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WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Michael Ewetuga
Injustice is injustice no matter whom or what color the perpetrator is. I have always had strong distaste
for injustice, it seems the distaste is inborn; it is not something that I wish or strive for it just happens, I
just cannot stand injustice. It gives me the effect that you get when you eat something you believe is
distasteful, like eating a foreign food that doesn’t really look good to you. It turns my stomach anytime I
see injustice perpetrated and the perpetrators are nothing but messengers of the devil to me. The
perpetrators are sadists, they derive pleasure in other people’s misery, the pains of the people give
them joy and they rejoice at the common man’s tears.
Sometimes I do feel like holding my peace and let others deal with whatever injustice I perceived just
so I won’t be labeled a trouble maker. Try as I can I am yet to succeed, it is like there’s a spirit inside of
me that cannot stand injustice, a spirit of deciphering unfairness, what is not right, in most cases, is
just not right.
It is easy for us to turn our face and keep quite when injustice is being visited on other people. If
someone is being kicked to death outside our doors it is easy to turn the volume of the TV up and
pretend not to hear the victim’s cry for help. Like Pastor Martin Niemöller said when the Nazis were
killing and inflicting unimaginable pains on the Jews and everyone perceived to be against the
government of the day in Hitler’s Germany:
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
When we are silent, when we refuse to speak up against injustice, sooner or later it will devour us, it
will consume us and when we are at the receiving end there will be nobody to speak up on our behalf.
As the Nobel Laureate from my country, Prof Wole Shoyinka stated in his book “The Man Died” "The
man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny” and as Dr. Martin Luther King said in one of his
numerous speeches “"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of
our friends."
It has been a long time since last I sat with people who refused to keep quiet in the face of tyranny,
people whose blood boils when an injustice is perpetrated, people who will gladly give their lives for
the betterment of the human race without expecting any gain in return their interest is a fair and just
society.
When I am in the midst of people who gladly associate themselves with equal rights and justice it gives
me hope, it makes me believe that maybe there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel. Their speeches
are like drinking cool water after one’s throat is parched from walking for miles on a very hot day, it is so
refreshing and satisfying. It is also evidence that one has not gone crazy, that there are still people who
believe in human value, that there are people who will stand side by side with one when there is need
to raise one’s voice against injustice.
As a student I watched with dismay as pen robbers in government stole from the coffers of the people,
subjecting the people to unbearable agony, telling them to have faith, that their suffering will soon be
over. The people were advised to tighten their belts and sacrifice for a better tomorrow. Most of the
people were ready to sacrifice, they tightened their belts like they were told to, most of them got in such
a bad shape that they cannot undo the belts, their fingers had been weaken by hunger. They really did
not have to worry about undoing the belts, the hunger shrunk their stomachs so much that the belts
came off on their own accord.
People became walking skeletons, walking the streets as if they were in trance, smiles whipped off
their faces. Men were deprived of their manhood, they could not provide for their families as hitherto.
They lost respect and their children looked at them as failures. Stealing became a culture and your
brilliance and success is measured by how cunningly you can steal and get away with it. Justice
became a scarce commodity, available only to the highest bidder. Men died in their quest to obtain what
was rightfully theirs, what they had worked for all their adult lives, what they had been promised, they
died trying to get their pensions.
These men came from far and near with nothing in their bellies, wearing clothes that barely cover their
nakedness. They were told that they would be paid their pensions, so they came, first in droves then in
torrent; they borrowed money to get to their destinations, only to be made to wait for hours without end.
Some of them died under the scotching sun that showed no mercy, with no money to feed death came
swiftly, they had no chance against the strong hand of death, they succumb to the will of death like
butter to a hot knife.
Click To Enlarge
Audience Panelists Audience
We were referred to as the leaders of tomorrow, we watched with horror as not only our tomorrow but
that of our children were mortgaged. In the name of strengthening the economy they brought Structural
Adjustment Program (SAP) and sapped the entire citizenry. We shouted ourselves hoarse but they
pretended not to hear our pained voices, we cried with no one to help dry our tears of anguish. SAP in
itself is not a bad program, as some people explained; it was adopted by some countries with
success, they used the program to turn their countries around. Click here to read more about SAP: http:
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_adjustment
The Military government got everyone discussing the pros and cons of implementing such a program.
