The Mirror
The mirror principle is a key if we wish to understand Africa today, an entity divided in two parts that now live on both sides of the
How? Through analogy, Through similarity, through examples or situations that at a smaller scale can give an idea, illustrate or act like mirrors of the horrors
I think this is mo' than enuf for you, yes you I am talking to at this very moment when you are reading them lines to understand the life of you that son, that daughter, that boro, that sisi, that fava, that muva, that grandpa, that grandma in Africa did stop at the very moment them horrors did occur, for they really did. Something inside ya did break down for ever. If we add up to all this the sleepless nights, the hell you been through for the fava, muva, boro, sisi, grandson, granddaughter that were so cruelly taken from ya, the nightmares you have lived in yo mind when thinking of the torture –have mercy-, the screams –have mercy-, the cries for help –have mercy- of the mutha, the grandson, the sistra, the brutha, the futha, the granddaughter while you were not there to rescue them; if we add up the muva, boro, sisi, grandpa or ma premonitions you done had of the violent death, the mutilations inflicted to the flesh of yo flesh, to the blood of yo blood, I think this mo' than enuf for ya to understand that yo own life did stop at that very moment. The only way for yo life to resume would be to see the fava, the muva, the son, the daughter, sisi, the boro come back to ya and say: "this is me, alive despite what they done to me". Now, the great news for ya that futha, mutha, brutha, sistra, grandpa or ma, uncah, aunty, grandson, granddaughter in Africa who read them lines at this very moment is that the flesh of yo flesh so fresh, that muva, that sisi, that boro, that fava are there and alive. They are the ones in Jamaica, Cuba, Peru, Brazil, the U.S.A, the Caribbean, Colombia, Honduras, Barbados, Trinidad, Ecuador, Mexico, Argentine and everywhere been deported.
I can remember the hell my unka been through when his son was held in a squalid jail in eastern Europe in a country that was facing high social tensions. After a visit to that uncah I can tell his life had been suspended at that troubled time. He was in deep agony for his son my brutha. He could eat no more. He hardly did speak again and was so detached from human things. My own fava who also came to bring him some kind of comfort told me he had seen him eat raw black pepper. Life had ceased to mean a cabbage thing to him. He was envisioning the worst for his son and so had voluntarily suspended his own life. If ever something tragic had befallen his son my brutha there, bet my unka woulda let the blues kill him. That reaction that can in all aspects be considered natural from a futha, mutha, brutha or sistra, a son, a daughter reminds us that the families whose families done been tortured, abducted and deported during maafa, yovoda or slavery did react exactly the same. On a period of five hundred years, five centuries, thousands, maybe millions of futhas, muthas, bruthas, sistras, sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters so let the blues kill him.
This aspect of things that is so quickly overlooked is fundamental to bring the ones and the others to a less matter-of-fact vision of what done happened. I think of a certain opinion well spread among Africans from the diaspora and the motherland who pretend that the martyr of slavery is an exclusive diaspora Africans business. After what Africa done gone through for centuries, I think such a statement is probably the biggest nonsense an African no matter where he/she lives, no matter the current name he/she bears or their nationality can say under our sun. Backing this would be like saying the wounded and lucky survivors of a bloodshed that almost destroy a whole family are not considered victims since they did not die. If a virus happened to kill half of a community, the survivors' physical illness would mean nothing?
Let us please show more respect to so serious a matter. Let us stop messing around, though we cannot deny the black people is a highly tormented people. Statements like: "we were never sold" or "you were never sold" have no more reason to be. Them done remained in the muthaland are survivors. Like them done been captured they have run, run away, hide. Let us always use the mirror principle and analogical thought. Them done remained in the muvaland been hunted. They been living targets too. Thy shot bullets on them. They have fallen down, wounded, did struggle to wake up, have screamed, have suffocated, have bled, have run and run again for hours, days, months, years, centuries. The threat of the shackles and chains done haunted them like their captured and abducted families. All Africans have that in their blood, psyche, history. All of them. To remind them facts is far from being a waste of time given that many are inclined to forget them much too quickly.
The mirror clearly shows that we are images and reflections of each other: we are one.
