By Andrew Wutaunashe

This week in the first Chapter of his book, Dear Africa-The Call of The African Dream, that The Patriot is serialising, Andrew Wutaunashe says black people are always judged by the colour of their skin. He says being black is an issue.

THE colour of your skin is an issue.
It was always an issue, is still an issue and will always be an issue.
In fact let me go so far as to say, it was meant to be an issue.
Throughout history, skin colour has always been an issue and has played a major part in the unfolding of history.
Colour, race . . . it is foolish to disregard their significance in the unfolding of history and in the changing fortunes of man.
This truth is even more relevant to black people hailing from the African continent and scattered in most nations of this world-this, for the most part, not by choice.
It is important for the sake of the future of nations and the future of Black People in particular, to call the lie which has been spun almost into conventional wisdom in the so-called global village-“the colour of your skin does not matter.”
As always the naive, be they individuals, groupings or political leaders, are always taken advantage of by those to whom this lie is convenient.
So I come back to challenge you to be awakened to a simple truth: You will be judged by the colour of your skin.
It is so significant that that great spiritual, social and political Black Prophet, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., put so much stock into the issue of judgment.
As a messianic messenger fighting to lead black people into redemption from centuries of oppression, slavery and exploitation by fellow humans of other skin colours, he came up with the truly memorable statement, “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Of course, the Dream, and I concur with the whole Dream, to me as a black person and to many noble hearted people of other colours, the Dream, the whole Dream, is
sacred.
Yet, as is essential with all sacred sayings and writings, it is necessary to look deeper in order to find abiding truth.
“Will be judged…,” he said.
The Almighty designed this life, this world, this existence in such a way that it would be a playing field in which individuals, groups, communities and even races would compete for space, stature and resources.
Physical and psychological resources that is, not only in order to survive, but also to be fulfilled in making a dignified, albeit diversified contribution to mankind’s unfolding progress in every field.
It is because of this that it is natural for human beings to size one another up, to judge.
How you are judged in any arena determines at least the perception of what you deserve and what you are worth.
A major part of human perception rightly or wrongly depends on what appears to the eye, what is seen.
The colour of your skin is the first thing that appears concerning you.
And it evokes judgments for better or for worse-much of the time judgment by stereotypical association with a group.
For this reason-that you will be judged by the colour of your skin-my thesis is that wisdom and experience dictate to the black person that it is you the black person who must dictate how you are judged by the colour of that skin.
Of all judgements, it is self-judgement which is most critical, and the black person has betrayed himself and his children by abrogating his right to be his own judge by the colour of his skin.
Throughout history, black people have not only allowed other nations to pass judgment on them, but have also succumbed to those judgments.
It is clear that the black person only grants himself personal approval when he attains standards dictated by people of other colours.
When you take that position, you become a victim.
Indeed what really matters at the end of the day may not so much be by what standard you are judged, but who passes that judgment.
It is evident that throughout history, nations have only become great when they have broken free and begun to judge themselves—to set their own standard.
India only started on the path to greatness when Mahatma Ghandi taught Indians to reject the British standard and adopt an Indian one—this to the place of even burning clothing manufactured in Manchester and spinning, weaving and wearing Indian cloth with a pride that can only be born out of a positive self judgment.
It may have taken some time, but the reason why great indigenous companies have risen from Indian soil and even bought up companies in Great Britain, the former colonial power, is this decision on the part of Indians to adopt self judgment and to set their own standard.
The story is the same with the Chinese, the Japanese, the Arabs, and the Jews—the list goes on.
There can be no greatness for those who dwell perpetually in the shadows of masters and big brothers.
Those who set up their own standard, who practise self-judgment, release themselves to make their rightful contribution to mankind in all fields.
The fact that you find everything from Indian and Chinese foods to products in nations that formally regarded themselves as superior to these peoples is testimony to the fact that those who begin to judge themselves desirable begin to be competitive in the eyes of other peoples.
To be continued