The people got fully involved and the whole country became a market place of ideas. The general
conclusion by participants was against implementing the program. Before the discussants in different
fields stood up from their chairs, the government started implementation of the program.
The country became a battlefield for angry people who felt cheated and slighted, the anger drove the
students to the streets, you can’t sleep while your house is on fire, only a foolish man does that and the
students were not foolish. They took to the streets to register their displeasure, some of them were so
angry they felt to be heard they must be violent. Cars were burnt, kerosene bomb were thrown in all
directions. We were being killed by installment anyway, they decided to accelerate the process if only
that will ensure a better tomorrow for our country. The government wasted no time in deploying the
police to the campuses with order to shoot to kill. Many students lost their lives in the struggle.
Some, who believed in a better tomorrow at least for themselves since they were at the threshold of
graduating from the University, countered the demonstration, they believed the demonstrators were
being foolish, they were of the opinion that we should hurry and get educated which was the primary
reason of being on campus anyway. They believed with education comes power and money and thus
the ability to effect change. They tried to reason with the demonstrators in the lower classes, but then
some had lost it, violence was the order of the day. Violence does not solve problems; speeches were
given citing the Indian movement under Mahatma Gandhi and the American Civil Rights Movement
under Martin Luther King. But parts of the student population were not to be reasoned with, reason had
flown out of the window and violence was ragging like wild fire. In the heat of that violence, on the
Campus of Obafemi Awolowo University “Opanka”, a final year student, was killed.
I wrote an article that day wondering what we had achieved with violence and questioning the killing. I
called the violent demonstrators immature and not better than the beasts who perpetrated the injustice
that they were demonstrating against. I was in my room arguing the merits and demerits of the
demonstration with my roommates when someone felt the best way to stop me was make all sort of
noise with all sorts of objects, I retaliated and almost lost my life when they came for me, I was beaten
and treated like a thief. I was so ashamed of how the demonstration turned out I had to be there to pay
my last respect when “Opanka” was buried at a very real risk to my life and that of others that went from
the school to witness his burial.
“Opanka” (I never know his real name) was given a befitting burial by his people and despite the fact
that they lost a son, who was to graduate that year, they treated us with utmost respect, they welcomed
us with open arms, even though they could have visited the anger of losing their son on us. At Onitcha,
in Anambra State of Nigeria, they carried themselves with dignity and equanimity, they did not show any
animosity towards us.
I made a pledge that day when “Opanka” was buried that no matter how much things seem to be going
my way I will not be insensitive to the suffering of others.
When you fight against racism, when you cry out against injustice look around you and you will find the
same people of the same color as those you are fighting marching with you as in the case of some
white people who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King.
When I was coming to Washington State some of my friends cautioned that it is a “White State”. I
reminded my friends that I had lived in a so called White State before and this will not be any different, I
am glad that this White State gave me the joy of sitting with people who despise injustice, I am glad to
have attended the panel discussion of The Black/White Civil Rights Coalition the theme of which was
“Where Are We Now?” “What are the prospects for Productive Partnerships between White
Progressives and Communities of Color?
The panelists were:
1. Imam Amir Abdul-Matin President, Islamic Education and Community Center, Tacoma, WA
2. Artee Young Executive Director of The Evergreen State College Tacoma WA
3. Tom Hilyard Director of Pierce County Office of Community Services, 1st Vice President of the
NAACP, Tacoma Chapter, 1st Vice President of the Tacoma Branch NAACP, Chair of the education
committee of the Tacoma Pierce County Black Collective
4. Nina Berenfeld Co leader of the Olympia Muslim Jewish Listening Project, who also works with the
Seattle based International Organization United to End Racism
5. Bill Hagens A clinical Professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health &
Community Medicine
6. Charhys Bailey A hip hop artist, creative writer, student and activist
7. Mike Honey The Fred and Dorothy Haley Professor of the Humanities at UWT and Harry Bridges
Chair of Labor Studies Emeritus at the University of Washington, teaching African American and Labor
Studies and
8. John Thompson of the Central Labor Council
The program was moderated by Dexter Gordon, Chair of the conversation and professor at University of
Puget Sound.
