QWhen a charismatic figurehead like Kalala Omotunde leaves, far too soon, it provokes deep existential questions in all of us. And quite logically, too, upheavals, choices, decision-making, strong acts. Omotunde, in principle, was made to last. He had certainly not become an institution (better than that he had created some), but he was an agitator of ideas, the force of the Spirit in action. There was something heroic about both his walk and his posture.
Warning! I will not fall into the trap of hagiography, the description of the life of a "Saint". He certainly would not have liked that. Let's do a little flashback instead, it will be easier. In 2005-2006, with a friend from the professional world, we went completely crazy, it must be said, when we discovered the website "africamaat.com". When I say "crazy", trust me, you really have to take this description literally. Articles sOn the presence of Blacks in French chivalry (Connétable Du Guesclin), on the creation of Sema Tawy in 3200 BCE by King Narmer, on the process of Semitization in ancient Egypt, on the various inventions made by Afro-descendants like Lewis Latimer (the carbon filament of the electric lamp) or Raoul Georges Nicolo (the Pal/Secam system for receiving several channels on the same television), africamaat.com had everything to satisfy our desire for "black greatness". We had been spoon-fed by Jules Ferry's school and Papa's television and despite everything a new window of access to knowledge was opening, breaking with this frenzied Eurocentrism that had been instilled in us for too long against our will. We were virtual dear frizzy heads who were just asking to be re-educated. We were very receptive to the popular science and historical articles of René Louis Parfait Étilé and of our brother who was not yet called Nioussérê Kalala Omotunde, but who was then known under the name of Jean-Philippe Omotunde.
Why were we so receptive? Well, we had read Cheikh Anta Diop of course a few years before. But that is not a sufficient explanation. How many young people, many years after us, have become pan-African and "Afro-defenders" (I wrote Afro-defenders on purpose, it is not a typo), by attending Nioussérê Kalala's conferences? Many of these young people had never read Diop, nor Obenga, I am sure. But faith in what one does, the strength of conviction can move mountains. This was the case with Omotunde's constant ardor.
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