Here are a few things you can look forward to reading about when I have a spare moment to breathe:
- Review of Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger…. along with my total “Books Read” count since Mid July of this year and what I’m reading now.
- A really fascinating story about someone’s experiences working with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (this is really excellent stuff)
- An update on Sajuka (and hopefully a preview of the website I’m designing for the project)
So, every day I log on to WordPress, view my dashboard, see that I am still getting a steady stream of hits regardless of the fact that I haven’t posted in over a month now, and resolve to post later in the day. It doesn’t happen.
The trouble is, there’s so much new and so much the same in my life right now that I don’t even know where to begin. I’ve had a few really bad days where I’ve written up an entire post and then decided not to post it because I’d almost certainly regret it the next day. I’ve had some really good days where I haven’t been able to convince myself to sit down and write about those, either.
So that leaves me in the in-between of not posting at all. I have made some changes to the website formerly known as Kelly MacIntyre Photography//Videography//Design. It is now Kelly MacIntyre Creative. I’ve been getting more business lately and decided it was time to simplify the name and the logo. So please feel free to check that out by clicking [HERE].
I’ve also been doing a butt load of work for the Sajuka project. I set up a Flickr account and posted pictures of all the crafts that we currently have for sale, and we’ve been getting a good number of sales through that. We’re going to Washington D.C. in a few weeks to the Summit for Global Citizenship Diplomacy, where we are being recognized as one of the top 10 projects in the country for promoting Global Citizenship Diplomacy. I’m looking forward to that.
I’ve still been making my vegan dinners every Tuesday night, and it has evolved into a Vegan Dinner/ Game night. We’ve been experimenting with all sorts of different games, which has been fun. We’ve played Pitch (also known as set-back), Risk, Farkel, Trivial Pursuit, Apples to Apples, etc.
Tonight, we’re playing Cranium. A friend just lent it to me and I’m excited to play with everyone.
I created a really great recipe for Apple Pie during my Tuesday experiments, and I’ve made about 4 or 5 pies in the past month. I brought one to work to share with everyone, and a few people told me I should compile a cook-book with all my recipes. I’d love to do that, but unfortunately, Mike’s sister JUST did that herself, and I really don’t want to be a copy-cat. Besides, I’m sure I can think of some other creative way of sharing my recipes some day.
Hmmm… there’s tons more to tell, like how I finally finished reading “Her Fearful Symmetry,” but I have to go to class now… so it will be saved for another time.
I held off posting this poem until after the documentary premiere, where it was read out loud for the first time. It will be presented again when our team goes to Washington D.C. for the Summit on Global Citizen Diplomacy, at which our project is recognized as one of the top 10 in the Nation. I got an overwhelmingly positive response to this poem last night. Figured I’d share it with you all now.
Smiles and good will filled the air
These people didn’t seem to care
That I looked so different; no, they knew
That what I came there to do
Was help them realize their dreams
Not everything is what it seems
Beyond the stray animals and littered streets
Beyond electricity-free buildings and shoeless feet
Lay the kindness and generosity of beautiful human beings
And after taking it all in, I knew I was seeing
People who were not unlike my self
We all place education and respect above all else
We know that for our goals to be achieved
We have to work together, despite what others may believe
So I filmed the children going to the Sajuka School
And I hope to use it as a tool
To educate those who don’t have the opportunity
To see what life’s like in a third-world community
To witness children going to school during the day
And working the market in the evening for minimal pay
So they can afford to go back to school the next week
I want the first-world to hear third-world people speak
To see their smiles despite their adversity
I want people to accept our diversity
Not shun it because they don’t understand
Because even if they don’t hold a Gambian child’s hand
I did, and I know now that there is so much more
That we could be doing to forge alliances instead of waging war
To reach out, despite the miles, despite the different languages and cultures
We need, as a whole, to stop being vultures
To stop focusing on how we are different
And see how much we are the same.
I learned to seek our similarity
I learned to work for the good of humanity
I learned to be perceptive in unfamiliar situations
To not automatically make allegations
Just because it’s a new situation I don’t know
And I sincerely hope that I can show
Everyone else all that I’ve learned
That others can share in the friendships I’ve earned
By learning to be understanding and kind
By being hospitable and trying to find
The similarities between us
I hope others, too, can learn to love the differences,
To reach out across miles and oceans, or even at home
To make a difference.
To “be the change you want to see in the world.”
Because that’s what I have done.
It is what I hope to do, always.
–K.M.
Okay. I’ll admit. It sounds bad when you hear someone say that there are plans to build a Mosque at Ground Zero. It sounds awful, actually.
