*(Dedicated to the Ghana Black Stars who debunked the hegemonic constructions of
African inferiority by showing the world during the 2010 World Cup that Africans
are as capable as any other “racial” group in the world. Long Live Ghana! Long Live
Africa! Long Live Nkrumah!)

**By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.

The Black Stars of Africa
Thank you
Our pride of place
Africa’s heartbeat
Don’t be ashamed
Weep not again
You made Africans proud
You inspired the world
You will rise again
Like the gallant sun
After an eerily dawn
When darkness fights with light
Our Sahara will flourish again
Our Kalahari will blossom again
Africa’s Black Stars will rise again

The hand of theft
Uruguayan Luis Suarez’s
Middle-fingered FIFA
Punctured the eyes of the world
And ESPN commentators went silent
In the Western imaginings
Of warped inequalities
Of Africanizing inferiority
So the Western media crafted
Maradona’s hand of GOD
Luis Suarez’s hand of HEROICS
Thierry Henry’s hand of EVILNESS

The Uruguayan Luis Suarez
Six-finger hand
Suarez’s leprosy-ed hand
Waved at FIFA’s rule
Played Uruguayan backyard rugby
Middle- fingered FIFA’s rule
Saved a goal-bound ball
Bounding across the line
And the world cried

The Black Stars of Africa
Eclipsed other stars
Meteor-ed the globe
Africa’s Black Stars
Rose like the sun
Will rise again
Over the Sahara, Kalahari
Where mirage is gold

The Black Stars of Africa
Bring light to millions
Black light that eclipses
Overpowers Western imaginings
Of Black inferiority
Ah! Nkrumah’s vision
Of Black light
Pan-African empowerment
From the Nile to the Zambezi
From the Sahara to the Kalahari
Our cusp of the new horizon
Of empowering Africans/Blacks
Of Africanizing humanity

People around the world
Rose in unison
To behold the Black Stars
The soaring Black Stars
And we cheered, clapped
Birthing inspiration, hope
And our optimism petal-ed
An African bouquet of hope
The Black Stars of Africa
Illuminated the global horizon

Suarez middle-finger was lurking
Suarez middle-fingered FIFA
Punctured the eyes of the world
We cried
We wept
Avalanched by emotions
Our dam of hope broke
Cascades of tears drowned us
And we called on Mother Africa

Mother Africa is here
Ah! Mother Africa
Eternal Mother Africa
Mother holds us close
Mother comforts us
The Black Stars of Africa
Ah! Mother Africa
It is your new dawn
The cloying womb
With blackened chambers
Nourishes new life
It is our new beginning

The Black Stars of Africa
Thank you
Our pride of place
Africa’s heartbeat
Don’t be ashamed
Weep not again
You made Africans proud
You inspired the world
You will rise again
Like the gallant sun
After an eerily dawn
Our Sahara will flourish again
Our Kalahari will blossom again
Our Black Stars will rise again

**Akadu N. Mensema, Ph. D., is a nationalist Denkyira beauty. She is a trained oral
historian cum sociologist and Professor in the USA. She lives in Pennsylvania with
her great mentor and teaches Africa-area studies at a college in Maryland. In her
pastime, she writes what critics have called “populist hyperbolic, satirical”
poetry. She can be reached at akadumensema@yahoo.com