a bid to answer the question "WHERE DID AFRICA GO WRONG - WHY ARE WE SO BEHIND COMPARED TO OTHER RACES??"
My opinion is that as African ancestors(NEGROES) we lacked the skill of record keeping,Knowledge preservation was a big challenge to our ancestors and probably that is the sole reason why we are stiil messsed up.
Fast forward to the 21st century,and the first blackman (ahem....first coloured) has been president of the best world on earth. The president of the free world where you can do whatever you want as long as you consider your neighbor.The president of the United states of America is coming back home to Kenya, the cradle of mankind.
The movie somehow gave me even more insight of the struggle then..racial struggle. Perhaps i have grown older to understand the issues of the 60's as opposed to what i understood in my early twenties.
In the beginning of the millenium,when i was in my early twenties, black supremacy dominated debates and conversations among young university students in Kenya. Someone appeared very clever and wise debating slavery, colonization and racism faced by African(Negroes)in the Western world. In those days talking about Malcom X, Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey , Nelson Mandela was very relevant and anyone who seemed to understand struggle was ranked very highly. I did not make it to university, but had the privilege of having been part of the University of Nairobi fraternity. Most students even science students invested a huge chunk of time trying to answer the question why Africa was is in the situation it was then also, a lot of time and mental activity was spent trying to retrace Africa's history in a bid to answer the question "WHERE DID AFRICA GO WRONG - WHY ARE WE SO BEHIND COMPARED TO OTHER RACES??"
My opinion is that as African ancestors(NEGROES) we lacked the skill of record keeping,Knowledge preservation was a big challenge to our ancestors and probably that is the sole reason why we are stiil messsed up.
Fast forward to the 21st century,and the first blackman (ahem....first coloured) has been president of the best world on earth. The president of the free world where you can do whatever you want as long as you consider your neighbor.The president of the United states of America is coming back home to Kenya, the cradle of mankind.
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