A Message on a Taxi

We live in an interesting city whose transportation system often takes
on several uses one of which is advertising.
There is an inconvenient message on one of this sixteen seater transport
vehicles whose message needs some attention.
Not all Africans are Black.
A little too obvious? Not really. Some of what helped add fuel to the
desires for change in Sudan, was based on different ideas regarding this
very subject. The fallout from this thinking was obvious when, after the
referendum, hundreds and thousands of darker skinned Sudanese people
made the decision to cross into the new border and head further South.

Sudan has an interesting history to say the least and it is often
forgotten that the country has more pyramids than those in Egypt. There
was a point in time when in it seemed to carry the full load of African
challenges. She had hosted historic battles between the British (Gordon)
and the Muslims(Mahdi) and was beginning to deal with the challenges of
development and progress while managing race and cultural challenges. A
rich history eroded by years of neglect as well as new hopes built upon
big projects centered on energy all depending on the power of the great
Nile river.

Maybe the days to come will continue to split Eastern Africa into its
former groups Nilote, Cushite and Bantu. What we might have to decide is
how far back we chose to go when we attempt to bring to the table
land-related issues and those regarding origins.

The Problems in Tunisia do not seem to discriminate exclusively along
racial lines. The passages that lead to freedom are peopled by both
lighter skinned and darker skinned Africans.

I often like to think of an African Mason Dixon Line that splits Africa
in an lighter and Darker skinned Africa. While the American one,
differentiated between an Industrial north and an agricultural south.

Maybe this is too simplistic. It is further complicated by the subject
of religion. Whereas the bulk of Northern Africans seem to have embraced
Islam we need to make the distinction between the Arab and Islam (the
religion).

There are traces of some of this in Nigeria which has come up with
innovative ways of dealing with these differences by alternating
governance across religious lines. These methods are being challenged
and Ancient African religion seems to be poised for a comeback of
sorts-a renaissance.

The global development challenges have in my view forced Africans (Dark
and Light) into an inconvenient union fueled by frustration but possibly
financed by richer pre-colonial masters and ideologically enriched by
revolutionary movements many of which currently exist south of the
Equator and in the Americas. We have also found ourselves having to make
cold war alliances and many decisions based initially on a lack of
resources. Some of the frustrations have also been caused by feelings
of neglect and abandonment when representatives ('ambassadors') sent by
our new nations returned only to create clusters of power around their
own communities and educated classes.

For the Sudanese movement south has not changed effects of language and
the influence post-colonial leadership. We hope that there will be an
emergence of new African sense. Instability seems to have birthed is a
faster movement towards the dreams for a United Africa.

We wait to see what other creatures emerge in the present day and which
heroes rise to the occasion to deal with them and what messages are
posted on new transportation systems.