Our Sister Killjoy

Content Warning: This section includes discussions of anti-Black racism.

The section starts with a brief anecdote in which a Black American college student asks a visiting professor from Africa whether the people who built the Egyptian pyramids were African. The professor replies that to give a satisfying answer, he would have to talk “every day, twenty-four hours a day, for at least three thousand years” (111).

Sissie writes a long love letter to an unnamed man she met while studying abroad. The two of them sometimes disagreed about colonialism, the current state of African independence, and European culture. The man wanted Sissie to accept that the world is changing instead of remaining stuck in the past. Sissie found it difficult to let go of her country’s colonial past without having much idea of what the future might hold. Sometimes, in their debates, Sissie would feel ashamed, though she never thought her perspective was incorrect. The man wanted her to see the best in everyone, but Sissie found that very difficult because she recognized the intense legacy of violence against Africans. She points out the contradictory racist rhetoric that positions Black people as both stronger and weaker than white people, depending on what best serves a given white supremacist argument. 

Sissie longs for more common ground with her lover, though he has a different background from her. She briefly addresses him in Swahili (which is not commonly spoken in Ghana) and appeals to pan-African sensibilities. Although she acknowledges many of the current problems in newly independent African countries, she hopes that solidarity and collective effort can help Africa rebuild without having to do so on European terms.

Sissie could have stayed with this man, but instead of trying to keep the relationship going, she chose to go home to Ghana. She wonders if she made the right choice, but she knows she would never have been able to defer to her lover’s opinions at the expense of her own just for the sake of peace and love. Sissie contemplates the different gender roles laid out for African and European women. Eventually, the relationship between Sissie and the man broke down, leaving her feeling very lonely. 

During her time in Europe, Sissie missed home terribly and struggled to understand why any African would want to stay there. She felt a great pressure to put aside her identity and assimilate to European standards, but she resisted. She recalls the day she first met her lover at a student union meeting. There, she asked several African men why they would not return home. One said he would only impress those at home once he had a PhD. Another, a banker, said he would not go back, because he would make a far lower salary than he could earn in Europe. Some men wanted to continue making money in Europe so that they could provide for their mothers. One man argued that because he came from a matrilineal family, he had too many relatives to care for and could not afford to return. 

The only man who said nothing was the one who would become Sissie’s lover. An older man said he did not return because he invested all his resources into caring for the African diaspora community in his neighborhood. As Sissie got increasingly angry, more men told her about their important work as doctors and their unwillingness to deal with workplace corruption in Africa. One man felt that it was his duty to be an exceptional doctor so that he could prove to white Europeans that Black people have value. Sissie admits that life in Africa does involve poverty and corruption, but she still pleads with the men to return home. After the meeting, Sissie and the subject of her letter speak for the first time; the man asks Sissie’s real name.

Sissie finishes her letter, which she has written on the flight home to Africa. She considers sending it, but chooses not to. The plane flies over the northern coast of Africa. As she looks down at her home continent, Sissie’s worries start to fade away. She is no longer concerned with her former lover and is “going to let things lie where they [have] fallen” (133). She is happy to be going home, even though she recognizes all of the challenges that Africa is still facing.