A few years ago, I wrote in this column a piece entitled “Let’s do away, once for all, with disgusting hair pornography ” (Sunday Nation , November 24, 2019). I decried the wearing of fake or real long hair pieces popular with black women as indisputable proof of self-hatred and an intellectual submission to “white superiority.”
I still hold the same view, although I was lambasted by a number of Black women who insisted on the tired phrase “my hair, my choice.” I’ve never seen white women donning black wigs unless it’s in a racist skit. It’s true that people of African descent the world over have endured the traumas of enslavement, colonialism, and globalisation, which have left deep psychological scars and feelings of inferiority.
In virtually everywhere in Kenya, whether urban or rural, black women wear these wigs without a second thought. Many look so bad in them you’d think it’s part of a Halloween costume. This problem is much deeper than simply hair pornography. It’s a full-blown psychosis about white people and things European. It’s what Kenyans somewhat jokingly refer to as “Majuu” or the “superior world above Africa,” meaning Europe and the Americas. It’s as though there’s a magic of the good life out in the West, as opposed to “lowly Africa.” It’s a racist narrative that has stuck in the mind of the African. It’s belief in the inferiority of the Black race to all others, and especially White people.
In this racist narrative and stereotype, whiteness symbolises wealth, property, and intelligence. In particular, whiteness is equated to property and money. This outlook persists in spite of African countries being independent, even if most have only been nominally free of the West for over 60 years now. Africa was the continent that endured the briefest period of colonisation, but was the most transformed by Eurocentrism. The Empire left lasting scars on black Africans and a psyche that was so damaging that I believe Africans need re-programming.
Ritziest entertainment spots
Today, I want to focus on night scenes in Nairobi and some of its ritziest entertainment spots and hotels. It’s a sight that will turn your stomach and leave you utterly dismayed.
Out of thin air as soon as the sun sets, you will notice a beehive of activity of white men, often elderly, arm in arm with a black woman, usually many years younger. These black women fit the textbook definition of “ladies of the night.” Scantily clad with screaming red lipstick and high heels, they cling to their “white prey” the way a lion guards an impala it has hunted down and killed. I am told that they sometimes make a “killing” in terms of cash, or property. These aren’t all ladies of the night. A number are actually either married or in long-term relationships with their catch. I am told it’s a great achievement for a black woman to bag a white man.
Those who want to justify this dastardly conduct will tell you that love – yes, love – knows no race. If that’s so, I wonder why I am not seeing a lot of black men with white women on their arms. Clearly, there’s more than love. It seems that one race and gender can buy another. The odds are stacked against black men. It appears that they can’t have white women, even if they wanted to. Most white women are beyond their reach. This is where whiteness equates to property. What’s interesting, however, is that most of the white men gallivanting with black women in Kenya are middling in terms of wealth. They aren’t rich, a point that’s lost on the black women who are only looking at colour.
A number of black African so-called celebrities have exacerbated the problem. They flaunt their white male prey on social media as though it was pedigree or a ticket to heaven. Embarrassingly, for some of them, such marriages or unions have turned into costly frauds and scams. This is what happens when black women fawn over all things white.
I’ve said before, and will say it again, the obsession with the West is a near national crisis. Often, you will see Kenyans on a visit to the United States post tons of pictures at airports. Just to show they have “arrived.” Even senior politicians often do so. Yet these same people don’t post pictures upon arrival in Bujumbura or Bangui.
Because of the place of patriarchy in Kenya, women as mothers play an outsized role in nurturing and moulding children, especially girls. On the whole, mothers spend more time with children than fathers. That’s why what they teach children at the formative stages in life is critical. If our children, and especially girls, see their mothers hooked on Whiteness, chances are that we will produce damaged people who lack pride, respect in self, and honour. We should have a national conversation on this epidemic so that Black women can return to respecting themselves.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. On X: @makaumutua.
