I have a friend, a Fulbright Scholar, Roeland Usman. He is from Amsterdam where he enjoys a leisurely but productive lifestyle. While I was in Grad School, redeeming myself from my undergrad years of partying and drugging, Roeland would ask often: "Why are there no... true universities in Africa, except for the one in South Africa." I assumed, at the time, that he was being proud of his Dutch Settler friends, but he said no he wasn't. Said he, Dr. A.Q. Khan schooled in the Netherlands and is charged with utilizing his knowledge "in a bad way." Dr. Khan, if you must know, has strenuously denied utilizing or even gaining this knowledge, of how to cause a fatal chain reaction, from the bad way of things. But judging by the proliferation of the Khan network, Prince Albert and Lady Beatrix, HRM, did have relevant cause for concern. Power, all power, is granted by the sovereign authority in the orbital universe, often predicated upon the judgment of its previous use. Pakistan having been to war with India and having advanced the cause of fundamental Islam is great cause for concern to those who, till this time, had enjoyed an exclusive and mutually assured destruction. The problem with Pakistan, and its Islamic Bomb, is that the Muslims, for their inability to be productive, seem to have become suicidal. If Pakistan was as homely to the Pak as Amsterdam is to Roeland then we would not be worried, for the Urdu could argue that they have everything to lose from Nuclear war. But an undeveloped mass of rabid Mohamed wannabees is not the sort of atmosphere necessary in a high tension nuclear club.
Indeed, Roeland wasn't expressing Dutch Settler Pride. He really wanted to know what happened to the University of Ibadan and Makerere University and Fourah Bay College. And so Reoland and I did a study. However, of ALL African and Negro respondents we asked concerning, in the language of Roeland, this lack of credible African Universities, ALL demonstrated an emotional intelligence that hindered further discussion. I had, then, to represent the African University, for it is, brother Mason, the most valid of questions--how can one race be so weak as though nature ordered it? To see the question in pure form, read Hume:
says he...
I am apt to suspect the Negroes to be naturally inferior to the Whites. There scarcely ever was a civilized nation of that complexion, nor even any individual, eminent either in action or speculation. No ingenious manufactures amongst them, no arts, no sciences. On the other hand, the most rude and barbarous of the Whites, such as the ancient Germans, the present Tartars, have still something eminent about them, in their valour, form of government, or some other particular. Such a uniform and constant difference could not happen, in so many countries and ages, if nature had not made an original distinction between these breeds of men. Not to mention our colonies, there are Negro slaves dispersed all over Europe, of whom none ever discovered the symptoms of ingenuity; though low people, without education, will start up amongst us, and distinguish themselves in every profession. In Jamaica, indeed, they talk of one Negro as a man of parts and learning; but it is likely he is admired for slender accomplishments, like a parrot who speaks a few words plainly.
"Like a parrot who speaks a few words plainly."
Brother Mason, you are American and you are Malaysian and you are Japanese. Can you tell me that racism comes out of a vacuum? Can you tell me that one race can be demonstrably the strongest physical race, as sports will show, and the weakest in the mind? It cannot possibly be so! Me and Roeland argued! So where is the African Mind? Where are the great pharaohs who built Gizau? Where is the pristine African Civilization after which Washington DC was modelled? Where?
You see, Most Worshipful Master Dread, as with anti-Semitism and its injustices springing forth from the crucifixion of the Christ, and as with Black-Muslim racism springing forth from the pain of slavery, the idea of black inferiority is peopled by the denizens, themselves, of Africa. Why, in Uncle Obama's homeland, people drink the blood of a cow directly from its neck then dance with shit. Now what sort of politeness will allow me to not convince the Massai, that though all cultures are demonstrably equal to one another, it is no longer a fashionable idea to drink the blood of a cow or dance atop shit. No longer Kenyatta.
Of course, as one, an African that is, one might imagine me sensitive to ideas of inferiority. But aside from testing with an IQ of 200 before the NSC, and aside from being a trusted aide to the Joint Chiefs in Sovereign Capacity, and aside from having been there for my dear friends and uncles, Jorge Bashiru Allah and Richard Ishani in their darkest hours, I am also regarded as one of the finest craftsmen in our civilization today. Why, I remember just a few years ago I designed an instrument to "play the mind of God." It was made of clay mud, to demonstrate to my people in Zaria, how powerful a tool clay mud can be. Mud can be used for so much of what is required to create quality of life for those with a more sedentary and traditional lifestyle. This instrument whistled with the wind, quite loudly at that, and when the sun shone it magnified the rays and burned leaves which created fire which compressed vapor from water which then let out a melody depending, obviously, on nature's attempts at pressure and music. When it rained, this instrument was utilized as a tool so that villagers in their spare time could come, anytime during the week, to get things done. That is, it also functioned as a traditional and stable washing machine.... that sang with nature. Brilliant, one might say? Not so, said the Nigerians I approached to build this instrument. I had wanted to build it in honor of Bruce Onabrakpeya, of the Zaria school of print art, but I was humiliated and insulted, for they said Mr. Bruce was a "big man" and that I had not yet accomplished enough to get his attention. Could we just then, build it in honor of the villagers? That too could not be done until I was as important as Onabrakpeya, and so while we wait for that glorious day, the Zaria Machine, as it was called by Sultan Maciddo--my confidant in those days--was never built. I have today offered it to Sultan Abubakar who is looking into it. Any thing of value to his people which is not dangerous and which does not come from an evil place is surely to be attended to. Once he is certain, then maybe unlike the important people of the Niger Delta his people will have great use for this... washing machine which also whistles the mind of God.
Now this is just one story and yet I could give you an hundred. An hundred I say!
Take for example the masterpice of an album I am credited with in NYC c. 2001. The album was stolen, stolen I say--not contend, but witness--and taken to Nigeria with the studio in a bid to lure me back to Nigeria, probably in the belief that I could not replicate a masterpiece. Why be a master if one's mastery is singleton? I did not follow the bait and today that studio lies in ruins, the record company 419ed out of existence, and the tool of disharmony continues to reside in a psychotic fantasy, forever trying to recruit fools to fail with him and his.. African University.
An hundred I say. I should clarify that since that album, widely celebrated as a masterpiece by the New Yorkers who heard it, including some of the legends of the movement, I have produced seven more considered, too, masterpieces. Why then does Africa lack precisely eight masterpieces of African work from this master? Because Africa lacks this master. Do you begin to see how Roeland's question is not racist, brother Mason? Do you begin to believe that these people SURELY crucified the Christ? I can prove it, but will only do so on demand. For now let us continue to speak of knowledge, it's utility and why both have bypassed the African for as long as history is evidence.
The dynamic of recent history makes it imperative that for African Development to continue, the Africans themselves must make it a priority. If this is so, that development is a priority, can anyone explain to me why so much continues to be done today to defend the cartels that blatantly steal money from developing nations? I was in New Jersey, recently, a few years back actually, at a conference where a famed Nigerian Doctor tried to "teach" myself and another Urhobo kid a tutorial by asking us, in a US golf club, to do something considerably a bad idea, bordering on illegal if not criminal. All from a small thing, and he thought it was funny, not regarding that the golf country club had grudgingly allowed us to use their services for this congress. We were guests and should have acted like it, but Dr. Scott Jovi believed that "oyibo no get sense" and proceeded to insult "oyibo" in oyibo's own country club. Bad Idea. I was then sent, by the same Urhobo doctor, to Newark Airport to meet and pick up representatives of a man now known to have stolen money from the British, a man whose wife is currently on trial for theft and money laundering in London. At the time I believed he was as trusted a friend to my own father as Dr. Scott Jovi, who had acted out badly. When we arrived at the Airport I discovered it was the beginings of a major 419 scheme, or so I came to believe, by Nigerian Officials. Instead of picking up the Governor's aides, I bumped into an old friend from the UN. "Fancy meeting you here," I said suspiciously, remembering that in my presence he had committed the sinfulness of a young child. I did not think he should have been at the UN working for Kofi, and neither did I feel comfortable here representing, instead of the Governor's aides, this troublesome governor. Sensing my... disapproval and suspicion I was promptly bribed with an African American lady who had been weaned on trips to Switzerland. And though beautiful, she was nothing but his ho, for this fellow was a pimp. Now what was a governor doing with such ... contacts? As the years progressed the British Government made notice of a laundering scheme that makes me, till today, wonder why so many Nigerian, when tempted as Satan will tempt, have not the INTEGRITY to resist to be part of an evil scheme of stealing. But you will see these men, like Dr. Scott, argue and rail against my uncle President Obasanjo for his corruption, not regarding that they themselves were part of a team to fleece Nigeria. Today I am being persecuted by friends and family of this governor--some times they beg, other times they threaten. They say the governor cannot go to prison. I say that I am no longer the Crown Prince of the Federation and so my opinion may not carry weight. They do not care. They want me to promise that the governor will not go to prison, and so sometimes they beg, other times they threaten violently. I remain... neutral.
