RKS African Literature: That Which is Born Black Will Never be White (Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o)

Warĩĩnga was convinced that her appearance was the root cause of all her problems. Whenever she looked at herself in the mirror she thought herself very ugly. What she hated most was her blackness, so she would disfigure her body with skin lightening creams like Ambi and Snowfire forgetting the saying: That which is born black will never be white. Now her body was covered by black and white spots like the guineafowl. Her hair was splitting, and it had browned to the color of moleskin because it had been straightened with red hot iron combs.

Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o, “Devil on the Cross”, 1982

Published by Robert K Stephen (CSW)

Robert K Stephen writes about food ,drink, travel, film, and lifestyle issues. He also has published serialized novels "Life at Megacorp", "Virus # 26, "Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog" and "The Penniless Pensioner" Robert was the first associate member of the Wine Writers’ Circle of Canada. He also holds a Mindfulness Certification from the University of Leiden and the University of Toronto. Be it Spanish cured meat, dried fruit, BBQ, or recycled bamboo place mats, Robert endeavours to escape the mundane, which is why he has established this publication. His motto is, "Have Story, Will Write."

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