In our lectures concerning the colonization of the African continent, we briefly discussed a topic that I believe still cripples it to this day. When Europe decided to colonize, they needed to find a sort of justification for seizing power. In many, if not most cases this justification hinged on the so-called “white man’s burden”. The concept that white men in their “biological superiority” had not only the right but the obligation to bring civilization to the inferior men of Africa. This sense of superiority was likely developed over centuries of African enslavement. In any event, this idea that was perpetuated by colonial governments still lies under the surface of global politics today. Pierre writes “Indeed without its ‘colonial conditions of possibility,’ the epistemological and political project that is Africa ‘would hardly exist in its current form.'”(pg 23). The view of Africa and of Africans that was established in the colonial era have made it exceedingly difficult for African nations to act on the world stage due to the truckload of misinformation in current media representation of the continent. In at least my personal experience the media has portrayed Africa as a place of abject poverty and mass starvation. Media is fond of covering the wars and the spread of diseases. This crime would be fewer egregious were they to provide the accurate context of how these nations came to be in these situations . for that matter the representation of Africa in the teaching of history also appears to be wholly inadequate in dispelling the inherent racism that still remains from the old colonial rulers. Pierre also points out that this effect is exaggerated by the “denial of agency of so-called Africans to define themselves.” ( pg 23) Africans must be given that opportunity, but until then the context of history must be shared both by history classes and the media.