Is the black male energy stupid and violent by default?

A couple of days a go a close friend while having a general conversation told me, “Gerald, I know you do not like some scholars.” I guess the word dislike was wrong - disapprove could have been a good replacement. “Here I have one for you to add to that list.” He went on to say, “Hegel (German Philosopher) believes that Africa has nothing to offer apart from North Africa.”  From my research I had already known that, many believes that only Alexandria and the rest of Diocese of Africa in the ancient Roman Empire has anything to show in the academia arena.

I took a short and quick breath as I thought of my response. Look here, I said, Hegel is not alone, many close friends, sorry to say even those I look up to for spiritual direction, historians and of course politicians believes, through their talks and actions that Africa and philosophy can not exist in the same phrase, and if they must then words of negations must be introduced to make the two terms eternally incompatible.

Indeed Hegel is not alone, two summers ago when the ‘unemployed’, ‘hopeless’ and ‘disfranchised ‘ youth in Britain as they call themselves went on rampage to destroy their own social fabric, people came out in overwhelming numbers to condemn those who participated in those heinous acts. I deeply felt the pain and anguish in many peoples hearts.  One such condemnation came from one unexpected quarters. It was a voice of one elderly lady of Afro-Caribbean decent who spared no words in expressing her disgust of the crimes committed within her community by her own people. 

Another condemnation came from one gentleman (name withheld) who went on national TV to almost give synonmity of  being black with cruelty, violence, un-civilisation and went on and on. He could only find few exemptions though, the likes of Lamin  Sanneh who he was kind to associate him with etiquette and finesse. Those who know Lamin Sanneh will for sure attest to that fact but am sure he is not the only one.

At the beginning of the 20^th Century history will tell us that such thinking had already taken roots. Further search and reading from memoirs of the early explorers in Africa will attest that to be true. One Emil Ludwig upon visiting Africa asked, "How can untutored African conceive God?....How can it be?.....Deity is a philosophical concept which savages are incapable of framing." According to me this meant that the African was incapable of thinking about God, both in abstract and philosophical terms.

This sort of background forms how some of us acts and reacts today. Every time I need to ask for directions or some help along the streets I find people reactions quite interesting. Some just literally look the other way and walk away; others probably with amazement or shock do not know what to do but unwillingly shows the way while others without reservations happily engage you even longer than expected. At times I have to say sorry I have got a bus/train to catch. 

On few occasions, I have been quick to offer help to someone on the streets, to pick up stuffs they have dropped or extra luggage on them. It is their reactions that amaze me most. As a matter of principle (of course with wisdom) I jumps in and help before they respond to my offer. In most cases some do not seem to reconcile the fact that I am capable of such. Some have held their bags closer and tighter to themselves whenever I sit next to them in buses or trains.  Whenever that happens I always smile at them but in my head am thinking I bet if I was to run away with you bag, you would have to employ the services of Mo Farah to catch me, but that is not me at all. Almost like telling them on their so they do not have to guess what am thiniking--- mum I am not a thief.

Recent official police statistics in Britain indicate: ”Twelve per cent of London’s men are black. But 54 per cent of the street crimes committed by men in London, along with 46 per cent of the knife crimes and more than half of the gun crimes, are thought by the Metropolitan Police to have been committed by black men.”  Such statistics, as true as they may, only fuels to already existing stereotype.

In the eyes of the rest of the world, the African boy is depicted as one clothed in military/guerrilla combat uniforms, with an ammunition belt wrapped around his waist struggling to control a machine gun and whose face-- to grin would be unforgivable criminal act punishable by death.

Contrary to the popular belief,  the African male is also dominant, loving, caring, tender amongst other quality humans posses but by nature--very fallen too. This could be a hard thing for many to process but the fact is corruption, cruelty, robbery, atrocities, name them all have nothing to do with black heritage. To me they are just human evil and clear evidence that human race requires the hand of The Saviour, a message which Christians should know better.  There ends my ‘rants’!

The PhraseTHANK YOU needs revision.

I watch with amazement what; within a very short time snow does to the majority of the population. People who would not be bothered to do anything active, who in most cases are always warmly wrapped up watching DVDs and loads of hot drinks, upon its fall, they want to go out to play in it and with it. Quite amazing how it jump-starts some! Two, three days down the line the list of complaints starts to grow. Sorry we cannot make it to church today too slippy to drive; must you buy an extra piece of bread? Those far from major supplies would ask.The list goes on and on until the nation is brought to its knees.

