By Dr. Charles Quist-Adade, Vancouver, Canada
On this auspicious day (September 30), as we congratulate Canada’s Indigenous Peoples, it is worth noting that, First Nations Peoples share a common history of European dispossession and exploitation with people of African Descent, both continental Africans and their cousins in the Diaspora.
It’s a common history of suffering, trials, and tribulations. But that common history is also a long and tortuous history of resistance and resilience.
A common history of adversity and triumph, which are a testimony to the staying and fight spirit and endurance of our two peoples. And as the Asantes of Ghana say, “wo kum apem a apem beba”: to wit, if you kill a thousand, a thousand more will rise, our people keep moving on.
We are here and will continue to be, despite the machinations AND subterfuge of our detractors. We are here and still rise like the phoenix. Our separate stories of suffering, fortitude, resistance and resilience; our separate struggles and quests for freedom must combine to build a common bond and network of solidarity and collaboration, and cooperation for our mutual benefit.
Again, as the Akan in Ghana said about the mythical bird Sankofa bird, the past and the present are dialectically fused into one, and prods us to move on, despite our challenges, shortcomings, and frailties. A little bit about the Sankofa bird: the Sankofa bird is a mythical bird that walks forward while its head is turned backward. It is symbol connoting the idea that the past must inform the present and the future. It is the equivalence of the popular saying by the American philosopher George Santayana: “Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it.” But is also a reminder that we can build on the finest and noblest in our past as we chart our way forward.
Congratulations again, brethren and sisthren, friends and compatriots!
Comments