The thing that made me smile today

Barack Obama plans to nominate Hillary Clinton as US Sectretary of State.

Not sure why it made me smile, but it did.

I really do not have much to say about it yet, but I wanted to record it:-)

I will definitely say something on it when am good and ready!

Unmasking the devil

Part of living against the grain is having to put up with so much hate and prejudice. I say 'put up with' because that is essentially what it is. It is about walking down some corridor and having somebody avoid your glance. 'Avoidance'.

Avoidance, as defined by Gordon Allport, is the intensional prejudice against a member of an out-group by avoiding contact or relations with members of this group. It could be that blank smile dished out as if it be a priceless gift to fight for, or the conscious movement to the wall everytime you have to share a corridor, or perhaps just sheer inability to occupy the same space with the person, whatsoever.

But perhaps, the more obvious one is antilocution, where people feel free to speak with prejudice among like minded friends (Allport 2000). The internet has made this an extremely attractive aspect, and people think they can abuse it the way they want.

Take for instance, a recent web-war with Søren Dalsgaard,

http://scdalsgaard.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/african-obamania-mere-tribalism/#comment-1207

In this war, Dalsgaard writes for a Norwegian public, assuming of course that either his readers are clueless about Africa in general and Kenya in particular, or that they are 'like minded' in their prejudice.

hence his tragic title "Kenyan Obamania: mere tribalism!!"

For those of us who have had to suffer in silence for a while as the world moves about us as if we do not exist, this is a golden opportunity to vent. Not because we dislike Dalsgard, but because he, at this particular moment in history, represents everything we hate, and disapprove of. He represents what we feel is wrong with the world.

He moves on from using words such as 'the average african', 'frenzy' filled Kenyans, 'tribalists' and whatever else to sum up experiences that are indeed more complex than he gives credit to, as mere tribalism.

Maybe in such cases, one ought to move on, and ignore yet another attack, that criticizes one because of skin colour, but also because one comes from the poorest continent in the world. Maybe, in spite of the opportunities the internet offers us, we should continue to respect the power structures, and respect those who call the shots.

Maybe one mustn't get agitated when, on actually deciding to read the blog, one comes across a line like this,

"In Africa, however, it is about getting your own tribe in the most powerful position in the world."

Even our celebrations have to be measured, and judged. Our joys become frenzies. We become the everage africans.

"When will African politics distance itself from ethnicity and focus on politics instead?", he asks?

Perhaps his post was meant to be a reflective piece, informed by his experiences in Lamu and elsewhere, proudly and candidly displayed in a series of pictures in his blog

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nairobbery/?saved=1.

But do mere observations by someone who has been to africa as a tourist qualify as authoritative source? To the extent that he reduces our joys and celebrations to mere frenzied tribal displays? We, who have lived and gone through so much in the same countries, expected to remain muted and silenced forever in history? Is this what is expected of us?

Perhaps, yes, we are too hard on such sorts. They are but a mere speck in the larger structures of power that dictate how we are seen, percieved, understood.

Perhaps he just expressed what many are feeling. That while the 'developed' nations of the world see Obama's win as a rational move to tip the scale of world politics towards a favourable angle, the Africans specifically, see it as a way of getting a tribal king in.

Tribe. yeah, me too. It annoys the crap out of me, that word.

But to continue, it always amazes me how quickly we have to be disciplined and reminded to know our places, even today, in so-called democratized societies that are in fact so warped, only a certain skin colour can ever trully prosper. We are taught to be patient and wait for our turn, even though they know, and we know, that our turn may never come.

To digress, I had a dream last night, and our tribal king had gone to some African town, and people were booing him. He was not recognized there, because he had failed to recognize them. Tit-tat. The tribal King was pleading because at the end of the day, he was of there, but no one wanted to listen.

I woke up.

But there is a moral. The tribal king and all, may not be as closely linked to our lives as others want to see it. He does not change the fact that I still have to get up every morning to get to my destination point and get some work done. Neither does he change the fact that I am now buying cooking oil for such a disgustingly ridiculous amount (did I hear Amen?)

But the fact that he is there, reminds me that in spite of having to wait my turn, I will finally get there. I will break those boundaries that right now seem so strong and inflexible. I will in my own right, be able to throw a tuntrum without someone calling me irrational and emotional. I will be able to celebrate without being called insane. I will be able to look at a wandering tourist in the eye and know that he is just trying to as hard as me.

Yes we can.

To belittle what has been achieved just so as to feel better is a cheap way of trying to feel relevant in the world. Just work hard, stop trying to damn hard to close off opportunities for others. Just do your thing. Move on. It is in deed a very short life!

It is sad, that even as I write this, somebody's butt is being kicked metaphorically or otherwise for no other reason but...

