Fela Kuti, while playing at a concert in Detroit Michigan, opened the show by introducing his song entitled "Just Like That". He said that in Nigeria and much of Africa, you could be sitting down and watching television and the electricity goes off, just like that; you could be taking a shower and the water runs out, just like that; you could be walking down the street and the cop arrest you, just like. That is the type of brutally honest lyrics that Fela was known for. The concert was about two and half hours long but consisted of only 4 songs. Fela had every reason to raise those issues. It was barely a year since his release from prison following his prison sentence in 1984 on some trumped up charges of possession of foreign currency.
Well, just like that, Kenya food sovereignity has been gone off, arrested and ran dry just like the electricity, water and Justice that Fela Kuti sang about.
I find it hard to comprehend just how reckless we as a species have become about life.
I remember that six years before this performance before Fela's concert in Detroit, my oldest brother came home with a single record from a group I had never heard. The single was Celebration by Cool & The Gang. The single was an instant favorite. It is one of the song I still sing from memory to this day. The first few lines went something like:
"There's a party goin' on right here
A celebration to last throughout the years
So bring your good times, and your laughter too
We gonna celebrate your party with you
Come on now
Celebration
Let's all celebrate and have a good time
Celebration
We gonna celebrate and have a good time
It's time to come together
It's up to you, what's your pleasure
Everyone around the world
Come on!
Yahoo! It's a celebration
Yahoo!...."
Funny enough when I first heard of the company Yahoo, I read it in the same tone as in the song.
The B side of the single was "Morning Star". Thr contrast between two artists that mark my formative years, but whose influence has lasted all these years.
Yet it is not difficult for me to comprehend the deterioration of our continental and global fortunes. Very slowly I have witnessed one the fastest growing religion is Death Worship.
Under these awkward dispensation, our culture appears as a self-sabotage affair where more and more people seek to engage in unsustainable practices that leave us poorer. Ironically, more people wish blessings upon me than any other time in my life. Yet even simple things like burying family members have become big business. That has made me very suspicious of prayers in general but more so during funerals.
I can’t possibly comprehend how people who are wealthy enough to send their child to universities, buy new cars, houses and even take vacations all of a sudden become poor once a relative dies Just Like That. Just like that, a person is free to make irrational decisions about health and how they spend their life on earth in service of the system that is killing us without second thoughts. My indigenous understanding amongst my people was that death is a private matter. The equivalent of fuck you was wishing that someone will die alone and before he blessed his family with a game plan after their death. According to that view, life and stability were paramount. Your send off was your business and that of your family. No one can mourn you except those who you had sacrificed your life for or were related to in blood or in bond. It's a fake affair to mourn someone you didn't know or care about. If you didn't see me in life, why see me in death? If you didn't enrich my life while alive, why impoverish others in death. I can’t imagine the opportunity cost of the resources spent in fulfilling the wishes of the dead by my community that is seriously unhealthy and food insecure. Truth hurts, but we can't continue in this way.
I remember when growing up, the burying of the dead took on a different turn. A preacher had to be present as a given. That meant that Africans had to bury their dead only by the help of outside culture that was antithetical to local values. Then the body had to be pumped with toxic chemicals that would pollute the water table. We were all over a sudden wrecking the environment in life and in death.
How many birthday gifts have changed hands over the same period that has accelerated our climate sabotage? How did we manage to feel so good while wrecking the planet we claim is ours? Who do we include in that collective "ours"? It is ridiculous when you think about just how entitled we as a people have become. We deserve to live well and be happy without regard to cost or responsibility. That is the same idea behind slavery and Colonialism.
Such a culture is the equivalent of GMO seeds. If we can't eat well, we can't live well certainly can't die well. That is the making of poor people who are scared to fight for justice. In this case, justice is working for what we want and paying for what we use. The results of such a culture is the dimming of the We all have become like the politicianswe complain about, Just Like That. The way we live promotes deficits. Its a form of life that dimms "The Morning Star " and any other star, Just Like That. Surely, fear is not for man.