By Sheik Bakarr
On Saturday 28 December last year, while relaxing after a stressful morning, I stumbled on a radio magazine programme on Creole culture on my favourite ''Universal Radio'' anchored by a certain Adolphus.
I grew up in Freetown and was closely acquainted with a lot of Creole families in my neighbourhood. I am very fond of Creole culture and in school, I always teased my Creole friends about that ubiquitous 'seven days soup' and they would in turn always tease us provincials about 'gbegbe' or frogs which they believed all provincials ate. Such Creole-'upline' banter was also common between me and a nice Creole girlfriend I had when I was in college. It was all good banter. I have always enjoyed Creole food especially 'waite sour' and ''oleleh''. I also used to enjoy foo-foo and ‘bittas’, although, I sadly don't eat it now because I am border line diabetic.
One particular trait I liked about Creoles when I was growing up was that all provincials or 'brought ups' who were adopted by them were given the same education like their own children. I know many educated provincials of good standing today, who owe what they are to the education their adopted Creole parents gave to them. I also know of provincials to whom their adopted Creole parents willed valuable real estate, in compensation for the services they rendered them, particularly in the ebb tide years of their lives. Sometimes even at the expense of their own children. The Creoles are living testament to the transformative power of education. In spite of the many positives of Creoles, like all human beings, and like every tribe in Sierra Leone, there is a bad side to us all.
It is on that last note that I took umbrage with a certain Adolphus of Universal Radio on that Saturday afternoon. By purely ethnic diatribes, he reduced a potentially good programme on Creole culture to a sordid exercise in ethnic stereotyping and mudslinging. He deviated from what ought to have been the thrust of his programme. That thrust was or should have been 'How Creoles behave in the office environment'. He started off by ranting that Creoles were the most cultured and civilised of the ethnic groups of Sierra Leone and insinuated that if the other backward (den wan wae dae biyen we) tribes wanted to catch up with the Creoles, they would do well by copying Creole culture.
Why should they when they have their own equally time honoured and tested rich cultures? One thing which Adolphus, perhaps because of his apparent limitations wanted us to believe was that, because Creoles by the very nature of their history during the slave trade had the first contact with western education, theirs were superior to other cultures. Civilisation and western education, while having some commonalities, are hardly the same. Otherwise, we might as well say all illiterate communities have no form of civilisation at all.
Every culture, literate or not, has its own form of civilisation. Every civilisation's pre-eminence is period bound. When the Americans and Europeans, whom we look up to today, were living in caves, the Iraqi's were playing with literature and philosophy (Iraq is reputed to have had the first legislature in history). Greece, which is today referred to as ''the sick man of Europe'', is the cradle of modern civilisation and technology. Egypt's place as another cradle of world civilisation is properly documented. Creole culture is largely a replica of Yoruba culture as most of the early settlers in the Province of Freedom largely descended from Yorubas.
What Adolphus should also bear in mind, when next he wants to denigrate other ethnic groups, is that cultures and civilisations thrive at certain periods in history and with time lose their pre-eminence.
As he degenerated further into his ethnic tunnel vision, he opined that 'Creoles don't steal' 'Creoles don't gossip' 'creole nor dae lay belleh' meaning ''Creoles don't engage in obsequiousness for favours''. 'Creole believe in document’ (meaning Creoles believe getting all what they want on the basis of merit). 'Creoles don't pay bribe for their children to make headway in life. This is absurdity and ignorance of the most extreme kind. Ours is a society in which corruption is simply a way of life. Some of those we refer to as rich people today, got their wealth through fraudulent means. Our society is constructed along those lines. If you hold lucrative public office in our society and you retire a poor man, you will become the laughing stock of society. Corruption in Sierra Leone knows no tribe. Various corruption audits over the years have proved that the culprits come from every facet and ethnic group of our country. This does not in any way suggest that Sierra Leoneans are all dishonest people. As a people we have a lot of hardworking, honest people (including Creoles) who have achieved whatever they have today by dint of hard work.
Obsequiousness and gossip are not embedded in anybody's DNA. There are gossips in every tribe. There are gossips among English, Arab, Mongoloids. Among Mendes, Creoles, Themnes, Susus, Fullahs etc. It is totally repugnant and nauseatingly condescending for Adolphus to reach the categorical conclusion that Creoles don't gossip and have no iota of obsequiousness in them. I don't believe he made these absurd remarks out of ignorance but out of a pugnacious intention to demean non- Creoles.
We all know that when it comes to jobs and scholarships etc. in this country, contact and connection are as important as ones merits. We are all guilty of it. The more connected you are in an office where you are seeking a job or some favour, the greater your chances of landing that job or favour. Everyone is culpable it is not the preserve of any one ethnic group. And this is not only limited to Sierra Leone. In the west, they call it the ''Old Boy Network''. To state categorically that Creoles are the only people who merit what they get, and always play by the rules, is not only reprehensible, but an affront to the intelligence of the Sierra Leonean.
As his primordial proclivity got the better of him, he said Creoles are second only to white people in education. This is where his limitations come into full play. If Creoles are second only to white people in education what technological feats have they achieved more than other advanced peoples of the world? Does he know about the strides the Chinese, Indians, Arabs have made in terms of research and invention? Adolphus should know that Africans INCLUDING CREOLES are technologically the most backward people in the world, and our contribution to the world's economy is less than 2%.
Adolphus kept his most derogatory outburst for last. As he condescendingly enjoyed his ethnic diatribes, he painted a picture of what a typical Creole backyard looks like: kitchen ''wodo'' in which ‘egusi’ is prepared and the various morning chores of a typical Creole household. It at first sounded good natured until, with comments from his side kick, he insinuated that Creoles are so superior that they normally hire people of a lower breed to empty their cesspits for them.
His statement was underscored by his side kick, who kept audibly muttering ''lek den olokus den'', clearly referring to Loko people. We all have our various stations carved out for us. For Lokos or any other people to engage in night soil work to make a honest living, does not make them any less inferior to other tribes. There are white cess pit 'managers', street sweepers, and bin handlers in Europe, America and everywhere. People who engage in some demeaning occupations may have a low social standing, but it does not make their humanity any inferior. It is also absolutely reprehensible to make them an object of mockery because of the nature of their occupations. In God's eyes, the equality of man is sacrosanct.
I want to remind my brother Adolphus about the destructive impact of the media if information dissemination is not managed properly. Ethnic diatribes and hate media were largely responsible for the genocide in Rwanda which is considered the worst in modern times. I wonder if the Independent Media Commission, which regulates the media in Sierra Leone, should not consider listening to that program.
Sierra Leone is an ethnic mosaic of all the tribes of this nation. We are prided in the sub region as arguably the most religious and ethnically tolerant people. Brother Adolphus, we have a united and beautiful country which was brutally torn apart by the forces of evil some twenty years ago. We survived it because the perpetrators of that brutality failed to divide us along tribal and religious lines. Our politicians exploit it during elections, but have never been able to sustain it.
In that programme you cheated your listeners like me. I wanted to learn more about the beautiful and time honoured culture of your people. I wanted to learn about how to prepare ''egusi'' soup of Creole marriage traditions, about ''Cabaslot and Kotoku'', about your famous print dress, and rich Creole music so beautifully epitomised by the fabled Dr. Oloh.
© Politico 21/01/15
