HISTORY REVISITEDHISTORY REVISITEDOut <strong>of</strong> AfricaThe mythology <strong>of</strong> miseryBy Martial Romuald Ngankam // Contributing WriterIbelieve that many organizations and peoplehave portrayed Africa as the center <strong>of</strong> misery,instead <strong>of</strong> seeing the place from a differentpoint <strong>of</strong> view, where Mother Nature representscertain peoples’ spirits. Africa is a beautiful place,and one <strong>of</strong> the rare continents on the planet with astrong biodiversity.I am from Cameroon. As a kid living in Africa, I neverimagined youths being the product, and model, for somecharities to use for expanding their boundaries. But whilegrowing up, I started to understand the world I was in. Theword “charity” is just for entertaining others and makingpeople give money. Innocent babies are only living so thatmoney can be given. All these babies don’t always get themoney from the charity, and most <strong>of</strong> them are left withouthope to taste the good their images were spread aroundto help collect. The money these charities collected is onlyto help the charities’ pockets get bigger because the targetis only a stranger: little babies they don’t even know.As time passes, people’s thoughts are getting worse aboutthe place. Some even ignored that Africa’s a continent andnot a country.Africa gets the attention from a one-sided perspective,and people are putting negative energy into a wrongcause. The charities are showing only one picture <strong>of</strong> Africa,making me feel sad to see people not able to providesomething to eat for their families, sleeping with bodiesexposed to disease. But <strong>this</strong> is not all <strong>of</strong> Africa.Producers are only filming places where hungergrows faster than a tree.Instead <strong>of</strong> focusing on <strong>this</strong> dirty corner, they can showthe real visage <strong>of</strong> the continent. I am sure people aredying and suffering everywhere around the world, and anydocumentary will turn out to be a déjà vu scene wherepeople share poverty like breakfast. But if we open oureyes from <strong>this</strong> long dream we are stuck in, many <strong>of</strong> uswill realize that we were blinded by the media. Charityshouldn’t pretend to take care <strong>of</strong> needy people whenusing only the neediest as marketing.Don’t judge me wrong: donations help. Misery is inAfrica, but it comes from somewhere. Instead <strong>of</strong> dealingwith only misery, we should focus on corruption there. Ifwe fight corruption in Africa, misery will be the same thereas anywhere around the globe. Then, people will not havejust one picture <strong>of</strong> Africa in mind. nColumbus daze:recasting the American icon as evilBy Tianee Geronimo // Contributing WriterIn history, we are all familiar withthe story <strong>of</strong> how ChristopherColumbus sailed the oceanblue in 1492 to search for newland and ended up in the Americas. It issaid that Columbus was the first to findthe Americas. He became an historicalAmerican figure.While some <strong>of</strong> <strong>this</strong> is true, there are stillmany untold details behind <strong>this</strong> story tomake you question whether Columbus is ahero or a villain. Many say that he is a herobecause <strong>of</strong> the new skills he brought backto his homeland. Others feel that he was avillain for exposing the Indians to the harshnew life he gave them. For <strong>this</strong> reason andmany more, I feel that Columbus is definitelynot a hero, but a villain.How much do you truly know about thestory and how much <strong>of</strong> it is kept secret infavor <strong>of</strong> Columbus? Columbus is stated tobe the first to discover the Americas, whenin reality he was nowhere near that. TheIndians were there before anyone else;they migrated from Asia chasing the bison.I believe that Columbus should not begiven as much credit as he is. Sure, hedid some good things for his society, andhelped improve his country’s way <strong>of</strong> living.But at whose expense? The rise <strong>of</strong> hishomeland to him meant the destruction <strong>of</strong>someone else’s homeland.A lot <strong>of</strong> the information that is left outis done purposely to make <strong>this</strong> historicalfigure seem flawless. When Columbus wentto the Americas, not only did he rob Indians<strong>of</strong> their things, but his army is also saidto have enslaved them. Columbus and hiscrew brought many diseases to the Indians’land, such as chicken pox, malaria, yellowfever. Would you call a man with thesecharacteristics America’s historical figure?I’m not alone when I say that I feelColumbus is not a hero and that he shouldnot be celebrated on Columbus Day. Willyou see Columbus for whom he really is,or will you cover up his flaws to make himseem like the hero he is not? n“I feel that Columbusis definitely not a hero,but a villain.”▲ AFH painting by Uka Agwu▲ AFH painting by Billy Nunez6 / BOSTON TEENS IN PRINT / JAN/FEB 2010 / www.bostontip.comwww.bostontip.com / BOSTON TEENS IN PRINT / JAN/FEB 2010/ 7