“The Gikuyu ancestors provided a proverb which states “Nobody knows where he goes, but only whence he comes.”
I do not know what it feels like to live without the need to defend against the European cultural assault against my consciousness.
Since I have been old enough to recognize it for what it is, I have never lived a day without having to prepare myself in some way to deal with being African in a world dominated by people who believe themselves to be superior to Africans.
My struggle to change myself is at the same time a struggle to change this type of world – to take away the ability of white supremacy ideology to reproduce its methods of domination and control through me.
I have resigned myself to a life of struggle.
There are no shortcuts and no easy ways out.
I see my role during this period of existence as helping to build institutions that will enable the next generation to collectively advance farther along the path.
The institutions we build do not constitute home, they are part of our means of getting home.
They are, at best, what Nkrumah referred to as “liberated zones.”
They can shelter us and enable us to nurture our young, but they are a means to what we seek, not what we seek.
As long as we live in an environment where political control is used in the interests of an alien culture and where we are forced to defend ourselves against attacks on the knowledge and ways of knowing practiced by our ancestors since antiquity, we are not home.
We must not be confused about this.
If we allow ourselves to be content with temporary advantages of any sort, whether they be industries or independent schools, while living under the rule of another people we are confusing political opportunism with sovereignty.
What will truly set us free, as Cabral was able to surmise, is to be liberated ‘not merely from the foreigner’s culture but from foreign rule altogether.’”
Mwalimu J. Shujaa
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