The Continent That Remembers Poem by Emeka GOC

The Continent That Remembers

(On Africa's Enduring Resistance and the Ledger of Extraction)


Empires rise with banners trimmed in gold,
But fall when stories of the harmed unfold.
Africa keeps the ledger of the past
Each scar a verse, each triumph built to last.


Where are the numbers of the gold from Ghana,
Carted off in ships with no return?
The petroleum, coal, and minerals taken
From coasts where village fires still burn.
The pillage of northern and central Nigeria,

The immeasurable wealth drained from Congo's core
A continent stripped, yet never broken,
Still counting what was lost before.


She knows the West will speak with double breath:
One voice of aid, one whispering of wealth.
Two faces: one extending open hands,
The other drawing borders on her lands.


They claim to give "aid" through experts and reports,
But Africa asks: Where are your morals?
Where is fairness in your tariffs and your trades?
Where is justice in the balance you have made?
Where is the practice of the win‑win creed
You preach abroad but seldom heed?


The physical resistance has shifted form
Now fought in data, algorithms, and reform.
AI‑generated truths demand replies;
Questions rise, unanswered, to the skies.
Yet still she rises; louder than before
For memory is resistance, and truth restores.


Africa remains in enduring resistance,
The continent that remembers every instance:
The pain, the losses, the cost still unfooted,
The unwanted invaders history has rooted.
And through the remembering, strength is born
A continent awake, unbroken, and reborn.