Chapter 22

The End of Empire: 

When speaking about the end of empire, many people think of this as history. It is history in the sense that it already happened. The impacts are still present. In many areas of the world, empires realized that they weren’t reaping the same benefits they had previously in areas, so they left. In some places independence was achieved rapidly, in other places it took many decades. Congo took their independence quickly, and Vietnam arrived more slowly (Stayer, 2016, p.982). 

People like to pretend that racism and colonialism is a thing of the past. Sure, official colonial rule ended in the early 1900s in South Africa, but it was regarded as a British colony until the 1960s. Beyond that, apartheid was not ended until 1994. Apartheid was obviously an extension of colonialism. It was a way for “white Africans” to subjugate native Africans. Just because something ends, that doesn’t mean it is over. The impacts of apartheid continue to impact South Africa today. During apartheid, Black Africans were forced to live in relatively small proportions of their country, away from whites. They did not receive equal access to education. This generated physical and mental health issues. It delayed the progress of Black people. Are we to believe that in 1994 everything was healed? 

26 years later, Black Africa is not recovered from colonialism. In fact, because of the close ties to European countries, Africas best and brightest minds continue to flock outside of the country to pursue education. Even those with the intent of returning to Africa to contribute can’t get funding. The White world likes to say they care about Africa, but until our current society is willing to accept that their elevated position is a direct result of the use of Black people as tools,  there cannot be healing. People need to be investing in Arica. For so long, Africa was forced to invest us. Colonial rule ended on paper, but