An Old Vision for a New Liberia

Thank you all for coming. I know you had many options for Saturday night entertainment, so I’m very appreciative of your presence here tonight. I hope the message I have prepared will make your time here well spent. I’m especially thankful to Fermi and Princess for sponsoring my trip here. This is the second time they have brought me to Dallas. I’m particularly proud of all they have accomplished together, especially in the opening and maintaining this beautiful facility. Please join me in giving them a warm round of applause. 

Because I’m a historian, you might be expecting me to talk about history and to focus on selling books. But this is a Flag Day celebration, so I want to do something different. I want to speak, instead, on the topic “An Old Vision for a New Liberia.” That said, I certainly hope you will still buy books.

Let me explain, first, what I mean by “vision,” second, why having one is important, and, third, why Liberia today sorely needs one. Then I will address who must bring that vision into reality, when, where, and how.

Let’s start with “vision.” That word has many meanings. When I speak of vision here, however, I don’t mean “the act or power of seeing what already exists.” That describes a purely mechanical and involuntary process. And I certainly don’t mean “a supernatural appearance” like Mammy Wata or a flying white cat.

By “vision,” what I mean is “a thought, concept, or object formed by the imagination.” This meaning highlights the power of creativity or what we in Liberia call “head work.” A good example of “an object formed by the imagination” was Liberia’s Declaration of Independence. One of our ancestors imagined that it was possible, then convinced others and together they acted to make it a reality.

The definition of “vision” I gave you is from a dictionary. But, whether we are literate or not, we Liberians understand how imagination can impact perception and, ultimately, affect our reality. When we ask in Kolokwa, “dah de eye you take to look at me,” that’s what we mean. In other words, how you imagine me can impact how you see me for better or worse!

Out of misplaced respect, we have uncritically absorbed the lies of our “uncoos,” play-play historians, and “senior comrades.” They insist that Liberia ain’t nothing, ain’t never been nothing and, therefore, won’t ever achieve anything. By distorting our past and constantly dividing us in the present, they have crippled our ability to envision a brighter future.

As a result, the eye we take to look at Mama Liberia today is mostly negative. That’s why so many people say “Liberians are lazy,” “Liberians are corrupt,” “Liberian voters are stupid.” Such statements blame all Liberians for the worse behavior of some. In the absence of vision, our nation will surely perish. In a similar vein, we routinely blame all members of an ethnic group for the wrongdoing of a few of its members. We did it in 1980 to Congau people. After the failed Quiwonkpa coup in 1985, we did it to Mano and Dan people. In 1990, we did it to the Krahns and Mandingos. To say that all members of any ethnic group are immoral or criminal promotes genocide. That mindset is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.

Beloved, we desperately need a national vision that highlights our accomplishments, beauty, and unity. To develop a new vision for Liberia, we must start by learning our true history. Without respect for our ancestors, their greatness, and their wisdom, we will never move forward. That is why I say we need an old vision for a new Liberia. 

For example, we need to use Spider Tales to teach our children ethics and morality. Why not? Our children need to know that we gave the world both kola and malagueta spice! As our ancestors taught, only senior citizens who are self-respecting and wise deserve to be called elders. The rest are simply old fools. If we follow their example, we will curtail the “ma cussing” and other self-denigrating behavior on social media.

I hope I have convinced you that we need a new national vision. I must now tackle the other crucial question: Who will supply this vision? Most Liberians will automatically say it must come from the government. Others will say it must come from their preferred political leader. I disagree. First, Liberia wouldn’t be mired in poverty and dysfunction if politicians had the vision we require. 

Second, we must stop passing the buck. In a republic, the national vision is supplied from below by citizens not from on high by a king! Some of us are grandparents and have yet to give back to the country that gave us so much. Some HipCo artists are already doing their part, like Bucky Raw and Luckay Buckay. Our second anthem “The Lone Star Forever” was written when the author was 19 years old! What’s our excuse? The rest of us must step up: the effort will require painters, pastors, and poets, as well as you and me. 

How do we implement this new vision? My short answer is, we must use every available form of creativity to unify and inspire. Imagine murals painted with inspiring scenes from history, a major HipCo festival promoting unity, poetry, and spoken word event celebrating Liberia, and a social media team disseminating messages of positivity and self-love. 

Let me give you one example that is taking shape. A small team is working on a documentary about Liberian cuisine. They plan to talk to me about the history of our foods, including the connection to Gullah-Geechee and New Orleans cooking. They hope to interview folks like Princess, Thal Hare, and Chef Chauncy on traditions and innovations. Working together, we plan to put Liberia on the map for something other than “child soldiers.”

