The word family has become a cliché within discussions about how we hope to get beyond the painful legacy of impunity that robbed many Liberians of their future. Nonetheless, given our communal tradition, we owe our lives to one another, even more so in the aftermath of the war than ever before. We must acknowledge our interdependence and behave in manners that depict that our communal survival depends solely on one another. Simply, regarding ourselves as family is the cornerstone upon which healing and reconciliation will come to our nation. Essentially, none of us is indispensable to the other.
CROWD SURROUNDS Dr. DOLO
Indeed, we all have a “secret garden,” which we visit to draw our spiritual strengths to overcome the evil and inhumanity that has consumed us. I have come to realize that my source of such rejuvenation is a vibrant and passionate intellectual exchange about the future of our beloved country – Liberia. When involved in a discourse about “this glorious land of liberty,” especially its stolen legacy and the stolen humanity of its young and innocent children, who lack the opportunity to face their perpetrators, my passion sometimes has a way of getting the best of me. But there is nothing that I have reverence for more than God and the Liberian people. Therefore, the wisdom of each Liberian has resonance so powerful that when they declare their concerns for my action, I am compelled by the dictates of my upbringing to listen carefully and adhere to their call.
During the last event at North Hennepin Community College, where we viewed and discussed the documentary: The Fragile Peace, some of you noted that I was “harsh.” Some even construed my response to participants as being “arrogant.” I heard from some community leaders who discussed their thoughts with me regarding the events of that evening. I have written this article to express my apologies to those who participated in the events and felt or expressed any of the sentiments mentioned above. I therefore see myself caught up in the tension between expectations of equality that have been denied many Liberians, and my reverence and respect for you, my fellow Liberians. What is most important to me is to continue to foster cordial relations with you all.
I did not attend this meeting with the desire to offend anyone. My goal was to provide service to our community. I came to this gathering to add my voice to the chorus of persons called upon to critically examine the film for its merit from the vantage point of their expertise. The turbulence of the conversation released emotions that subsumed our good intentions. For some of you, the turn that the conversation took was unsatisfactory.
I have reflected upon your comments and arrived at a point of remorse. I am remorseful because the goal of my continued work is to share my insights in a spirit that conveys my passion for social justice. Equally, my goal is to learn from each of you in the process so that we mutually grow for the benefit of our beloved country. It is never an intentional and purposeful quest to devalue or deny respect to you. Clearly the work of a transformative scholar is to dismantle the status quo and bring healing to the wounds of past and present neglect. And beyond healing and fostering reconciliation, my goal is to envision, help create, and model the ways in which strong civic virtues can be practiced among us. That is why this article is not an apology for the intense disgust that I feel for people who squandered our resources and caused poverty to rain down on our people. We are a resource-rich nation, and to be at a point of destitution because of the crass nature of certain individuals whose parasitic lifestyles have been responsible for our plight is a sheer disgrace. I also cannot countenance international organizations that find value in exploiting our misery while treating qualified Liberians as parts of a subhuman species. It is hard not to let them know in the strongest possible terms that their actions are unacceptable.
The nature of my scholarship is to expose the intellectual blinders of some members of the intellectual, political, and professional classes and to link those blinders to the actual blood of our brothers and sisters who died in the war. I have to call attention to the human toll of these blinders, manifested by the blame shifting that often makes the predators seem as if they are the victims, when exposed; and the victims are the perpetrators, because they can no longer stomach being exploited. We cannot surmount our plight if we do not call attention to the brutal realities of class-based exploitation, ethnic polarization, patriarchal domination, public corruption, and sheer ineffectiveness that are at the roots our heartbreak. To expect that one can address these issues without passion, especially when you know first hand how you were exploited is a challenging feat. My generation has paid a price that is extremely costly, and thus serves as the impetus for the emotions that find roost in me. I will make every attempt to regulate my emotions to soothe my audience.
I express heartfelt apologies to those audience members that did not understand the context of my furor. Clearly, any behavior that is stripped of context and more importantly devoid of personal contact with the person under scrutiny has the tendency to create erroneous impressions. I have learned from your comments that it will be critical that I maintain an artificial demeanor, which falls short of being faithful to the pain caused by the inhumanity and the impunity that underlie my intolerance for the predatory practices that landed us in this dismal state. I also beg that you understand that it is difficult to endure the kinds of indignities that caused our nation to reach such an appalling point without a bit of excitement, and even furor. I plan to meet you halfway when we encounter one another again. I hope you will find a place in your hearts to forgive me. The pathway to reconciliation, healing, and democratic growth is paved with bumps and tussles.
I hope that the deafening silence and even apathy with which many of us have endured personal and collective consequences of the war will be broken. Thank you for your personal and collective resilience.
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