Mungo Park Discovering River Niger
Mungo Park Discovering River Niger
Acrylic on canvas|
54” x 82”
2020
I completed this painting yesterday.
As the Chinese launches successfully the second wave of the colonization of Africa, after learning from the techniques of divide and conquer that Europe used for the first wave of conquering the continent, it became necessary for me to do this painting.
I also want to refer to the poem I wrote a couple of months ago, titled, “My Teacher Taught Me Nonsense.”
My Teacher Taught Me Nonsense
“In June 1796, Mungo Park discovered River Niger,”
our teacher tutored us,
“Diogo Câo discovered the mouth of River Congo, 1482
David Livingstone discovered Zambezi River 1851
And later discovered Victoria Falls, 1855
Richard Burton discovered Lake Tangayika….”
Teacher instructed us this falsehood
for generation after generation
yet none of us stopped our teacher or asked,
“But, teacher, wait a minute,
this just doesn’t make any sense:
were we not here before Mr. Park came…?”
“Karl Marx discovered communism with Hegel
Antony van Leeuwenhoek discovered
bacteria, and Joseph Lister discovered antiseptics.”
“Hippocrates is the father of medicine
Freud the father of psychoanalysis
Einstein the father of relativity theory
Picasso the father of modern art….”
“Britain founded Nigeria
Belgians founded Congo
France founded Senegal.”
And my ancestors, my people?
“Your ancestors discovered nothing.
They are the fathers of Zero.
Your people founded Nil. Zilch. Nix. Zip. Nada.”
Teacher taught us to hate our parents
and call them illiterates,
hate our language and call it vernacular
hate our home and call it village
hate our skin and bleach it pale
hate our hair and fry it out
hate our religion and call it evil
hate our god and call it Satan
hate our dream and call it impossible
hate our vision and call it crazy
and hate ourselves
hate our things
hate our souls
hate our spirits
hate our guts
and crave their
their, their, their
their, and crave their
and crave and crave, crave, crave, crave….
Mungo Park Discovering River Niger
Acrylic on canvas|
54” x 82”
2020
I completed this painting yesterday.
As the Chinese launches successfully the second wave of the colonization of Africa, after learning from the techniques of divide and conquer that Europe used for the first wave of conquering the continent, it became necessary for me to do this painting.
I also want to refer to the poem I wrote a couple of months ago, titled, “My Teacher Taught Me Nonsense.”
My Teacher Taught Me Nonsense
“In June 1796, Mungo Park discovered River Niger,”
our teacher tutored us,
“Diogo Câo discovered the mouth of River Congo, 1482
David Livingstone discovered Zambezi River 1851
And later discovered Victoria Falls, 1855
Richard Burton discovered Lake Tangayika….”
Teacher instructed us this falsehood
for generation after generation
yet none of us stopped our teacher or asked,
“But, teacher, wait a minute,
this just doesn’t make any sense:
were we not here before Mr. Park came…?”
“Karl Marx discovered communism with Hegel
Antony van Leeuwenhoek discovered
bacteria, and Joseph Lister discovered antiseptics.”
“Hippocrates is the father of medicine
Freud the father of psychoanalysis
Einstein the father of relativity theory
Picasso the father of modern art….”
“Britain founded Nigeria
Belgians founded Congo
France founded Senegal.”
And my ancestors, my people?
“Your ancestors discovered nothing.
They are the fathers of Zero.
Your people founded Nil. Zilch. Nix. Zip. Nada.”
Teacher taught us to hate our parents
and call them illiterates,
hate our language and call it vernacular
hate our home and call it village
hate our skin and bleach it pale
hate our hair and fry it out
hate our religion and call it evil
hate our god and call it Satan
hate our dream and call it impossible
hate our vision and call it crazy
and hate ourselves
hate our things
hate our souls
hate our spirits
hate our guts
and crave their
their, their, their
their, and crave their
and crave and crave, crave, crave, crave….
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