The Sanctioned Apology Poem by Emeka GOC

"The Sanctioned Apology"

(On Modern Western Diplomacy and Africa's Unanswered Questions)

They praise Mandela in the conference hall,
Yet fund the mines that fracture tribal soil.
They speak of partnership and equal voice,
While shaping markets where they hold the choice.
Nkrumah displaced by soldiers trained abroad
A quiet coup beneath democracy's facade.

How many Mandelas fell to sniper fire?
How many visions smothered by a hired
Coup or midnight purge in whispered breath
Tall giants of resistance trimmed by stealth?
Lumumba silenced, Mobutu raised instead
A lesson carved in fear and painted red.

How many died in sleep without a trace,
No autopsy, no justice in their place?
How many African lights were dimmed too soon,
Or vanished by the hands of kin's own ruin?
Where is Sankara? Shadows guard his name,
While Blaise Compaoré walks free without the blame.

How many children starved in silent rows
As kwashiorkor carved its hollow throes
An embargo stamped with Western seal,
While Britain claimed a moral zeal?

Where were the Human rights they vowed to defend?
Where stood the UN when the world would bend?
Where are the commissioners now, who swore
To guard the weak and close the famine's door?

They honor heroes once condemned as threats,
And rewrite history so the guilt forgets.
Two faces: one applauding freedom's flame,
The other naming profit as the aim.
What standing ovation can lions give the antelope?
What honour can a butcher offer to the cow?

Africa listens, steady in her stance,
Knowing justice is not granted; only advanced.
Still waiting for the sanctioned apology
That shadows modern Western diplomacy.

This time, the ledger must be read aloud.
This time, the debt must meet its revelation.
This time, Africa demands
Reparation. Compensation. Recognition.