Greek historian Thucydides warned that when a dominant power meets an aspiring dominant power, it means trouble. Irrespective of who the leaders are and what the politics is, tensions will escalate. As the African proverb goes, when the elephants fight, the small animals must get out of the grass. South Africa’s diplomatic positioning over the next few years will require exceptional subtlety.

The battle of the Thucydides trap must be seen against the background of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreed in November 2020 between 15 South East Asian countries, including China. Combined, RCEP covers one-third of the global economy. It will synchronise trade regulations and further enhance growth in the region.

The bilateral trade war brings both positive and negative effects on the continent.  Famous to the African proverb – when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. China and USA are two of the largest investors in Africa with China being the biggest trading partner and the trade war affects the growth of African economies proving it as more of a dependent setup. There has been economic distress from the China – USA trade war which has depressed global commodity prices potentially aggravating African economies vulnerabilities since most African countries rely on the exports for revenues and primarily engage with non- African trading partners like China. 

1. Trade unions will have to redefine their role in our country’s education setup. After 26 years the relationship between labour unions and the minister is still an arm-wrestling competition to see who is really in charge of education. It is Sadtu especially which must change its attitude. This union has smart leaders, but their voices are seldom heard. The union’s only goal can no longer be only to fight for higher salaries. There are many facets of education to which a union can (and should) make a constructive contribution. Why are unions, for example, so quiet about schools which still do not have running water or toilets? An African proverb says: when two elephants fight, the grass suffers most. It is the children who suffer most from this continuous tug-of-war. It is time for a new approach where everyone cooperates without continuously doubting each other’s bona fides. For the sake of the child.

Being a single parent can be isolating, but Cherie knew that she was called to community, and that she needed to be involved in the bigger picture. There’s an African proverb: when you pray, move your feet. Cherie prayed, and God showed her, and she moved her feet. She started to take action; Africa was on the horizon. Christ calls us to action and to be part of a community where we can make a difference.

Power leads to arrogance and arrogance leads to fall, it is very dangerous to be powerful and arrogant. Those in power never give it away and admit defeat. They plot and scheme to regain their lost power and privileges, as described by an African proverb.

If humans can accept that the earth is round, although our eyes tell us otherwise, why do some people continue to think of themselves and act as if they are "superior" to people of African descent and others or appearance despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary?

The race concept was an idea that early European scientists coined to categorize differences in appearance in peoples living in other parts of the world distant from their own. The word race began, therefore, as a geographically derived concept. Later, some scientists began to speculate about a hierarchy of capacity or worth associated with various races.

Whether due to error, bias, arrogance, fear of the unknown and or deliberate act of misrepresentation of history, European scientists concluded that their racial group was superior to all others. The notion of European racial superiority furnished a ready excuse or justification for conquest, colonialism, imperialism, and abuse.

In 1831, French historian Alexis de Tocqueville summed up the prevailing European's opinion of Native American Indians (The First Citizens): "Heaven has not made them to become civilized; it is necessary that they die." Albert Sarraut, French Colonial Secretary speech in 1923, stated that at the start, colonization was not an act of civilization, nor was it a desire to civilize. It was an act of force motivated by interests.

Like cancer, the fallacy that skin color is a substitute for talent, character, intelligence, and humanity. Even worse, the misconception that skin color matters, a legitimate distinction among people, signifies a lesser degree of humanity, was created and maintained. Over the years, that fiction became embedded in the social and political structures of the west. It established and nourished sharp limits on the opportunity, and therefore on achievement.

Maponga Joshua III challenged the Europeans to reference God for diversity issues based on the biblical creation stories or myths. Hating skin color is contempt for God's divine creative imagination. Honoring it is the appreciation for conscious, beautiful-love-inspired diversity ― T.F. Hodge. While Stephanie Lahart emphatically pronounced that her skin tone is exquisite.

On August 20, 1619, "20 and odd" Angolans, kidnapped by the Portuguese, arrive in the British colony of Virginia and are then bought by English colonists. The arrival of the enslaved Africans in the New World marks the beginning of two and a half centuries of slavery in North America.

