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There is a tendency on the part of members of mainstream society to assume that past wrongs against marginalized groups have been righted. I also suspect that we members of mainstream society are quick to suffer compassion fatigue. We are able to sympathize with the lyrics of reggae musicians, or to sigh at the blood shed in the building of the American nation, only for a while. We do not want to confront the faces of marginalization and poverty longer than “necessary”. I wonder, is it because we feel guilty that we have somehow benefited from this system that has marginalized others? Or is it because we do not want to face any one's powerlessness as it is a reminder that we too could be just as powerless, and that it is only an accident of fate that has left us relatively prosperous?
I think some of us are guilty of romanticizing “resistance” when we hear it voiced in songs, and when we see icons of one revolution or another emblazoned on t-shirts. In our dreams, we want to stand for the same ideals that these men or women lost their limbs and lives fighting for. However, reality checks in, and we gradually realize that the experiences that push our fellows to revolt are immensely dehumanizing, and that they leave deep psychological wounds in the population for generations.
Revolutionaries cannot take their coats off and call it a day because, for them, the day never ends. The back-breaking cycle of poverty remains with them and with their people (In fact, it worsens, if the past 100 years are anything to go by); malnutrition and disease take their toll, and violence is increasingly directed at the underdogs within the community. Those who have no choice remain in the thick of it, while those who can escape or who have more comfortable lives to run to (such as ourselves) turn their faces away and try to convince themselves that the violence and the pain are all over now and that it’s time to turn to more empowering and positive experiences.
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R Kahendi
The opportunity to learn from people from different walks of life has opened my eyes to the larger problems affecting us all.
I enjoy doing creative writing, poetry, and pieces on social issues. You can read some of my writing on my weblogs: KAHENDI'S BLOG, Ouagadougou's Weblog and Kahendi's Korner
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