[Jah Guda]

One could argue that we are victims of our Governments. When
I see Africans scrambling to get to Europe, risking all they have,
their lives and the bit of money they have managed to save, to
reach Europe with the hope of starting a new life. Fancy sailing
an ocean in a rickety wooden boat.
On arrival, most of these African immigrants collapse from
exhaustion and dehydration. The locals, who were sunbathing
on the beach in the first place, rush to the Africans with bottles
of water and biscuits. It’s quite a sorry sight and does not help
other peoples perception of Africans, how they see us and what
they think we are.

This alone is ample proof that corruption in our land has cost us
a great deal. For that matter our leaders have destroyed many lives
throughout Africa. Take Nigeria as an example, we flee our country
in droves not because we do not love our country, we do so because
of a lack of opportunity and every other thing we have discussed
on this board. My country is extremely wealthy yet I cannot live
there. How sad. During last summers war between Israel and Lebanon,
I almost chocked on my dinner when the news reporter said there was
a Nigerian lady amongst those pulled out of the rubble. The first thing I
thought was, will her body be repatriated to Nigeria or will they bury
her in Lebanon?

Given the extent and degree of violence towards Africans in Europe, one
would have expected our Governments to do something about the
denigration of Africans. Fat Chance! Most of the abuse inflicted
on Africans are actually in contravention of International Law so it
shouldn’t be too difficult for our Governments to protect us from
all the abuse.

Some sort of action needs to be taken by individuals; Affirmative
action that confronts this problem head on.