I take it this topic is more specifically referring to blacks in Sub-Saharan Africa, but I would just put forward that Libya (pre-2011, obviously) is the perfect example of an African state which inherited very little positive attributes from its colonial experience, emerged from it as one of the still most impoverished and backward places on the planet, and with a determined political class with a vision unrestrained from exercising the necessary political power nationwide, harnessed the country's resources to effect a level of almost unprecedented development and advances for an African nation.
Ombrageux wrote:Without colonialism, most of Africa would probably have performed like Ethiopia or Afghanistan did perform.
Ever since the famine really kicked up in Ethiopia, Westerners associate the country immediately with images of starving children with swollen bellies on their television sets, but to put things in perspective, Ethiopia in the grand scheme of things in African history actually performed pretty well. The Abyssinian Empire was the last and only state in Africa to maintain its independence until its conquest by Fascist Italy in the 30's, it beat the Italians in the First Italo-Abyssinian War and thus was not only one of the only African powers to beat a European power, but one of the only non-white peoples anywhere to effectively check European advances in the modern era until the Russo-Japanese War.
It remained fairly influential post-war and even with the fall of the monarchy and advent of the communist regime, had a formidable military machine at its disposal. It's only fairly recently that "Ethiopia" has become a byword for poverty, poor administration, and chaos.
"I am never guided by a possible assessment of my work" - President Vladimir Putin
"Nations whose nationalism is destroyed are subject to ruin." - Muammar Qaddafi