The program, which was held at the Broadway Center for Performing Arts Downtown Tacoma in
Washington State, sought answers to the question “What are the prospects for Productive Partnerships
between White Progressives and Communities of Color?”
The answers to the question was as diverse as the panelists and the audience, but all in all it was a
very educative and somewhat entertaining discussion even though it was generally agreed that there is
more work to be done in order to bring the White and Colored coalition back to live.
It was also the general consensus that the young people should be educated in order to bring them
face to face with the reality of racism which someone described as a threat to humanity.
According to Artee Young, the coalition evaporated because it did not capture the mind of young people.
Tom Hilyard stated that in his opinion other interests overshadowed interest in civil rights.
Nina gave us an insight into how the minds of young people work; she stated that young people believe
racism is over.
Bill postulated that to resuscitate the movement common course must be identified. Charhys was of
opinion that young people believe they are not affected by racism, she postulated that the young people
are in need of multicultural models.
The Panelists agreed that young people should be brought into the movement and there ought to be an
effective handing over of the touch to them, an opinion that Charhys apparently disagreed with when
she said she doesn’t wait for the torch to be handed over, she just picks it up.
I did my best to record the panelists’ individual contributions, a very difficult task especially when you
are soaking in some important points being made; I might have to get a recorder in order to effectively
record participants’ contributions in future.
Even if I get nothing else in this so called “White State” I at least know there are people who feel
strongly about justice, people whose main concern is a society that is fair to all regardless of color,
class or creed, people with enough foresight to see that the only way to freedom is a just society where
people can co exist without mutual suspicions. I am looking forward to drinking from the fountain of
knowledge provided by these guardians of fair play.
Comment
Michael Ewetuga
Injustice is injustice no matter whom or what color the perpetrator is. I have always had strong distaste
for injustice, it seems the distaste is inborn; it is not something that I wish or strive for it just happens, I
just cannot stand injustice. It gives me the effect that you get when you eat something you believe is
distasteful, like eating a foreign food that doesn’t really look good to you. It turns my stomach anytime I
see injustice perpetrated and the perpetrators are nothing but messengers of the devil to me. The
perpetrators are sadists, they derive pleasure in other people’s misery, the pains of the people give
them joy and they rejoice at the common man’s tears.
Sometimes I do feel like holding my peace and let others deal with whatever injustice I perceived just
so I won’t be labeled a trouble maker. Try as I can I am yet to succeed, it is like there’s a spirit inside of
me that cannot stand injustice, a spirit of deciphering unfairness, what is not right, in most cases, is
just not right.
It is easy for us to turn our face and keep quite when injustice is being visited on other people. If
someone is being kicked to death outside our doors it is easy to turn the volume of the TV up and
pretend not to hear the victim’s cry for help. Like Pastor Martin Niemöller said when the Nazis were
killing and inflicting unimaginable pains on the Jews and everyone perceived to be against the
government of the day in Hitler’s Germany:
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
When we are silent, when we refuse to speak up against injustice, sooner or later it will devour us, it
will consume us and when we are at the receiving end there will be nobody to speak up on our behalf.
As the Nobel Laureate from my country, Prof Wole Shoyinka stated in his book “The Man Died” "The
man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny” and as Dr. Martin Luther King said in one of his
numerous speeches “"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of
our friends."
It has been a long time since last I sat with people who refused to keep quiet in the face of tyranny,
people whose blood boils when an injustice is perpetrated, people who will gladly give their lives for
the betterment of the human race without expecting any gain in return their interest is a fair and just
society.
