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Speech By Vamadu SHerrif Addressing the QDMA community
September 27, 2009 - By QGMA Public
Service
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Vamadu Sherrif |
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UNITY IN DIVERSITY
Officers and members of Quardu Gboni Mandingo Association in the Americas (QGMAA), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
It is a great honor to join you today to speak about one of the most elusive topic "UNITY" particularly UNITY in DIVERSITY in our communities
across this nation and Africa.
Perhaps, we live in an unprecedented time in the history of Liberia. It's a time of birth pangs and death pangs, of growth and contraction, of searching, discarding, and rediscovery where there are subsequent divisions in almost every community organization after elections that often result in crisis. This atmosphere of crisis pervading the Liberian communities both at home as well as across this nation is reminiscent of nothing so much as fearing of fear and distrust of each other, even though most of the things we squabble over are of mundane.
There have been growing pressures spreading over many generations that created rift upon rift within the fabric of the Liberian communities--which, even in more indigent ages, was always prone to bitter self-divisions. During the civil war, we were all forced to choose to live together in refugee camps and outside of our comfort zone, but yet "divided" while our country was burning with terrors, injustices, confusions, death, destructions, and untold human sufferings. This vituperation is making abundantly clear that our separation, however unnecessary it may have been from the perspective of history, continues to fracture a more healthy and organic form of Liberian cultures and aspirations into competing tribal, ideological, and religious groups.
We are becoming more and more of communities struggling with the consequences of our own failures to find a balance between integration in the one coherent nation and preservation of our collective tribal and religious identity. Even though, the civil war is over and yet, each group is looking to keep the old feature of Liberian hegemony alive, at the expense of more perfect unity creator intended.
Tragically, the younger generation both here and at home, is observing these limitations of our self-imposed divisions and destructions; and watching us rush to one and another only in time of sorrow and party. These youngsters are learning and growing disenchanted, often turning elsewhere for leadership and cultural sustenance. You see, the community that only come together during a time of mourning or celebration is neither a united nor strong community at all.
The unity that we all crave can not be attained overnight nor can it be achieved by us alone. However, the mechanism for adequately addressing it must begin with us and must not be delayed for the future generations to face.
We all know that tribalism is the primary reason for most of our national problems and wars across Africa, but certainly for Liberia. Yet, we not have a dedicated governmental body to deal with it [the Interior Ministry is not adequate and was not even created for that purpose. Problems of such magnitude can not be addressed by just smoking peace-pipe, or talking about it only when something terrible occurs.
In the Western system of addressing big and persistent problems there are lessons for us to learn:
On December 22, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minster Winton Churchhill issued a declaration, signed by representatives of 26 countries, called today the “United Nations.” The signatories of the declaration vowed to create an international postwar peacekeeping organization.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a Federal Agency which was established on July 2, 1965 with the goal of ending employment discrimination based on an individual's race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability and retaliation for reporting and/or opposing a discriminatory practice.
Now fast forward to November 25, 2002, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks the U. S. Department of Homeland Security, the largest federal government reorganization in the history of this nation was created.
Wouldn't you agree that it is about time for the creation of a ministry of (or commission on) Tribal Relations to:
intervene early and often, and not tolerate ethnic jokes, slurs, or discriminations
promote celebrate cultural diversity
encourage open and honest discussions about bigotry and tribalism
take proactive approaches towards tribal collaborations (e.g. project based incentives)
Fellow members of QGMAA, Mandingo, and Liberian communities, it is not enough for one to simply belong to a certain tribe, religion, or class. We must also consider ourselves as "Liberians", which requires a constant state of longing, unquenchable pursuit of renewal, learning, and sparks of significance wherever they may be found for common good of all Liberians. Most of all, we play the lead for the positive changes we want for our country.
It remains for those who care so passionately about the future of Liberia, to break down the walls of separations, to learn from each other, and to search for ways to unify the fragments of our community. We must try to look beyond the fence-posts that our predecessors erected (and are unfortunately still being reinforced by certain elements among us) to integrate our particular groups back into a vibrant Liberian communities both here and at home.
I would like close with this prayer by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, former President of the Republic of Ghana: "Oh God, if I may die, let me die in serving and uniting Africa". Until that day when, we all of us can chose to come together, to stay together, and to work together for the good of our children, and for good of our common purposes, despite our unwarranted fears and differences; "UNITY in DIVERSITY" must continue to be our goal.
Thank you very much, May Allah Bless You, May Allah Bless Quardu Gboni Mandingo Association in Americas, May Allah Bless Liberia and the United States of America.
Al-Sallam AlaiKum
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