There’s been enough stories about ‘white’ people this and that, it makes me really sick. I’ve seen ‘white’ people being used as an excuse for a variety of things: action, inaction, backbiting, gossip, spite, undermining, envy…. It just makes me believe, even firmer, that Ugandans have to wake up from this debilitating stupor and take charge of their lives, forgetting lousy and stupid excuses like “whites take our jobs, whites take our money…”
The minute you utter the word ‘white’ you diminish your own qualities – you allow any race to place itself above you – in your world, and you acknowledge you aren’t at par. You shoot yourself in the foot. Because, where you could excel, you have placed a ‘white’ person on a pedestal of success; the job you would really be good at, ‘white’ person holds; the ideas you came up with – ‘white’ people are executing…
How about some self-respect? Some confidence? Some passion for learning and excelling in what you do? How about looking at your brothers and sisters who struggle every day to put themselves at the place of success, to prove it has been done and it can be done again and again, no matter what colour you are?
How about not looking at race as an excuse for anything, any more? Today we have better chances at racial equality than ever before, how about taking your chances, taking charge of your abilities, delivering your best shot irrespective of how ‘black’, ‘brown’ or ‘white’ you are? How about stripping yourself of those chips on your shoulders and moving forward, within your abilities and limits, wanting to only take what is yours and completely ignoring what isn’t within your reach?
How about allowing your child to be born in a house whose owner is you, where there is cutlery, wall clock, something you inherited from your grand-grand-mother, a car that you paid off from your salary, a cat, a loving family? How about taking those steps in life, like having a water heater and a tiled bathroom in the house, and a good TV? A reasonable carpet in your living room? A vacuum-cleaner? A washing machine?
How about earning – not borrowing – before desiring? Living within your means? Working hard to build your estate for your children to inherit?
I’m not defending competence or stupidity of ‘white’ people. They come in a wide range of qualities and faults but if you keep on having only one argument why they shouldn’t be in Uganda (which is that they are ‘white’) then there is a lot you have to do.
Leave racism to racists. Prove yourself. Outshine others. Outsmart and excel. Define your destiny by being the best human being you can be.
