Dear Editor,
Old people seh eye is a fast thing, true. You move around probably humming Jimmy Cliff’s ‘Wonderful world beautiful people’ song without the slightest thought of anything negative.
Thus similarly in our daily perambulations we hear and experience before our very eyes some disgusting and disturbing things to break your heart, weaken and even erase your faith in the realization of our motto in the foreseeable future.
There are people deliberately doing naughty things to stop righteous people and righteous things from happening; there are again people deliberately doing wrong things to prevent progressive happenings from taking place, and yet again there are those working assiduously to stymie others from moving one inch further. The fog of lies, chicanery, undermining and treachery coupled with the undercurrent of ethnic and political deceit and gangsterism are more than enough to knock you soft. People want others to change when they themselves are not prepared to even pretend to do so. We refuse to come clean, to stop the twisting, turning, and hypocrisy; too proud to concede blunders and plain wrongs or make a pledge against injustice to never by our silence/inaction or direct involvement play any part in anything that lends itself to the suffering and degradation of others.
So what will it be then, what on earth can we expect to be different?
The spectre of racism continues to haunt us, at times bold and brazen, and at other times subtle. But no matter how subtle or crafty it may be, it doesn’t in any way lessen the racial insecurity which lies latent like a panther, with one eye open, the other closed. And while there are some who have expressed their disgust about harping on about too many negatives and dull things they want us to gloss over or avoid, and would have us cite more pleasing, uplifting and wonderful scenarios ‒ which none should argue against ‒ yet I have to ask: How do we move to have the objectionable corrected if we pretend not to see it or walk around it? How many times can a man turn his back, pretending that he just doesn’t see?
Then again, all the beautiful, positive, wonderful things that we love which surround us, so how do we guarantee their forever presence by turning a nelson’s eye to the poisonous vines spreading, clutching and crippling them.
Look, to gain the world people are losing their souls without rhyme or reason; in season or out of season, anything goes. We seem to have lost the ability to differentiate between right and wrong when the wrong is so frequently and automatically accepted as the norm. And this for me is one good reason why we have to keep erecting words barricades; the least we could do in defiance to maintain some semblance of balance, not allowing the repugnant to reign unchecked.
Yes, it’s good to parade the good, for dwelling on too many negatives can beat us down and drain us weak, but there needs to be a cut-off point, since if we adopt the practice of putting on blinders and not concerning ourselves with anything until we become victims, then it’s just a matter of time. In any event, pretending not to see, not recognising the wrongs, the wretched, doesn’t change them into the beautiful; rather they mature, take root, become cancerous and ultimately devour us. Like a garden of roses left unattended is overrun by weeds, leaving us in a state of lamentation, it is invariably too late. And this is what seems to be happening with us. Why else do you think we are tottering in fear of open suspicion that has been among us forever and which we only grumble and silently speak about within the confines and comfort of our race camps? Yes siree, we are indeed suspicious of each other and there seems no end to it. It is even worse with the political leaders now in season, and we certainly have our fair share of the putrid types. For people to trust people they have got to come 101% visibly clean, and those vibes must be felt in their every action. People can and do move others by their sincerity, there is a spiritual connection, like a righteousness. Editor, I contend that this unwholesome style of play ‒ this tomfoolery topsy-turvy, toady and tomb-rat behaviour ‒ will continue and tear us apart for as long as we remain counterfeit, fake, cheap, self-grabbing and spineless.
If this writing of mine seems scrambled and has you in a mix, please bear with me, for that’s a reflection of the miasma of our status quo that has me entangled and trying to unravel and fathom ‒ “All are involved, all are consumed.”
En passant: now that the debate over the posthumous conferring of the Oliver Tambo Award on former President Forbes Burnham has brought the ghost of Walter Rodney to the fore once again, let me say that all the shouting about the restoration of democracy, equal opportunity, the rights of every citizen, racial harmony/unity, etc, etc are far from being genuinely pursued and manifestly practised. They are nice sounding expressions, but who the hell really cares?
Agreed, “life tarries not backwards with yesterday’s sorrows,” but now that Rodney’s death anniversary has come around, tell me who since his transition 33 years ago has genuinely and constantly battled the cause of the working class, the poor and underprivileged; show me who has listened with the ears of the people; seen with the eyes of the people and spoken with the voice of the people. No scientific proof required here, yet it was my luck to have earned the ire of an individual not so long for making this observation ‒I tell you there are people and there are people, talk about political wolverines. But let anyone who says nay, be bold enough to step forward.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe