Is something really wrong with Africa?
James Watson. My colleague at work suggested that there was
some truth in what the man said. I got into this fierce bloody argument recently because of a man i didn''t even know existed before then. I didn''t
really have the details then. All i knew was he was a white man who dared to say that the African race was genetically inferior. The emphasis is on ''say'' there because while many must have quietly pondered on the possibility of something being intrinsically wrong with the dark race, Watson insinuated it too strongly. I came upon the controversial statements that came out of his interveiw in the october 14(2007) issue of the American magazine, Sunday Times. Some of my anger dissipated and in it place came an ugly feeling of hopeless despair. Is it really possible that my people are deficient in the cerebral area? Was it really as devastatingly simple as that?
The truth - the undeniable truth - is that Africa is at the bottom of the food chain. I am a pure bred African with an undiluted twenty-odd-year long African experience. I certainly can''t argue with what everyone can see: the appalling poverty (sometimes right in the midst of plenty. case study, Nigeria), the war and the violence, the ignorance en masse, the technological backwardness - in fact, one is tempted to think everything is wrong with Africa. The question nobody seems to have an answer to is why? Why can''t Nigeria get it right forty seven years after independence? Why are Ethiopians selling their babies to survive? Why are entire communities being wiped out by HIV? We watch DSTV''s Africa Magic and wonder if we will ever get movie
making right on this side of eternity. The American Green card lottery has become like the biblical turning of the pool. Everyone wants to get out, get out, GET OUT!
Some have offered spiritual/biblical answers: the African people are descendants of the cursed son of Noah - Ham. So this might be akin to the Adamic curse then? Truth is, Watson, the strongman in the field of genetic research may have put our poor African heads to the guillotine, for if it becomes the official scientific submission that we are indeed humans of less intellectual quality, what hope do we have of making it eventually? We may as well invite the colonial masters back. In the mean time, we accept Mr. Watson''s apology and believe that he didn''t really mean to make such damning speculations. I actually find myself being drawn into studying more about the genetic theories of the man. at least i like the suggestion he made years ago about the possibility of genetically making all girls beautiful. I still need answers to why the dark continent is caught in this unrelenting mire of underdevelopement. I just hope to God that Walton isn''t right.