Kwame Tutu Osei II: The last black African still standing

„My people,“ said Kwame Tutu Osei II, king of the Akans with family ties to the Ashanti Kingdom and Ga Mantse, 1493, “we are here today as I have an important announcement to make. As we have moved away from the village tree sitting under a shadow of banana trees, let me share with you my thoughts and information.“

The people of the village stared at him eagerly to hear what their king had to tell them. While the king was educated, they were farmers and simple craftsmen, knowing what their hands knew and what others told them.

„The mirror I see myself in each day I wake up is from the white man. The pearls I wear around my neck are from the white man. It was three days ago that I walked around and overheard the leader of the Portuguese speaking with one of their officers. It was painful to hear what they were discussing. The leader said the policy of the Portuguese King is not only to set sail and find business opportunities on our continent. Sultan Mehmet II blocks the land route to India...I never heard that name before...but anyway...they had set sail to find a sea route around our continent to reach India. He told the officer that establishing a trading post along the African coastline would only be phase one of a much bigger business. Meanwhile, he had sent back to his King in Portugal all the treasures and minerals he had seen in and on our lands. These precious goods were located inland in the African jungle, hard to come by but not impossible.

Their leader said, for that matter, he needed the mandate from the king to go one step further and use us royals as their allies to exploit the countries while pressing on into the Hinterland, right into the heart of Africa. He said this would not go unnoticed and certainly needed more weapons and soldiers to make it happen. He said to his officer he had sent back a ship with a respective note to ask for the permission of the king of Portugal, expecting a positive response from him at any time from now.“

„They want to take away our land?“ asked Kojo, a peasant farmer. He did not own his hand, giving annually from his harvest to his Paramount Chief residing in his impressive palace located two villages further from his hut. His wife had recently delivered their sixth child, knowing they had reached the peak of baby-making to ensure a stable financial life for the rest of their lives.

„It will be worse than that,“ answered Kwame Tutu Osei II with seriousness on his face. He was of great concern. „I overheard everything...and I mean it...everything they are planning for now and the future. First, they came here for trading with us, which is acceptable when it is on the same level, not one above the other, like in a fair market situation. They want to use their cleverness to outsmart us. They are here, as we all know, with weapons we do not have. These advanced weapons can easily kill us. In addition, the soldiers are well-trained in combat, while we are not.“

„But my Lord, with all due respect,“ said Kojo, the only one brave enough to address his king while the rest kept silent over the respect they had for their king, always ready to obey his commands, “there is something I do not understand.“

„Which is my son?“ asked Kwame Tutu Osei II and looked interested at Kojo.

„These people are not farmers...right?“

„They are not farmers, but they must eat...that is right!“ said the King, waiting for the next question to be asked.

„And they need water to drink, am I right also?“ asked Kojo with no fear in his heart.

„Any human must drink,“ replied the King, knowing this would not be the last question of Kojo.

„And we are more than them, right too?“ was the third question of Kojo.

„We are by far greater in numbers than the Portuguese and the rest of the Europeans still coming, that is true. We can even make more Africans on the ground here, while they must ship more soldiers and traders from all over the world here to us,“ answered the King, relaxed, knowing where the discussion would lead to. „That is far more difficult than having sex and babies.“

„My Lord...with all due respect...when these white people are not farmers on our land but need to eat, when they need water to drink and are less than us...is the answer not obvious?“ asked Kojo, his last and most important question.

The king asked Kojo to sit by his side as a shining example for the rest of his people and said, “I overheard these two men saying that the time will come when we will be subjects to them, and they will take us as slaves. Colonisation by the white man means they will exploit our minerals, leaving us behind with nothing except emptiness in our lands. And we will see our brothers and sisters being taken to a faraway land as slaves, and for us to fight them once they have taken us over will be close to impossible, at least harder than now. When cancer tries to take your life, you must spot it first and uproot it right there, right in the time it starts growing. Yes, we all know that uprooting cancer, which grows in your body, is very, very painful, and you need a lot of strength not to feel the pain of the operation. When we are ready today, we will spare the disgrace future generations will put on our names as true and honest black Africans by asking for reparations and the Transatlantic Slave Trade to be called the worst humanitarian crisis in the history of mankind.

No, my people, I have gathered you today here under these banana trees to be brave and stand up against the white invasion. We must be willing to sacrifice some of our bravest men and start the fight against the white man. Collectively under my leadership...if we all agree...we will push the white man back where he came from...into the sea. I, as your king, ask of you no longer to feed the white people and give them water. When needed, burn your farms and hide in the Hinterland until we all can come out again as the rightful owners of this continent. I, as your king, am telling you that anyone who collaborates with the white man is a traitor, selling us to the white man. We must not allow it to happen. And I, as your king, order that the fight is now in 1493 and not in three or four or even five hundred years to come. I, as your king, am not blind. I know in other villages, village elders collaborate with the white man and sell their people to him. But I, as your king, tell you I will never allow this to happen. And if no one of you would ever follow me and walk in my footsteps...by the God I serve...I will fight. I do not want to be judged by history as a coward but as a true and honest son of the land. The one that is not for me is against me. Future black African generations might call themselves a copy of their ancestors, while I stand here right before you as an original black African. Only the original has the right to speak out and stand for the African continent. We should not fail ourselves but protect what is ours...including our dignity as black Africans.“

„My Lord,“ started Kojo, looking up to his king, the last black African still standing, “will the day come when we will retaliate and turn time against the white man. I mean my Lord, to rule the world again as we did when humans were created?“

„You are the wisest man of my people. Forever I will cherish and honour you, Kojo...my true son,“ said Kwame Tutu Osei II.