Jamestown was founded in 1607; the Virginia Colonist was home to about 700 people by 1619. The first enslaved Africans landed at Point Comfort, in what is today known as Hampton Roads. Most of their names, as well as the exact number who remained at Point Comfort, have been lost to history, but their journey remained engraved in memory. Slavery, the original sin of America.

The 1807 Act prohibiting the importation of slaves into America did not impede the importation. However, according to smithsonianmag.com, the last known slave ship arrived in America and anchored on July 9, 1860, off Point of Pines in Grand Bay, Mississippi, near the Alabama border.

On July 9, 1860, one hundred and sixty-one years ago, slave traders stole Oluale Kossola (Yoruba name) or Cudjo Lewis (American name) and brutally ripped him from his homeland, of the Yoruba people in West Africa, along with 109 other Africans, and brought them to Alabama on a ship called Clotilda.

The Clotilda's survivors after the Civil War founded Africatown, a small community just north of Mobile, Alabama. Africatown was a reflection and a reminder of where they were kidnapped and stolen in the new world. They were very adamant about returning home someday -- Africa. We call our village Affican Town. We say dat 'cause we want to go back in de Affica soil and we see we cain go. Derefo' we makee de Affica where dey fetch us --Oluale Kossola aka Cudjo Lewis Africatown; Mobile, Alabama.

The last known slave ship was found under a muddy stretch of the Mobile River, a wooden vessel of horrors that brought slaves more than a half-century after the 1807 Act, which banned the importation of slaves. The find revives a story of unspeakable cruelty, but also the story of a people who somehow survived this indignity and many others like it -- Richard Fausset (The New York Times).

The historical record shows how white Europeans conquered North America, destroyed the native population, and then built their new nation's economy on the kidnapped Africans turned into chattel, facts that can hardly be refuted. America was founded as a white society with Christian roots. Between 1700 and 1740, an estimated 75 to 80 percent of the population attended churches -- Library of Congress.

Forgiveness is God's purpose, initiative, action and gift to humanity, the bedrock of the Christian doctrine of truth, the triune God loves, offers the act of forgiveness, and seeks reconciliation. According to the Christian doctrine, "The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him." "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more ... " "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."

There are 44 biblical verses about forgiveness -- KVJ, the act, and power of forgiveness assuming there is an infraction or sin committed, however, twenty are listed for testimonial.

(1) "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." -- Ephesians 4:32. (2) "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." -- Matthew 6:14-15.(3) "Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." -- Colossians 3:13.(4) "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." -- Luke 6:37.(5) "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.' " --Matthew 18:21-22.(6) "You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you." -- Psalm 86:5.(7) "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." -- Mark 11:25.(8) "Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered." -- Psalm 32:1. (9) "But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." -- Matthew 6:15.(10) "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." -- 1 John 1:9.(11) "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." -- Hebrew 8:12.(12) "Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends." -- Proverbs 17:9.(13) "Hatred stirs old quarrels, but love overlooks insults." -- Proverbs 10:12.(14) "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." -- Psalm 103:12.(15) "The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him." -- Daniel 9:9.(16) "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more ... " -- Isaiah 43:25.(17) "Then he adds: Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." -- Hebrew 10:17.(18) "If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared." -- Psalm 130:3-4.(19) "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence." -- Ephesians 1:7-8 and (20) "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." -- Colossians 1:13-14.

This freedom, the power and ability to forgive others, yet proves to be elusive for many, even the state. They preached the forgiveness of God, yet, they refuse to forgive others. Thus, they remain enslaved to the past, trapped in the sin of unforgiveness, and doomed to reap its whirlwind for ages to come.

Lamentably, unforgiveness always stems from a guilty heart, a darkness in the soul that either does not know the Gospel they preach or does not care. The Bible's teachings on forgiveness are very clear that salvation, depends on the forgiveness extended to others, while failing to see any connection between the citizens as a nation of one people. Even the Christian Bible commanded the act of forgiveness (Colossians 3:13), stating that forgiveness is not optional, and if you have been forgiven, you will forgive others.