Am now starting to understand why soon a lovely nation becomes a moaning nation. Obviously disruption of travels because of snow is an act of God but companies issuing travel tickets should be fair enough. For me they do not seem to have a human face. At the point of booking it is all merry and many thanks for booking with us.

It is at the claim desk am proposing the revision of the word thank you. The woman behind the desk feels sympathetic with me that am unable to travel on the said date. As a matter of policy she offers me a later date to which I reply, sorry mum am only here for a while and later dates do not work for me. What I was proposing was at least something paid back as a sign of gratitude in agreeing to travel with them! On a second look on my ticket she then turns to me and with a broad smile utter the following words, “Sorry your ticket is not refundable THANK YOU.” What is there to thank me for loosing £50- my student living allowance for a whole month surely!

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On a different front, you know you are in another country when the following things happen all in succession. The lovely lady at the coffee shop tells you, “Sorry we do not take such monies.” Thirsty and disappointed, you walk to the train and everyone on your cabin is glued almost an inch to their books or newspapers and each seem to care-less of what is happening around them.

On the final leg of you journey where you have to take a bus, obviously because you are disoriented you walk to the bus stop and decide to ask a gentleman, are these buses East or Westbound?  And because he does not know he takes time to think and before long his bus comes and stretching his hand to alert the driver of  his intention to board, he looks at me and says, “Sorry I’ve got to go.”  Eventually I get a bus with separate entry and exit door which means I have no chance to tell the driver THANK YOU for getting me home. On a second thought it is probably meant to tell Gerald, get over!!Deal with it for that is how we roll!!

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After all, it is not all doom and gloom. As I strolled this afternoon,around this big city to refresh and later pick some milk for tea, two boys run toward me. Reaching where I was, they stopped, one reached his hand into a bag.  From where I come from any stranger reaching their hands into their bags as they talk to you are treated with suspicion. There could be a possibility that what is coming out of it is not meant for your well-being. So, I take a step back to assess the situation. 

The boy got a book and a pen and then started talking with the lovely London accent. “We looked at you from a far and thought you might be David Rudisha and looking at your wrist it confirms you are Kenyan.” “Well if you do not mind can you sign my book please?” I looked at those two boys and I knew  that only an answer to the affirmative would lighten them up, so I kept quiet for few seconds. Before I could answer, the boy took his pen and book back into the bag saying, “well, I guess that means you are not?” Certainly yes, I said as they walked away.

On reaching to the local shop I got my packet of milk and started chatting with the shopkeeper and for the first time saw one person who was excited to hear am a Bible college student. As I walked away the young lady said…”Fare thee well” to which I responded...THANK YOU!!

Kenya needs a DICTATOR at least for now!

A German reformed theologian Jurgen Moltmann in his book The Trinity and the Kingdom of God while addressing the problem of political Monotheism posses to us an incredible question. What is the relationship between the religious ideas of any given era and the political constitution of its societies? Moltmann seems to ask at least from my personal perspective the question of whether biblical monotheism goes hand in hand with the democratic form of government embraced in the west or is it the instigator of intolerance and conflict in a democratic system that wholly embraces pluralism?

George Forell argues that the idea of theocracy is pretty old one that could be traced way back into the first three centuries among the martyrs and Christian apologist during the persecution period. According to him Christian monotheism was a remedy taken to combat polytheism practised by the heathens.  He goes on to say that believing in one God brings peace, in the diverse and competitive world of gods. Tertullian while condemning the Marcionites who were dualist in their theology argued that you can not separate the law and the gospel and still contend with diversity of gods.

In the recent years we have witnessed a resurgence of Tertullian kind of thinking especial y in the Islamic world as people fight to enforce Sharia. They are strongly demanding  a ‘restoration’ of faith in their every day’s life while still holding secular-humanist agendas.  Whether we understand or agree to their search, despair or frustrations would be a topic for another day.

Now bringing Kenya into the scene and trying to make sense of everything is a hard nut to crack.

First I would like to distance myself from the thinking that democracy at least as we know it today is a pure form of Christian government and hence the guts to try and explore other alternatives. Some have argued that indeed democracy is not the perfect system but closest to what would be ideal, a stand I am willing to think about at least for now.

