Wake up call

There is this issue which I’m tired of hearing and frankly it is starting to get on my nerves. I just hope a lot of you out there can relate to the feeling and are willing to do something about it.
 I step out each day and I hear how much colonization and the slave trade has ruined Africa, how our ancestors were made slaves, how our resources were taken away to develop the white man’s land. I hear people telling others how great Africa would have been if not for the slave trade and colonization.
Yes, the slave trade degraded us, colonization did take a lot away from us, but can someone remind me when the slave trade ended. While at it please remind me when our colonial masters left our shores. For decades we’ve been blaming them for everything, so I ask, what have we done with our independence? What can we boast of that we have achieved since independence? We keep running back to our colonial masters for aid the least chance we get. The budgets of our countries are heavily dependent on foreign aid.
 For a continent blessed with so many natural resources we can’t even boast of fifty percent ownership of the firms involved in the mining of these resources and even what is extracted is exported in its raw form. We later import the finished products at outrageous prices. A lot of the population are getting educated but the society is not benefiting from it since they consider all forms of socio-economic discussions as politics and refuse to contribute.
 We are concerned about issues such as racism and inequality that our brothers suffer overseas meanwhile women in our countries do not enjoy the same level of opportunities as men, but we have ignored their cries. We hold certain tribes and ethnic groups in high esteem and we disrespect others, ethnocentrism is a dominant feature on our continent. Xenophobic attacks are on the rise.
Maybe your eyes are filled with tears from crying that you can’t see the damage we are causing ourselves, it is time to wipe your eyes, our you are asleep, it is time to wake up. For the current state of our continent is a result of our negligence. For how can we develop if the youth hail everything foreign and refer to their own culture which is their identity as outmoded?
I’m not asking as to forget our past, I’m asking us to move on, to take responsibility for our actions and to make conscious effort to make Africa great again. It is time to wake from our slumber. Let us rise up and build.