I have not frequently felt impressed by most countries in Europe. It is not because I hold slavery and its impact
against them, although I could. It is not even because I fault them for
colonizing and exploiting Africa. I could do that as well but I would never do so
because I believe that African countries have generally had sufficient time since their respective
independence to transform themselves into beacons
of hope and respectability. However, they haven't because Africans have mastered the art of embracing
corrupt oppressors and massaging the egos of tyrants who kill them.
Most European countries do
not impress me because they continue to live
true to their history as ethnic
and racial purists. I have long been convinced that, if they could, many European countries
would deny entry into, and residence in, their
countries of people whose presence would reduce the homogeneity of those societies. I suspect that they
would even deny citizenship to people born in their
countries who did not exactly come from the predominant stock.
In the last few weeks, with
Syrian and other migrants arriving on European shores as refugees, we have seen the
worst of European sensibilities. Except
for the leaders of Germany and
Austria, other European leaders have engaged in a race to the gutter.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Heinz Fischer of
Austria have been the lone voices of reason in a wilderness riddled with hypocrites who
talk well and pretend to mean well - until
there is a crisis. In the last few days, Prime Minister Cameron of
Britain has begun to talk about acting with some compassion by offering to take
in 4,000 migrants a year for the next five years. Perhaps that should
make up, or at least provide some cover for his previously expressed position
on this matter. It is often in times of crises that we get to see the true colors of those who try to
present themselves as superior to others - as Europe has historically done. This is
a time of crisis, and European leaders have not acquitted themselves well.
Certainly, Viktor Orban,
the Hungarian prime minister, took the cake when, in his effort to turn
Europeans against the migrants, he wrote in
a German newspaper during the week that preventing the current migrants
from entering Europe was very essential in order
to "keep Europe Christian". The
questions that one should probably ask are:
Is Europe a Christian continent? Was it ever? Were the crimes of slavery and colonialism perpetrated by Europe
grand Christian acts or is anyone a sinner who considers those acts as evil?
What part of Christianity encourages believers to turn their backs on
needy strangers and to deny them of water, shelter and food?
This is not just about
Europe, however. Between 1967 and 1970, Ghana expelled Nigerians from
Ghana, kicking them right into the the middle of a dangerous civil war that was
at that time raging in Nigeria. The Nigerians were forced to leave their
property and other investments behind - which were then taken over by
Ghanaians. In 1985, Nigeria gave a week's ultimatum to 700,000 undocumented Ghanaian immigrants to leave the country. In my
mind's eye, I can still see that period and can still recall the pain that I felt
and the uncertainty that I saw as I watched departing Ghanaians during that
time. This year, we have seen South African blacks kill black immigrants
from other African countries and try to intimidate others into leaving South
Africa. We have also seen the Dominican Republic kick fellow Dominicans of
Haitian descent out of Haiti despite being born and raised in the Dominican
Republic. We have seen conservatives in the United States demand that our
country deny entry to children coming into the United States as migrants.
We have also seen U.S. and European politicians speak about certain
segments of our immigrant populations in extremely derogatory terms while some
in society commend those politicians for being "sincere",
"courageous" and "politically incorrect". That is the
stuff of which xenophobia is made.
We must not stay silent
when people give voice to darkness. Instead, we should be ashamed that such
people live in our midst and, in that shame, we must rise to act before their
voices further turn us and our world into a miasma of hopelessness and despair.
We must always demand sanity and kindness from ourselves and others,
especially those in positions of power and responsibility. By so doing we
become capable of making ourselves responsible custodians of a world that was
given for our care.