This year Kenya will be celebrating her 50^th birthday since independence. For sure we have made huge steps in areas of governance, health and education just to mention a few. At least for several decades we had retained the title as the hub of peace in the Central, East and the horn of Africa until few years ago. As Paul writes to Galatians asking…..You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? The same could be asked of us as Kenyans, from peace loving communities into hostile, blood-letting individuals.  Tribalism, nepotism, corruption the list is endless are news that have continued to raise our news anchors from one glory to another because of their constant follow-up on them. Oh how I wish this was due to something else!

Up to this point you are probably asking where is this man headed to. Here I am. As the previous theologians tried to solve the problem of their days by identifying the root -cause and suggesting the best medicinal prescription I have one for Kenya too. I will not suggest that we have an all-Christian government ---Zambia tried and was a total fail.

People who are left to protect and ensure smooth running of societies like police are becoming more corrupt each day. The law makers are known to make it and mutilate it with mutiny at the same time. The custodians of the law no longer cares of what it means to uphold it.  A society that prided itself of dignity, peace and splendour is at the brink of collapse.

I know it sound very wrong and unbiblical and especially coming from a Christian to think of dictatorship with a positive lense leave alone recommending it as a possible solution.  How else would you keep-off scavengers, looters and destroyers from public scoffers who do it in the daylight, out in the public glare? How can you detach public and private appointments from tribal affiliations? This among a long list of other menaces even with the pride of having one of the best constitution South of Sahara or should I say in the continent still rages on.

By suggesting dictatorship as the alternative governance I will also be inviting a change both to the term and its guiding principles. In Kenya not all understand what democracy is about and even those that do, care not a little bit in its implementation.  When you are caught squandering public money we let go one of your hands and it should be clear it is your right hand that takes the journey, when a public official is implicated in ‘serious’ scandal a hand goes too!

How else can we bring salvation to our nation really?

The Irish ‘beauty’ of food and fellowship.

If there is anyone who understands the concept of food and fellowship more than the Irish, am yet to find. From the outset it would be worth to clarify that this has nothing to do with the recent recommendations been floated by the health secretary about the sugar, salt and fat limits on the food industry. Whether the finesse of this art of food and fellowship has anything to worry Hon Jeremy Hunt when he looks at the NHS budget I do not know and I am therefore safer leaving the matter to the experts.

Everyone world over, well at least the majority, I presume have a lot of admiration for the Irish culture. While some would be known for their inclinations to specific aspects of the culture like music, some and especially those across Atlantic would be guilty for venerating anything that has GREEN on it! Personally my coordinates do not fall anywhere near the Atlantic and therefore not skewed to that kind of worship but there is nothing that stands out for me than the ‘welcomeness’ to the table by the Irish people. I know I could be accused of making a blanket statement but there goes my experience.

 Aww you are a good lad we must have you over for tea one of these days…that would be a possible statement that can be heard over in a group conversation…..with a possible response  within the same group that goes like…ohh yeah he is alright am sure he can not clear our food store.

Shrek in the movie Shrek tells the donkey what would be assumed to be the obvious that onions have layers, oooh on a second thought donkeys have no use for onions so probably they need to be informed. Like Shrek am guilty of stating what is obvious but for those not knowledgeable the Irish food come in layers one after the other and not a single layer is skipped. The climax of this ritual can not be complete without a cuppa in most cases.This should not be interpreted that when I take part I indulge with mutiny but I have over  time learnt to do things in moderation. According to my own observation the younger generations are running away from tea taking and just wondering whether this among other cultural drifts should leave the cultural anthropologist alarmed.

At the heart of the Christian message is the issue of feast and fellowship. God’s commission to the first family at the garden of Aden was that they may eat and be merry.  Throughout the scriptures we can affirm to the fact that food and fellowship was an essential component of God’s people. Where reconciliation was needed, a feast was made and fellowship restored. In times of peace and happiness a nice banquet was prepared. At the final table with His disciples Jesus had a meal with them.  Where else is it so encouraging finding the subject of food and fellowship than in the eschatological message in the book of Revelation?  What an assurance that where we are going there too will be a feast but this time with the LAMB. Whether the Irish borrows this art from the Scriptures or somewhere else I personally find awful lots of similarity!