"Liberian Culture 101" Course: A Golden Opportunity for Liberian Youth Born during the War and Liberian Politicians to Learn about Liberia.

Beginning today, I will be offering a course I designed from my doctoral research findings regarding how to teach a Black nation and people deprived of knowledge about their cultural heritage. This course is particularly designed for the lost generation of Liberians born during the more than four-decade war period in Liberia, as well as "Johnny-Just Come" Liberian politicians and millions of Liberian citizens who don't know about the history and culture of Liberia. As a matter of fact, millions of Liberians at home and abroad, may not know the two stanzas of the national anthem of Liberia and who the author is.

When you have a nation in such a turmoil and in an era of darkness, someone must step up to help the youth, to show them the way and prepare them so that the darkness and evil spells that have befallen upon Liberia due to ignorance and wickedness, may be dispelled and the light of Christ and self-knowledge restored in a once "glorious land of liberty by God's command..."

Sad to say, there is too much wickedness and ignorance going on in Liberia. As a result, we have lost our innate Liberian cultural values of hospitality, kindness, respect for knowledge, and respect for rule of law and our elders. When we were growing up, our parents insisted that we attain an education so that we may be better prepared to lead our country. The youth were regarded as precious gems. Our parents and elders of our time never misled us. They told us the truth. They never gave us guns to fight their political battles, but they made sure we learned good manners and went to school. Education was a big priority when I was growing up.

I was born during the administration of President Tubman, just as he was going into his third term of office. I lived through his administration until he passed in his 27th year as President of Liberia when I was a teenager. President Tubman was very charismatic and kind and a man of culture. He was a people-person, but he was a despot. Anyone rising star or politician who did not fall in line with his whims and caprices were sent to Belle Yallah, a famous prison way behind God's back in the Lofa-Barpolu jungles. His administration was characterized by "Who know you" and patronage system. You did not have to have a college degree to hold a high government post because Tubman himself did not have a college degree. All one needed was to know someone to be someone and qualification in terms of education did not matter much. Also, during his administration, many Liberians could not afford the tuition to attend the University of Liberia.

So, even though, Tubman's Open Door Policy brought in billions of dollars and his National Integration and Unification Policy made Liberians to be more integrated than they had been before his predecessors, progress in Liberia was slow and democratic principles such as freedom of speech, multi-party-political system, were suppressed. During Tubman's era, there were only two main political and economic classes: the extremely rich and the very poor. There was no middle class.

Then came "Speedy," President William Richard Tolbert, Jr. He was Tubman's Vice President for nineteen years. "Bor Willy" as he was also affectionately called, was "dynamic." I mean "dynamic" in the true sense of the word. He was a man of change, but Liberians were not prepared for the dynamic change he wanted to implement because they lacked self-knowledge and not many Liberians were educated to embrace the change President Tolbert wanted to implement.

William R. Tolbert, Jr. was also a big supporter of education. He was very concerned about raising the standard of living of Liberians from mat to mattress and he believed in an inclusive Liberian society where the citizens would be totally involved "for higher heights." He even lowered the tuition at the University of Liberia so children of the masses (poor indigenous Liberians and those of settler descent) would have access to higher education. Subsequently, that also spurred the number of indigenous Liberians that obtained their first degrees in the mid-seventies and brought about the development of an emerging middle class. Before then, it was the very wealthy versus the poor masses, some of whom could not afford to purchase a mattress to sleep on!

One main reason for the drastic change that occurred during President Tolbert's nine-year reign as President of Liberia, was because he wanted educated people to be in the upper echelon of society and so he invited young Liberian intellectuals from the diaspora to return home to work in government. For the first time, having a college degree (s) became a yardstick for appointing qualified Liberians to positions of public trust and this encouraged many Liberian youths, including myself, to pursue higher education because Tolbert began to implement a merit system.

I am telling you these things because most of you who are today's voters don't even know the names of the Presidents of Liberia, let alone what they did during their terms of office because there are no books to read about their deeds. You go to school in Liberia, from "SO," GO," to college level and you hardly read about your culture, or barely take a course in any Liberian language, but yet, we expect our leaders to be "PATRIOTS?"

Patriotism comes from learning about yourself, your country, learning about its resources, geography, and demographics, and appreciating your immediate environment. Without this basic knowledge and orientation, there can be no patriots, but only "ya wlee-ah-dee", interpreted as "bring the money and let's eat it" type citizens!

One thing I am happy about with the emergence of President Boikai as leader of Liberia, is that he is an elderly statesman. He is educated, and fortunately he is surrounded by young people. some of whom I taught at St. Patrick's, LU, Cuttington, St. Teresa's Convent, A.M.E. Zion Academy, Zwedru Multilateral, College of West Africa, etc. I pray they will not be enemies to the knowledge of patriotism I shared with them, but that they may let that light shine so others can benefit what they learned from me and others who taught them. It is also my expectation, these young advisors will tap into the fountain I provided them while carrying out their duties as "advisors" to the President of Liberia, so we can move forward.

The "Liberian Culture 101" course is a litmus test and it is part of my Golden Jubilee (50th Anniversary) celebration as a Liberian cultural expert and scholar/artist. Let me close by letting all of you know, including President Boikai, that no nation shall prosper if it does not have a solid cultural base and if its citizens lack self-knowledge and appreciation of their homeland. It is like a foolish man that built his house in the sand. The wind of change came and blew his mansion down to the ground!

I wish my students success in their endeavors. "Uncle Joe" or "Prof Gbaba" is right where he is when you were students and now that you are "advisors." I am just a phone call away and please pick up your phone when I call you and/or return my call if you are "busy." A word to the wise, is quite sufficient!

Rabbi Prince Joseph Tomoonh-Garlodeyh Gbaba, Sr., Ed. D.

March 19, 2024