The contrasting image of hundreds of pearly white teeth on scores of smiling black native faces dancing excitedly around the bemused captain as the solitary white merchant ship docks at Takwa Bay draws an interesting parallel to the prophecy of the Coming of the Messiah.
Cameras shutter away, and in an instant, the epoch making digital image shoots across a thousand miles of ocean, onto TV sets, phones and tablets across the globe, reassuringly reinforcing the Darwinian theory that the natural order of the species is safe. Yes indeed, the prophecy is true. The alabaster skinned, divinely appointed leaders of the free world, who solely explore far flung planets, create the flying chariot and the self-driving carriage, are safe at the top, and shall one day be the saviour of the humble obsidian crab, who bowl in hand, remains safely at the bottom, ironically in the Cradle of Civilization, waiting paradoxically for the Great White Hope.
kinda describes the scores of smiling (black native) faces of guys at Andela and cchub as the white merchant ship docksā¦(Zuckās arrival); and the coming of the Messiah will take most people by surprise remember the scriptures.
But I may still be wrong though.
To be honest, I struggle to understand how anyone can spin this to be a negative due to some racist nonsense (or āWhite Hopeā as OP calls it). FB gets stick about a lot of things, rightly so. For instance on Free basics, Iāve been one of their most stringent critic hereā¦but even this quote makes my blood boil. So who are the black natives faces?
pearly white teeth on scores of smiling black native faces dancing excitedly around the bemused captain as the solitary white merchant ship docks
The piece is meant to evoke introspection rather than allude to racism. The use of metaphors and irony are meant to paint a clear picture that in the relay race of life, Africa is squarely in 8th place.
The Great White Hope is a 1967 play written by Howard Sackler and brought to life in the 70s in a screenplay starring the inimitable James Earl Jones. The irony is the Great White Hope was meant to defeat the boxing champion (James Earl Jones) but inevitably he found himself fighting society. The use of the term obsidian crab refers to the way our society (or government) pulls us down as we try to escape the rut.
When challenged on alternative allusions to his play, Howard Sackler said this:
Zuck is a fantastic character. Bill Gates is also a fantastic character. Both are worthy, one-in-a billion, role models whose names will be remembered for millennia for their work to make the world a better place.
The prose is full of hidden meaning and is meant evoke self-reflection, self-awareness, and a renewed desire to breed our own successes.
Sometimes, I think we underestimate how far weāve come - with very little help. We do indeed have self-awareness (we know weāre in deep trouble) and have displayed a renewed desire to breed our own success.
Talking of reflection, I was saying yesterday that if there was a movie about Nigerian tech ecosystem, Zuckās visit will feature. But guess what? It will be a waka pass role. Most of the movie will (or should) hail the superhuman efforts put in by folks like CcHub, TC etc. to put us on the map.
Now this clarification is good as lesser minds have already said āohh why is (insert black tech star) visiting (insert random x country) not celebrated like Zuckā. Thatās base level thinking which is the opposite of introspection. And part of the reason why weāre in the rut we are now - we give too much space and value to shallow thinkers.
If no one started this thread I would have been disappointed.
One of my favorite quotes is by Rabbi Joseph Lapin: āBusiness is life and life is business. Learn one and you would have learnt the otherā.
I feel strongly that a new generation is rising in this country. A new set of minds that donāt care for tribe or language. A new breed of entrepreneurs to take the world by storm. First in technology and business, then politics and government. And it would start from us.
The government thinks little of us but itās good because they wonāt have a reaction plan when we arrive. But we now have international eyes on us. We can reverse slavery.
What does this have to do with the beautiful prose posted by @techscorpion? The white man has arrived. He is interested in something in our land again. Maybe he wants slaves (developers) or he wants to buy cocoa (our products/services). But this time we are wiser.
We wonāt be carted away in ships. We would make him bring his plantation here and we will own it. Radar is the forum for the smartest tech guys in this country if someone didnāt question the white mans berthing, I would have been disappointed.
Well done @Chris as this is an excellent political speech to rouse the masses.
