And speaking of the
elephant in the room, i.e. religious extremism…
Murdering in the name
of sacred scriptures is always instigated by clever clerics and fanatics, so
called “spiritual leaders.” According to press reports the recent four years
attacks, were inspired by teachings of an American born Imam called Anwar
Al-Awlaki, taken down by a CIA drone in Yemen two years ago. Awlaki, influenced many youths by capitalizing
on the good will (free service) of the internet. No wonder governments are calling on Google
and Yahoo to shut down “sick websites” which can easily be seen on You Tube and
the like.
Of most significant
things this “intelligent” fanatic did (apart from encouraging home made bombs)
was launching – Inspire- an Al Qaeda magazine. The E-journal motivated would-
be- assassins to launch attacks anywhere and “just do something” …which has
seen major incidents like the Boston Marathon bomb attacks in April and the Woolwich
ferocious stabbing.
And what is the
outcome?
Whenever a terrifying
terrorist attack occurs, suspicion and a mood of distrust and fear of immigrants
are heightened.
I had this feeling when I ventured into the
Woolwich area a day after the two young men of Nigerian origin murdered Drummer
Lee Rigby, twenty five year old father who had served in Afghanistan. While in
the train I felt white people watching me more closely and cautiously than
normal. This sense of heightened
distrust was high after 2001 and 2005- following New York and London bombings,
respectively. These days you detect it when bordering any plane across the
world. Being in London where many races live side by side it is however, not
common to feel uneasy. The amazing city has more tolerance than most. But let us talk of something else.
First the important
thing: the psyche.
Image of Michael Adebolajo, his bloody hands holding
two equally bloodied knives and talking fanatically to the camera was a front
page item in majority newspapers. Another image of a white mother (applauded as
a hero) facing Adebolajo’s blade wielding associate, has turned iconic. The woman and two other white mothers,
fearlessly confronting Adebolajo were dubbed: “Angels of Woolwich.”
By calling the women,
“angels”, it has a significant subliminal message.
These images of young
black males having killed in broad daylight and justifying their actions because
they were aware of ordinary citizens filming have a negative impact on the
psyche of black people. For obvious reasons I have mentioned earlier, suspicious
of non whites is boosted and enhanced; secondly, stereotypes of what young
blacks are about these days continue to flourish like locusts in a Madagascar
field.
Think of aggressive rap
and gangster lyrics by some hip hop artists, think of black males continuously portrayed as irresponsible fathers; think of
the growing line of Africa’s terror groups, Boko Haram, Al Shabab, Ansar
Din…think. Think! But do you need to think that hard?
“Now we are being
grouped alongside Arabs. This misuse of Islam is condemning us to the same
fate,” is one comment I heard.
“Economics are bad. No
job no money, and then these guys come with this?” Another comment.
Link those few
opinions to recent racist attacks on immigrants in Greece and Sweden; to the
capture of foreign whites in certain parts of Africa.
The picture that is
emerging is the same historical line. Blacks are trouble, blacks are doom; blacks
are trouble.
One Caribbean musician said of the Woolwich
killers:
“If you listen to
these young guys, Mmmh… they are a lost case. They are talking a language that
is not from the Caribbean or Africa. They have no roots. They were born in the UK;
they have not being raised to embrace their culture. They worship stupid
beliefs that say go and kill someone and then justify it. That is not someone
who comes from a sane, sensible culture. These are uprooted individuals. And
most of kids born out of Africa are like that these days. They are lacking
direction.”
Lacking direction
because of what?
Many years ago, the
late Nigerian musician Fela Kuti said in an interview on a European TV which
can be seen on You Tube:
“In Africa we have our own modes of worship.
When the African does not want to understand the reason why he was born, then
he becomes a failure. So all the African leaders look up to Europe for
progress. You see Africa has not being to contribute its knowledge to the
world. But we have knowledge in Africa!”
Also published in Citizen Tanzania
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