Trump and Boakai: when ‘good English’ becomes a matter of diplomatic indignity, by Folorunso Adisa

Donald Trump, ever the high priest of unrehearsed bravado, recently offered what he perhaps thought a compliment: that President Joseph Boakai of Liberia “speaks such good English.” It was said casually, the way one might remark on a parrot’s uncanny mimicry, but it reeked of a far more insidious sentiment.

To the uninformed ear, it may have passed as harmless praise. But for those of us who carry both memory and meaning in our tongues, it was a metaphor of colonial condescension. Liberia is not just another African country that “happens” to speak English. It was born, quite literally, in the image of the United States, carved out by freed African-Americans who sought a nation of their own. English is not an adopted guest at the Liberian table. It is the language of its very foundation, its laws, its learning, its leadership.

Therefore to marvel that a Liberian president speaks “good English” is to be surprised that a fish swims or that rain falls from the sky. It is to strip history from identity, and intelligence from Blackness, again. It is not about Joseph Boakai. It is about the age-old Western reflex to meet African competence with patronising astonishment.

This is what scholars name benevolent prejudice: when the hand that pats you on the back is also the one that subtly places you below. The sort that praises your performance while questioning your natural place on the stage. The world applauds when Africans speak well, but it is an applause often tinged with disbelief, as though we are only brilliant by accident.

And still, Boakai took no offence. Gracious, composed, diplomatic, he carried the insult like a man who has walked barefoot across a field of thorns and learned not to flinch. But we, the witnesses of this moment, must not let silence define it. For language is not neutral. It has memory. And in the mouth of power, it can praise and belittle in the same breath.

Consequently, the question remains: when will African excellence stop being a surprise?

May we one day live in a world where the intellect of our leaders, the fluency of our speech, and the dignity of our being are no longer measured by how closely they mirror the manners of our former colonisers, but by how boldly they reflect the brilliance of our people.