When I am in the midst of people who gladly associate themselves with equal rights and justice it gives
me hope, it makes me believe that maybe there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel. Their speeches
are like drinking cool water after one’s throat is parched from walking for miles on a very hot day, it is so
refreshing and satisfying. It is also evidence that one has not gone crazy, that there are still people who
believe in human value, that there are people who will stand side by side with one when there is need
to raise one’s voice against injustice.
As a student I watched with dismay as pen robbers in government stole from the coffers of the people,
subjecting the people to unbearable agony, telling them to have faith, that their suffering will soon be
over. The people were advised to tighten their belts and sacrifice for a better tomorrow. Most of the
people were ready to sacrifice, they tightened their belts like they were told to, most of them got in such
a bad shape that they cannot undo the belts, their fingers had been weaken by hunger. They really did
not have to worry about undoing the belts, the hunger shrunk their stomachs so much that the belts
came off on their own accord.
People became walking skeletons, walking the streets as if they were in trance, smiles whipped off
their faces. Men were deprived of their manhood, they could not provide for their families as hitherto.
They lost respect and their children looked at them as failures. Stealing became a culture and your
brilliance and success is measured by how cunningly you can steal and get away with it. Justice
became a scarce commodity, available only to the highest bidder. Men died in their quest to obtain what
was rightfully theirs, what they had worked for all their adult lives, what they had been promised, they
died trying to get their pensions.
These men came from far and near with nothing in their bellies, wearing clothes that barely cover their
nakedness. They were told that they would be paid their pensions, so they came, first in droves then in
torrent; they borrowed money to get to their destinations, only to be made to wait for hours without end.
Some of them died under the scotching sun that showed no mercy, with no money to feed death came
swiftly, they had no chance against the strong hand of death, they succumb to the will of death like
butter to a hot knife.
Click To Enlarge
Audience Panelists Audience
We were referred to as the leaders of tomorrow, we watched with horror as not only our tomorrow but
that of our children were mortgaged. In the name of strengthening the economy they brought Structural
Adjustment Program (SAP) and sapped the entire citizenry. We shouted ourselves hoarse but they
pretended not to hear our pained voices, we cried with no one to help dry our tears of anguish. SAP in
itself is not a bad program, as some people explained; it was adopted by some countries with
success, they used the program to turn their countries around. Click here to read more about SAP: http:
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_adjustment
The Military government got everyone discussing the pros and cons of implementing such a program.
The people got fully involved and the whole country became a market place of ideas. The general
conclusion by participants was against implementing the program. Before the discussants in different
fields stood up from their chairs, the government started implementation of the program.
The country became a battlefield for angry people who felt cheated and slighted, the anger drove the
students to the streets, you can’t sleep while your house is on fire, only a foolish man does that and the
students were not foolish. They took to the streets to register their displeasure, some of them were so
angry they felt to be heard they must be violent. Cars were burnt, kerosene bomb were thrown in all
directions. We were being killed by installment anyway, they decided to accelerate the process if only
that will ensure a better tomorrow for our country. The government wasted no time in deploying the
police to the campuses with order to shoot to kill. Many students lost their lives in the struggle.
Some, who believed in a better tomorrow at least for themselves since they were at the threshold of
graduating from the University, countered the demonstration, they believed the demonstrators were
being foolish, they were of the opinion that we should hurry and get educated which was the primary
reason of being on campus anyway. They believed with education comes power and money and thus
the ability to effect change. They tried to reason with the demonstrators in the lower classes, but then
some had lost it, violence was the order of the day. Violence does not solve problems; speeches were
given citing the Indian movement under Mahatma Gandhi and the American Civil Rights Movement
under Martin Luther King. But parts of the student population were not to be reasoned with, reason had
flown out of the window and violence was ragging like wild fire. In the heat of that violence, on the
Campus of Obafemi Awolowo University “Opanka”, a final year student, was killed.
I wrote an article that day wondering what we had achieved with violence and questioning the killing. I
called the violent demonstrators immature and not better than the beasts who perpetrated the injustice
that they were demonstrating against. I was in my room arguing the merits and demerits of the
demonstration with my roommates when someone felt the best way to stop me was make all sort of
noise with all sorts of objects, I retaliated and almost lost my life when they came for me, I was beaten
and treated like a thief. I was so ashamed of how the demonstration turned out I had to be there to pay
my last respect when “Opanka” was buried at a very real risk to my life and that of others that went from
the school to witness his burial.
