“I am the Democratic Party Candidate for President”, thundered Senator Barack Obama to the ecstatic bellows of thousands of his supporters in Minnesota. ‘Wow’, I thought, this guy might actually become the next Commander-in-Chief of the largest (and, as many people think, the most dangerous) military machine in the history of mankind. I won’t lie and say that I wish him all the best because of his soaring oratory or because he has promised to get the American troops out of Iraq. Or even because he’s a Democrat. First of all, I’ve been a Republican Party fan ever since Bill Clinton looked me straight in the eye and said ‘I didn’t have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky…..” So, I’m not a natural Democrat and if it wasn’t for Obama I’d be a John McCain fan. In fact, I think he’s possibly the best candidate for the US presidency I’ve ever seen. He’s not daft, he doesn’t seem the kind of guy to be bullied by his Vice (unlike some people I know) and in the midst of all the crazy voices in the American political establishment, he sounds surprisingly rational. But if I could vote would I vote for this war hero and experienced senator? No. I would ignore all my political instincts and vote for the ‘black dude’. That’s it. This person of undoubtable intelligence; this man who professes to be a political animal of sound mind and cold calculation would vote for the ‘black guy’. Honestly, I feel embarrassed. How is it that a person such as myself (who profess to be more discerning than the average guy on the street) loses all sense of reasoning and becomes the ‘average Joe”? I hate to say it but maybe it is some ingrained ‘us-against-them mentality’ that I’m under the spell of. I look at Mr. Obama and see something that I see in the mirror everyday; dark skin. And sadly, this single factor makes him somewhat akin to Sunny back here in Rwanda. The worst part is that if you called me a racist I’d punch you in the jaw, figuratively. I honestly believe that all people are the same and no one is inherently better than anyone else. I believe that if someone’s better than you it’s because they worked harder than you to get where they are. That’s the creed I follow; a creed of hard work and meritocracy. So, why all of a sudden have I ditched this creed and followed the big, Black Obama crowd? Is it possible that everyone is inherently racist; especially us Africans? And does this racism cloud our vision to such an extent that we can’t see reality? Those are things that I’d like to discuss a bit about. First of all, are we Africans racist? If so, why? I believe that we are and despite our fascination with our Caucasian cousins (we stare at them like they are Martians from outer space and little kids are loathe to let a muzungu pass by without a prod or pinch) we don’t really like them. It might be because of our colonial past but I really don’t think that that argument holds much water. I can’t say with any conviction that the Belgians did anything to me personally. So, I can’t blame my racism of the bastardly Belgians. But I guess that some of the older folks have personal ‘beefs’ with them. So, if it isn’t what they did to me personally. It must be something else instead. It must be the fact that they aren’t like me; and because in the most basic part of my brain I want everyone to be like myself. The fact that they aren’t like myself in appearance means that they are ‘different’ AND THEREFORE BAD! I have a serious dose of ‘us-against-them syndrome’. I hate the fact that I have it but it seems that a cure is hard to come by. We 21st century humans pretend to be better than our less ‘civilized’ forefathers but I don’t think we really are. Despite all the progress that we’ve made in many aspects of human behavioral patterns, all we need to revert to our petty tribalism is a simple election. We won’t care about what the politician says…as long as he looks like us. We all, including myself, must start looking at the bigger picture. After all, skin is only skin deep. We are the same…seriously. Vote McCain and shame the devil. Contact: sunny-ntayombya@hotmail.com
