The President had some strong but good words today during his first visit since taking office. I wouldn't completely dismiss the ongoing negative impact of post-colonialism since it does still exist but it's also good to start moving the discussion in a new direction. Another US leader may not be able to be as blunt and still have an impact so glad to hear what he had to say today. Obama, from Ghana:
Obama spoke of the indignities visited upon Africans from the era of European rule. He said his grandfather, a cook for the British in Kenya, was called "boy" by his employers for much of his life despite his being a respected village elder. He said it was a time of artificial borders and unfair trade.
But he said the West is not to blame "for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants." Nor for the corruption that is a daily fact of life for many, he said.
"Africa is not the crude caricature of a continent at perpetual war," he said. Yet for "far too many Africans, conflict is a part of life, as constant as the sun. There are wars over land and wars over resources. And it is still far too easy for those without conscience to manipulate whole communities into fighting among faiths and tribes.
"These conflicts are a millstone around Africa's neck."
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