As the weather here wears on and readies to change tact, I wonder whether I must not be readying myself to change tact too and leave before the short distance between my bones and my skin is exposed by the fall of fall to usher in winter. By the time you read this piece, I would have arrived in Winnipeg, Canada. I am not sure I will return here too soon because I have never jelled with cold weather.
But spare a thought for my memories. Memories of the United States are still engrained in me. It is a country where almost everyone feels a part of it. And those living in it see themselves as its owners and are incredibly loyal to it, save for those who come here to destroy it among them three that were arrested last week alone for various alleged attempts to bomb certain areas including one to have coincided on the anniversary of the attacks on 11 September 2001. Those anti-Americans have made travel to and from here a necessary nightmare. If you don’t wear a belt, or easy-to-wear shoes, when you are coming here, count your stars.
But that has not deterred people from all corners of the world from coming here. I believe this country is such a meting pot that almost all ethnic groups are represented here. And that I think is where its strength lies. The driver of a taxi cab I hired in New York, from Cote D’Ivoire, said he was not a bit willing to return home to fight for his country, but that he would defend America if push comes to shove. “If Obama can become president, my son can one day become somebody very important in this wonderful country” he told me. He was quick to tell of the politicians back in his home country whom he used unprintable words to describe, for banning Alhassan Ouattara from running for president. Again he referred to President Obama.
The Ivorian driver’s sense of hope for the future of his newfound home also looms large in a mosque in New York I went to for prayers on Wednesday night. Bought at a whooping $ 2 million or so I was told, by the Guinean community in the city, the mosque is a Mecca for Muslims from Sierra Leone as well. A theologian from Freetown I met in the mosque was equally impressed saying to me that this, his first, visit to the United States had changed his impressions about the perception among many Muslims that America is anti-Islamic.
With the United States now having a Muslim congressman, a black president, a Hispanic Secretary (Minister), many Muslims here have told me that a Muslim in cabinet might not be too far away. But there is a lot this country’s Muslims have to show. Many are bitter about the US for the wars in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. But they are also angry that many Arab groups are using the name of Islam to carry out those things the Quran condemns – wilfully killing innocent civilians among them women and children – all in the name of reaching at America and its allies. Organisations given the name of Allah that espouse terror like Hezbollah (the party of Allah) should be condemned unequivocally by all senior Muslims in authorities, some worshippers in the mosque said to me. The absence of this makes many people here very suspicious of Muslims.
With my beard and moustache growing longer than they have ever been in my entire life, thanks to a protest action against the flagrant violation of the constitution by my country’s Supreme Court, some people have been looking at me here with apparent suspicion.
America’s politics is awash with the obsession for religious extremism as well as it is with family values and the lack of them. Sex scandals, like graft, are the quickest way of ending a blossoming political career here but they keep happening anyway. It may seem normal in France and in some other European countries but it is a big deal here. Imagine if Barack Obama had chosen Senator John Edwards who twice contested for the presidential ticket of the Democratic Party and was even a running mate to Senator John Kerry in 2004. The latest scandal could be causing a huge crisis for the Obama administration at the moment. After a string of strenuous denials, the senator has finally admitted to bearing a child by a lady he admitted to having an affair with again after a string of denials. He is even reported to have wished death for his wife who is battling with cancer. Such stories are awash even though the practice of marital infidelity is scorned at here. A lot of public officials have lost their jobs for sex-related shenanigans.
Talking about family values it is amazing the crucial role of the First Lady in this country. Michelle Obama’s involvement with the election of her husband attracted many. Her continued support and performing of public functions on his behalf is remarkable. It has left me wondering, or may be not, over why our leaders back home relegate their wives to the backburner. President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah apparently started it with Patricia who died before long. And no-one can take away from her the fact that Sierra Leone’s First Lady, Sia Koroma is a brainy lady with ideas and character. Articulate and obviously well-meaning and compassionate, there is a lot more she can be involved to do with governance and sensitisation.
Talking about family, I have been stunned by the amount of divorces and other strange things that happen especially among Sierra Leoneans here. Many friends and other people I have met or been told about here, male and female, have broken up with their partner. Some I have met here and know they have their spouses back home are into some kind of a make-believe normal relationship here.
But while I worry about my compatriots living here as home away from home, some of those who call here are complaining. I mean specifically the African American community. Some of them accuse the system of discriminating against them. But hardly is anyone saying that the community is having more than its fair share of top positions judging by their number.
The African American community comprises about 12% of the country’s population, but look at what they have. A good number of the Governors, Mayors, congressmen and above all the President are black. In stead of making the best of it, some are living retched on the streets engaged in violence and in other antisocial activities. And the Latinos I told you about on Friday, according to demographics, could hit a quarter of to country’s population in the next 20 years. It will be for the blacks to start sobering up the more, or blame it on themselves if all they have not trims even further. By the way the Republican Party must start looking up.
Talking about the Grand Old Party (GOP), it is apparent there is division in the country along party lines. However, I have been impressed by the measured and very mature reactions of Senator John McCain to the leadership of President Obama, the man who defeated him. Just the other day, after it emerged that Iran had admitted to operating an underground nuclear site, Senator McCain sounded very confident in the leadership of president Obama. So did, believe it or not, Carl Rove, the man once referred to as George Bush’s brain having strategised for him. Back home, I await Solomon Berewa’s assessment of President Koroma’s two years in office.
But the most everlasting memory of this country is the freedom its people enjoy. President Obama made reference to this in closing the G 20 summit when he said that the protestors and anarchists outside the summit hall were exercising their freedom and right. A right which has been serially denied journalists and many other interest groups by a police boss that leaves so much to be desired. And a denial that has been endorsed by the country’s president.
Such is the freedom that even though the Iranian and Libyan leaders have suppressed and even eliminated anyone criticising them, that was a right accorded them here. And I jokingly told a friend that if President Obama had gone and criticised Ghadaffi or Ahmadennajad in their respective countries, his safety could have been compromised. America is what it is because of the values it has for its people’s right to freedom. And this is why the country will in my view never collapse like empires did in the past. Let my people in Sierra Leone be consulted about key decisions affecting them like it is done here, and let their views matter by way of influencing the actions of the leaders.
By Umaru Fofana