Please listen ☝🏽 to my raw unfiltered reaction to the BBC’s Racism for Sale documentary. You will hear some sniffles, please forgive me. I was too angry not to cry. I will link the documentary below.
Hello rafiki 😊
Welcome to the Not an Afterthought newsletter, where we lead the conversation on how to accelerate Africa’s socio-economic development and how to use technology to drive effective change that makes Africa not an afterthought.
Transcript
I’ve just watched uuh… the documentary the BBC documentary, Racism for Sale. And I am angry, I am hurt, I am sad.
I don't know where to begin, but before I even go into the documentary, it reminds me of what one of the brightest minds in the west once said. If you have done biology you know of the DNA and the helix structure.
So the scientist who discovered that, his name is James Watson, back in 1992 (sorry it is not 1992 but 2007. Apologies, it was a raw reaction so I did not verify the dates.)
so he said he is “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies (our to mean the west) are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours, whereas all the testing says, not really.”
He also added, “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true.”
And then I want you to remember in the documentary what Susu was saying that you should not treat, you should be cold toward your African employees. You should not treat them as people, you should not pity them that about only what, 15% have a conscience?is that what he said? or is it 5%
So I look at that and I see a narrative that has persisted.
And something else I want you to note about James Watson, he said that in 1992 (Again not 1992 but 2007)
In 2018 he reiterated what he said.
And this is what he said in 2018:
The journalist asked him, have your views about the relationship between race and intelligence changed?
“No,’’ Dr. Watson said. “Not at all. I would like for them to have changed, that there be new knowledge that says that your nurture is much more important than nature. But I haven’t seen any knowledge. And there’s a difference on the average between blacks and whites on I.Q. tests. I would say the difference is, it’s genetic.’’
Dr. Watson adds that he takes no pleasure in “the difference between blacks and whites” and wishes it didn’t exist. “It’s awful, just like it’s awful for schizophrenics,” he says
Dr. Watson continues “If the difference exists, we have to ask ourselves, how can we try to make it better?”
So you think about that and you think this is one if the West’s brilliant minds. And he thinks on a genetic level, the fact that you come out with melanin your intelligence is low.
If someone that brilliant thinks that, how much more someone who is not? How much more someone like Susu on this freaking documentary?
I am not going to into that whole debate about intelligence because there have been enough studies to show that the difference in IQ tests come primarily from the difference in uh.. environmental,
And the fact that they test, so in an IQ test for instance, if you have ever taken one online you see they'll test English. Not every African speaks English. And even those who do, Like it is not their language. They are not testing Kikuyu, they are not testing uuh… whatever.
I am not going to go into that whole debate about intelligence. All I know is that I’ve worked with incredibly intelligent people.
But my point with regards to this video (documentary) is we, and by we I mean Africans, we… there is nothing we can do about what someone decides to believe. Right? We cannot go and hammer into someone's brain and force them to see us as who we are. But what they think doesn’t change who we are.
What someone else thinks especially the negative, doesn't change that you are smart, it doesn't change that you are capable, it doesn't change that…you are capable of so much more. Society might have told you there is a ceiling. Everything that you hear around you might have told you there is a level you cannot get to because you are black.
But that is not the truth. The truth is what you know and what you know you can do. And what you can do is so so so much more.
I want you to think about this for a second. Okay, I am a writer and I run a newsletter www.notanafterthought.substack.com And we talk about, we lead the conversation on using technology to drive effective change that will make Africa Not an Afterthought. Right?
I want to get to a place where Africa is Not an Afterthought. Where it participates fully in the global economy.
And one of the articles I wrote or one of the pieces I wrote, we were talking about mobile money and Safaricom and the fact that Kenya is the birth place of mobile money. Like literally Kenya is the birth place of mobile money.
That is the capacity that we do have. And I am just giving one example that is easily recognizable. When people talk about financial technology today, we call it fintech in tech, when people talk about fintech today, Kenya is always part of the conversation. Because of this movement that they gave birth to. That is the capacity that you have as an African. And I am sorry there is so much more that I can mention but I need to mention something that is instantly recognizable and Mpesa is with regards to the capacity that Africa and Africans have and what they can do.
So I need you to think about that and realize your capacity, your capacity is stratospheric, wait what is that word? that is how high your capacity is. And That others don't think that of your capacity doesn't make it true.
And we need to get to a point where we set our own value. Because once you set your own value other people will meet you at your value. They can think whatever they want to think, but the only thing that matters is what you think. And once you have set your value and you have set your value at the highest setting, like eventually they will have to meet you at that value.
Think about what the English did with English. Right? They set it as, like the most enviable language and the rest of the world has had to adjust and meet them at their value.
So I see a video like this and I am mad, and I'm sad and I'm pissed.
But what it does is give me, is make me want to do more. Like when I talk on Not an Afterthought and I say we want to make Africa Not an Afterthought, my background is technology so of course I lean towards technology.
Use technology to drive change that makes Africa not an Afterthought. Inanipea changamoto, it gives me motisha, what is that in English, it gives me encouragement to want to get there because I have set that value And I know, I know that I know, that I know that Africa is not an Afterthought.
And it might not be so right now, but we are freaking getting there and the rest of the world will adjust to that value we have set--that we are not an afterthought. Or I have set I guess I should say that I truly believe Africa is not an Afterthought.
As you watch this video yes be pissed. Cry if you have to, but once you are done be part of the generation that will set your value, be part of the African generation that will set a certain value that the rest if the world will have to adjust to.
Because that is all that matters, what you think of yourself not want others think of you
Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed the article and think others might as well, kindly share.
If this is your first time here, here are a couple of issues that you might have missed.
Building and succeeding in Africa: How Safaricom Did It
Winning Lessons For Startup Founders From The Man Who Built Nike
The Bitter Truth: Real Change in the Continent Will Not Come From African Leaders or Governments
For feedback, constructive criticism or a private chat, please shoot me an email at nafterthought@gmail.com. Alternatively, leave a comment.
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Raw Unfiltered Reaction to BBC's Racism For Sale Documentary