Africa Must Wake Up: A Moment of Humiliation, a Call for Rebirth

Written By Abasi Ssonko Muko Jr. Dalka Connect – Lexico Press August 13, 2025

In recent months, African citizens across the continent and the diaspora have watched social media — especially X (formerly Twitter) — erupt with unprecedented levels of racism, Islamophobia, and open humiliation directed toward African nations. From disturbing comments by political leaders in the United States: to widespread anti-Black racism in parts of the Arab world and rising far-right hostility in Europe, a troubling global pattern has emerged.

That pattern reveals one truth: Africa must wake up.

This is no longer just about online insults. It is about how powerful nations America, Europe, Turkey, and segments of the Arab world continue to manipulate Africa’s internal misunderstandings for their benefit, exploiting divisions while extracting value. And perhaps most painfully, it is about Africans among us who assist them blindly, for personal gain, validation, or borrowed prestige.

This moment is humiliating, but it also carries within it the seed of awakening.

America’s Renewed Contempt toward Africa

The rhetoric from the current U.S. administration has once again placed Africa in its crosshairs. In early 2025, President Donald J. Trump referred to Somali immigrants as “garbage” in a Cabinet meeting a comment widely reported by AP News. He further claimed that African nations were “releasing criminals” into the United States, saying:

The African Union publicly condemned these statements and warned that such language undermines decades of U.S.–Africa cooperation. This is not new. But it is now louder, more open, and more globally normalized.

The Arab World: Brotherhood in Words, Racism in Reality

While many Arabs stand in genuine solidarity with Africans and share deep historical and religious ties, the uncomfortable reality is that anti-Black racism remains widespread across several Arab countries. The Arab Barometer found systemic racial prejudice across multiple nations, with Black Africans consistently reporting discrimination.

In Libya, refugee organizations reported “a drastic outbreak of racist violence against Black people” in 2025, including assaults, forced disappearances, and degrading abuse.

Even social media posts from the region routinely describe African migrants as “less than,” “servants,” or “undesirable.” These are not isolated comments. They are symptoms of a deep, unhealed wound in Arab–African relations.

Europe’s Open Islamophobia

Across Europe, far-right ideology is no longer hiding behind diplomacy. On X, users openly mock Islam, African migrants, hijabs, and refugee communities. Phrases like:

“Islam doesn’t belong in Europe.”

“Africans should stay in their continent.”

“We are protecting Europe from Africanization.” are now mainstream in certain political circles.Legislation banning Islamic practice, restricting migration, and encouraging deportations is on the rise. The message is unmistakable: Africans and Muslims are unwanted.

Why This Is Happening: Because Africa Is Divided

Foreign powers — whether American, European, Turkish, Middle Eastern, or Asian — do not benefit from a united, economically strong Africa. They gain from:

• exploiting African minerals at low cost,
• influencing African politics with aid and debt,
• dividing regions, clans, tribes, religions,
• manipulating internal disagreements,
• empowering corrupt elites who sell their people for personal advancement.

The tragic reality is that some Africans among us aid this exploitation, choosing foreign approval over African dignity. So What Must Africa Do? A Blueprint for Rebirth:

Rebuild Self-Reliance and Reduce Dependence

• Africa must stop depending on the same nations that insult it.
• Dependency invites humiliation. Self-reliance creates dignity.

Invest in:

1. local industries
2. agricultural self-sufficiency
3. locally driven tech and finance
4. African-owned supply chains

Strengthen Continental Unity: A fragmented Africa is easy to manipulate. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) must become not a symbolic project but a practical engine of African solidarity — enabling Africans to trade with Africans. Reform Governance and Break Foreign-Controlled Elites

Corruption is the gateway through which foreign powers enter: Africa must hold accountable the elites who trade national interests for personal wealth or foreign partnerships.

Educate Africa for Confidence, Not Inferiority: Our youth must understand African history, philosophy, and contributions to civilization not the colonial version of Africa written by outsiders.

Build Afrocentric Media and Narrative Power

As long as the West and Middle East tell Africa’s story, they will tell it to justify their dominance. Africa must invest in:

Strengthen Pan-African Political Will

Leaders must stop negotiating from fear or inferiority. Africa has resources the world cannot survive without: energy, minerals, youth, land, food potential. Leverage them.

The Bottom line: This Humiliation Is a Warning — but Also a Door

The world’s insults — from U.S. leadership to Arab racism to European Islamophobia — are painful, but they are also clarifying.

• They show us where we stand.
• They show us how the world sees us.
• They show us what must change.