They want to build a Mosque SEVERAL blocks away from Ground Zero. They want to build it at a location that was previously occupied by a mattress warehouse or something. So, let me ask you this, before I continue. Did you care about whatever used to occupy the building several blocks away from Ground Zero? Probably not. Did it affect your life at all? I doubt it. Will building a Mosque there affect your life at all? I really doubt it, except that now it’s become such a big deal we’ll no doubt be arguing about it for years to come.
Let’s get a few things straight.
1.) If you’re all SO worried about AMERICA… let’s remember that AMERICA was founded on idea of freedom of RELIGION (among other things).
2.) MUSLIMS didn’t attack us. A select few radical terrorists did. Seriously. Let’s look at all the awful crimes perpetrated by Christians. That doesn’t mean all Christians are bad, does it?
3.) Would you be this upset if they wanted to build a Catholic Church several blocks away from Ground Zero? I doubt it. You’d probably be thrilled. So why then, I ask you… do you want to deny people who follow the Islamic Faith the right to have a place to pray?
4.) I’ll bet you ten million dollars. Yeah, TEN million, that plenty of the people who were killed in the September 11th attacks (people who were in the buildings, people who WORKED in the World Trade Centers), were MUSLIM.
What do you have to say to that? Are you saying they deserved to die because some extremists who happen to share the same religion decided to attack us? To attack THEM?
And, if you ARE saying that, then you’re no one I want to be associated with. Ever. Period.
Get over yourselves. Seriously.
And just as a side note here: Where I was in Africa for two weeks, was about 95% Muslim. And none of them attacked us. None of them were mean awful terrorists. In FACT, they were the nicest people I’ve ever had the privilege to know.
SO how about let’s stop generalizing and lose the prejudices and fucking ignorance.
That is all.
The United States and the Post WWII Decolonization of West Africa:
Senegal and The Gambia
Wars are often used as a means of revolution (examples include the Revolutionary War and the Civil war in America). For West Africa, World War II served as just that, a way to revolution by ending European colonialism in Africa. At the end of the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had risen to be the two main super-powers, and both were opposed to colonialism. Because of this, the United States played a key role in the decolonization of West Africa after WWII, both in large scale ways via the government (especially pertaining to the interpretation of the Atlantic Charter), and on a smaller scale during its own civil rights movement by means of figureheads such as W.E.B. DuBois and Martin Luther King Jr..
The Gambia is a small country bordered on three sides (north, east, and south) by Senegal, another West African Country. Both countries have borders on the Atlantic Ocean. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France and England struggled for political control over the regions during the “Scramble for Africa,” a period during which European powers fought over the rule of territories in Africa. Eventually, England gained control of The Gambia, while Senegal went to the French.
The United States had a history with The Gambia long before WWII took place. During the slave trade, ships would stop at Juffureh, a village in The Gambia, and bring slaves over to North America. This is where the famous slave, Kunta Kinteh, was held. Kunta Kinteh’s story is most well known due to Alex Haley’s Roots: The Saga of an American Family, a book about Kunta Kinteh and the six generations that came after him. Remnants of the site are now a common tourist attraction in The Gambia.
The United States, being strongly opposed to colonialism, (given its history of being a colony under British rule) pushed colonial powers (mainly France and Great Britain) to “liquidate their positions” in West Africa. Pressure was particularly strong during WWII and continued when the war ended (Pedler 267).
World War II acted as a means for the stimulation of the political consciousness of Africans, giving emphasis to “more representative and liberal institutions of government,” (Hargreaves 27).
America’s entry into WWII following the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and an unclear interpretation of the Atlantic Charter, only added to the stimulation of political consciousness.
The Atlantic Charter, an agreement between the United States and Great Britain, was signed on August 14, 1941, four months before the United States entered the war. The charter sought to outline the U.S. president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill’s vision for a post WWII world. This vision can be summed up in eight points.
First, the United States and Great Britain agreed to seek no territorial gains resulting in the outcome of the war. Second, peoples affected by territorial adjustments would have their wishes taken into consideration. Third, self-determination was a right of all people. Fourth, there would be a collaborative effort to lower trade barriers. Fifth, advancement of social welfare and economic cooperation on a global scale were deemed as decidedly important. Sixth, the United States and Great Britain would make an effort to establish freedom from fear and want. Seventh, they stated the importance of freedom of the seas. And finally, eighth, they would work toward post-war disarmament of aggressor nations.
It is, in particular, the third and sixth parts of the Atlantic Charter that had a significant impact on West African decolonization. The second part of the charter also had a significant impact on the United States’ role in the decolonization (which will be discussed later).
