₦airaland Forum

On The Origin Of Blacks' Underdevelopment
By Baba El-Yakubu
byjibril@gmail.com

By any reasonable standard, the black race is at the bottom of the human development pyramid. In any field of human endeavor - material possessions, literature, culture, truth, or the ability to organize into a purposeful society - today, the race is at the lowest level of any scale. It is part of human nature to crave more and better. All sensible humans aspire for prosperity and economic development. They go to any extent to avoid anything that may jeopardize their well-being. The fact that blacks languish in avoidable deprivations and misery; leads to a necessary question. Are Blacks sensible humans? This question is indeed problematic. It is based on some assumptions. But it is not unreasonable. There is nothing more important and nothing deserves our attention more than these types of questions about the present state of the black race. This attempt may unravel the difficulties associated with improving the blacks' conditions.

To answer the question, we need to address another difficult one. Why are blacks backward and underdeveloped? The two questions are linked because development is about learning and improving. A person may observe that another is better than him. Because he is sensible and intelligent; he imagines what he wants and finds ways to take him from where he is to where he wants to go. If regression is accepted as a fact of life without attempt to learn and grow; then the first question arises. I have been grappling with the second question for more than two decades. I read books. I closely observe blacks and discuss my concerns with others. Still, I could not answer why they are retrogressive, unorganized, of low self-esteem, and have insignificant achievements. L. Sprague De Camp's "Ancient Engineers" and many other sources discuss important engineering feats of different races in different civilizations, but there is nothing significant recorded from black Africa. Last July a list of the new 'Seven Wonders of the World' was unveiled based on about 100 million votes on the internet. There was no significant architectural or civil engineering feat by the blacks. If you look at economic indices such as purchasing power parity and gross domestic product per capita, blacks' countries are among the poorest of the poor. About 50 years ago, the GDP per capita of Ghana was higher than that of Malaysia and that of Taiwan was lower than that of Sudan. Today, the African countries are seeking economic aid from the Asians. Over the 1960-1973 period, the African countries' growth rate was 2.0% compared with the world average of 3.0% the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD countries of 4.2%. In 1981 – 1988; Africans exhibited a negative growth rate (-0.1%) while OECDs had 2.9% growth. The blacks' countries are highly corrupt and unstable. Recent report of failed states shows a large percentage of them to be Blacks majority countries.

Many blame geography and colonialism. My observation is that the location is not an important factor. Blacks have the same characteristics irrespective of their past or current circumstances. Take a group of blacks to anywhere – the Caribbean islands, South America, or Papua New Guinea. It is the same story of political instability, abject poverty, and regressions. They fail to organize themselves into a developed and vibrant nation. Compare them with non-black neighbors to see the irrelevance of geographical conditions. Even in countries where they live along with other races (such as the Dominican Republic, Mauritania, and the USA), blacks are at the bottom of socioeconomic, political,l and intellectual ladders. The authors of the controversial "Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life" used census and other data sources to show that blacks in the US were at the bottom of the intelligence pyramid, irrespective of the environmental factors. Instead of chasing the shadow by focusing on symptoms such as corruption and poverty, the blacks' brains and how they function individually and in groups, may give the most important insight towards alleviating their despair.

Colonialism and slavery indeed disrupted African development or lack thereof. Other races had similar experiences, but were able to heal and move forward faster. For example, the development gap between Japan and its former colonies – Korea and Taiwan - is relatively small. But there are no significant differences in the development scale among the blacks' countries of Haiti, Namibia, and Ethiopia; despite their diverse experience with colonialism. Haiti was the first blacks' country to gain political independence while Namibia was the last. Ethiopia was not even directly colonized. These countries are not better than others. In fact, why are Blacks the victims rather than the culprits of colonialism? Why could they not develop effective tools to conquer other races? The blacks indeed invented many tools necessary for their primitive survival. Why nothing else? It appears that they could not advance beyond a certain limit of development. Therefore, they could not compete with others. Fernand Braudel's "A History of Civilizations" demonstrated that there was no apparent record of blacks' inferiority in the past. The relative underdevelopment we observe today is perhaps a recent phenomenon. Or put another way, it seems other races were able to learn and progress at a faster rate than the blacks.

