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Liberians & The
Crisis of Identity In a 2002 article, Liberia: Who Are We?” (The Perspective, November 2002), I quoted a 1906 speech by Liberian educator Edward Wilmot Blyden in which he said, "Liberia is a little bit of South Carolina, of Georgia, of Virginia—that is to say—of the ostracized, suppressed, depressed elements of these states—tacked on to West Africa—a most incongruous combination, with no reasonable prospect of success; and further complicated by additions from other sources. We take a bit from England, a bit from France, a little bit from Germany, and try to compromise with all. We have no definite plan, no dominating race conception, with really nothing to help us from behind—the scene whence we came—and nothing to guide us from before the goal to which we are tending or should tend...We are severed from the parent stock—the aborigines—who are the root, branch, and flower of Africa and of any Negro State in Africa". In the same article, I added that “From the time of its so-called founding in 1822 and declaration of independence in 1847, Liberia has always been burdened by a serious crisis of identity, of class, of education, of culture, of politics, of governance, of leadership, and of religion. These problems still persist and are most likely the root of our present predicament as a nation and people.” Well, if we carefully evaluate the history of Liberia, and political and socio-economic developments in the country today after two brutal civil wars in 14 years, it is clear that Liberians are still undergoing an identity crisis just as Blyden noted in 1906, and I noted in 2002. It therefore seems to me that national leaders in Liberia, including members of the current transitional government, are more concerned with playing lip-service in regard to peace, stability, and national developments in Liberia than with developing concrete plans and taking appropriate actions to effect the required changes. At present, almost every Liberian of substance is counting on the “international community” to solve the mounting social, economic, and political problems in Liberia, while Liberians continued to sit on the sidelines and fight for political power and prestige as if lasting peace, national unity, and development in Liberia were the responsibility of the “international community” and not Liberians. It equally seems to me that somewhere along the way, Liberians have also forgotten that Liberia is a bona fide member of the “international community,” and that the “international community” is made up of a group of countries just like Liberia with their own social, economic, and political problems. But, perhaps, the fact that Liberia is a member of the “international community” is yet to resonate with Liberian policy makers, politicians, intellectuals, religious leaders, civil leaders, and many ordinary Liberians who still see the “international community” as distinct from Liberia. As a result, Liberia continues to be mired in one political conflict after another, as the Liberian people wallow in abject poverty and politicians break the law with impunity, without any sense of responsibility or accountability. Then on top of these disturbing trends, some media outlets in Liberia have become cheerleaders for social and political declines in society. For example, when Liberian media executives met with the chairman of the national elections commission in Monrovia recently, their preoccupation centered on how best to collect advertising revenue from the elections commission in a timely fashion, so they forgot to raise any serious inquiries with the commission regarding group firings of some staff members at the commission, as well as the commission’s stated goal to usurp the Liberian constitution in favor of electoral reforms. And to add salt to injury, I read a ridiculous headline, “Breakdown Of Family Encouraging Prostitution” -CPD’s Survey Reveals” in The Perspective June 2 about a survey of high prostitution rate amongst Liberian youths lifted from The Inquiry newspaper in Monrovia. First, when I read the lead to the survey story, “It has been gathered that the breakdown of family union caused as a result of the civil war, has left many children to support themselves directly and encourages them into anti-social activities such as prostitution” (The Perspective), I thought sponsors of the survey were getting to the root of the socio-economic problems facing Liberia today. But, then, to my greatest surprise and disappointment, the survey based its findings on the western definition of family, and not on the socio-cultural definition of family in Liberia, which relies on the extended family system. Then I saw references to such western concepts as “single parents” and “unmarried parents” as if those were issues of consideration in a typical Liberian family. In Liberia, at least from my own background and knowledge of Liberian culture, words such as “single parent,” “unmarried,” and “half brother or sister” do not exist. Even western-oriented Liberians who gravitated toward the epithet “bastard child” in reference to a child born through extra-marital affairs, the mother of such a child was never considered a “single parent” in the western sense, as the woman’s parents and extended family, as well as the parents or extended family of the child’s father took turns to care for the child and its mother free of charge. It was never the case where a daughter or son would pay a parent or relative to take care of a grandson or niece. In fact, it was common for the man caught in such complicated relationship to support his child without court order, and the parents and relatives provided generous financial and moral support to mother and child as well. So I find it very disappointing that some group in Monrovia, regardless of where financial support for the survey came from, selected to misrepresent the reality of the Liberian family. I think the survey was necessary to call attention to the perplexing conditions of young boys and girls in war-ravaged Liberia. But I also think the effort is self-defeating by the very decision of the survey sponsors to misplace the focus of the survey as was evident in this case. Surely, the breakdown of the family always has a negative impact on the conduct of children whether in Liberia or elsewhere in the world, but we must take care not to overplay the sensitivity of the issue by making declarations that are far removed from the socio-economic and cultural realities of the demography and location of the survey. To be relevant, a statistical survey or intellectual pursuit must be tailored to the cultural dynamics, as well as the socio-economic and political perspectives and imperatives of people of the target geographical location or country for the survey. For instance, the issue of prostitution is sad, but prostitution was prevalent in Liberia long before the civil wars, so it is just not logical to me for a survey to find at least 30 or more years after the fact that the breakdown of the family is the primary cause of the rise of prostitution in Liberia today. Moreover, many Liberians that I know, including myself, did not grow up in a two-parent home, and that did not make us to turn to prostitution. I believe prosecution is on the rise among young people in Liberia today due to economic factors and not necessarily due to a breakdown of family units, unless the Liberian organization that conducted the survey wanted to impress its foreign benefactors with issues familiar to them and not necessarily with the social reality in Liberia. And that is the very danger of lack of national identity in Liberia I spoke about earlier, if Liberians are only willing to tackle local problems from the perspectives of their foreign benefactors. I know for sure that Liberian extended family units have always been a key stable in Liberian society, and I have no information that the extended family units have changed for he worst. I think as Liberians, we are doing ourselves and Liberia a great disservice by imitating every foreign ideology imaginable, whether good or bad. The last time I checked, some Liberians had substituted the traditional female circumcision for the stereotypical western concept, “female genital mutilation,” and now we are gravitating toward the concept of “single parenthood” and later we would be celebrating “gay rights.” Personally, I find nothing wrong with Liberians modifying foreign concepts and ideologies to suit Liberian realities, but I find it very disturbing that Liberians are willing to carbon copy everything foreign while neglecting their own cultural values. For instance, we now have an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Liberia as if Liberians lost their creativity, or as if our American friends would desert us if we did not carbon copy the name of the American EPA and establish a corresponding Liberian institution with the name, for instance, The Liberian Agency for Nature and the Environment. I also think after 156 years of existence as an independent country, and after 14 years of two brutal civil wars, Liberians need to come to grips with defining a national identity because I do not think Liberia can survive peacefully without a national identify. But I equally realize that we cannot define a national identity in Liberia unless we overcome the persistent crises of identity, of class, of education, of culture, of politics, of governance, of leadership, and of religion. We must awaken to the realities of our time and unleash our creativities for the development of Liberia. We cannot indefinitely rely on the “international community” to appreciate us or to put our house in order for us. We must appreciate ourselves as Liberians, and we must learn to exploit our diversity to the best advantage of Liberia. We must ensure that our leaders and ourselves obey the laws of Liberia in setting a national agenda for the country. But if we continue to hold fast to false standards and stereotypes as indicated by the CPD survey on breakdown of the Liberian family, we will continue to have ourselves to blame for the continuing upheavals in Liberia |
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