Part three states that self-determination is a right of all people. Self-determination is the freedom of the people of a territory or national group to decide their political status and governing ways without the influence of other countries. Because Africa was largely colonized by European countries, it seemed to be in direct violation of the Atlantic Charter.
Part six of the Charter states that they would establish freedom from fear and want. It would then seem logical to incorporate this into Africa’s struggle for independence because the colonies “want” to be free of colonial rule.
Later, Winston Churchill stated that he did not intend to include the British Colonies of Africa in the Charter (especially in regards to self-determination.) United States President Roosevelt, however, was adamant that the post-war goals drawn up in the charter should include the colonies (Meredith 35).
Being president of a country that was once a colony under British rule, a nation “bred in the tradition of anti-imperialism,” Roosevelt believed in any venture to end colonial exploitation and to dismember the world’s empires. Roosevelt’s feelings were only intensified when he stopped in The Gambia briefly in 1943 on his way to the Casablanca Conference. There, he witnessed the disease, poverty, and poor living conditions there. “He wrote to Churchill describing the place as a ‘hell-hole,’” (Meredith 35). Roosevelt is quoted as saying to his son, Elliot, “…and I looked it up, with a little study, and I got to the point of view that for every dollar that the British, who have been there for two hundred years, have put into Gambia, they have taken out ten. It’s just plain exploitation of those people…. they’re given a half-cup of rice. Dirt. Disease. Very high mortality rate…. Life expectancy – you’d never guess what it is. Twenty-six years. These people are treated worse than livestock. Their cattle live longer!”
In addition, Roosevelt was displeased with the barriers of trade the French and British maintained around the colonies. Such barriers prevented outsiders, the United States included, from having access to the raw materials of the colonies. Such barriers seemed to be another direct violation of the Atlantic Charter (part two). For this reason, the decolonization of West Africa was of particular importance to the United States (Meredith 36).
Because America took such a strong stand in the defense of decolonizing West Africa, colonial rulers were forced to take a closer look at how they handled colonial affairs. It also encouraged humanitarianists and socialists to press for social reform. Largely due to America’s strong opinion on the matter, (because America was a vital ally to the British,) Oliver Stanley, British Colonial Secretary, announced in 1943 that Britain was committed to self-government as a goal, (Meredith 36-37).
In 1948, the United States enacted the Marshall Plan, a program whose goal was to rebuild and create a stronger economic foundation for the Western European countries. In 1949, president Truman added that it would “make money available to the poorest countries of the world to save them from ‘hunger, misery, and despair.’” America gave a total of 94.7 million dollars to West Africa, including 2.1 million to Senegal in 1963 (Pedler 96).
The 1950’s were a time of embracing African cultures and languages in the United States, and in 1958, the U.S. State Department began an independent Bureau of African Affairs.
In 1955, The U.S. House of Representatives stated “that the United States should administer its foreign policies and programs and exercise its influence so as to support other peoples in their efforts to achieve self-government or independence,” (Pedler 267).
British Parliament passed The Colonial Development and Welfare acts, largely as a response to America’s criticism of colonial practice. The acts signaled the commitment of Britain to the development of the empire. After the war, they tried to expand agriculture and promote technology (Duignan 284). The war had depleted West Africa’s resources considerably because their mother countries were using the resources in the war.
U.S. president John F. Kennedy viewed anti-colonialism as a weapon in the Cold War. He even went so far as to say that Africa could be an influence that would “’undermine the great communist colonial empire,’” (Duignan 288). The Cold War was a period of time after WWII ended during which the Soviet Union and the United States were in political conflict and economic competition. The U.S. feared Communism, which the Soviet Union practiced. Communism is a social system in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a dystopian state.
The United States’ foreign policy toward the decolonization of Africa, especially under president Kennedy, is often seen as a an “extension of America’s traditional support of self-determination.” It is believed that, if the United States did not vehemently express their disapproval, Europe would have dragged the decolonization out, making it last for the entire century (Metz).
It was not only the United States government that played a role in the decolonization of West Africa. The Civil Rights Movement in America also had an influence on West African People and prompted them to push for a faster decolonization process. Following WWII, many of the more educated West Africans began seeking higher education. Studying at Universities in Europe and the United States introduced the ideas of people such as W.E.B. DuBois. Such exposure provided effective training and grounds for African Nationalism (Mendonsa 378-379).