This made colonialism and slavery inevitable. In the 1441 to 1860s, Africa witnessed the first wave of Western European conquests initiated by the Portuguese in West, South, and East Africa. The Dutch joined the scrambles for Africa with the invasion and encroachment in South Africa in the 1650's. There was also the Belgian conquest of the Congo by Leopold II in the 1860's. Why were the Europeans able to reach and conquer Africa? Why couldn't the Blacks retaliate? The answer is a simple fact that they had better tools. That is the availability of superior means of travel and subduing others based on better and more organized brainpower. This gave them strength. It is an immutable law that the stronger always defeats the weaker. If we observe otherwise, we call it a miracle. As Prince Hector cautioned his religious father, King Priam; who was about to face enemies in the Oscar-nominated movie ‘Troy’, “Even Gods help the strongest”.

The period above, coincides with the many discoveries in Europe that led to the modern chemical industry and therefore more leverage against others. In the 1600s and 1700s, Germany, France, and England were already manufacturing chemicals to preserve food, make gunpowder, dye fabric, and produce soap. I wonder what blacks were doing at that time! The more intelligent race develops the necessary tools to dominate or colonize others. Gunpowder and its derivatives remain one of the most potent weapons in the arsenal of mankind. In my beloved Kano city, we have a legend about how the Whiteman used gunpowder to destroy the city gate that was hitherto considered sacred and impenetrable by enemies. The residents were so 'shocked and awed' that some still refer to Whiteman as a lion. This is not a mere metaphoric syntax, but a psychological surrender to a superior brain. If a Muslim Hausaman wants to explain how mighty and magnificent Allah is; he simply tells you that 'Allah is the one who could create a Whiteman in a single night'. He will say it with such assurance and finality that you wouldn't miss the point. Allah is great because He could create somebody so intelligent and powerful. As a group, the Hausa tribe seems to accept the reality of its inferior position.

There are many current examples to buttress the fact that as a group, blacks are backward and unorganized. Europeans set up the first crude oil refineries in the Austrian Empire in the year 1856. Today, 150 years later, blacks in Nigeria cannot even maintain and run one refinery properly. About half of local gasoline demand is imported! Of all the major ingredients required for oil refining – solvents, catalysts etc – none is produced locally.

Take another example. I am traveling to the city of Kano for a summer break, but the perennial water shortage is going to be my most important headache. Piped drinking water that is taken for granted in other places; is a rare luxury there. This is the only problem of the black community. Kano was founded more than 1,000 years ago, but still in some places residences defecate and urinate on the street sides. Its open gutters (if put end-to-end) are many times longer than its paved streets. Mountains of refuse dumped compete for space with people in the city and the surrounding areas. People carry on with daily life as if there is nothing wrong. It is common to see a big signboard cautioning that "Do not defecate, urinate, or dump refuse here". Kano is just one example. Go to Lagos, Brixton, Harlem, or that bastion of drug-induced blacks' self-destruction - the inner cities of aborigines in Australia to see blacks in squalor. Visit Faisalia - that island of poverty in the midst of abundance – in the outskirts of Riyadh, to see former black slaves wallowing in deprivation. These places are like a stable where blacks carry their lives akin to a mentally retarded herd that could not organize themselves into purposeful groups.

I am not saying Blackman is unintelligent. The point is that blacks are less intelligent compared with other races. Individually, Blackman can be a hero, but as a group, he is a failure. He is on a level zero on the scale of human development. I had opportunities to study with or teach students of different racial backgrounds. My observation is that as an individual, black is generally of similar 'quality' compared with others. Go to any place, where blacks are allowed to see their individual performances. Compared to his opportunities, his general performances are similar to those of any other person. As a group, however; they are a different story. This leads to an obvious question. Does the Blackman's brain work differently in such a way that it cannot produce the necessary synergy when it interacts with others? Per Bak's "How Nature Works: The Science of Self-Organized Criticality" gives insights into the necessity of a certain minimum number of individuals for any group to evolve into a desired structure and behavior. There are many progressive and intelligent blacks. But it seems they are not able to create a critical mass necessary to achieve anything tangible and irreversible in their society. This deficiency appears to be the bane of the black race.

