How Black People Kept Giving Their Lives In Wars They Never Started: #BlackHistoryMonth

I grew up in Bafia a little town near Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. My dad landed in Bafia from Makénéné, fleeing persecutions as a Bamiléké. He fled from his native Batié to Makénéné, then to Bafia to be safe. He was part of Bamileke fighting against France with its pick moment between 1960 (the year Cameroon got its supposedly independence) en 1962. For 2 years, France went into a war against the Bamiléké nicknamed “makeezards”. This is France that was liberated from the Nazi by Cameroonian soldiers. This 2 year-war is known as the war of “The Massacre of Bamiléké”. Basically, the Bamileke people are the descendants of Ancient Egyptians who fled from Egypt to the southern Africa. Many African Americans are originally from Bamiléké of Cameroon 

In my hometown of Bafia, there was a veteran from WWII. He will gather us, little kids of my neighborhood and tell us stories about WWII, the Vietnam War etc. I remember listening with captivation, but also asking “what is the war?”. Because, born after 1962, there was no war anymore in Cameroon, I was blessed for leaving in a country during a no-war time. We often take it for granted. 

The father of one of my ex-boyfriends in France was a Jewish Physician. He told me that, when the Nazi invaded France, they revoked his license, and he couldn’t practice anymore. This is when he joined the France Resistance. His dad was among the group of French civilians that the General De Gaule from London, sent to Cameroon in preparation of the “Débarquement de Normandie”. He told me that “until the death of my dad, he expressed his deep gratitude to the people of Cameroon who allowed them to land and responded to the call of General De Gaule. He prayed for the peace of this country”. Also, among U.S soldiers who helped liberate France from the Nazi, were African Americans.  Among soldiers who went to liberate Japan were Black soldiers. 

So, Black people have been giving their life into wars they never initiated. How many other people fought to save Africans? Who initiate wars in Africa?