William Edward Burghart DuBois, more commonly known as W.E.B. DuBois, was a civil rights activist in the United States and a Pan-Africanist. He was the first African American graduate of Harvard University in Boston, where he earned a Ph. D in History in 1895. He became the leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
Pan-Africanism refers to various movements in Africa with the intention to unite Africans and eradicate colonialism and white supremacy. The main catalyst for this movement was the European colonization of the continent. It has been made clear that the United States government was opposed to such colonization, but leaders of the civil rights movement such as DuBois, were also opposed. As a Pan-Africanist, DuBois organized Pan-African congresses around the world, which included people from Africa, the West Indies, and the United States. In 1961, he became the director of the Encyclopedia Africana per the request of Kwame Nkrumah, the president of Ghana. DuBois remained in Africa until his death on August 27, 1963, one day before Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the civil rights march in Washington D.C..
Martin Luther King Jr., another civil rights leader in America, also spoke out against the treatment of blacks in Africa. He stated that “the struggle for freedom forms one long front crossing oceans and peoples,” (Reddy). King worked for independence through non-violent protest in America and gave speeches about gaining independence for people in Africa as well. He was assassinated in 1968.
Through the social and political pressure the United States put on the colonial leaders, and the influence that figureheads such as DuBois and King had on the citizens of these African colonies, an eventual decolonization took place, and it is believed that it occurred much sooner than it would have, had the United States not been involved.
In 1960, universal adult suffrage was introduced to The Gambia. During this time, a ministerial form of government was also established consisting of four British departmental heads, the governor, and six African ministers. Elections in 1962 brought David Jawara into office as Chief Minister. He conducted discussions with Britain and, through his influence, the Gambia became an independent country in 1965 (Pedler 43-45).
Senegal elected an assembly using universal suffrage for the first time in 1957. Senegal and the French Sudan merged in 1959 to form the Mali Federation, marking Senegal’s full independence from France on June 20, 1960. The Mali Federation, however, broke up in August of 1960 due to internal political differences, at which time Senegal and the French Sudan proclaimed independence (Pedler 171-177).
The efforts of The United States Government, combined with the influence of American civil rights activists and Africans who desired independence from their colonial rulers, led to the eventual decolonization of West Africa.
Works Cited
“The Avalon Project : THE ATLANTIC CHARTER.” Avalon Project – Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy. Web. 23 Apr. 2010. <http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/atlantic.asp>.
Duignan, Peter, and Lewis Henry Gann. The United States and Africa a History. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1984. Print.
“Facts about Colonial Development and Welfare Act.” Encyclopedia – Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Web. 24 Apr. 2010. <http://www.britannica.com/facts/5/479843/Colonial-Development-and-Welfare-Act-as-discussed-in-Southern-Africa>.
Falola, Toyin. Africa. Nationalism and Decolonization. Vol. 4. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic, 2002. Print.
“Featured Document: The Marshall Plan.” National Archives and Records Administration. Web. 24 Apr. 2010. <http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/marshall_plan/>.
Hargreaves, John D. The End of Colonial Rule in West Africa: Essays in Contemporary History. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1979. Print.
Mazrui, Ali A., and Michael Tidy. Nationalism and New States in Africa: From about 1935 to the Present. Nairobi: Heinemann, 1984. Print.
Mendonsa, Eugene L. West Africa: an Introduction to Its History, Civilization and Contemporary Situation. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic, 2002. Print.
Meredith, Martin. The First Dance of Freedom: Black Africa in the Postwar Era. New York: Harper & Row, 1984. Print.
Metz, Steven. “American Attitudes Toward Decolonization in Africa.” JSTOR: An Error Occurred Setting Your User Cookie. Web. 26 Apr. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/pss/2149946>.
“NAACP – W.E.B. DuBois.” NAACP | National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Web. 25 Apr. 2010. <http://www.naacp.org/about/history/dubois/index.htm>.
“Northern People’s Congress (NPC) – Oxford Islamic Studies Online.” Oxford Islamic Studies Online – Oxford Islamic Studies Online. Web. 23 Apr. 2010. <http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1773?_hi=0&_pos=5>.
“Pan-Africanism.” Encyclopedia.com. Web. 23 Apr. 2010. <http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Pan-Africanism.aspx>.
Pedler, Frederick. Main Currents of West African History, 1940-1978. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1979. Print.
Reddy, E.S. “MARTIN LUTHER KING.” African National Congress Home Page. Web. 25 Apr. 2010. <http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/solidarity/mlking01.html>
Sullivan, Michael J. American Adventurism Abroad: Invasions, Interventions, and Regime Changes since World War II. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2008. Print.
