I have a visceral response to the word ‘savage’. I have seen it used by whites to describe blacks and their behavior, as if whites have never committed anything of the sort that could ever measure up. What we know is that there are no new atrocities invented by trailing societies. The leading edge of inhumanity has always come from those with technology, be it guns, germs, or steel, to borrow a phrase.So when someone uses the term I immediately go into laser-lock mode, but not today. Tanzanians and Kenyans are hunting, killing and dismembering their own people, whose only prior misfortune was to be born an albino. Life is already difficult to be missing protective melanin in the most sun-baked place on the globe, but now they must worry about their countrymen killing them for the ‘magical powers’ of their body parts. So I will say it – savages. Not black savages, not African savages, just plain savages.
All are vulnerable, especially albino children. Savages (I will not call them men) come in the night with sharp blades to harvest these poor souls, so that witch doctors can make potions that will bring alleged good fortune to their clients. Unbelievable! Believe it! If only humanity could be ashamed of itself to a proper level, but evolution does not work this way.
Whether our ancestors, black or white, killed for these savage reasons 500 years ago, or 5 days ago, the issue is not who is capable of such atrocities, but rather what we can do to stop it, immediately!
James C. Collier
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Most people haven't been to Africa, the only time they get to hear about Africa is when there's civil war, Xenophobic attacks, famines etc. If people don't hear positive things from News networks, they won't help but feel that Africans are "Savages". I'm a black african and I used to get angry when that word was used to describe me. But now I know that it is used because people don't know anything about my continent.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, hacking up innocents to make potions SHOULD go to the front of the news line. I hope that the desensitized focus of your comment does not mean you find this particular behavior unmoving.
ReplyDeletewhat a strange story...
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine E-mail me this story a few days ago. I was appalled! It threw me for a loop completely!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with "Aquilogy." People, especially here in America, see stuff on TV and take it for 100% fact. Many people failed to realize that most television stations are biased and give a biased view of everything.
We seem to be talking apples and oranges here. TV news coverage sucks when it comes to African issues. Hacking up albino children for any reason is backward thinking, savagery. Period.
ReplyDeleteI heard about this on another blog!
ReplyDeleteJames C. Collier said :
ReplyDeleteWhether our ancestors, black or white, killed for these savage reasons 500 years ago, or 5 days ago, the issue is not who is capable of such atrocities, but rather what we can do to stop it, immediately!
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ogunsiron :
Interesting comment. Some people think that commenters like me are harping on black people or think that only black people have ever been capable of such disgusting, grossly substandard behaviour. That's not the case. If one's well read, one knows that this revolting stuff( chopping people up for magic or even food) was quite widespread all around the world at some point.
The problem is that some africans are acting like this TODAY. I'm not one to respect backward cultures and i say that these cultural manifestations have to be thrown in the trash. They have to be totally disrespected and stamped out. No understanding, no tolerating, no relativizing for these garbage beliefs .
I grew up in an african country myself ( but im ethnically a carribbean black ) and I knew as a child that i had to be careful. How widespread was the practice is hard to know, but human sacrifice and body parts harvesting was a shameful background reality that we had to live with.
You need to start distinguishing between wrongs, to measure them and weigh them. The average black child faces many more dangers in some parts of africa than from present day american white racists. Sorry but that's just the truth
ReplyDelete^^^^get you facts straight, Africa has 53 countries and only three are facing political turmoil the fact that 50 countries are relatively stable and the world still Africa is all about Civil wars means that the only stories that make headlines are the ones that paint my continent in a bad light, that is wrong.
Ok let's start from the north and move south.
ReplyDeleteSudan : so called "arab" brainwashed black people eterminating other blacks in darfur.
Erythrea : At war with ethiopia if not now , at least not too long ago
Ethiopia : at war with erythrea recently if not now. Hunger, poverty widespread, etc
Somalia : anarchic hell hole
Kenya : almost had a civil war a few months ago.
Tanzania : poor, destitute and a hellhole of barbarism. It's not only the albino body parts thing, its also the human skin trafficking a couple of years ago. And let;s not forget dozens of old women burned as "witches". Tanzania sucks big time.
Uganda : some talented people but civil war/rebellions and out of control demography.
Rwanda : genocide 15 years ago.
but doing better .
Burundi : massacres, gruesome killings by hutu rebels
DRC : where do we start ? 2 or 3 rebel armies, mayi mayi militiamen , cannibals, mass rapists, lendu vs hema . The whole north-east region is hell on earth and millions have died in the last 15 years .
Congo-Brazzaville : Dictatorship threatening to erup into ethnic war between the southerners and northerners at any time.
Gabon : doing relatively well, thank God but when Bongo dies it may erupt.
Equatorial guinea : Before the oil it was a savage, barbaric backwater. it probably still is and i'm almost sure the population will see NOTHING of the oil money.
Angola : doing better but they're starting from zero. The country was devastated by 30 years of civil
war.
Zambia : doing alright but quite poor
Zimbabwe : famine and dictatorship.
Malawi : had some recent successes in agriculture but overall a pretty shitty country
Mozambique : seems calm but horribly poor .
Swaziland : shitty kingdom rules by a buffoon of a king whose mind is entirely devoted to more wives and big cars
Lesotho : poor and destitute.
South africa : land of violence and the disgusting practices of human sacrifice and body parts hunting. A disgusting place
Namibia : seems relatively OK.
Botswana : quite alright except for the AIDS
Cameroon : hopelessly corrupt and poor even though the country is filled with capable people.
Nigeria : could be a great country : Filled with capable peope but hopelessly corrupt and mismanaged . The muslim north is a a cancer that should be extirpated .
Niger : piece of shit country , hopelessly poor where every woman has 8 or more kids because..she doesnt care i guess
Mali : great history but not much to say about that coutry right now. very poor, hopelessly polygamous. Good thing they don't seem to be too fond of that human sacrifice shit
Central African Republic : the less is said of that godforsaken joke of a hopelessly lame and decrepit country the better. A bad joke
Chad : Poor , racially/ethnically divided as hell. They have oil but it will do no good.
Senegal : relatively good
Guinea-Bissau : a joke, a bad joke
Liberia : cannibal, witchcraft and civil war hell. Horrible place
Sierra Leone : see liberia
Ivory Coast : hopefully they can go back to being a relatively Ok country but right now they're not doing good ( recent civil war and the country is partitioned i think )
Ghana : a bright light. I hope they get better and better
benin/togo : there ar smart people there. I don't know why they're so desperately poor.
Anyways, i think i listed most of them. While there is positive stuff happening in africa , it's not doig great overall. Not doing great at all. When we stop thinking we're doing great or even OK we can start thinking about how to do better.