'Get used to me'.

Byline: F.S. Aijazuddin

GOD created Man; the Devil invented racial prejudice. No one but Satan could have implanted myopia in human eyes. It prevents recognising divinity in another fellow being, yet can distinguish the tone of his skin. Wasn't it Justice Thurgood Marshall (the first Afro-American judge to be elevated to the US Supreme Court) who held that 'In recognising the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute?'

Today, colour no longer matters, or more precisely the colour white no longer matters. It has been smudged by protests against racism. If the 18th century was characterised by commercial opportunism and the 19th by imperialist colonialism, the 20th century was smelted from crass capitalism. Since this century began, two decades have elapsed and already its chronicle bears two indelible imprints - the red seal of Chinese renaissance and the broken manacles of black resurrection.

For centuries, the continents of both China and Africa enjoyed an insularity that remoteness assured. Over time, China expanded into one gigantic nation state while Africa has contracted into 56 smaller nations. Both endured and survived invasions; both experienced colonialism and suffered exploitation; both are now making their presence felt within the First World.

One could say that their destiny came together in the 1950s when Chinese premier Zhou Enlai made visits to countries in Africa and Asia. The most strenuous must have been the one when, in February 1964, accompanied by Marshal Chen Yi, he toured 13 countries, including Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, United Arab Republic (now Egypt), Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana, Mali, Sudan, Guinea, Ethiopia and Somalia. Sightseeing in the Maghreb was not their objective. They had gone to nudge Africa awake. Their prescient mission was to assert, to whoever would listen, the right of every nation to claim independence, to underline peace and neutrality as unabashedly laudable foreign policy objectives, and to caution Western powers against the temptation to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

The seeds scattered 50 years ago have germinated, unexpectedly.

The seeds scattered by them 50 years ago have germinated, unexpectedly and vengefully. Rosa Parks' obstinacy was not in vain; the martyrdom of Dr Martin Luther King is not unmourned; Nelson Mandela's unconscionable incarceration has not been forgotten. In the now seemingly dis-United States, Afro-American voices...