As we talk about neo-colonialism, and the new scramble for Africa, I thought about sharing this poem ‘They Came‘ by Cameroonian writer François Sengat-Kuo published in Fleurs de Latérite, Heures Rouges Éditions Clé, 1971. I had previously shared this poem here. In the poem, Sengat-Kuo talks about colonization and how Africans were fooled by European missionaries who were always preceding European explorers and armies. I particularly like the sentence: “they came, … bible on hand, guns behind.” Jomo Kenyatta, first president of Kenya, said it slightly differently, “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.” (Nobel Peace prize Laureate, Desmond Tutu, of South Africa, is said to have popularized the quote). How true! In the days of colonization, Europeans claimed to be bringing civilization and Christianity to pagans across the globe. Today, they bring development, globalization, and democracy… same ol’ thing → submission and slavery to the people. Enjoy!
| Ils sont venus
au clair de lune au rythme du tam-tam ce soir-là comme toujours l’on dansait l’on riait brillant avenir ils sont venus civilisation bibles sous le bras fusils en mains les morts se sont entassés l’on a pleuré et le tam-tam s’est tu silence profond comme la mort
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They came
by the light of the moon to the rhythm of the tam-tam that night as always we were dancing we were laughing brilliant future they came civilization bibles under the arm guns in hand the dead bodies piled up we cried and the tam-tam was silenced profound silence like death |
African Heritage 
Keep up the good work with this neocolonial series! This was a powerful poem to read, too. It’s a subject that needs to be addressed. I’m also glad some filmmakers have covered that subject such as Ousmane Sembene (RIP) and Abderrahmane Sissako (especially in Bamako as one example).
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Thanks for encouragements.
Ousmane Sembene was a favorite African filmmaker and writer, who left a big imprint for the younger African generation of filmmakers. I need to reacquaint myself with the work of Abderrahmane Sissako
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