This mysterious Black Gap (between individual and group achievements) may be decreased by improving the quality of more and more Africans. Generally, human quality increases by imparting appropriate education. Perhaps blacks need a higher ratio of educated population to be able to gravitate towards an irreversible state of development. Therefore, Africa should take education (special education, I mean) as a means of turning Blackman's fortunes. Special because based on their disposition and characteristics, they need a special curriculum design, delivery tools, testing methods, and indicators of outcomes. Perhaps all along, African educationists (burdened by the colonial legacy) have been using the wrong approaches. Education may be part of the answer. As H.G. Wells suggested, education is the greatest social equalizing tool. In fact, we have seen this in our time. Within one to two generations, India has been transformed from what Mao described as a "country of Taj Mahal and poverty" to one that a BBC ad touted as an "incredible India" – a destination for outsourcing, IT, and tourism. All over the world, Indians are known (not as criminals and butlers), but as service providers, university professors, and businessmen. Today, non-resident Indians (NRI) are the richest race in Diaspora. China used to be associated with hunger and starvation. Today it is the engine of the world economy. Before this, the Asian tigers – witnessed exponential growth from rural and underdeveloped economy to developing ones. Scholars have associated these rapid developments with the earlier improvement in quality. Robert Solow of MIT received the 1987 Nobel Prize for his work on determining the sources of economic growth. He concluded that the bulk of such growths is the result of technological advances. In turn, the technology is related to investment in human capital – through education, training, and effective healthcare.

However, human capital development cannot be achieved overnight. It takes time. In the interim, blacks need to take action. We have to face reality as it is, not as we want it to be. It remains a fact today that Blackman is a disgrace to himself and a liability to the world. As blacks, this is a fact of our lives. Racists and bigots may use it as an excuse to disrespect, dehumanize, and enslave us. They may write and say unsavory things about us. This should serve as a clear reminder to us that all is not well. Instead of burying our heads or taking arms, we should look at these facts and ponder. Instead of asking who is right, we should be more interested in what is right. Therefore, the earlier we start addressing this issue the better. Accepting this fact may lead to a new paradigm in blacks' relations with other races. If we assume that all races are equal (which tragically is the case in today's world), a game based on the "survival of the fittest" will always end with the weakest as the loser With the world's 'dog eats dog' mentality, is there any wonder why scramble for Africa led to colonialism, slavery, etc? How about because not all dogs are equal? (Apology to George Orwell). If we accept that blacks are not equal to other races in certain critical 'qualities', it will lead to a change in the 'rule of engagement' and the game will be fairer. UN, IMF, WTO, US, EU, etc will have a different moral challenge while dealing with Africa south of the Sahara. It will also give the Geldofs, B, Onos, and Gates stronger ground to fight African Poverty.

Geldof's beautiful BBC documentary and book, Geldof in Africa demonstrate African poverty and development challenges. Everybody knows that blacks have peculiar problems. But many blacks are afraid of reality. Instead of looking for help, they prefer self-delusions and excuses. Whether Europe underdeveloped Africa or Africans underdeveloped Africa, as some authors suggest, or that blacks were left plundered, disoriented, and confused by their triple heritage, is not our concern here. As blacks, we need to be realistic and dispassionate. Look around the world. Is what you see what blacks deserve? Our attempt here is to suggest why (in a group) blacks are regressive and unorganized. I believe Blackman is sensible and intelligent like other humans, but he ceases to display sensible human behaviors (that lead to prosperity and progress) when he forms a group. There is a gap between the individual's and the group's learning and growth. Therefore, Africans appear to need a higher ratio of improved/educated part of the population than other races to be able to gravitate towards a critical mass of individuals necessary to form useful and irreversible characteristics. Otherwise, there may be ‘spur of the moment’ progress that may soon dissipate. This means we should imbibe the culture of learning and education. At the same time, we should surrender to the fact that as a group, we have a problem. We need help. "Accurate diagnosis", as they say, "is half the cure". I believe it is part of our moral obligation as blacks to discuss and diagnose the so-called blacks' curse and attempt to solve it or invite others to fix us.

Good piece. The fundamental issue is that a black man will rather wait for someone else to come fix his problem, in the meantime complain, while a Caucasian man puts his Bob the builder hat on.

Another issue is, Caucasian and other people, come together as a group, to do things, make decisions I.e
but black man operates under a so called supreme leader system, one person leading the multitude. If that person is incompetent, and most times they are, it leads to slower progress and more chaos