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If you say today that Liberia is the second youngest nation in the world after South Sudan, many will disagree; some will yell at you irascibly; others will accuse you of trying to rewrite history when in fact you are not a historian, critical thinking stimulates such a feeling. In their various vibrations, You must strive to prove that You did not assume the affirmation. Basically you have to understand the point from which they are talking
We all went to school and learned the basic history. Among them is the much-vaunted belief that Liberia is Africa’s first independent republic. Embedded in our minds so firmly and for so long that anything to the contrary not only looks strange and strange, but also dismayed and annoys us to the point of automatically putting ourselves in defensive mode, we are ready to defend this lesson that made us good boys and girls. he also risks being labeled an academic outcast, unanimously ostracized and, if you’re lucky, seen as an intellectual maverick
But should that stop you from expressing your opinion? The answer is no
After an exhaustive process of reflection and research, I came to the opinion that Liberia did not gain independence until 2005, when the country held its first free democratic elections which represented eclectic independent standards and included Liberian societies at large.
All eligible Liberians voted without segregation characterized by a class system
Previous elections in Liberia had been bogged down by class systems that limited the choice of national leaders to certain groups while others, disenfranchised, accepted the results of decisions they had not made.
Such was the fate that free slaves bestowed on the indigenous Liberian for over 150 years.
Instead of saying that Liberia gained independence in 1847, I will spit a word right here: the former free black slaves who came to this land gained independence in 1847..
Before the arrival of these free blacks, the natives here were free. They controlled kingdoms and vast tracts of land; all as sovereign territories but with questionable trade and governance. People who fell prey to rival kingdoms were enslaved or sold as slaves, some to faraway lands like America. These people were finally granted freedom and were sent back to Africa to live a life of dignity.
Ironically, the former slaves loved to subject the natives to quasi-slavery, neo-slavery or colonialism. Rather than hating and loathing the segregation that defined them, humiliated them, and left them and their ancestors with an indelible emotional and physical scar that defined them for centuries, they indulged in it.
They colonized the country with a one-party system permissible only to their ilk for a century and a half. They alienated all those who were not like them, didn’t speak like them, pray like them and act like them.
Without the tenacity of resilient peoples whose sacred cultures and traditions were the apple of their eye, the colonization blitz would have swept away all that was inherent in the land.
This colonization continued unabated until President William R. Tolbert, whose accession to power heralded a new dawn for Liberians, natives and American-Liberians, but expressed the concern of the Americans. -Liberians who saw it as a threat to their hegemony.
Tolbert was then killed in a brutal and enigmatic manner, with many hands and unseen ploys, this brought the regime of Samuael K. Doe to power.
It was the beginning of independence struggles that spanned decades and subjected the country to horrific and frightening experiences. The ensuing wave of chaos culminated in internationally organized elections that ultimately gave Liberians their independence.
But the centuries-old reign of native and settler bondage created chasms in virtually every aspect of life between natives and settler descendants, with natives turning into a maze of precariousness and settlers evolving into the epitome of fulfillment. It’s a storyline that is only reminiscent of the gulf between black and white in America, with one notable difference being black versus black.
This is the main reason for Liberia’s socio-economic and political escapes and the economy is “donor-driven”, according to current Liberia’s finance minister, Samuel Tweh.
The system laid the groundwork for the abject life and poverty endured in Liberia and widespread impatience with the government
When I look at Liberia’s dismal socio-economic structure and look at its never-developed infrastructure, I hear the whining of disillusioned Liberians, furious at the failure of their government for over a century and a half, I wonder ‘they really know that their country is a toddler still curious about its surroundings; heal from the overwhelming socio-economic chaos and drunken political tendencies, but determined to take a step
But I’ll be a daredevil constantly gossiping this opinion in public because the adversary is a historical apocryphal that has been ingrained in our paradigms and entered our blood and fed us.
Many are pessimistic. They think things will only get better in Liberia when the pigs fly. They believe the system of bondage has damaged the confidence and psyche of many Liberians to assume full independence and has supported them above their inferiority complex. But the pessimist in me gives me a chatter of hopes and inspirations. Hope for a brighter horizon radiating bright light. Assurance of a crescent moon heralding an era of smiles. A whisper that the present twilight zone in which my beloved country is located is not unique. That our government’s escapements are a common phenomenon that every new country endures to increase.
My Liberia will be no exception. Liberia will increase
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