Who Told You That You are Balck or White?

by Harvard Chinyemba
(Lusaka, Zambia)

I have been in hiding for quite some time now, but I would like to announce my comeback to all those who enjoyed reading my articles. I apologize for letting you down and I promise to pick up from where I left. To those who are hearing from me for the first time, watch this space because God has something in store for you.

Doc, I know you are wondering where I have been all this while. I have been around but the work load, business, and music have been doing a great deal of some robbery on my time. However, I will make up for my " missing in Action".

Let me start with an issue that has been disturbing me of late. I do not know how I can express my feelings but I am hurt, angry, sad, disappointed, perplexed and confused.

People have a right to say what they want to say; I mean, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Freedom of expression is our constitutional right. But reading the comments that were made when one of the Serena sisters erred made me wonder as to which "Train" I am traveling in and I wish it could stop so that I can jump out of it!

Some critics even went as far as calling her a MONKEY (or is it a baboon?), and that she should be given a banana. Men, I thought this kind of mentality belonged to stone age, alas how mistaken I was.

That is an insult to all the black people and God who created them. I don't believe in racial discrimination and I hate it.I don't care who perpetrates it; be it a black man, white, blue, red.

Our fore-bearers fought this battle vehemently. But it seems this race issue is permanently embedded in the DNA of our people in some sections of our society.

Some blacks also have been instigating hatred directly or indirectly towards the "muzungus".
When Adam hid from God and told Him that he did that because he was naked, God said to him,"Who told you that you are naked?"

Who told you that you are black or white? We are all the same in the eyes of God. We too must see ourselves as God sees us. At one time God asked a certain man of God in the Bible: "What do you see?" "I see an almond tree", the man answered.And God said,"You have seen well" (meaning that the man of God saw what God saw)

Some people see blue where God has seen red. Others see bad where God has seen good.The Bible says that God said "It was good" whenever He created something. There is no Bible which says that at one time looked at what He had created and said, " This looks ugly, let me break it and make another one."

The devil has been trying to tear us apart by making us see one another differently.He is a liar!

Another equally thorny issue is that of tribalism. It is beginning to show its ugly head in Zambia today. Hardly did we hear people attacking one another on tribal lines when we were growing up.

People who champion these causes must realize that it takes a few minutes to destroy a building but it takes years to build it. It took sacrifice and hard work to fight racism and tribalism by our forefathers. Let us guard jealously that which has been passed on to us.We are the touch bearers of peace and harmony.

I am an agent of unity, are you?

Godspeed.