Neverending Ghosts of Colonialism

The Namibian government and specifically the Herero group want Germany to return over 40 skulls of indigenous Namibians, that they've held for about a century. Between 1904 and 1908 Germany, who was Namibia's colonial ruler at that time, launched a little-known genocide against the Hereros for launching an uprising against their colonial rule. The Germans defeated the Herero by driving them deeper and deeper into the desert and poisoning their water sources. It is estimated that between 24000-65000 Herero died.


Germany was recently forced to apologize for the genocide after a book was released exposing and documenting what had been kept under wraps for over a century. However, though Germany has been forced to face the now public historical accounts of the actually genocide, they are still keeping the skulls of Herero people they captured on display in German Universities. The Nambian government continues to demand there return, but the universities are arguing that they are part of their cultural heritage.

Immediately you wonder why the Germans even have the skulls in their possession in the first place. During the war, a German doctor, Eugen Fischer, requested the skulls of the dead in order to prove that African had a lower intellectual capacity than their European counterparts. So I beg to ask if Germany is keeping these skulls on display as proof of Fischer's claim or to remind themselves of their participation and support of one of the most exploitative historical periods.
For years the Herero have requested reparations for the abuse the ancestors suffered- this has gone on deaf ears. Germany's rejection of returning their ancestors remains is yet another slap in the face to a community that like others not only suffered centuries of colonial abuse, but almost had their whole community exterminated.


Does this not remind us of Saartjie"Sarah" Baartman, the Khoi woman who was paraded around Europe for years while her voluptous "beastly" body was put on display?



At the point of her death, Saartjie had been physically and sexually abused. Her brain, vulva, anus, and skeleton was put on display in a French museum and her remains were not repatriated back to South Africa for almost two hundred years!

Germany, please end the cycle of exploitation and dehumanization of African people and return the remains of the Herero people. Allow their souls to rest in peace.

Respecting Your Roots- Rest in Peace Aimé Fernand David Césaire

I can not claim to have created the intellect behind my quest to "Reinvent Africa" in the eyes of those who don't know her.



Aimé Fernand David Césaire was a writer and influential leader in the movement to "reinvent"the perception of Negroes throughout the world. At a time when colonialist and imperialist powers were still lauded for their control and exploitation over southern nations and people, Aimé Césaire used his words to denounce such beliefs.
I remember reading "Discourse on Colonialism" during my freshman year of college in my Introduction to African American history course. And though I did not immediately understand its significance, as I have grown and traveled, I have come to understand the impact on colonialism on the colonizers and colonized, as well as the need for Black people to free themselves from mental slavery. The quest of this blog is to facilitate and open and honest discourse about Africans and the Diaspora because as we've realized through the work of Césaire and other revolutionaries, colonialism did not only exist politically. Africans around the world were trapped mentally and came to believe that they were inferior to the colonizers. It is only through an open and honest examination of ourselves that we can strive to and achieve greatness, through what we experience in our communities.