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by Ali. H. Abdulla
Thursday, November 13, 2008
“I will say then, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way, the social and political equality of the white and black races, that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of making voters of Negroes, or jurors, or qualifying them to hold office, or having them to marry white people." Abraham Lincoln
The Somali skin ranges in hue from the extremely light to the extremely dark. They do not normally discriminate against each other based on the color of their skin. Clan is normally the big discriminating factor, like the abhorrent discrimination against some Somali clans known by our misguided leaders as “the others” or the “.5” in the infamous 4.5 power sharing formula. The same clan may have a rainbow of colors among its members.
Somalis are proud of their mostly dark hue and never considered a white skin as being better or worse than their own. For example the Dervishes used to look down upon the white colonialists and used to call them “Saancad”, those with the white hide, and considered touching such skin as sacrilegious. As a kid, I once met an old dervish warrior who told me that he would cut his hand off if it ever came into contact with that of a white colonialist. The famous Dervish Warrior, Ismail Mire, dragged Richard Corfiled’s amputated arm behind his horse from where Corfield was killed to the Dervish Headquarters in Taleh, hundreds of kilometers away, to prove to the Sayed the demise of the British Soldier. The Sayed composed his epic poem “Koofil” in a style that conveys to the listener as if he were indeed talking directly to the fallen Colonialist.
The dragging of the arm illustrates the precautions that Mire took so as not to touch it in any way, believing that carrying it or touching it would somehow dirty his soul. The reason the Dervishes derided the skin of the colonialists was not because of the mere fact that they were white, but because of being non-Muslim colonialists. The Sayed had a German technician who helped him maintain his weapons, and his mentor, Sheikh Moahmed Saleh, in Saudi Arabia was an Arab with a much lighter skin. This alone proves that color was never an issue in Somali society.
I can understand the joy and excitement felt by African Americans in the US and many others in the world at large after the recent election of Barak Obama who, in my opinion, could be doing the US a great favor. His election gives Americans of all colors hope that the reputation of their country will be repaired after George Bush leaves them with Iraq, Afghanistan, a crippled economy and a myriad of other problems that will materialize after Obama takes over in January.
What I cannot understand is the excitement many Somali writers felt about the election of Barak Obama, for the mere fact that he is Black. Somali Americans who voted for the guy because of his African origin or color may have betrayed their roots and tradition. This action only emphasizes our own misguided penchant for supporting our own leaders based on their clan affiliations. For example, many of us support Mr. Abudllahi Yusuf although we all know that he played an important role in destroying the Somali government with Ethiopian help in the late seventies and early eighties; uses Ethiopian forces now to consolidate his power; and refuses to go away after all the misery and anguish that he has caused Somalis. Yusuf is only one glaring example; the list is really very long. Some Awdalites I know support Rayale for breaking up Somalia because he is from Awdal. Before Rayale’s nomination as President of Somaliland, they used to be staunch supporters of Somali Unity. Hopefully they will switch sides again if Rayale loses in the coming spring.
Just as supporting a Somali Leader because of Clan is wrong, so is supporting Obama because of his skin color or African roots. Luckily, the guy has more assets than his skin color alone. He is a brilliant lawyer and a charismatic leader who happens to be black, not with a great tan as the racist Berlusconi recently divulged. The same cannot be said about our mostly inept leaders who lack vision, morality and compassion.
Somalis should judge Obama by his actions and not by his skin color. His successful Campaign rhetoric spoke volumes about the type of leader he may turn out to be. As Muslims we have strong feelings about the situation in Ghaza, the West Bank and the holy places in East Jerusalem; the situation in Iraq; the situation in Afghanistan; and the situation in our own country that is under occupation by Ethiopian forces bankrolled by Uncle Sam. Obama’s feelings about all these issues may not necessarily be in sync with ours.
For me, it is wrong to support a guy who has very strong opinions about making Jerusalem the undivided capital of the Zionist entity at the expense of the downtrodden Palestinians. It is wrong to support a guy who has picked Joe Biden as Vice President, a staunch supporter of the Zionist Regime and the architect behind the proposal of dividing Iraq into three enclaves. It is wrong to support a guy who has picked Rohm Emmanuel as his Chief of Staff, another staunch supporter of the Zionist Regime and who fought alongside the Israelis army in Palestine. It is wrong to support a man who has renounced his Islamic roots and denies his name just to win an election.
As Somalis we should be more worried about our intractable problems and look for leadership from our own ranks. We need a new breed of leaders to challenge the status quo and get rid of the current breed of divisive leaders. Our county is in danger of disintegrating into a multitude of clan enclaves ruled by inept dictators. We run the risk of becoming another Afghanistan ruled by a Taliban Style government that stones 13 year old girls to death after being raped, and sends suicide bombers to kill innocent civilians in our major cities such as Hargeisa.
Let us look for an Obama who is right for us, not one who is right for an Empire whose decline has just begun; an Empire that is looking for a way to redeem and rebuild itself by picking as Commander-in-Chief a man who could have been a slave a few decades ago because of his skin color.
Let us stop supporting leaders just because we identify with them somehow.
Ali H. Abdulla
[email protected]
Note: The above quote is by Abraham Lincoln who, although credited with freeing the Slaves, was a racist himself. Obama seems to have broken all the taboos Lincoln talked about. Obama is the product of an interracial marriage; he is a Senator from Illinois, the same state Lincoln is from; he was mostly elected by non-White voters who could not have voted a few decades ago; he is destined to hold the highest office in America in less than two months.
Regardless of my opposition to some of the politics of Obama, I think that he has broken many barriers in race relations and he has the potential to resolve many of the problems I have raised in this article if he has the guts to stand up to the powerful Jewish lobby in the United States.