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Saturday, 7 May 2022

I too sing Cameroon - Sarah Anyang Agbor

I too sing Cameroon1.
I am the ninth and tenth provinces
Or is it regions?
I just want to be human,
Not superhuman
Accepted as a person

I know how you perceive me:
“Traitor”, “Opposition”, BamiAnglo2
A figment of your own imagination.
Why do you see an Anglophone and you hear-
“Gunshots!? Crisis!? Protests!? Grumblings!?
You got criminals! We’ve got criminals!” 

I too can feel
I too can dream 
I too can lead.
But you look down on me
And call me “Anglofou”3
You say you are the top dog 
And I the underdog.
Now I am the country nigger “Anglofou”
Now I am the house nigger. 

Tomorrow 
When the stakes are down
Will it be my turn to look down at you?
Will I call you “Franco Fool?”
Or will I call you brother?
That tomorrow will surely come
No one will dare say to me: 
“Anglofou”4; “Parlez Anglais”5
“Les Anglos-la”6

Besides, I have walked up the ladder
With the virus of bilingualism
And I will sit at the table
And you will see the good in me. 

I too, sing Cameroon!

Sarah Anyang Agbor [Sarah Mbi Enow Anyang Agbor] (20th century) Cameroon
Source: Free Verse Issue 22 Spring 2012
  1. Inspired by the talk on Harlem Renaissance, DVC series at the American Embassy in Yaoundé on 28-09-2007.
  2. A Bamileke who has grown up with English as a second language, hence, such a person is a Bamileke from predominantly French-speaking Cameroon by origin and Anglophone by culture.
  3. Anglophone fool; crazy English-speaking person
  4. An abusive term, most often used by Francophones, to denigrate Anglophones.
  5. Speak English
  6. Those Anglophones  

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