"Pray then like this: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'" -- Christians' Lord's Prayers.

We do what we believe. And wonder what we do. The test of true religion in is not how we treat the man who holds a high position in the society but how we treat a man who has no position to hold; not how we respond to the call of the man who wields power, but how we respond to the call of the man who has no power to command us. Religion is not how we treat the rich, but rather what attitude we take towards the poor and the weak amongst us. No wonder there is a dichotomy between what we believe and what we do.

This bags the main theme and question of this paper on the crime along with the Christian doctrine.

What is the crime of omission or sin committed by African Americans' that plagued them since 1619?

Is slavery African Americans' crime yet to be forgiven? If there is no crime or sin of omission, why the acts of injustice in every conceivable way? What are the Christian teachings on and about forgiveness?

Are there some people or groups of people that you do not want to forgive? Why do we resist forgiving certain people or groups?

That is why the sin of unforgiveness is a sin that needs forgiveness. Interestingly, Archbishop Desmond Tutu titled his book "No Future Without Forgiveness." Is American slavery one of the unforgivable crimes against humanity? A national crime that contributed, over time, to other crimes and forms of injustice -- racism, race prejudice, lynching, exclusion, segregation, discrimination, and too many forms of inequality to name. Many of those crimes and forms of injustice, inequality, and race relations remain.

Nikki White, an African American woman in Memphis Tennessee, hypothesized that white men want to acquire some of the physical attributes of black men. While black men merely want the privileges open to white men. What a profound deduction from her observations.

I have lingered with this challenging question for over forty years without any substantive answers or resolutions for African America's crime.

What makes one culture or God superior to the other? There is no right or wrong culture, nor God. Furthermore, there is no one true religion, or whether the worship is the right One, done the right way. God is as the wind, that touches everything.The universal truth governing all cultures, Gods, and religions is the simple philosophy intrinsic in humans'; do unto others as you wish done unto you. This essential principle (The Golden Rule) has either eroded, lost, selective or wishfully forgotten.

Africans in America should let their positive attitude shine in a way that invites people to come closer.The goal is to let others know that they are confident without acting superior. Hence, there is a thin line between arrogance and confidence. While confidence attracts, arrogance repels.

Sadly, Africans in America are unsympathetic to the position taken by African Americans after over 401 years of barraged devastating injustices. How can any group of people in the history of humankind survive the unrelenting and insidious forces without any toxic psychological consequences on their well-being? Therefore, Africans in America must strike a balance between arrogance and confidence to attract African Americans closer to bridge the gaps of silence. And Africans must change the precedence of their relationship with African Americans in America.

A child is a child of everyone -- Sudanese proverb.

Unfortunately, Africa Union has not officially addressed and apologized, or challenged the adverse effects of slavery on her many children in the diaspora. Nevertheless, Africa is always appealing to her children in the diaspora to come back home -- Africa and help develop the continent. What a contradiction. Despite African Americans' enormous daily challenges, they are the most patriotic Americans and also the most advanced Africans in the world.

In conclusion, as African Americans demand reparation from the government for slavery, it is equally the responsibility of the African Union to take the initiative to formally apologize to Africa and her children in the diaspora for the sin of omission for our ancestor's contribution towards the accident of history. An overdue apology from the African Union. This action by the African Union will undoubtedly help bridge the gap of ignorance between Africa and Africans in the diaspora created by design.

And, we must continue the humanist African philosophy and in the spirit of Ubuntu, "I am, because you are."

God Bless Africa! And, God Bless America!!

By BamideleAdeoye, DBA

Research Consultant & Adjunct Prof.

Courtesy: School of Arts, Nigeria

"In the house of the brave man, there are

tears, in the coward's house no one cries" -- African Proverb

From the desk of Bamidele Adeoye, DBA. June 1996, updated March 2021.

