(By James Ogunjimi) - Self-serving interpretations of African culture. When
you are an African, you do not have the liberty to talk as you like. You are
told to challenge injustice and untruths, but there is an unspoken caveat that
your African upbringing should have instilled in you: challenge injustice and
untruths among members of your generation, not among the elders. African
culture is flung in our faces by elders whose words and actions drag African
culture and what it represents through the mud every day. When you speak up,
they remind you of African culture. A child that says the mouth of elders
stinks will not grow old. You don't know? It is not a curse; it is OUR CULTURE.
They are quick to forget that inasmuch as African
culture lays emphasis on respect for elders, it also emphasizes, perhaps even
more, the protection of young ones and seeing to their upbringing. It is like a
social contract: protect the young ones and raise them well and they will
respect you and cater for you in old age. The older generation breached that
social contract first, the older generation of elders ditched African culture
and stole from the younger generation.
