When the former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, made this declaration in 2014, the world was remarkably different from what it is today. People still hugged friends and family. Lagosians still threw parties at the slightest excuse. We celebrated when we won and we partied when we lost. The Chinese going about with facemasks were an oddity (and a bit of an annoyance to be honest). Airports buzzed and the skies had thousands of planes in it at any one time. Most significantly, America was respected in the world, with a President that was presidential.
So even though GEJ’s statement (which he made when defending the government against the CBN Governor’s accusation of ‘missing $20m’) drew derision at the time (which was nothing new), the fact was that it was an indication of the awe America inspired across the world, despite its incongruities. Love her or hate her, you didn’t laugh at her. America was authoritative, even when it’s moral authority was open to questioning. It was the Policeman of the world which itself needed policing. The ‘free world’ automatically lined up behind America against nations like China and Russia. Even when the rest of us weren’t convinced of America’s justifications for some of her actions, we supported anyway because that’s what allies did, support one another. Then Trump happened.
The emergence of Trump has been mixed blessings for the world and for America. While it has been positive for the world because it has revealed America for what it has become (and probably has always been), it has not been so positive for America because of the de-edification and the reduction of the status of the country amongst the commonwealth of nations. The world has seen that the King has clay feet and the Emperor is actually naked. “The great, old U.S. of A. is not really that great. Look at their leader.” The awe is gone. The wonder is diminished and the glitter is fading, and very fast too. America is an empire in decline. And it didn’t start with Trump. It was going on even as its stock rose. The greater the heights the country rose, the more the seeds of its demise as the sole superpower of the world also grew. The inequities, the hypocrisy, the arrogance, the contempt for the rest of the world and the injustices meted to it’s own minorities are historical and did not come with Trump. What Trump has done is only to give voice to those who previously whispered.
Three videos that that have emerged on social media over the past few weeks have done so much to illuminate one aspect of the fabric of the American society that tell the true story of America. Two of them ended with the completely unwarranted death of the black men involved while the 3rd showed in stark relief, the white privilege mentality that drives the racism in the United Statess and the place of the black man in white America. The relationship with Trump is highlighted by pictures that have emerged showing that the ‘blackslayers’ in both videos are rabid Trump supporters and members of the MAGA movement. Even though the American President was not involved in any of these incidents, it is instructive that those that did are ‘friends’ of his. Show me your friends…
In the first video that emerged a couple of weeks ago, a white father and his son shot and killed an unarmed young black man who was jogging along the road. He was killed under the pretext that he looked like someone that had been seen breaking into a shed earlier. The authorities would never have arrested or charged them for the crime if the videos had not emerged. The second video was of a white woman threatening to, and actually going ahead, to call the police on a black man who was doing his job by asking her to put her dog on a leash in a public park. She not only went ahead and called the police, but ensured she emphasized she was being threatened by an “African American” man, while choking her dog to ensure the pained barking of the canine created an atmosphere in tandem with her claims of being threatened by a black man. Luckily, that was not the day appointed for that black man to die.
The 3rd video was the saddest thing most of us have seen in recent times. An unarmed black man, George Floyd, on the ground while being arrested by about 4 policemen. One of the officers had him pinned to the ground by kneeling on his neck while he was handcuffed and incapacitated. Floyd can be clearly heard begging for his life as he cried “I cant breathe”. The policeman kneeling on his neck did not let go and his colleagues did not intervene until the man died. That was not the first time a black man would be heard saying “I cant breathe” before he died while being arrested. The truth is that the black man in America, and especially in Trump’s America, is an endangered specie, steadily being exterminated. This is unlikely to change soon.
GEJ said “America will know” out of respect for American power. ‘America will know’ today sounds more like a warning should she not address her glaring injustices and inequities. The black man in America is 5 times more likely to go to jail than the white man. He is 3 times more likely to get arrested in his lifetime than a white man. He has got a shorter life expectancy than the white man. Even COVID-19 is 4 times more likely to kill him than it would kill a white man. The reasons for this lopsidedness include the historical poverty the black community is enmeshed in. Already, America and its leader are the butt of jokes by comedians and world leaders. Respect is waning, if not completely lost. It can still be salvaged. Will it be? That is up to the Americans.
For now, it suffices to say, just like the title of the film does, ‘Olympus has fallen’.