As for the root cause of hawking, poverty has been widely accepted to be the major cause. Most of the time, mothers have been more associated with the act of sending their children to hawk. Despite tagging mothers to be the most caring people due to their unconditional love to their children, they still send them to hawk. This can only be explained by the popularly known African proverb that says “When you see a rat running into a fire, then know that what it is running away from is hotter than the fire.”

Hawking among children should, therefore, be completely banned by making provision for alternatives to their mothers. There’s the need to equip mothers with several skills and knowledge and how to go about it in establishing viable businesses. This would undoubtedly create sustainable and decent means of earning a living for mothers and in return, save the children. It is believed that an empowered and self-reliant mother saves a vulnerable child than anyone else even if it is his father.

Machakos electorate had expressed anxiety as they prepared to go to the polls to pick their next senator amid heightened political rivalry and competition.

Before the surprise turn of events, the popular African proverb ‘when two elephants fight, it is the innocent grass that suffers’, best described the feeling of most residents who were not only exercising their democratic right on Thursday but would be voting for the political future of the lower eastern region.

1. All neuroses have accomplices. Anxiety that remains unresolved in one relationship will definitely play out in other relationships.
2. Even before the consultant enters the system, triangulation has long been a part of that system. Eventually every dyad gets triangulated. An African proverb aptly notes: “When elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled.”
3. All dissemination of information is an emotional process. What we hear, how we hear it, how we interpret it and how we pass it on to others is governed by our emotional state and maturity. It is not what you said, it is what people heard.

An African proverb originating from the Ewe tribe, a West African group nation whose largest population (over 3 million) currently resides in Ghana, reads as follows: “Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it.”

The celebration of Black History Month can represent the wisdom mentioned in that proverb and how with each generation after generation, it gets passed down throughout the ages.

During a time like no other in Black American history, it is more important than ever to celebrate folk tales and lessons of the ancestors that birthed the nation of Black people that live, love and learn in this country today.

“The aim of the Anglican Health and Community Network will be to enable experiences of understanding and everyday practice such as these to be shared, learned from, built on and grown. Our hope is that the work of Anglicans in health around the world can be strengthened and supported.”

Another co-convenor, Bishop Luke Pato, said: “There is an African proverb which says: ‘if you want to walk fast, walk alone; but if you want to walk far, walk with others’.

“The decision by the Anglican Communion to initiate the Anglican Health and Community Network affirms this African proverb. One of the many lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic is that we need one another at local and international level to support each other and to exchange experiences.

There’s an old African saying: When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. And when elephants make love, it is the grass that suffers. Libertine innuendo aside, what happens when three elephants rub elbows?

That is the as-yet unanswered question that insiders are asking about data privacy regimes, especially those involving biometrics collected via facial recognition and other methods.

The ancient adage “When two elephants fight the grass gets hurt” couldn’t be truer in Zimbabwe than anywhere else, as the battle between the Zanu PF and the MDC has not necessarily hurt the two “elephants” but has at the end of the day crippled the Zimbabwean economy and grossly affected the lives of the masses.

Of course there is a raging debate on the true weight of the sanctions on Zimbabwe’s economic performance. While all of Zimbabwe’s economic woes cannot be pinned on sanctions, the effects thereof are too heavy to ignore. While it is difficult to quantify the true value of the sanctions on Zimbabwe, the government estimates that the Western imposed sanctions have cost the Zimbabwean economy more than US$42 billion since the start of the millennium.

“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.” — African proverb

I’ve thought much on that quote over the past several years … Lord, more than a half-decade now … as America seemed to cleave itself further and further into ideological camps that agree on less and less every time the sun comes up.

I know there’s a great silent majority who still view themselves as Americans, neighbors, and family first, Democrats or Republicans or Trumpists or Bernie Bros or whatever second.

The Rise to Read Campaign is not a new reading method or technique. Instead, it is a deliberate, coordinated community initiative designed to bring a strategic laser community focus to the issue of African American literacy. It is a response to the negotiated Bridging the Gap plan developed by the Pinellas School District in concert with the Bradley and Crowley defense teams.

