We Eh Come Fuh Dat

Big Up to Guanaguanare for turning me on to this!


There's been a lot going through my mind lately. So much I want to say that I get overwhelmed into silence. But that's what I have to be weary of. The silence. Be careful now, delve in at your own risk: Some connections you must make yourself.
On my way to work last week, I read this sweet editorial by a Danish woman who claimed that the world should be allowed to vote for the U.S. President, not Americans. I wanted to slap her. But as a pacifist, I suppose it wouldn't do. The article annoyed me on several levels. First, the general idea that Americans are stupid. Well, if we are so stupid, where do you get the idea that we are so stupid? Yeah, chew on that one for a moment.
The other one is this--WE DID NOT VOTE FOR BUSH (Definitely not the first time and if it was pulled off the first time, well...)
The other point is this: Look at YOUR own government and the decisions YOUR fellow citizens have been making the last few years or so. Excuse me? Can someone say The Danish People's Party?
The other point is this--Don't fool yourselves that the rest of the world would have voted for Obama. Look, where did racism come from? Who invented it? Who is still walking around with it but pretending it doesn't exist, but when, for the first time in history we have a contender that seems as though he may make it, you suddenly realize that, wow, this race thing really IS a problem?
Another thing: Stop asking me whether I think Obama is going to get assassinated if he's elected. Do you realize how SICK that is?
The other thing you moron: You, just like every one else have fallen into the U.S. two party rhetoric. Yes, because all of sudden, you too have begun thinking in terms of "either" "or"--there are other politicians and political parties in the U.S. you know!
Did I leave out anything?
Oh yeah, all you clever journalists in France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Spain and the U.K.--take a look at who is in your government. You want me to really believe that despite the fact that you all have had active colonial lives there hasn't been ONE candidate of color capable enough to serve on your governments? No, of course not, cause we all know that we're not that smart anyway! (One or two of the countries mentioned, to be fair, might have 1 person of color in their government but, you get the point...)
Good, now let's move on.
Harassment.
I went to visit a friend of mine on Friday. I was greeted by a 12 year-old practicing her Chinese. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she was learning to speak Chinese in school. It's funny cause she's actually half-Trinidadian and Danish and I just thought how cool is this that she is walking around speaking Chinese? Of course, since China owns the U.S now, gosh, how handy is that going to come in? I've always wanted to learn some mandarin or cantonese--guess I better start now.
But anyway, there was this local drunk hanging out. He's kind of crazy I heard. But he hung out all evening outside this woman's shop and harassed her to no end. Now, it wasn't the first time he'd done it and I could see on the shop owner's face she was really near breaking point. She could call the cops--but wouldn't it be kind of cool if everyone just got together from the neighborhood and told this guy "Stop!'? So, if any of my dear readers have any non-violent tactics, bring them on. It's exactly this kind of fear and intimidation that silences so many of us, and as long as we allow it to exist, it goes on and on and manifests and becomes larger and larger (e.g.The state of the World). The same principle applies to positive actions.
Violence and intimidation and silence are all themes I've thought a lot of in my life. Growing up in household where violence and intimidation was the rule, I can see direct links between how we treat each other to the state the world is in. When things go wrong is when we get lazy and silent.
Yesterday I saw this program on the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Congo continues to be robbed. It was depressing, to say the least. I haven't seen this one though: The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
Rape is also a subject I have studied a lot. In my travels I have met countless women who have told me that they had been rape. The rape usually occurred with someone they trusted, or sometimes not. I have even heard stories where wives felt like they were being raped by their husbands. What I have found is that there are many, many women walking around with these experiences, afraid to talk about it, afraid of the tabu and of the treatment that society subliminally doles out to "victims of rape"--the most common is, "She deserved it."
I feel this statement is loaded with self-loathing and again, when magnified, explains the state of this world. There is an old belief that the menstrual cycle that manifests in the body of human women is reflected in the monthly lunar cycle of the Cosmic Mother. In other words, women embody the nature the Universe. Why do I mention this? I mention this because the treatment of women in any society can be used as the litmus test to that society's connection to our universe.
Rape is, and has always been used as a tool as terror. In extreme cases, it manifests itself, for example, in what is happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In extreme cases, it manifests itself when a girl is raped or molested, and when she goes to someone of authority, is told, maybe in not so many words, "Shhh. Don't talk about it." This silencing is then followed by a promised social banishment if the victim speaks of this crime against her spirit. This is why enough is not being done in the DRC. This is why nothing has ever been done to any of the perpetrators that I know of, to women who have fallen victim to this crime right here, in our own back yard.
We don't talk about rape because we are afraid to talk about rape. We are afraid to be ostracized. We are afraid to be raped.
I come from a a very misogynistic culture. In Trinidad, girls are taught to be seen and not heard. Songs have been written to admonish "Old Tings"--women who are loose. In both the reggae and Hip Hop culture, it is common to put down what is perceived to be overtly sexual women. But what is a woman without her sexuality and her free choice to exercise it? This should not be confused with women being objectified.
For many of you reading this, you may think that rape has never effected your lives--but since were all cradled in a woman's womb, have daughters or sisters, the truth is, the reality is not as far away as you may think.
In the words of one of my favorite singers, "The world is spinning faster now than it did when I was young." A financial crisis looms over our head, its consequences to reverberate for years to come. If we haven't been overly neighborly with each other in the past, what is there in the future to come?
Now is the excuse to close ranks--ensure that all our loved ones are okay, and once that is secured, all should be right. But what about all the others who fall outside our little individual camps? Who do not have the choice to ensure that their daughters, mothers, sisters, fathers, brothers are safe? What will continue to happen to them?
As long as other people's freedom is encroached upon, ours too is up for grabs.
The Bystander Effect is something worth looking into. It is something I believe, many of us, including myself, must learn to break away from. It basically states that, "Solitary individuals will typically intervene if another person is in need of help: this is known as bystander intervention. However, researchers were surprised to find that help is less likely to be given if more people are present. In some situations, a large group of bystanders may fail to help a person who obviously needs help."

In closing, I would like to say a few things. First of all, rape is not a sexual crime: It is a very fundamental act of violence. To think about it in terms of sexuality is to release it from its political and social ramifications. The other aspect that I would like to mention is that although I focus mainly on women, men are also effected. While I shy away from using rape to describe other social violations, I do think that some similarities should be made clear. I often wonder how it would feel like to have foreign troops on the soil of which I live. I also wonder, especially when I was in Hawaii and witnessed the well manicured pineapple fields touting warning signs and all (I think it was like a 1000 dollars fine if you got caught picking a pineapple!)how the environment is expected to respond to mono-agriculture? I also wondered at the fact that the mango I eyed in the health food shop was sailed in from California and not grown locally. My biggest wonder of them all though, I must admit, in terms of foreign presence, both personal and more social was the local Walmart on Maui. It is huge, as all Walmarts tend to be and as you stand there in the parking lot admiring its stature against the azure sky, you realize, they actually shipped all this shit here, before you go in and do your shopping.

We Eh Come Fuh Dat!