What is spoken about by many of us is just too distant from the day-to-day reality of most Africans on and off the continent who are struggling with basic bread and butter issues. For many, the short-term solutions that are provided by European and American agencies are more valuable to their immediate concerns than the bigger plan of Africans for Africans.

Keeping a people dependent so their natural resources can be exploited, does not give the people ample space to conceptualize a better Africa. Many remain distracted with short-term gratifications, and this allows Aids and other diseases to easily spread. It does not help that other Africans are willing to provide the distractions for their personal financial gain. The Black music industry is just an example of this. While on one hand many are right to go after the money, as that is their awareness of success, the side effect of that for many who are ignorant of African issues, is that attention and resources are taken away from other pressing issues. Resources are easily returned to the anti-Black establishment, as Blacks who are new to having money in excess of their needs are eager to experiment with the trappings of Eurocentric elitism. These are the models of success that many youths are exposed to, courtesy the Eurocentric media and even budding Black media.

The Africans who earn and use their excesses to build communities are hardly ever seen or heard about. So the models are all wrong. We really cannot expect poor people to be preoccupied with the idea of Pan-Africanism unless they are either evolved to grasp the issues, or are seeing the solutions to their day-to-day problems being directly tied to a greater awareness of African affairs.

New role models are needed. We need people who grasp the issues to be skillful, and to also have the willingness to share such skills. People’s ability to grasp the issues has to be tied to their ability to survive and progress in a way that extends help to others.