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Yeyeolade sent you this article on the Huffington Post. Here's what they said:
If You Want to Find Me, Come To Africa
If you want to find me. Come to Africa. Flights may be expensive ― much more expensive than my life in America. My life in America is deemed cheap...
Read the entire article here: 1http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/if-you-want-to-find-me-come-to-africa_us_57e3ca66e4b00267764fba1d
Back to Africa oooo!-"If You Want to Find Me,Come to Africa!"-from Huffpost.com
If You Want to Find Me, Come To Africa
If you want to find me. Come to Africa. Flights may be expensive ― much more expensive than my life in America. My life in America is deemed cheap...
Read the entire article here: 1http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/if-you-want-to-find-me-come-to-africa_us_57e3ca66e4b00267764fba1d
If You Want to Find Me, Come To Africa
Not once have I had to say, “Hands up don’t shoot,” – in Africa.
If you want to find me.
Come to Africa.
Flights
may be expensive ― much more expensive than my life in America. My life
in America is deemed cheap. Yes, I am a black man, a big African man.
Menacing to some – an eternal suspect too many. Yes, my life is cheap in
America. So are my sons and my daughters.
I had to get out. We had to get out
I
have yet to sit in the back of a police car in Africa; not in Kenya,
Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, Gambia, Nigeria or Namibia. Not
once have I had to say, “Hands up don’t shoot,” – in Africa. Dogs have
yet to enter my car, looking for “drugs,” as was a frequent occurrence
in America. Things are far from perfect in Africa, with 54 countries and
varying cultures, traditions, languages, and countless challenges.
However, I am not seen as a constant threat in Africa. Maybe my
idealism, leads me to believe that even if I am not a “citizen” in
Africa, I can still be a human; where I can chart my own destiny without
the color of my skin being an impediment to my progress. This is my
experience my destiny. Yes there are some who board rickety boats with a
hope to leave Africa and chart their course of life elsewhere; but not
me. My future is intrinsically tied to this continent where I have found
liberation. I have been liberated from the shackles of being a Black
man, an African man, in America.
I
had to leave a country that does not understand my pain, my promise,
and my potential. March they say. Protest they say. Vote they say – if
you want to see change in America, you have to be that change. Not me ― I
am tired of the illusion of equality, an illusion of color blindness,
an artifice of democracy, a delusion of justice, and an illusion of
freedom. Struggles I can handle, Struggle I embrace – but I had grown
tired of struggling in America for the most basic of rights; most
specifically, the right to not always be viewed as a threat, or a
suspect, by a system that was and is, in constant fear of my blackness.
Some
say, but you have a Black President in America – and “Change We Can
Believe In.” However, I opted to put my trust in many Black Presidents. I
have Geingob, Kenyatta, Mugabe, Zuma, Jammeh, Thabane, Sirleaf, Mahama
and more. We also have Kings and Prime Ministers, who may not be
perfect, and some better than others. But I will take my chances. The
Change I can believe in – is right here, in Africa.
I
have yet to be called a nigger or a nigga in Africa; except by say, a
few hip hop kids who have listened to one to many rap albums. I have yet
to be treated with suspicion because of the color of my skin in Africa.
I have yet to be a statistic in Africa, compared to hundreds of
thousands of black men locked up in a prison industrial complex in
America. In these prison industrial complexes, where I worked – I found
young and old, black, brown and white, languishing without hope, without
a chance for redemption.
Civil
war, crime, violence, disease, and corruption they say – is what is
found in Africa. Have they visited, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington
D.C, or my hometown of Cleveland, where there, and in most cities and
small towns; it’s easier to get a gun than it is to get healthcare.
Where violence and lawlessness has created an environment where even a
12 year old boy can’t play outside without getting shot by a cop; or
where a young girl can’t walk to school without being shot by rival
gangs with poor aim; or where a young man can’t walk with a hoodie,
without being deemed a suspect; and murdered by a hooligan vigilante?
If you want to find me - come to Africa.
#SayMyName Freddie
Gray, Walter Scott, Eric Harris, Phillip White, Tony Robinson, Jerame
Reid, Rumain Brisbon, Tamir Rice, Akai Gurley, Tanisha Anderson, Dante
Parker, Ezell Ford, Michael Brown Jr., Trayvon Martin, John Crawford
III, Eric Garner, Dontre Hamilton, Amaadou Diallo, Sandra Bland, Manuel
Loggins Jr, Ronald Madison. Kendra James, Sean Bell, Alton Sterling,
Christian Taylor, Ramarley Graham, Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher.
I have not forgotten the struggles of my people, friends, family, and ancestors in America.
However,
If you want to find me ― come to Africa.
Brian
Wheeler is originally from Cleveland Ohio. He moved from Ohio to the
Africa in 2009, first stop was Kenya. He is a development professional,
entrepreneur and writer currently based in Windhoek Namibia.
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