The fallacy of equality
By: Mayowa Depo-Oyedokun
Tags: Life, Inequality

To think man was ever equal or would someday ever be is another deceit we open ourselves to.

Homegoing, a book by Yaa Gyasi is one of those books that can make you feel anger and toy with unforgiveness on behalf of a people whose experience you did not share. It didn't matter that it was a fictional book, it was still able to evoke so much emotion in me. Reading about the treatment of Ghanians centuries ago and the early experiences of black people in America made me think of inequality and the undeniable place it has created for itself. At least, I think it's undeniable but you might not agree with me.

When the question of inequality is raised, a popular Yoruba adage says look at your fingers, even those are not equal. But I don't need to look at my fingers. I only need to look around me, at whatever society I find myself. I need to pay attention to the people who get to tell their stories, albeit some being false while the stories of many others are silenced. I need to look at the people at the reign of affairs in my country whose actions have the most impact on those not given a voice. I need to look at how in my country, we orally subscribe to the notion of Democracy being by the people and for the people, a notion that has equality as it's undertone but is yet another expression daily emptied of its meaning through the actions of our leaders. I only need to appreciate the daily struggles of our legal system, a system supposedly built on fairness and equity in achieving this. Even justice has been subjectivised to give room for inequality.

All men are intended free and perhaps equal by the creator but all men are also born into a world that already has lines of division in place. There are systems in place that perpetuates inequality and the inclusion of a few in the favourable spectrum of the system requires the exclusion of many others. For example, if the elite class accommodates all and sundry, it loses its taste and uniqueness as an elite class; The exclusion of many from this class is what gives the class it's meaning, it's what makes it stand. If we say there is equity and equality, then we run the risk of denying that there is a bourgeoisie class and a working class. The blacks being subjected to racism and being targeted for violence by a country such as the United States whereas the whites whose skin is wrongly judged as superior and more acceptable walk free. And even amongst the white, some are sidelined for not fitting into a particular model. The same can be said amongst the black. So perhaps a thing they both have in common is the place they have created for inequality.

Should I get started on gender? How women are more marginalized than men. There is an apparent gender equality but reality wages war against its authenticity. There are no equal life chances neither is there equal treatment of the populace's needs. Even meritocracy that is a supposed agent of equality also suffers from the bane of inequality as the people being judged based on their qualifications, skills and abilities were exposed to different life experiences whose effect can't be overlooked. Inequality is not silent. It's not obscure. It cannot be ignored. It is not country specific. It's woven in the fabric of every society regardless of how advanced it is. The degree just varies. Inequality is another universal human experience whose death is kept at bay by an intergenerational transmission.

The equality we face comes at the point when life returns back to dust.

Death is the universal leveler although even how we come to this is plagued by inequality. If I should say suffering which I consider as one of the universal human experiences is, that's me being ignorant of the fact that suffering is as subjective a term as we try to force it's objectivity. Not all men suffer the same. Even in suffering, inequality shines.

Should inequality be stopped? A ready answer is yes but if we are being pragmatic and realistic, we know saying it can be stopped is being an optimist that has chosen to ignore inequality as the foundation on which the world stands. It is a permanent fact of society. And for those that say equality is the norm, you know you say it through gritted teeth and force your mind to accept it as a fact.