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The Joseph Principle Enacted
By E. Ablorh-Odjidja
The Joseph Project is gaining ground. The government
of Ghana, through its tourism programs, is promoting it;
with the view of issuing special visas to enable
Africans in the Diaspora to visit Ghana at least once in
a life’s time.
There are promoters of The Joseph Project in the US too
whose hopes are that this project will serve as a spring
board for a return to the continent by a large
population of Africans in the Diaspora.
The idea of a return for Africans in the Diaspora has to
be promoted and supported for its own sake, but it does
not have to be burdened by guilt.
The project theme is borrowed from the Bible. A brother
was sold into slavery by his own siblings but later
returned to his people to save them. With this project,
it is hoped that Africa can complete a journey of loss,
and rejection, and finally arrive at atonement and
redemption.
The story of Joseph, as a metaphor, has had a magnetic
pull for displaced people throughout history. Among
African Americans, no other Biblical narrative can
strike such deep emotional core. But one must beware.
Beneath this emotional response may dwell resentment for
Africa in some people.
For some Africans in the Diaspora, the belief is that
Africa selectively sold them into slavery. They have
been emboldened in recent years by a procession of
village chiefs and self-styled kings who came to America
to render apology and to admit “guilt” for the crime of
slavery on Africa’s behalf. The apology continues, but
the agenda of these apologists are not clear. However,
the enthusiasm with which they claim “guilt” has left
open speculations of scam within some circles.
This notion of “guilt”, especially one that is admitted
insincerely, is dangerous and must be corrected. And as
close as we are to religion with this theme, the sooner
the correction the better.
Moreover, the appeal to “guilt” is a disservice to the
true Diasporan African for he is already a pan-Africanist.
And since the notion of a return is embodied in the
concept of African Unity, no pan-Africanist will ask for
a confession of “guilt” before he embarks on a
pilgrimage to Africa. W.E.B Dubois, George Padmore, Dr.
Lee and others, who settled in Ghana in the 60s in the
Nkrumah era, were and are still perfect examples of the
pan-African reach.
The continent owes them and all pan-Africanist stalwarts
gratitude for their willingness and dedication to the
development of human capital on the continent. Africa
must continue to welcome such persons with open arms.
Certainly, the continent can put to good use the
abundant skill and resources that the pan-African
experience or the Joseph Project can pour into Africa.
However, it also has to be acknowledged that there are
some Africans in the Diaspora who have no love for the
continent, nor the intention or inclination to return.
For these people, the admission of “guilt” can also
serve as justification to hate Africa some more and this
would be wrong.
The story about Africa’s motive and complicity in the
slave trade is not clear. Any attempt to promote a
blanket admission of “guilt” is not worth it because it
bears the risk of creating further rift between the
continent’s descendants; a rift that can create a
greater a tension than what existed before the slave
trade.
Read “Out of America”* by Keith Richburg to understand
this risk. And note his outburst against Africa, “Talk
to me about Africa and my black roots and my kinship
with my African brothers and I will throw it back in
your face, and then I'll rub your nose in the images of
the rotting flesh."
The positive relationship that The Joseph Project seeks
to build must be allowed to stand on its own merit. The
confession of “guilt,” on the part of Africa as a
condition for Diasporans to love her is not needed in
this project.
All Africans, in or out of the Diaspora, to a greater or
lesser extent, are victims of the slave trade. We must
all regret it happened. The Joseph Project can silently
serve as a cleansing measure.
It can be cleansing because the Biblical narrative
contains a powerful lesson for both Joseph and his
brothers and Africans in the Diaspora and those on the
continent. It is about man and his emotions on earth and
how both can be equally powerful and unreasonable.
The lesson here is not to create privilege versus a
class of “guilty” fellows. Joseph the man of the “coat
of many colors,” who was dearly loved by his father, was
consequently hated by his brothers and sold into
slavery. The Joseph Project must not create a “coat of
many colors” or set up another Liberia.
March 1807 was the beginning for the abolition of the
slave trade. Coincidentally, March 2007 is Ghana’s 50th
independence anniversary, the first African country to
become independent. It can be the occasion to put it all
behind us.- the tribal conflicts, the chaos and the
marauding that produced the slave trade – with the
knowledge that it was a matter of chance that caused
some to remain and others to be taken away from the
continent.
What need not be forgotten is that slavery happened
because of our sheer and shared stupidity in response to
the onslaught of western civilization.
Washington, DC, July 2, 2006
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Response
Peace Rahim,
Yes, I believe the project is well intended. But, as you
know, I am not in to going back to Africa even for a
visit. Been there, done that. And, I am not sure that it
will do anything material for us here in the States. The
high tide of African Consciousness has ebbed. What is
left is a hodge-podge of reactionary ideas. I listened
to the BBC one morning to hear about a young African
girl who bled to death after trying to circumcise
herself. It is this kind of ignorance that I want to
stay away from.
I have no interest in the kings and
high chiefs of Ghana. I believe I saw the golden stool
of the Ashanti in the British museum. Relics from
feudalism have little meaning to me in a post-modern
world. If Africa is to survive it must remake itself.
There are too many Dafurs for my liking. And,
African-Americans are too timid in their criticism of
the genocide that goes on in Africa. You have spoken
better than I on the romanticism that pervades most
Blacks thinking when it comes to Africa.
I do not define my existence in terms of Africa anymore.
There is too much work to be done right here for me to
consider Africa as a priority. --amin sharif
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That is good wisdom. I think we have
to start from the bottom and build up, one person at a
time, one family at a time. It is a slow process. That
is the soundest approach, especially if we desire the
other to make sacrifices on our behalf.
Though I made a promise at the edge
of Lake Kivu, in what was then eastern Zaire, I doubt if
I ever will return. In some sense I suppose I have just
done so in recalling the event. Have you ever talked to
a god of a lake? Well, that is a silly question.
In any event, it was a beautiful lake
set among red hills of banana trees and cassava plants.
And I’d daily see natives in small boats, fishing, on
the lake. No, I have not made a good lasting friendship
with one African, though I have brought two to the house
here in Virginia—one a Liberian woman who feared Mama;
the other a young fellow from war-torn Sudan. However
Pan African our feelings we would still be foreigners in
Ghana. There is no way to escape that.
However we might want to shine the
light of reason on it, sentiments of racial nationalism
are difficult to escape, either abstractly or
concretely. -- Rudy * * *
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posted 14 July 2006 |