“Opanka” (I never know his real name) was given a befitting burial by his people and despite the fact
that they lost a son, who was to graduate that year, they treated us with utmost respect, they welcomed
us with open arms, even though they could have visited the anger of losing their son on us. At Onitcha,
in Anambra State of Nigeria, they carried themselves with dignity and equanimity, they did not show any
animosity towards us.
I made a pledge that day when “Opanka” was buried that no matter how much things seem to be going
my way I will not be insensitive to the suffering of others.
When you fight against racism, when you cry out against injustice look around you and you will find the
same people of the same color as those you are fighting marching with you as in the case of some
white people who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King.
When I was coming to Washington State some of my friends cautioned that it is a “White State”. I
reminded my friends that I had lived in a so called White State before and this will not be any different, I
am glad that this White State gave me the joy of sitting with people who despise injustice, I am glad to
have attended the panel discussion of The Black/White Civil Rights Coalition the theme of which was
“Where Are We Now?” “What are the prospects for Productive Partnerships between White
Progressives and Communities of Color?
The panelists were:
1. Imam Amir Abdul-Matin President, Islamic Education and Community Center, Tacoma, WA
2. Artee Young Executive Director of The Evergreen State College Tacoma WA
3. Tom Hilyard Director of Pierce County Office of Community Services, 1st Vice President of the
NAACP, Tacoma Chapter, 1st Vice President of the Tacoma Branch NAACP, Chair of the education
committee of the Tacoma Pierce County Black Collective
4. Nina Berenfeld Co leader of the Olympia Muslim Jewish Listening Project, who also works with the
Seattle based International Organization United to End Racism
5. Bill Hagens A clinical Professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health &
Community Medicine
6. Charhys Bailey A hip hop artist, creative writer, student and activist
7. Mike Honey The Fred and Dorothy Haley Professor of the Humanities at UWT and Harry Bridges
Chair of Labor Studies Emeritus at the University of Washington, teaching African American and Labor
Studies and
8. John Thompson of the Central Labor Council
The program was moderated by Dexter Gordon, Chair of the conversation and professor at University of
Puget Sound.
The program, which was held at the Broadway Center for Performing Arts Downtown Tacoma in
Washington State, sought answers to the question “What are the prospects for Productive Partnerships
between White Progressives and Communities of Color?”
The answers to the question was as diverse as the panelists and the audience, but all in all it was a
very educative and somewhat entertaining discussion even though it was generally agreed that there is
more work to be done in order to bring the White and Colored coalition back to live.
It was also the general consensus that the young people should be educated in order to bring them
face to face with the reality of racism which someone described as a threat to humanity.
According to Artee Young, the coalition evaporated because it did not capture the mind of young people.
Tom Hilyard stated that in his opinion other interests overshadowed interest in civil rights.
Nina gave us an insight into how the minds of young people work; she stated that young people believe
racism is over.
Bill postulated that to resuscitate the movement common course must be identified. Charhys was of
opinion that young people believe they are not affected by racism, she postulated that the young people
are in need of multicultural models.
The Panelists agreed that young people should be brought into the movement and there ought to be an
effective handing over of the touch to them, an opinion that Charhys apparently disagreed with when
she said she doesn’t wait for the torch to be handed over, she just picks it up.
I did my best to record the panelists’ individual contributions, a very difficult task especially when you
are soaking in some important points being made; I might have to get a recorder in order to effectively
record participants’ contributions in future.
Even if I get nothing else in this so called “White State” I at least know there are people who feel
strongly about justice, people whose main concern is a society that is fair to all regardless of color,
class or creed, people with enough foresight to see that the only way to freedom is a just society where
people can co exist without mutual suspicions. I am looking forward to drinking from the fountain of
knowledge provided by these guardians of fair play.
Comment
