Obama’s acceptance speech was a jewel, marveled at by supporters and widely mentioned and interrogated by pundits. Several things stood out for President elect – Barrack Obama’s speech with the top contender for pundits being how subtle and subdued this victory speech was. Most of us expected the typical victory lap that accompanies most contests. Kenyan MP’s are still organizing and attending home coming parties, 11 months after our bloody elections. While Obama’s speech was conveyed with humility, here in Kenya, we humiliate the loser, even if the game was not fair to start with, and it rarely is, especially when it comes to politics. Obama’s speech like his whole campaign was not typical. It was a reality check, notifying republicans that, people’s opinions matter, and telling democrats that, now the real work begins. It was delivered in an almost somber tone that inspired yet, provoked thought and forethought. It was delivered with a measure of candor about the obstacles that lay ahead. These are just some of the aspects that pundits felt were worth discussing. However, what fundamentally stood out for me was only marginal mentioned. Anne Nixon Cooper.
The Anecdotic impact of Obama’s reference to Anne Nixon Cooper was simply ingenious and heartfelt. At 106 years old, Anne Nixon Cooper voted in Atlanta in the 2008 US general elections, and Obama took special notice to this for several reasons. And like only he can, he eloquently expressed them to maximum effect. In those 106 years, Anne Nixon Cooper was born only a generation away from slavery. She was discriminated against as a black person, and as a woman, which also meant she could not vote due to both prejudices. She witnessed the world war one, the 1929 black October, the Second World War, the invasion at Pearl Harbor, and the consequent atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She saw the civil right movements start, and at times end badly. She saw blacks killed for being black, and black leaders’ assassinated in their efforts to fight their human rights. She was there for the economic crises of ’71 and ’87, the war in the afghans against Russia, the war in Kuwait against Iraq, the 9/11 bombing, the war in Iraq, and has also survived both terms of the Bush administration, three if you add his father’s.
But having seen all these evils committed in the world, and the lows that America has sank into on so many occasion, she has also lived long enough to see the world and America in particular rise up again and overcome. She lived to see women being allowed to vote, and later, much later on, blacks. She watched the world pick itself after world wars, including the cold war, and rise to new heights. She watched the ramifications to the atomic bombing whose effects are being felt to date, and which have guarded against such attacks since. She saw the resolve of African Americans in airing their issues and demanding equal rights with their white counterparts. She witnessed the civil rights movement and the fight for equality carry on despite the frequent assassinations of black leaders by white supremacists. She saw America collect and build itself up after the economic depressions of ’29 and ’87. And best of all, she has lived to see a black man elected the president of the most powerful country in the world.
That is the beauty of a rich history. America can look back and see the error of their ways, but also derive inspiration from fights fought and won by their predecessors. That is what feeds their hope that they can and will also overcome current economic crisis.
Kenya recently saw its worst post independence violence, and is yet to recover from what happened. As things stand, the undercurrents that stirred that violence are still very much at play and threaten to tear this country apart at a future date if not handled effectively to date. I now seek a Kenyan anecdote in the form of Achieng Wanjiru Chebet, the 106 year old Kenyan who has seen it all. She was born immediately after the colonialist set base in Kenya. She saw communities rounded up and taken to reserves so that settlers could be given their fertile land. She saw communities divided and played against each other so that the British could rule with little resistance. She saw the railway line from Mombasa to Uganda constructed so that our resources could be shipped to the West. She saw dissent emerge among Kenyans who started demanding their independence. She saw this dissent develop into a fight for our independence, which led to the arrest and even murder of the top figures spearheading the fight. She saw Kenyans remaining steadfast in their insistence which finally led to the British giving in and handing us our independence. She was there when the Kenyan flag was first raised and national anthem sang, in honor of our newly found freedom and sovereignty. She was elated and knew that things could now only get better.
If whoever won the elections in Kenya earlier this year were to use the anecdote that Obama used in his victory speech, but use Achieng Wanjiru Chebet instead of Anne Nixon Cooper, the reality of it would be sobering, if not baffling. After independence, the land recovered from settlers was not redistributed among the original owners, but was rather divided among the elite, Kenyatta’s family, friends, and loyalists. This is despite many Kenyans being turned into squatters, and the frequent violence that have been rooted in the land issues. The constitution used by colonialists is still being used to date. The young promising leaders who had the brains and heart for effecting true reforms were murdered like dogs in the streets in yet to be solved murders. Tom Mboya, Pio Gama Pinto, J.M. Kariuki, and Robert Ouko are just to mention but a few. She has seen the economy deteriorate and improve, but with no tangible effects on the common man. She has seen over a dozen commissions set up to investigate land problems, corruption, post election violence etc. She is yet to see any action taken in implementing even one recommendation let alone addressing whole predicaments. The last time she was proud of her country was in the fight for independence, but sine then, she struggles to find something to be proud of, especially in terms of the direction our country has taken since 1963.
We have absolutely no reason to look back except maybe in an effort to break away with the past. Our pride as Kenyans is neither in our history nor government, but is forged by a few personalities like our athletes who, in their individual capacities, have managed to keep the Kenyan spirit alive. All our Government has done is ride on such personalities to enhance a superficial sense of pride by producing some stickers with the words, “I’m Proud to Be Kenyan” written across them. Except for personalities, we have nothing in our history to be proud of as a country. Absolutely nothing to draw inspiration from, and the recent post election violence is now part of our history, whose wrongs we cannot agree to rectify.
