Why I felt like Apologizing to an African American

I passed by the City this morning. A traffic light made me stop at the intersection of Truman Rd and the Paseo. As I waited for my green light, my eye wandered to the right across the road. Sitting outside what appeared to be an abandoned house was a black man. He seemed to be in his 50s or 60s and appeared to be smoking weed. I looked at him for a while partly to confirm whether he was really holding a joint just to satisfy my curiosity and partly because he seemed to sit awkwardly against the thing he was sitting on.

Then it hit me. “Slavery.” We seem to have forgotten all about it. Some of us don’t even know where the word came from. Suddenly, the light turned green and it was time for me to get moving. Down town is not a place you delay other drivers. It is legal to carry a conceal weapon in Mo. You do not want o upset anyone with this Economy. Before I pressed on the pedal, I took another look at the man. And I felt sorry for him.

All along my trip, I kept thinking of him. What was his name? Probably: Robert, Jim, Michael or Terrence White. I have known many black men whose last name are White. Do you catch my drift? How ironic you name a black person white? Well, when their ancestors were sold soon after arriving from African, the buyer had the right to name them after themselves, just like you would put your name on a car title. But many of them could not help but take a mickey.they called them white.

I arrived at my destination and did my little business. On my way back, Mr. White somehow crept into my mind again, could it be possible that his name is actually the same as mine? Or Onyango, Kimani, Adebayo, Baruti or even Nkurumah. I asked myself whether Mr White could actually be the new king of the Igbo, Ashanti, Soghai, or the new Moshoeshoe. It could have been, but the Arabs and the British came to visit us. They cheated their way into our hearts, minds and land to separate us and then took Mr. White and others away from us.

But it is easy for me and everyone else to blame the Arabs and the British and throw the History book unto them. We try to ignore the part we played in Mr.White’s peril. You see, Sayyid Sayid, and other traders never chased a slave through the woods to ship him to the New Found Land. We did it for them. We gave them our own brothers and sisters as we would chase a Gazelle and give it to a friend. Can you imagine your Great, Great, Great, Uncle or Grandfather and his mates chasing down Mike Tyson’s Great, Great, Great Grand Father across Karura or Kongo Forest to sell him for nothing? Go ahead and deny it, but I know you can never be really sure it never happened.

Mr. White was never designed for the hush winters of the Mid West. Neither is he cut for the sleek streets of Manhattan, Los Angeles,nor was he made to toil the soil along the Mississippi. God designed him for the jungles and the warm tropics of African. But we helped the evil guy pluck him out of his homeland. They talk of the “promised land” just like in the bible but yet, the Promised Land is not for everyone. A freezing night after an Ice storm in Kansas City is no promised land.

Before I got home, I stopped at Wal-Mart to get some milk, "seems like I’m always getting milk", and standing in front of me by the fruits isle, was this huge black guy with his two daughters loading up the cart. I stopped for a minute. I was thinking maybe I could give him a huge, hug pat him on the back, and whisper “it’s going to be ok”. But then I’d be lynched at the Liberty Square and a replica boat placed on my head for all the sins my ancestor committed. I’m not enough big prize for it and only God could heal their pain.

I said sorry in my heart and hoped that Mr. White is going to be Ok. Next time you see somebody like Mr. White anywhere in the “land of the free”, spare a thought in silence. You are here by choice. For them, well, we sold them. We greedy, selfish, and heartless Africans.

PS: In case you are interested, the word ‘Slave’ came about when the Rus (Russian) terrorized captured the Slavs (a tribe in Eastern Europe) and used them for free labor.