I am not
an Afro-American. I am not a politician with a cause. I am just a simple woman who reads posts to various African newsgroups and who is bewildered by the hatred of tribe for tribe and nation for nation.
A. Kazan � 2000 All rights reserved.
Art and design by Garfield Images
It would be
a great mistake to believe that people here neither know nor care about African culture or beliefs. Some of us strive to learn; to understand. By your actions you teach those in foreign lands who you are and what you stand for just as you teach your children your values.
When tribesmen take up arms to maim and murder fellow Africans you teach savagery and violence. When people of one tribe encourage distrust and dislike of any other people based on cultural or ethnic differences, you teach intolerance and fear. When people permit criminals to rule the streets and victimize those they encounter there, you teach despair and horror and injustice.
Many of us fail to comprehend why a continent as large and colorful and diverse as Africa cannot find peace in the appreciation of that diversity. Must caring be reserved only for those who speak the same dialect, share the same rites and rituals? Small men care for their own; great men for the world which they inhabit.
Those of us living elsewhere look to you for our lessons on Africa. What will you teach us today?
It would be
a great mistake to believe that people here neither know nor care about African culture or beliefs. Some of us strive to learn; to understand. By your actions you teach those in foreign lands who you are and what you stand for just as you teach your children your values.When tribesmen take up arms to maim and murder fellow Africans you teach savagery and violence. When people of one tribe encourage distrust and dislike of any other people based on cultural or ethnic differences, you teach intolerance and fear. When people permit criminals to rule the streets and victimize those they encounter there, you teach despair and horror and injustice.
Many of us fail to comprehend why a continent as large and colorful and diverse as Africa cannot find peace in the appreciation of that diversity. Must caring be reserved only for those who speak the same dialect, share the same rites and rituals? Small men care for their own; great men for the world which they inhabit.
Those of us living elsewhere look to you for our lessons on Africa. What will you teach us today?
