Skip to main content

Why the Story of Ota Benga Infuriates me.

By


Everybody now seems to agree that yes indeed slavery and colonialism happened, yes indeed the white man has treated the black as subhuman and that now it’s time to forgive forget and move on, as Wangari Maathai rightly put it in regard to colonialism. I tend to accept that too. But every time I am almost forgetting, then I come across another story, either carried by the world media, or featured by Wikipedia, or even sometimes by accident in my usual Googling, that yet reminds me that back then it was as   horrible. 

This time, it was a story carried by BBC reminding everybody about Ota Benga, the unfortunate boy from Congo of pygmy origin who was very unlucky to be captured by an American hobbyist and taken to America to show the rest of the white world his missing link between apes and them. He was also apparently mistaken for a cannibal because his teeth were filed sharp in a ritual ceremony, which was then very common in Africa.

Because of that Ota Benga was caged with an Orangutan since it was his closest match for any living creature. You would think that was like millennia ago, and you would be wrong. In fact that is in the beginning of the past century, and still a man had to endure that.
I like to allude to the bad things which have occurred to those who came before us in order that I may actually understand what is happening to me or us today. Some notions of White superiority, I must agree, persist even among the black community whether you are talking of Africa or outside. When a black man fights with another, it’s a savage war, when a white man fights another, it’s for God and country as if we have no God or country.

If you want to understand the gravity of the matter, you could tune in to CNN or Fox news anytime, where Africa is synonymous to war and hunger, or Black is almost always associated with being violent especially in the US.
Probably with age and time I have come to be biased against America because of consuming too much of its entertainment, but I’d guess the situation is no different in Europe and Asia. Somehow, black is made to look foolish, incapable and savage, while everybody knows its predicament has arisen from the treatment he has gotten from the rest of the world throughout history. Our esteem is headed to the right direction and I can only wish I was born when I was in order to witness the change in sentiment and status 
quo.

Ota Benga btw died a slave still serving his master faithfully in circuses and shows with the title of the only cannibal in America. Ruth Chileshe on Facebook from Zambia however finds the story of Ota Benga quite not deserving for newa. She says she also cages a white woman with pigs, and nobody found that deserving to be news.She was lucky not to be caught by Zambias Wildlife Service keeping this unlikely pet. Funny, isnt it?
God bless the black people!
Ndegwa believes he is the greatest black African to ever live after Patrice Lumumba. In fact even outside Africa, only Malcolm X could be greater than him!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Most Amazing Military Upsets by Native African Armies against European Colonists

By
When European colonists landed in Africa, it was all about one thing, grab as much territory as you could and make it yours, by any means necessary. Even before the Berlin Conference, most of African land was already divided among the European and conflicts between them and the natives of the land they had now made theirs were taking shape The violent collisions pitted the well-equipped, well organized and highly disciplined armies of the Europeans with the too often weak armies of people of the African continent. They were no match. More often than not, entire African armies were annihilated wholesomely and their people subdued almost as fast as the battles began. Famous Anglo-French write Hilaire Bellocr even confidently wrote that “Whatever happens, we have the Maxim gun, and they have not” Well, except that the Maxim gun sometimes failed terribly when it faced the unbridled determination, bravery and the sheer spirit of Africans.   Downright unexpected upsets sometime...
Post a Comment
Read more

10 More Wacky Origins of Names of African Countries

By
Knowledgere.blogspot.com       content 10 More Wacky Origins of Names of African Countries We have already featured the first ten origins of meaning of the first ten African countries alphabetically. Here are the next ten. The only two African countries mentioned in the bible coincidentally appear on our todays list! Comoros The name "Comoros" is derived from the Arabic kamar or kumr, meaning "moon," although this name was first applied by Arab geographers to Madagascar. It was adopted by French Colonialists to describe the Islands. Congo Its named after the 15 th century Kingdom of Kongo which thrived on both banks of the River Congo, extending into Modern day Congo, Congo DR, Angola and Zambia. Kongo is from a Bantu word meaning "http://dictionary.reference.comountains" (i.e., the river that flows from the mountains). Congo Democratic Republic Like for the Congo, Also formerly known as Zaire a traditional local n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Five Really Old African Towns still Existing

By
       Five Really Old African Towns still Existing   1.Old Lamu Town, Kenya Lamu oldest town is one of the oldest town in Africa where you can actually be able to see some of the original Swahili architecture and culture first hand and as almost as it existed almost 700 years ago. Built in coral stone and mangrove timber, the town is characterized by the simplicity of structural forms enriched by such features as inner courtyards, verandas, and elaborately carved wooden doors. Lamu has hosted major Muslim religious festivals since the 19th century, and has become a significant centre for the study of Islamic and Swahili cultures. 2.Alexandria, Egypt   Alexandria was founded by the Greek conqueror Alexander the Great, and derives its name from the same man. It became an important center of the Hellenistic civilization and remained the capital of He llenistic and Roman & Byzantine Eg...
Post a Comment
Read more