I have decided that I am not going to use the words Whites or Europeans anymore in my writings, when referring to Africans with European ancestry.
These are definitely not a derogatory words but they carry this sense of 'otherness' that we need to get rid of. They have connotations of these other people who are not part of us in this continent. They sort of imply that people born and bred here in Africa somehow belong to Europe.
Yet the real truth is they are part and parcel of this continent forever. They are as African as any charcoal-black South Sudanese you can imagine. So for me there is no more White farmers but Euro-Zimbabwean farmers. This acknowledges their ethnic origin but makes it clear they are Zimbabwean.
If I ever slip up please remind me of this pledge that I am making. Especially you my fellow Euro-Africans.
This line of thought on my part was prompted by recent statements by the president of my country, Robert Mugabe. In an informal off the cuff speech, it was reported, he declared that Euro-Zimbabweans should not be allowed to own land in Zimbabwe.
It is clear His Excellency thinks of them as people who belong to some place other than Zimbabwe. It is also clear he is subconsciously allocating them lesser rights than non-Euro Zimbabweans. To me that is racist.
As I was writing this blog, a columnist of The Sunday Mail, Nathaniel Manheru, thought to be Mugabe's spokesperson, launched a scathing attack on a minister who called for the remaining Euro-Zimbabweans to be protected by government.
Given the atmosphere in Zimbabwe after fast track land reform, I believe such protections are an absolute necessity. Don't get me wrong. Land reform was necessary, but it has morphed into gratuitous harassment of a minority group.
To me this is evidence that Zanu-PF have clearly shifted from liberation rhetoric to anti-White racist rhetoric.
Let me make it clear, I believe in the liberation and freedom of every human being walking the surface of this planet. Oops! The guys on the International Space Station are also included.
I do not believe in black or white supremacy. I certainly do not believe in black revenge. As an atheistic humanist, I believe individual human freedoms surpass any group rights that some groups, like religious zealots for example, might wish to allocate themselves.
Migration is an inevitable happening in human existence. It has been happening for millennia. We the Bantu peoples migrated to this region from north and central Africa. Euro-Africans may have migrated after us, but once born here, they belong here as much as we do.
Migration comes with conflict. Conflict is a physical struggle to achieve domination. Domination comes with oppression and rights abuses. Consequently conflict leaves behind bitter memories that get handed down for generations. We need to get past these bitter memories and move on as a human race.
Migration is often followed by cultural integration and assimilation. Where the assimilation is allowed to naturally occur the bitter memories get quickly overwhelmed but the intermixing of cultures. In this region there was a tremendous amount of resistance to integration by the ancestors of Euro-Africans. That makes the process more difficult but it doesn't stop it.
The history of European colonisation and domination of Africa has left very, very bitter memories among the black population of the continent. That is a result of the virulent, violent racism and wholesale dispossession of resources that accompanied it. Euro-Africans themselves worked very hard, at keeping themselves segregated and separate. That has hindered natural assimilation and lengthened the period of bitter memories.
On top of that the ancestors of Euro-Africans unfairly grabbed and reserved the bulk of resources for exclusive use by themselves. This has added a very deep sense of injustice on top of the bitterness left by conflict.
Robert Mugabe is not alone in thinking that Euro-Africans belong to Europe. Millions of black Africans, still think of Euro-Africans as belonging to Europe. This is a direct result of lack of assimilation.
Just now I was involved in a debate between a Sotho colleague, and an Afrikaner colleague. The Sotho was adamant that the young Afrikaner belonged to Holland. I had to come to the defence of the Afrikaner.
The Euro-African's great-great-great-great---grandfather may have come from Holland, but people in Holland today will call him a foreigner and won't want him there. The Hollanders would be right, he belongs to Africa.
I reminded the young Sotho that even his and my ancestors migrated from elsewhere. We have no right to expect later migrants to go back to where they came from. The same way we cannot turn around and start a black Zionist movement to go back to where our ancestors came from. We will probably just start another senseless and idiotic conflict in the Middle East.
It is alright to seek justice and equity for past wrongs. However it not right to use the quest for justice as cover for retaliation, revenge and reverse abuse of rights.
Many Euro-Africans themselves seem to think of Europe as 'home'. Brothers and sisters, your home is here in Africa. We do not choose where and when to be born.
If I had been given a choice, I would have chosen to be born into some un-contacted Amazon tribe, hidden from the pains and injustices of this world.
We may not like the racism the ancestors of Euro-Africans brought with them. However what is done is done. We need to move on. If a man rapes you, the child you bear is still your child. Anyone born on this continent has got the same belonging, as everyone else. It is not right to qualify someone's belonging by the colour of their skin.
I was not right, when it was done by the ancestors of Euro-Africans. It is not right, when it is done by blacks today. I will never ever be right.
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