There is a difference between a laudatory and a patronizing remark. The former is rooted in sincerity of sentiments and expresses an intention to offer genuine appreciation of a good quality in the one to whom or about whom the remark is made. The latter is bereft of sincerity. It is inspired by a desire to look down on the one to whom or about whom it is made. The one who speaks patronizingly may appear to be praising the one to whom or about whom he speaks. But here, reality is concealed by appearance.

It is often difficult, even for attentive listeners, to decipher whether a remark is laudatory or patronizing because the heart and mind of the human creature is a mystery enveloped in mystery. That is why it may be difficult to know whether Donald Trump, the American President, was being laudatory or patronizing in words he spoke to his Liberian counterpart, Joseph Boakai.

Hosting five African Presidents in the White House recently, Trump, in reaction to Boakai speech, said: “Such good English, it’s beautiful. Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?”

When Boakai informed Trump that he was educated in Liberia, Trump responded: “That’s very interesting. I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”

In the absence of positive identification of laudatory or patronizing remark, could one fall back on cumulative probability based on Trump’s habit? Perhaps we may get a clue as to the laudatory or patronizing intent of Trump by considering his antecedents.  

Trump, during his first tenure as American President, described some countries in Africa in exceedingly derogatory terms, calling them “shithole countries”. Trump spoke of African immigrants killing and eating pets of White Americans. In full glare of cameras, Trump talked down on President Zelensky of Ukraine, while his Deputy, J. D. Vance added his voice to that of his scolding boss.  

What of the false claims of genocide on whites in South Africa with which Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa was ambushed right in the White House? Trump has a habit of talking down on persons he considers weak, and he is quite sincere when it comes to that. Added to that is the increasingly harsh conditions to be met before obtaining a visa to visit the United States.

In American political spectrum, Trump is of the ideological right, while the American television network, the CNN, is of the ideological left. The CNN is known to be highly critical of Trump, of his domestic and foreign policies. But the CNN is also caught in this web of patronizing portrayal of what goes on inside Africa.

“Inside Africa” is the title of a programme on the CNN. The CNN advertises it by showing flashes of infrastructure on the continent. But then comes in the same advert, in a way that seems to erase initial impressions, video clips of wild animals, with the exhortation to save “wildlife” in Africa. One might argue that the content of the programme is otherwise. But the advertisement of CNN’s “Inside Africa” is short on portraying what is positive while it is longer in duration when it comes to showing “wildlife”.

It thus perpetuates the erroneous but long-nurtured impression that Africa is a jungle, and that what you find “inside Africa” are wild animals. Yet, Africa, despite her numerous challenges caused by foreign and indigenous actors, is not a jungle.

Some of my cousins, born in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, came back from school one day and asked their father, my uncle, to show them his tail. They had been told in school that Black people have tails. Beasts have tails. If black people have tails blacks are beasts. If they are beasts, they are less than human.

In the 1990s, a classmate had asked me: “Anthony, is it true you stroll with lions in Africa?”

“Yes,” I responded. “It is true.”

“And they do not attack you?”

“No. They don’t. If you are strolling in the evening, and a lion is coming from the opposite direction, simply say ‘Hi’, and the Lion will say “Hi”, and go its way.”

The poor ignorant fellow did not know that the only time I ever saw a lion was in the zoo at the University of Ibadan in 1979.

Living and studying in the United States in the 1990s, I met many who showed friendship. I am forever grateful to many friends who showed great hospitality and generosity. They are no exceptions. Their friendship erases memories of being lauded as I came out of Mass on a Sunday morning to be asked, “Father, who is your speech writer? He writes good sermons for you.”

Perhaps the CNN is only advertising a safari. But we must not miss the point. The point is: while Africans are portrayed as animals, there is a side of the CNN advert of “Inside Africa” which, even if it may be inviting viewers to see Africa as a tourist attraction, portrays “inside Africa” as a jungle. Even “wildlife” comes across as an insensitively racist expression reserved for Africa. There is “wildlife inside Africa”. That is the message. 

But there are beautiful schools in Africa. We have our cuisine and we have our music, we have our theatre and we have other tourists attractions. Africa is not a jungle. 

I have experienced the dark side of Nigeria. I have written on it many times. But that is not the whole truth about Nigeria. America, where the CNN is based, like any other country on this planet, has its own dark sides. Africa has a leadership crisis. So does America in recent times.

Africans must look beyond this habitual mischaracterization. We and our leaders must undergo a constant examination of conscience. We must provide candid answers to this question: why is Nigeria rich while Nigerians are poor? And if leaders and peoples of Africa would resolve and act to create an enabling environment for development in Africa, our leaders would not be summoned to the White House in Washington to be addressed in patently patronizing terms. We must build a future when young Nigerians will not be subjected to humiliation at embassies, a future when young Nigerians will flourish on their homelands.

Father Akinwale is Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Augustine University, Ilara-Epe, Lagos State