It is rooted in the African proverb “It takes a village” and the movie “Akeelah and the Bee,” starring St. Pete’s own Angela Bassett.

During Maria Scruggs’ tenure as president of the St. Petersburg Branch of the NAACP, a comprehensive assessment of the Pinellas District FSA literacy scores was made and revealed only 25 percent of our more than 10,000 scholars were reading on grade level.  Based upon this finding and the 50 plus years of district failure, the question was asked: What can the African-American community do to improve the performance of Black scholars?

Your new service “Legacy and Purpose”, what is it about?

You want me to divulge our trade secrets? Actually, we really don’t mind for “the sky is wide enough for a million birds to fly without any accident” as that African proverb reminds us. Indeed, as a knowledge-driven organisation, we are willing to share with anyone who wants to learn....

To then answer your second question as to if we are an ideas-driven people, absolutely yes. Our African proverbs tell you it is our way of life. For instance, the Igbos say “onye ajuju adighi efu uzo”. The one who asks questions (knowledge seeker) can never get lost. Our folklore is filled with wisdom as exemplified by the tortoise. Unfortunately, we threw away our heritage with the advent of western civilization. Only now, are we beginning to say, “Wait a second, our culture is better in this area!”

...

There is a popular African proverb that says “death is like a robe everyone has to wear”. But its unpredictability means that as humans, we might never know the exact second, minute, hour, and day we will have to put on the robe. On Sunday, Obadiah Mailafia, former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), donned the garb at an Abuja hospital. The news came as a surprise to many Nigerians, in fact, it sent shock waves across the country.

The first Christian missionaries were pioneers, who with their burning desire to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in foreign lands, brought remote and isolated areas in Zimbabwe in touch with Christianity and school education for the first time. A Zulu proverb captures the story of the introduction of Christianity and African education in Zimbabwe: "No sun sets without its histories."  

There is an Igbo proverb that says that when you see a chicken suddenly start running and no one is chasing it, the ground is chasing it because the chicken farted. No smoke without fire. Read more: https://yen.com.gh/195071-video-man-posing-goats-a-tree-raises-eyebrows-social-media.html

“It takes a village to raise a child.” - African proverb “I am, because you are. And you are, because you are.” NgesiXhosa sithi umntu ngumntu ngabantu. "I am eternally grateful to God, my family, friends, colleagues and everyone who have contributed to this achievement, however small or big," he captioned the touching post in part.” Read more: https://briefly.co.za/110829-stunning-young-lady-graduates-19-distinctions-leaves-peeps-gushing-undeniable-excellence.html

“The English have a saying that; action speaks louder than words. We know there are those who have been speaking against our unity but I want to remind you of the African proverb that says, a cow doesn’t stop drinking water from the well because of a croaking frog next to its nostrils,” the former Prime Minister.

Claire explained that 'obi' means 'heart' in Igbo, the native language of the Igbo people from eastern Nigeria.

She said: "The symbols within the print design represent affirmations to empower the new generation."

The affirmation of 'I am loved' is represented by the desert rose flower, symbolising the African proverb: 'Family names are like flowers, they blossom in clusters'.

'I am courageous' is represented by the lion and lioness, which Claire said "also symbolise the male and female in all of us," and 'I celebrate colour' is represented by the Nsibidi writing symbol for the word 'chi', which in the Igbo language means someone's higher self, or their soul.

As the popular African proverb goes, “when the elephants fight the grass suffers” and no-one has borne the brunt of a divided ANC more than the citizens of the North West regarding service delivery.

With more than half of the municipalities in the North West under administration, service delivery in many towns has collapsed resulting in irregular or no supply of water and sanitation, lack of refuse collection, electricity and deteriorating roads. Factional battles within the ANC have led to some municipalities facing dissolution. ..

. Undergo meaningful rites of passage from youth to adulthood and from adulthood to elderhood.
There is an African proverb that says, “If you don’t initiate the young, they will burn down the village to feel the heat.” I suspect we saw an example of this on January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol when a mostly male insurrection occurred.