You Americans, Always Peering Under

This Is Our World, Although The People Who Drew This Map Decided To Put Their Own Land On Top Of Ours. There Is No Top Or Bottom, You See.

There Are People Who Think That We Cannot Rule Ourselves Because The Few Times We Tried, We Failed, As If All The Others Who Rule Themselves Today Got It Right The First Time. It Is Like Telling A Crawling Baby Who Tries To Walk, And Then Falls Back On His Buttocks, To Stay There. As If The Adults Walking Past Him Did Not Crawl, Once

Of Course I Am Not Worried About Intimidating Men. The Type Of Man Who Will Be Intimidated By Me Is Exactly The Type Of Man I Have No Interest In.

If I Were Not African, I Wonder Whether It Would Be Clear To Me That Africa Is A Place Where The People Do Not Need Limp Gifts Of Fish But Sturdy Fishing Rods And Fair Access To The Pond. I Wonder Whether I Would Realize That While African Nations Have A Failure Of Leadership, They Also Have Dynamic People With Agency And Voices.

The Real Tragedy Of Our Postcolonial World Is Not That The Majority Of People Had No Say In Whether Or Not They Wanted This New World; Rather, It Is That The Majority Have Not Been Given The Tools To Negotiate This New World.