Brother Mason, you say to oneself, surely this is just another tale of corruption. Not so, sir. Not when it involves Uncle Jovi, who since then has hidden from me and continues to run from my inquests. He is fallen and knows it, for in the West he is a well studied and robust scholar. How then is morality so easily forsaken by those like my uncle Jovi? Is it a cultural deficit, and if it is must it not be addressed? For on my honor as a brother, if Uncle Scott Jovi demonstrated the inability to fight against the wiles of the evil one, then no one, sir, no one can! For till that day I believed, with all my heart, Uncle Scott to be the most upright of men. It was very much like what happened with that politician what got caught in a hotel having an affair. Very much like it.
So, you see, Roeland's question begins to take a life of its own.
The issue of the African mind is a serious and sensitive one. I have never considered Africa inferior and spent most of my childhood, because I travelled to England often, thinking of ways to make things better. My priority was to make all of Ibadan and all of Eko look like IITA, an institute that was quite similar to little America there in Ibadan. My first paid job was at the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research, NISER. There I saw the plans to make NISER nicer than IITA. Our job was to fill a spreadsheet with research data and my supervisor was current Worldbank stalwart, Gordy Akpovromwienwien. I got paid sixty naira and I believed that Nigeria was on its way forward then. But there at the University of Ibadan, the professors took no notice of the state of development of the compound which we all lived in, a small city really--with it's own dam!--relative to their own knowledge. This knowlege was purely and in every sense "academic."
But when I attempted to bring value to Ibadan with my mastery of Electronics Engineering, coming with a GPA of 2.8, when I attempted to use my designs of semiconductors and remarkable computer chips (VLSI, LSI, SSI and water mechanics) I was... again insulted and the attempt made to humiliate me. Why? Because professor Ifa was more important than me and if he hadn't thought of it, then I shouldn't. Authoritarianism, the bane of African culture, comes with a price. Today Professor Ifa is dead--in a horrible car crash--and when my electronic prowess could have saved or extended his life, it didn't. Because Africa lacks this master. Does Roeland Usman seem like a racist now?
The problem with Africa is of productivity. Organize the resource base, apply knowledge to it and a civilization rises. From the state of African countries today one would imagine that there is no knowledge to apply to the African situation. Then, one might say, there is also no knowlege of leadership. Enter Meles Zenawi.
Several years ago I became a cultural ambassador with a mandate to stop the mass killings between the Ethiopians and the Eritreans. What sparked my... ascension to this league was a skirmish at the Badme Front during which 17,000 soldiers died in human wave attacks. I had to do something since President Clinton was busy not. And so in time I got the attention of President Zenawi. At some point we spoke of Roeland Usman and he laughed. The issues are complex he said and we discussed, however, who knowledge COULD be applied to Africa if it were to be applied. I used Dugbe Market in Ibadan as an example, of the subsistence farmers and how they organized themselves in Ibadan. "Oh, like a Commodity Exchange" he said. Yes, I said, "like a Commodity Exchange." After that conversation I googled "Commodity Exchange" and the ECX was born. I don't know that name of the lady, but I believe she worked at the Chicago Mercantile Board or Commodity Exchange. Either, she had a similar idea to "Dugbe Market (TM)" which had by then become a celebrated piece of software later blossoming into an internship on Wall St. The lady went back to Ethiopia, granted full faith and credit from her leader Zenawi, and today the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange is breaking new ground. Ethiopia is rising steadily, at least from a fractured and agrarian past, and to see a president and his daughter working so produtively for the Africans, why it .. is heartwarming. But let us be clear, the ECX would not have found favor where it not for Roeland Usman. Shall we still call him racist?
Brother Mason, you can research it, you will find that Nigeria has more PhDs per capita than any country in the world save the US. So why cannot this knowlege be applied to Nigeria? Think about it, sir, and we will continue this discussion, for today we must decide if we walk, brother, with God... or continue to tolerate the wiles, through Nigeria.. of Satan.
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