“William Edward Burghardt Du Bois.” Africa Within. Web. 23 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.africawithin.com/bios/web_dubois.htm>.
I was decidedly against going to Grad School… mostly because I was already sick of being in school for 14 years… and I figured after 18 years of it, I’d be ready to be done. Now that I’m approaching the end of my undergraduate college career (and 18 years of schooling) I’m seriously considering going for my Masters.
Not just any master’s though, a Master’s of Fine Arts in Writing.
If I go for that, it’s pretty much a given that I will need to write a thesis as part of the degree requirements. This will not only give me a strong motivating factor to finish a piece of writing, it will also give me the opportunity to share the work and get feedback on it.
On that note, I have a new concept for a book (title and all), and I think it would be the perfect piece for a Master’s Thesis. It would be a semi-fictional memoir of my trip to Africa and the aftermath. Because I kept the blog, any small details I might not remember off the top of my head, are already written down, and I definitely remember the large details. There are also several hundred details I left out of my re-telling because they were not relevant to the purpose of the blog. They would, however, be relevant to a semi-fictional memoir. And the “semi-fictional” part of it would give me room to play.
I’d love to know people’s thoughts on this. The whole idea or just parts of it. I don’t have to go for my Master’s in order to write this book, and I don’t necessarily have to go for a MFA in Writing, either. This is just an idea I’ve been toying with for a while now.
What are your thoughts on the Master’s idea… (and do you think I should maybe go for something OTHER than writing?) and the book idea.
Let’s talk.
I haven’t been posting very often, but believe me, I’ve been writing.
In the past 48 hours, I think it is safe to say that I have written about 15 pages for 3 or 4 classes.
It’s unfortunate that none of it is really interesting, or else I’d post it. I wrote 6 pages on how “mass media” affects our lives and skews our perceptions. That was based on the WORST case study I’ve ever been forced to read. It was disgusting, in all honesty. And get this… my professor PAID $60 so we could use the case study in class. Gross. I think we should have been paid $60 for having to burden our eyes with such garbage.
In addition to that, I had to analyze a piece written by a documentarian. This counts towards my LAR400 class. I’m not sure what that class is really SUPPOSED to be, but my trip to Africa and the subsequent film, are counting for me. I do, however, have assigned readings and what have you, that I have to analyze and apply to my experiences and the upcoming editing process.
Well anyway, I’ll try to post more. I’ve hardly had time to breathe lately.
As you may or may not know, I adopted my Grandma’s cat, Ellie, when she passed away this past October. It really helped me deal.
Before I left for Africa, she would always sleep next to me in the bed or I’d wake up and she’d be laying on my chest with her nose touching mine. Cute, mostly.
Since I’ve been home, I wake at 3am EVERY day with her balancing on my shoulder. Seriously. Lay on your side, and then picture a cat standing with all four feet on your shoulder. It’s weird, right? I have no idea why she does it, but EVERY day… and it’s always the same time. I don’t get it.
And, the past couple days she’s been knocking her tupperware container of food off the bay window. I woke up one morning to a pile of cat food on the floor and came home the other night to find the thing knocked down AGAIN. Today, I heard her crunching away behind the curtain. I looked to see what the heck she was eating. She had knocked the thing down so many times that she broke it… so there’s this hole in the side of it that she’s sticking her little nose in and eating. Annoyingly clever little thing.
I wonder if she pulled this crap when she lived with my Grandma.
I’ve read this before, but it was brought to my attention again today. If you have not read it, I encourage you to take the time to do so… and then take a few extra moments to think about the meaning. When you have done that, I encourage you to pass this along to anyone who might need a bit of inspiration in their life. I can’t even put into words what this did for me today.
—
“It does not interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream your heart’s longing.
It does not interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It does not interest me what planet is squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals, or have become shriveled and closed from fear and further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, fade it or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with the wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
It does not interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself, if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.
I want to know if you can be faithless and therefore be trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if you can source your life from God’s presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours or mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the moon, “Yes!”
It does not interest me to know here you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It does not interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It does not interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the quiet moments.”
–Oriah Mountain Dreamer
—
It is easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life. It’s easy to forget who we are. I want you to remember.
After a two week stay in Africa, these words ring especially true for me.
I have to say goodbye to people who have become family and life long friends… but I’m coming HOME.
This experience has been something that I will cherish forever and something that I’ll never forget. I’ve promised I’ll come back, and I never break a promise, so looks like I’ll be back in The Gambia some time in the future.
Anyway, expect me to get back to posting soon! In the mean time, you can read all about my trip (in less than fine detail because there is just SO much to write about)
