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Are Akans weary of Ewes? Perhaps. Ewes of Akans? Yes. But Ewes are not the largest ethnic group. Akans are. By virtue of that size and its concomitant power, Akans enjoy a privilege Ewes do not. This lopsided power dynamic eliminates the relevance of any "both sides" argument. 1/
Privilege is usually insidious, which means it spreads harm quietly. It is hard to notice. But if you look, you'll see it's been there all along. Akan privilege often manifests in the expectation of all Ghanaians to speak Twi, regardless of their own tribal heritage. 2/
This constitutes an erasure of whole cultures based on the implicit idea that they are not powerful (read superior) enough to be relavant. The result is the othering of ethnic groups because Akanness is centralized as a default.
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Woyɛ Ghananii na wontuni nka Twi? How are you Ghanaian & can't speak Twi? This is a shallow refrain most are familiar with. For those who are situated within the power that makes this possible, the utterance is considered casual;no big deal. For those othered, it is an insult. 4/
The reason it is hard for you to see it that way is because privilege normalizes entitlement & entitlement normalized creates blindspots & minimizes empathy. This is why privilege thrives strongly: it obscures the clarity of wrong, making it harder to acknowledge and tackle. 5/
So ask yourself, why in a country with between 76 to over 100 spoken languages and dialects, you feel that all of those groups should forcibly embrace the language of one, typically at the expense of theirs? That silence? That is the vacuum created by privilege & entitlement. 6/
"But I am not ethnocentric." You may very well not have actively drawn up structures to belittle members of one tribe. But you have certainly benefitted from the existence of such a system: what "Ghanaian language" is taught in a district, who occupies what position etc 7/
"Oh but a lot of Ewes occupy high positions." Yes. Just like our Black cousins in America excel not because of the system but in spite of it. It is therefore unwise to conclude that unjust society is just merely because some manage to thrive in spite of it. 8/
"But Ewes don't like Ashantis too." None of us know the specific history of this particular tension. We know this: we shouldn't expect that those who are marginalized deny themselves the right to resist those who design and benefit from the marginalization. 9/
If your family bullies your neighbors because it thinks they are inferior, even if you don't actively participate but benefit from that power dynamic, not only are equally culpable, you should not be surprised if those bullied do not like you and your family very much. 10/
There is more to say but I have things to do & I also don't want this to move into my own personal experiences because then I stand the risk of centering myself. So here's the bottomline: many of us have one or privileges. Learning & unlearning will help create a better society.