In a world that is so free, its amazing how jailed we are, how much negotiating we have to do just to get a breath of fresh air every damn day.

It's amazing that I have to put up with people who pretend it ain't a big deal that I have to work extra hard to prove myself at work, or school, and that it aint a big deal that I can spell, and count and use the internet, and go to college, that it aint a big deal that I can be the best of what I can be...no it's just another day, so moving on.

But that's just it. It aint a big deal...to them. It is a big deal to me.

If there was a way to speak, i could. I would let it all out, and have it known. But so far, it lands on deaf ears, so i fight on, and on.

Of Race and Gender in the White House

I have been holding back on saying anything about the Oba-mania especially in Africa. But also, generally on what it means for the black race, in America especially, and in the rest of the world, for two reasons. First, I think at such moments, everyone has something to say, and so what I say or not say will probably have very little impact. Secondly, I have been looking for the counter-story, the excesses of what Obama's victory means.

Well, I have decided to break my fast. I think if I do not say something now, the time will never come. Anyway, my curiosity begins with the fact that Obama is obviously a black man. Today, I heard on CNN that the Italian Prime Minister, Berlusconi (sorry got this wrong the first time) in his congratulatory speech to Obama, said that he welcomed Obama, who he thinks is a good looking young man, with an even skin tone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, one can throw a chair and jump up in the air in anger, but truth be told, Berlusconi said what a lot of people think is politically incorrect to say, and are therefore keeping mum about.Is his reduction of Obama to a cute guy with a light skin tone just that, or is there more to this statement?

bell hooks writes about racism in an interesting way, that it is not only between races, but also intra-racial. She draws attention to the way in which even among black people who have been cultured to think of themselves as better or worse than the next black person because of the colour of their skin or as mentioned above, skin tone, there is racism.

In reading Berlusconi's comment about Obama, it is clear that the 'even skin tone' refers generally to the fact that at least Obama's colour is closer to the white skin than most black people. But I digress.

I have been interested in the way race is playing itself out presently, and even more interesting, how gender is rudely cast aside, and blamed for the failure of the republican Party. By gender of course I mean Palin. I will return to this presently. In part of my research into the question 'is America ready for a black president' I have uncovered some pretty uncomfortable truths. For the extremists, the answer is more obvious. It is the subtle ones that are a bit uncomfortable. For instance, in a blog about whether Obama had been elected because he was black or inspite of it, one person, arguing that race had nothing to do with it, continues to say something seemingly unrelated to the Obama race question,

"No, there arent any indigenous Australians capable of running for PM.
None have the experience or the desire to do anything but scrounge up more welfare payments for fellow aborigines."

I know, this is about Australians and aborigins, but why does it make its way into the Obama discussion? What is being threatened that other white governments and societies that have their share of native non-whites (not as is the case with polilical refugees, illegal and legal immigrants etc who have no claim to the land)feel they have to come up with a new narrative to comfort themselves that their relevance is dwindling or threatened? What is it about native American Indians that makes another person say they are less likely to ever get into the white house? Wasn't the war against Apartheid a sure sign that race can be pushed aside in search for humanity and freedom?

Ok. Next issue: Why is race a bigger issue than gender in these elections? bell hooks has mentioned previously in her analysis of the OJ simpson craze that the case had been reduced to a race thing, and no one was paying attention to the fact that a woman, albeit white, had been abused and then murdered. Okay, little comparison here but why is it not a factor that history would have been made if we had had a female president (Hillary) or a female Vice President (Palin)? Why is it easy for America and the world to accept these defeats that to accept race? Big question, but in all this I am also following the media's reports about Palin, who is now being shooed away in disgrace, when we all know she had been of mateiral importance for McCain when he needed a woman to be his running mate so he could beat Obama.

I feel let down by this. i feel that we had our moment, and now, because of Palinisque effect, it is gone. we of course here, means women. Now all the men in power will always have an excuse to not get a woman, because all she will think about will be buying new clothes (ala Palin's mad shopping spree of $150 000 in the middle of an economic crisis) or be a pretty face with nothing much to say. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I believe the fall of Palin has more significance than anyone is acknowledging! It will hurt a lot of female aspirants, it will be held as an example to justify why women ain't no good in positions of power.

Palin will continue to be in the media for all the wrong reasons, while Hilary Clinton, will as we have seen already, be tucked into the books of history, as one of the rare cases of women trying for the white house. Maybe there are more examples, I do not know, but so far, that is my take on it all.

But when all is said and done, I think Obama's win has symbolic significance for all of us black people, especially some of us who continue to face racism in our day to day dealings. The world is changing and with it our ideas, and opinions. Let us all keep hoping that it will get better. And let's all pray for Obama. I hope he continues to inspire all of us for many years to come.