Pontificating. Yes, I am...

Yesterday afternoon I visited Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent almost 19 of 27 years of unjust incarceration. I find it amazing that a country of such absolute physical beauty could have been guilty of such raw and vile hatred. Part of the tour is led by a previous political prisoner, who by the way, now resides at Robben Island after 5 years (1984-89) of being a political prisoner there. There are 20 such men who now reside in their previous house of torture and horror! Not sure I am equipped with so much resolve... Thank God for men like him, Malcolm, Martin and Mandela.

Where are today's men of such strength, conviction and character? Admittedly the ANC (and others) looked to US Blacks and were inspired by our valiant fight for civil rights for ALL people. We were the role model for so many who must now look at us in absolute astonishment and wonder what in the hell went wrong… How did we ever become so complacent? Not only are Black Americans guilty of being bought, paid for, absent and/or disengaged, but so goes the nation.

Where have all the panthers gone? Where have all the hippies gone? Our silence and apathy WILL be the death of us as our government and American corporations know no boundaries for just how far they will push us. We offer no resistance. We are afraid of our government, our government is not afraid of us. That a congress with damn near single digit approval ratings, would dare subject already hurting Americans to this sequestration nonsense speaks to just how fearless they are. Their behavior shows no regard, if not contempt, for the American people they were elected to serve. Sadly, they feel secure in their positions. They serve only themselves and the corporations that bribe, I mean pay, them... 

Walking through Robben Island [and other parts of South Africa], I am struck that while the ANC was looking to Black America for strength, the South African government was looking to the American south for instruction. So much of what they did here is structured after American jim crow and/or the most atrocious of acts committed during American slavery. It is a mirror image...

As I strolled through Robben Island, knowing world history, I wondered HOW did the rest of the world trade with and/or sit idly by and allow such atrocities to flourish well into “civilized” times? Amazing. Truly amazing…   

Again, how could such vile spring from a country of such beauty? Come to think of it, I've seem some pretty spectacular sights in America too.

 

Pontificating... Yes, I am...