Why We Must Acknowledge Liberia as a Colonial Project

Image: Circa 1962-1971. Courtesy of the William V.S. Tubman Photograph Collection (Indiana University Libraries)

Tomorrow is Liberia's Independence Day, and as with every independence day, Liberians will seize the opportunity to proudly proclaim our status as one of the only two African countries never to have been colonized. We wear this distinction of being Africa's oldest republic as a badge of honor, a sort of  "na na na boo boo" to other African countries. I can understand why many Liberians find this pride in our history, particularly when our nation often goes unnoticed by the West compared to our more well known neighbors, Ghana and Sierra Leone. However, I urge us all to pause and examine whose narrative we are perpetuating when we claim Liberia has never been colonized. Who benefits from this? 

To deny Liberia's position as a colonial project of the United States is an act of violence. It fragments and scatters our history, burdening the country's current state solely onto its people, while conveniently allowing the U.S. to maintain a moral facade as a nation that never engaged in the sort of colonialism that Britain did. But if we understand colonialism not as a mere “thinking machine,” but as Frantz Fanon defined it -  “violence in its natural state”-  one that persists through military interventions, then Liberia undeniably falls within the category of  colonized nation. 

“Liberia's history should be understood as that of a colony, the first U.S. overseas colony.” - Djibo Sobukwe

For Liberia to strive towards any sort of a thriving future, we must not do the work of carrying America’s narratives to a new generation of Liberians. We must instead use our energy to properly grapple with what it means to be a colonial project. There is no honor in echoing U.S. propaganda as a boast or dunk. Equally, there is no shame in acknowledging ourselves as colonial subjects; the material conditions of our country bear the marks of this history. Recognizing Liberia as a colonized nation does not erase the people who existed before the 1800s; rather it allows for the fullness of our history to be told. To tell this history, in all parts, is to honor the people and the land that make up Liberia. Through this, we understand our struggle not in isolation but as a part of a larger struggle for decolonization. 

For more background on Liberia’s history read: Liberia and the Challenges of U.S. Imperialism