Our new generation of youth is slightly different to our predecessors in Africa. According to our elders, we’ve become obsessed with social media frenzies. We seek fame, and strip ourselves from our culture, uprooting the fundamentals of what makes us African, drenching our values and ideologies in an effectively marketed western entertainment culture.
But not all of our youth strive to be a carbon copy of the newest signed YMCMB artist, some of us have adapted into this new world bearing our cultural amour. We express ourselves in writing, poetry and still art – just as our ancestors did. This is not my personal theological mind speaking, this is me looking at my Afrolutionist environment, and realizing that even those around me, in my platform are these people. Yes, we appreciate the value of a dollar, but this does not drive us to seek fame and fortune.
We are driven by our patriotism to Africa. Our fuel is in our history – our archeology. Our compass is our culture, a melting pot of various ethnicities and races that scrambled across the African Diaspora over 400 years ago. We wear this enriched amour while adapting to the current trends and changes the world faces today. We use our talents of course, to send various messages.
Tigele Nlebesi for example, speaks in pen – detailing her opinion of world events and social ideas through witty and intelligent commentary. Ghost the Poet, even through coming out of teen years, articulates himself through versification and rhyme – denoting his emotions on world events, romance and reckless adolescent days in stanzas and short stories. Our inspirational beaux artists Bakwinya Mazhane and Wazha Ntjenje of BM photography, infuse todays technolgy thanks to Nixon and Canon, capture the souls of humans, nature, animals and the world at large in a second, creating aesthetically pleasing depictions of the world around us. Lastly, there’s me, a few years into my twenties and learning to care more about my roots, and infusing them in my world today.
Yes we are young, we are artistic and gifted – but we are not a lost generation. We are revolutionists in our respective field. and this extends to youth across the continent; employed or not, business-minded or academic oriented there is a piece of the new artistic revolutionist within us. We aren’t the Westernized African, We are Afrolutionists.
