Saturday, June 16, 2007

Amandla!

"Africa I guard your memory Africa.
You are in me as the shaft is in the wound."
~~Roman

On this day in 1976, more than 150 school children were shot to death and many more wounded in Soweto, South Africa, when they had the audacity to protest against having to learn Afrikaans (the language of their oppressors) while being summarily brutalized on a daily basis and forced to live in abject poverty with the apparent blessing of the West.

We will honor the example of those valiant youth by visiting Black Looks again today to read Rethabile's post on the Soweto Massacre as well as Sokari's challenge to us concerning the bizarre state of our support for our African brothers and sisters still suffering because of our shared history and their on-going economic exploitation. If Bono is "the African spokesman," does that mean that the children who were murdered in the Soweto Massacre died to set him free?

3 comments:

Peacechick Mary said...

That hurts to think about it. I wonder how many wounds of this type the human psyche can handle.

Rethabile said...

Ngawethu!

changeseeker said...

Mary: The indigenous ones show us the way -- to survive and to fight. Hopefully, we will learn to listen.

Rethabile: I welcome you to my house with great pleasure. Please feel free to drop by anytime! Your voice is a song to my ears.