Loyalty to Ubuntu principle

One can't make a pact with the slave and make a pact with the master and not betray one of them. (Yoruba)

Dear Zayda,

The blood of slaves and slave masters runs in our veins. If they wanted to continue living, our female ancestors could not say “no” to their owners. Children of mixed blood often had an easier life than Black children - lighter work, better food, and a chance to read and write. Lucky ones got their freedom. The question then, as now, is who will have our loyalty, slave or master.

Some ease their minds by making a pact with the master. They speak the master’s language (sometimes with the master’s accent) and consider slave-derived language as “bad”. They wear the master’s clothing, intended for cold climates, even in tropical heat. As best they can, they try to make their hair and skin colour resemble the master’s. What they can’t do for themselves, they may try to do for their children and grandchildren by choosing spouses who are white or near-white. Some may go so far as to refuse to acknowledge relatives who look or act “too Black”.

Those who make a pact with the slave could be considered as “too Black”. They will wear their hair long, but in dreadlocks or natural braids, not straight hair weaves. They are proud of having smooth chocolate skin and generous lips. They take every chance they can get to celebrate with the drumming and dancing and stories of their African ancestors. Persons such as Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X inspire them.

But we live in a world together - Blacks and whites, children of slaves and slave masters. We need to make pacts with each other and with ourselves. Even if one side or the other thinks we betray them, we must never betray ourselves. That means, Zayda, that we allow principle to guide us.

Nelson Mandela is an example of someone who tried to make pacts with slave and master while respecting the rights of all. He tried to follow the principle of Ubuntu. He explained it in this way as:

“A traveler through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food, entertain him. That is one aspect of Ubuntu but it will have various aspects. Ubuntu does not mean that people should not enrich themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?”



One of my heroes, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, is also someone who tries to find principled ways of making pacts. This is how he explains Ubuntu:

“One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity.

“We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.”



To me, the essence of Ubuntu is love. So we have to love ourselves enough to find peace between the masters and slaves who may at times seem to be at war within us and around us.

We have to love others to see beyond the slave or the master to the humanity that we all share.

It’s not easy, but we can do it. We have to do it for our survival.

Blessings,

Your shangazi