Images of Africa at Century’s End

—in memoriam Cheikh Anta Diop, and for John Henrik Clarke, Ivan van Sertima, Adotey Bing, Aida Brako, Vincent Odamtten, and by special request, Esi Doughan and Kinna Likimani. Who was it said the reason why you never see Black Folks properly e-v-e-r on film or TV is ’cause White Folks “find them threatening”? Whopei! Abae-o-o-o! We always thought our beautiful black skin was the Problem. So Afia and Ola Eye-leen, Lola, and Tapu bleached and blotched their skins ugly to please our masters and our masters’ servants. Now don’t come telling me flat noses, thick lips, and small ears must also disappear to put the world at ease? That must explain why the Princess Nefertiti and the youthful King Tut were dragged to Michael Jackson’s beauty doctor long before Young Michael was born, and also why the Sphinx who looked like Great Ancestor King Khafre is being redone! We should have known we were in trouble the day we heard a Corsican general traveled to Giza by way of Paris and a crown to shoot the Sphinx’s nose off for not-at-all-looking like his. Enfin! Helas!! Mon Dieu!!! Ebusuafo, for years the Sphinx stood massive eternal riddled with wisdom and all very thick-lipped very flat-nosed. We never saw him photographed head-on. But in the year 2020 the New Sphinx will be unveiled full visage on view straight nose raised thin lips tight and even, maybe, blue-eyed: a perfect image of the men who vested so much interest in his changing face. You see,Wekumei, when folks figure you are their slave your past belongs to them. And mind you, the Man will try to grab our future too. Shall we let him?