The sky’s the limit! We can do it if we create teams of skilled Liberians working together on specific tasks or events. We can do this if everybody stays in his or her lane. What we don’t need is another bureaucracy of talkers and attention-seekers.

I have explained why we desperately need a vision, who will supply it, and how. Let me now quickly answer the questions of where and when. Regarding where the answer is simple: we should spread national self-love and unity both in Liberia and the Diaspora. 

Beloved, what we are facing is nothing less than an inter-generational curse. It will take a sustained effort to break it, but it can be done. Let’s declare 2022 to be our year of liberation from these mental shackles. If we implement one major event each month next year, we can flip our national mindset, from negative to positive. 

Here’s one simple way we can do that: Instead of gossiping about people who fail, let’s celebrate current successes. Imagine if each of us nominates a Liberian whose accomplishment we are proud of. No politicians, no relatives. A social media team then blasts those nominations to the world via Twitter, TikTok, etc. In a short time, we will “take a different eye” to look at ourselves, Liberians. When we do, the world will too!

There are many such Liberians on my list, including the late pastor Nat Salee. Let me tell you about Nat, a hero who died without receiving the flowers he deserved. We were working at Cuttington University a few years ago when a fire broke out in the women's dorm. 

Although Nat was a contractor, not an employee, he immediately climbed on the roof and ripped off some of the zinc to allow the heat to dissipate. He stayed on the roof for at least 45 minutes pouring water on the fire from buckets that people on the ground handed him. Because of heroes like Nat, I can never accept the all-too-common negative stereotypes of Liberians. Never!

Others on my list of Liberians worthy of recognition include Leymah Gbowee, businessman Richelieu Dennis, medical researcher Dr. Dougbeh Nyan, Bishop Darlington Johnson, scholar Robtel Paley, businessman Sheika Toure, human rights activist Aaron Weah, and Bishop Andrew Karnley, to name a few.

If you stay quiet and do nothing, we keep alive the false narrative that Liberians ain't nothing, ain't never been nothing, and won't ever amount to anything. But if you add your nominations to mine, we soon will identify hundreds of thousands of model Liberians.

It has been more than a decade ago since the guns and rockets were silenced in our senseless war. But our Facebook “warriors” continue their divisive battles. Whether they understand or care about the consequences of hate-filled speech, they are destroying the soul of the nation. 

In my view, their rhetorical fuselages are more harmful than the previous destruction of roads and bridges and buildings. It is time for the adults among us to impose a ceasefire. By adult, I don't mean age but maturity. We would have to be insane to do and say nothing to shut them down, yet keep expecting Liberia to arise miraculously from our spiritual and psychological ashes.

If we won’t do this for ourselves, let us do it so that our children and grandchildren will proudly identify as Liberians instead of copying every other culture, including Nigerian “senator suits” and Yoruba head ties. 

In closing let me leave you with this quote from Hilary Teage. As some of you know, he was the main person in 1847 who persuaded skeptical Liberians to declare independence. This is what he told his peers in one of his many speeches and newspaper articles promoting independence: "Gentlemen and ladies, the present generation must not, cannot live for itself. It lives for generations yet to come. To lay broad and deep the foundations of the social edifice, to equal it in all its fair proportions to the generation that succeeds us would be an honor which no other age has witnessed and none but us can hope to enjoy. Let there be but one heart and one throb in that heart, and one head and one design in that head. … By order, industry and virtue let us prove ourselves worthy of the reward we ask - a name, a home, a place in the land of the living."

Our ancestors gave us a flag that has flown “o’er land and o’er seas” for 174 years. They gave us a nation filled with rich traditions; our "uncoos" nearly destroyed it. Liberian patriots living today must join hands across ethnic, religious, and political lines to advance a healing and unifying vision. It’s the least we can do for our children and the generations to come. Thank you. 

I welcome your comments and questions. If you want to join the Liberia 2022 project, free to contact me via LinkedIn, Messenger, or cpburrowes@mac.com.

About the author

C. Patrick Burrowes is Liberia’s leading historian. His books include Between the Kola Forest and the Salty Sea: A History of the Liberian People Before 1800 and Liberia & the Quest for Freedom.  His research has received awards from the International Communication Association and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. From 1995 to 1998, Burrowes served as the Carter G. Woodson Distinguished Professor at Marshall University. He is one of only two dozen persons of African descent ever appointed to an endowed chair in the U. S.