But if we cut out the rhetoric and focus on how we can be āwiserā against this particular āwhite manā, whatās the worse heās done to us? Free Basics. Feel free to correct me if Iām wrong. I mean heās done lots of great things, but who cares about that, right? Letās just focus on the evil white skin. But weāve discussed free basics like India Vs Nigeria and Free Basics and A review of Facebookās Free Basics in Kenya.
Matter of fact, do a search for āFree Basicsā like below - and you will find my dissenting opinion on the negative impact this will have on Nigerian Tech scene. Iāve taken the time to show why this is bad for us - consistently.
Now, what you will realise is that Facebookās policies (or any policy at all) are not necessarily bad for us - because of white skin. Itās bad for us if it doesnāt align with our long-term interests (whatever that means to us), and we shouldnāt look at things with the narrow prism of race - like below quote.
Letās not rely on race baiting. Because at the end of the day, how old is this āwhite manā again? He caused all of Nigerian problems? I thought Nigeria has existed before he was born. Throwing words like āslaveryā and āslavesā instead of thinking through that most of our problems have been self-inflicted. By people with exactly the same skin colour like you and I.
I repeat our greatest problem is that - we give too much space and value to shallow thinkers. This starts from our leaders but as evident, affects us as people as well.
The title āThe Great White Hopeā is an allegory to our collective inability to create a great global phenomenon similar to Zuck. The Chinese have done it with Jack Ma. The Russians have done it across disciplines with Yuri Gagarin, Kasperov, Rachmaninoff etc. The Brits have done it since time immemorial and the Yanks are simply killing it like no manās business.
We on the other hand, are the obsidian crab in the proverbial bucket. We drag each other back. The world does not respect us and will never until we make a positive global impact as Mr Zuckerberg has so clearly done.
@PapaOlabode is right when he says we give too much space and value to shallow thinkers. Iāll only add that in assessing who the shallow thinkers are, we neednāt look further than the mirror.
Eyin boiz. I am no politician. Slavery seems to be a very strong word in this parts but donāt forget I am black too but thatās not what I mean.
Why did Zuck choose Nigeria? Why Us? Does it mean we are doing something right? Yes. And we are doing it without our government for that matter. All I am saying is that itās time to step harder on the gas pedal. Cause we are close to āthe promise landā.
I want a Nigeria where youths look up to each other and see billionaires and industry giants that are changing things and aspire to be like them. Instead of career politicians that just make us want our share of the national cake.
We worked. Nobody helped. We got noticed and visited. They prolly still think itās a joke. Then we blow and takeover.
Yeah; I believe our generation will start that revolution that will put Nigeria on the map of nations that have changed or changing the world in spectacular ways. Not just solely in the tech industry, but also in areas like medicine and healthcare, biotech and related fields. Some of us in these mentioned fields are scheming never-before-seen blueprints to solutions to problems plaguing not just Africa but the world in general.Things like diabetes, cancer and globally prevalent infectious diseases are begging for novel solutions. The infrastructure may not be here yet, but some of us plan to go to over there, gain all the expertise, form a strong network among ourselves and come back to create those masterpieces that will not only attract local spectators but the audience of the global community.
Your words are music to my ears and I pray you are successful.
I recall the shame I felt when during the Ebola crisis, a uniquely African plague if there ever was one, all we could do was fire-fight but none of the Centres of Disease Control across West Africa had an internal solution, but the Brits and the Yanks all seemed to have contingency treatments and vaccines.
It was really shameful; and to substantiate your point, the case of Zika outbreak in South America immediately led to the government of these nations and that of the US holding emergency meetings with their medical experts; plans were quickly crafted and intense scientific research kicked off in labs in Brazil and in Texas in the US. Between January and now, these research collaborations went from a virus which little was known about to tens of publications on every possible mechanisms by which it functions and exists; and a few days ago, medical researchers in the US published a seminal paper in the worldās best science journal, Nature, detailing, at the ultramicroscopic level, the parts of this virus that can be targeted by potential drugs or used to develop vaccine. I believe growth in tech here in Nigeria will create the space for partnership and collaboration with the medical and biotech industry to rise up to the challenges, even if the government doesnāt live up to their expectations. It may take time, but we will surely get to that level.
