Getting Rid of The Grips of Colonialism

Colonialism has not been fully uprooted from Africa. Over centuries of slavery followed by colonialism, the culture of the colonial masters had been so ingrained in us that we find it difficult to do away with it. One such aspect is dressing.

Today, men in this hot continent continue to dress in 3-piece suits. Or long sleeves with jackets and ties. Not in air-conditioned cars or rooms. In the hot tropical weather! Ironically, none of the generations of our colonial masters do that in their countries during their hot summer months. So, we have been mentally enslaved after a good everage of 6 decades of “freeing ourselves”! Who says the Lord God only hears us when we culturally enslave ourselves at the pulpit? Or likes our “sharp looks” better in these enslaving foreign cultural outfits. So why have we been doing this to ourselves? It’s precisely to cover up our inferiority complexes! Pure and simple. So why do we feel inferior in our traditional or weather-relevant outfits? Who are we impressing? Our fellow inferiority-laden citizens? When are we going to smarten up and give our bodies healthy breathers?

Similarly for “white” or “church” wedding. One pentecostal pastor witessed that of a fellow pastor’s daughter that and fell in love with it. He would certainly make sure his daughters go through that colonial enslavement RITUAL as well! The practices and dogmas of the church in Africa have still been so immersed in colonial mentality that it will take enormous effort to transform their mindsets.

Is there hope for full lasting liberation of Africans from colonialism? And with this huge left-overs from colonialism, it is very easy for neo-colonialists(the former colonial masters) to come back and capture us through neo-colonialism, and indeed they wasted no time. Neo-colonialism is the use of economic, political, cultural or other pressures to CONTROL or INFLUENCE other countries, especially former dependencies. Now ask yourself as an African, has your country been free from the grips of colonialism and neo-colonialism? What about you YOURSELF? Africa changes when we do.

Bobby Quaqoo is a freelance journalist and an African in the diaspora.