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If we forgive Immanuel Kant for his racism, we may keep failing to see how that racism informed a lot of his so-called great work. For Kant, separation is so fundamental to his perspective that if you indoctrinate yourself in his works, you may lack the correct awareness to realize that separation is not fundamental to the organization of nature, but rather simply one form of order. And that there are many ways of ordering existence without breaking it down into permanently separate components.

I am currently in the process of imagining a new philosophy around the nature of existence that is most intuitive to the Baganda (I am not a philosopher, nor an academic, nor a witch doctor, nor a messiah, nor any mystical figure in your culture; I am just a writer, so read like you have your own brain. I am too lazy to think for the both of us). I think the idea of Kintu as described at the link below https://xkmato.com/feed/lib0dy6NZtZzMSczUSzr is less about this idea that the attributes of a thing are what make it a thing, and more about the function of a thing. Your awareness of your existence is what makes you Kintu. Not the shape of your body or any other attributes. This ability to notice others is simply a function called Empathy. Basically, the more empathy that comes along with this awareness function, the fewer "Others" there are, and the more Kintu there is.

And so, this idea among the Baganda that we are all descendants of Kintu is a reminder of how broadly we have to extend our Empathy. Before the superposition of the colonial language on the Buganda perspective, the Muganda believed that Kintu was the first person. Not the first Muganda. Because at that point, being a Muganda did not mean much since anyone, really, could be a Muganda. This acknowledgment that you are a descendant of Kintu is the equivalent of baptism or circumcision among the Baganda. It means that upon getting a Kiganda name, as you Kulanya (stating your name and listing your grandparents), you are simply remembering that you and every other Muganda are descendants of Kintu.

Like with any other Lubaale, the Baganda knew that Kintu went by a different name among people with different tongues. The Baganda never claimed that Kintu spoke Luganda; they just knew that whoever or whatever Kintu is, referring to him in Luganda meant using the name Kintu. Kintu is not the first Muganda, but the first man. Archaeologists also believe that the first man lived in East Africa, and if they were to pay me, I could narrow the search for them because I know exactly where Kintu's remains are. What I have learnt from the life of Dr. Besigye is that genuine faith in this country is punishable by unimaginable torture and only the Bafeere flourish. So, it is perhaps high time I too learn to Kufera people before I end up sharing the same fate as the good doctor. Anyway, to all the archaeologists out there: I am dead serious. Give me money, and I will consult the spirits and show you Kintu's remains.

Anyway, back to Kant. My point was that his perspective isn't bad, but it doesn't scale so well. And if you force all your schools to teach Kant, make all Kanty movies, and build your companies and countries like Kant's, then you need to come to my shrine and pay me to show you how you can correct your alignment with your Jajja Kintu. Or as the white washed story of Kintu has it, Walumbe is coming for you.