Well, I am humbled. You have put me in my place, and you know, I shall stay there. You mean to tell me that there are displaced people from Africa in the waste? Refugees and what have you? In the name of jeeeee-zas! Why has this news been kept from me?

Poverty, warfare, environmental degradation : all down to tribalism. Of course. And to think that I had the nerve to ask why people are been relegated to the state of second-class citizens (if they are lucky) merely on the basis of what they look like. Why open up old wounds indeed. We all know that the state of mind called colorism is a thing of the past. We all know that the state of mind which led 'freed' slaves from amerikkka to establish a colony whose capital THEY 'christened' monrovia and then, to establish themselves in the same manner as they had seen 'whites' living in amerikkka will never happen again. And if it does, we'll call it something else. We'll scratch our heads and say, 'now how could this happen?'. After all, it is an 'old wound'. We have successfully dealt with the ways of thinking that gave birth to and sustained it.

By all means go to Africa, you will love Namibia, it has great landscapes and a sizeable 'white' population in whose clubs you will find people willing to listen when you are ready to start expressing your frustration with the 'tribalistic' sheenanigans of the natives.

Africa is not going to conform to your fantasies. What you call 'tribes' are nationalities. Different languages and contrasting cultures. But I guess you would like them to drop all those differences, all the 'tribal' baggage. Drop it all and learn to speak one language (preferably one which you already speak). Right?

What has passed for countries in Africa since the colonial days (when thier borders were drawn-up in berlin) are nothing but a series of prisons for different nationalities. Sorry if stating this fact upsets your cherished fantasy. But, in my opinion, your misconceptions regarding Africa come from intellectual laziness. Africans (on the continent and in the diaspora) have been carrying out reasonings on what would constitute a viable basis for govermental, economic and cultural unity for a while now. Addressing uncomfortable truths are a vital component of this search.

I am sure that you are familiar with Walter Rodney, but perhaps you disagree with the conclusions he reached regarding the real purpose behind the contrivance of these bogus countries by the so-called colonial powers.

And, are you aware that the main mechanism that is used to keep these countries in existence is a version of the same thing you have described as an 'old wound'? You quote Haile Selassie, which is ironic, but can you not see the links between what you call 'tribalism' and colorism? We are talking about privilege that is based around physical appearance. If you think this is an old wound, and if you possess undiluted (or lightly diluted) black African features, then why don't you try moving to Mauretania, Northern Sudan, Egypt or the Dominican Republic?

For Africa to be free, all her people must be free. This means that people should be free to live according to thier own customs. They should be free to pass on knowledge to thier children in thier own languages. They should be able to determine how the natural resources on thier lands are used. Now, you look on each of those points and tell me which one is mis-guided, tell me why.