One Africa? Really?

Like Obama said(paraphrased), "It is impossible to eradicate the world of evil"...that is true and I like to think that we've accepted that fact. Only sometimes I don't get why there's any evil in the first place. Like one wise man said, "...all the demons of hell are now walking on earth..." It does seem true doesn't it? Everyday there's one evil report or another. If the terrorists aren't doing their thing, the kidnappers are. If they're slacking, armed robbers won't. Then we have the lying, cheating, stealing politicians(most of which should have been in jail a while back but aren't for some reason) and now xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

Xenophobia is the fear of foreign or strange things. I call it cowardice. If you are scared of things or people that are different from you, then sulk or avoid them. You do not attack them. What hurts me the most and confuses me at the same time is the fact that this is basically black on black violence. I wonder what we would call it. Does it count as 'friendly fire'? I thought we were supposed to have each other's backs. One Africa and all that crap some of you are always chanting. This is basically pettiness. Killing, looting, destroying, maiming, hurting children. That last part is unforgivable. What did the little ones ever do wrong. How can people wake up one day and decide to resort to violence?

My baby sister's best friend, Raine is South African. She's a sweet girl. She and my sister love each other so much it barely registers to them that they are no longer living in the same country. Her parents and sister have been nothing but kind and sweet towards my sister. They are loving people. I forgot to mention that they were white South Africans. Looks like the one we have to fear are the ones we share the same kind of pigmentation with. Hating something because it's not like you is just wrong. I don't know what to say about this recent crime against humanity. It seems that they forgot that many of these immigrants they're targeting come from countries that helped them when they were dealing with apartheid.

So what if they have lots of businesses in your country. I'm willing to bet your economy is all the better for it. I thought black people, people of color, africans should bond. Even if we don't have much in common, we have the colors of our skin and the fact that sometimes the developed world expects us to fail. I like the fact that most of these countries have started to evacuate their people. I hope Nigeria does too. This isn't something we should sweep under the rug. Africa should come together and punish South Africa. They need to be chastised. I thought about boycotting South African ventures in Nigeria but that's not fair to the Nigerian employees they have. I'm not against boycotting stuff on principles. There's a reason I don't use Etisalat afterall. The very same reason I discourage my family members from getting the line. I wouldn't go as far as giving them bad publicity, I just don't want my family(immediate) patronizing them. Boycotting MTN, Multichoice, Shoprite, etc. would be easy for me. If the government at any point goes ahead with the boycotting plan, I will be the first to cut my MTN sim and my DSTV smart card. The great thing is I come from a family who wouldn't question the act because they instilled the principles.

I am a Nigerian first and an African second. I will stand by my people. I've never not loved Nigeria. It is not okay to kill people. Nothing about violence is okay. Not racism, not terrorism, not sexism and certainly not 'xenophobia-ism'. A bold step should be taken. A big one. Yes, I want a united Africa. Afterall, sometimes it's us against the rest of the world. But....I'm going to not write out my exact thoughts right now. Atleast not yet.