“People who
think with their epidermis or their genitalia or their clan are the problem to
begin with. One does not banish this specter by invoking it. If I would not
vote against someone on the grounds of 'race' or 'gender' alone, then by the
exact same token I would not cast a vote in his or her favor for the identical
reason. Yet see how this obvious question makes fairly intelligent people say
the most alarmingly stupid things.”
Tribalism is a curse in this
nation; caused neighbours to turn on each other, caused friends to hold knives
at each other’s throats, even infants to be orphans. Politics is only for those
who can play smart, even so, voters must learn to be smarter, because they are
the ones to suffer the power they have bestowed on these people.
Stereotypes exist in all nations.
Some can be great; like the black man and his penis, though most are normally
negative. The way to have fun with these is only through education. Ignorance
is very dangerous.
Most of us are living witnesses to the carnage that went on
in Rwanda, Liberia, Seira-Leone and Somalia. These countries all fell into the
abyss due to tribalism and ethincism. I believe that Kenya, having witnessed
just a little of this carnage – after the 2007 general elections- is highly
enlightened not to descend that low, though history is not on our side, and may
show that things that happened in other countries can also repeat here.
“What
is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no,
it's curved like a road through mountains.”— Tennessee
Williams. According to this saying, it is quite unpredictable to know for sure
what another human has planned. We may have peace campaigns and all that, but
if the people in power (who normally have control of the armed forces) decide
they wish to stay in power ‘by any means necessary’, the citizens are in
trouble.
Kenyan politicians normally seek support from their ethnic or sub-ethnic
groups, and citizens perceived most political battles to be about dividing the
"national cake" among the constituent ethnic groups. Ruling and
opposition parties represent primarily all, some, or coalitions of ethnic groups.
Quite saddening is the fact that ethnically marked
electoral violence, largely instigated by the ruling regime,
has come to be expected, though not accepted, as part of the campaign season. Leaders are far more prone to make
appeals to the state for resources in openly ethnic terms than they dared to
run during the one-party era.
Quoting
a line from one of Eric Wainaina’s song “… and they just watch from high
windows,” is very true and quite saddening. What many Kenyans do not realize is
that the people they claim to be fighting for or ‘protecting their honor’,
actually, do not know them personally or come to their defense should they go
against the law ‘protecting them’. What happens is more often than not; down in
the streets your sons and daughter will be slaughtering each other, yet the ones
they are fight for are in a hotel somewhere sharing a beer as they watch a
match. John Steinbeck believed, “And the little screaming fact
that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit
the repressed.” This is very sad, being very true
Kenyans were killing each other
in the name of their ethnic groups- for their leaders; the same leaders that
were sharing space and coming together. A report from the government- after the
tension rose to unimaginable heights- claimed that “we had it cheap”. The
estimated deaths after the ‘crowning’ of Kibaki were 5,000 and by February,
only 1,600 had been declared dead due to the clashes. Stop and think
critically. How cheap is cheap? What about the infant orphan? What about the
one who lost his company? What about the amputee? Whatever happened to “the
greater good”? Because clearly this swearing in was for the lesser good.
It is
in appreciating what other cultures have to offer can we understand them. As Harper
Lee said, “You never really understand
a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb
inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
Ignorance again, is the root of evil. We have to utilize our differences, not
use them to condemn each other. Slavery arose due to ignorance, claims that the
‘Black’ mind could not learn, that ‘Blacks’ are closer to monkeys and apes than
to humans (‘whites’) and that they work best when they are under the command of
an evolved man (the ‘white man’). “Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership
of that freed self was another.” Claimed Toni Morrison
What many fail to
realize is that we are enslaving ourselves by confining ourselves to what is
comfortable. We may be free from the ‘white man’ rule, but we are very far from
being free. Many still claim that we’d be better if the ‘white’ man was still
around. Sticking to the people who are like us, adhere to the same beliefs and
even ascribe to the same ethnic background is redundant and unproductive. We remain
stagnant and do not develop (evolve) further in out ways of thinking or doing
things. This goes back to the story of the two frogs:
There are two pots of water. One has hot
boiling water, while the other is cold and low heat under it. The first frog is
put into the boiling water-instantly, it jumps out. The second, being in the
cold water, gets comfortable and relaxes. The water eventually boils and kills
the frog within it. Moral of this story is that when we get too comfortable
with what we have, we ‘die’ due to lack of motivation or knowing any better.
Too much comfort is the death of a society. Challenging the ‘norm’ and bringing
in new ideas and modes of doing things is the only way to keep alive and
stimulated.
Only by diversifying,
can we enhance our lives. We do not necessarily have to forget where we come
from; we just have to add to what we already have.
The only real cure for this
ethnic animosity is to educate people and encourage intermarriages. By marrying
from another ethnic group, can one claim to be a part of both. Having two does
not make you impure, on the contrary, it makes you richer than the one who
ascribes to just one. Coming from a very mixed background, I can confidently
say I am Kenyan. My paternal grandparents are Ugandan and Luo, my maternal Kikuyu
and Kalenjin. I know the rites and rituals and histories of all of them, I
speak their languages. This makes me richer, makes me more Kenyan!!
