by Akosua Adomako Ampofo, University of Ghana, and Simangaliso R Kumalo, University of KwaZulu-Natal and Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary, Co-editors, The CIHA Blog
We follow our initial post on the aftermath of the U.S. election cataclysm with these comments from two of our Co-Editors based in Ghana and South Africa, drawn from our Team conversations. Both are committed Christians (Prof. Kumalo is also an ordained Methodist minister), and norms in most parts of Africa permit much more public discussion of the constitutive role of God, faith, politics and action (than, for example, in the U.S. or Europe). Their comments are indicative of the anxiety and shock, along with the solidarity and advice, that many around the world are expressing to their U.S. colleagues.
Simanga: Condolences and prayers of solidarity to all the people of goodwill and justice for all in the US. Keep Hope Alive.
Akosua: I know that at this time you are still reeling. Even I, a non-citizen in far away Ghana have been stumped, silenced, confused, hurt, angry, dismayed.
Simanga: The world has changed. You are no longer on your own. You are part of a global community and you long to be accepted not as oppressors and backward racists. Generally as a nation you have the longing to be champions of democracy and goodwill. These things must count for something even in this situation.
You will also need to prepare for a new wave of resistance, and what in the language of the church we would call a “prophetic movement.” Now you will engage in resistance movements not in solidarity with others outside your country (as in humanitarian action), but now you will have reason to resist your own government.
Remember you are not alone. ” Even though I tread on the valley of death. I shall fear no evil for you are with me. You road comforts me”.
Akosua: I feel like I’m on another planet and will get back to earth soon. How on earth do we begin healing in the face of the election and all that DT stood for? Clearly misogyny also runs way deeper than we thought.
But as a Christian I believe that there will be a task for us. The clarity will come, once you emerge from numbness, to pain, to tears, to anger, to a plan and action.
Akosua: Gender most definitely played a role.
Despite what they had to endure, more women of color in the U.S. Senate is really just a small silver lining.
Simanga: The majority of the American people have disappointed and stunned the rest of us by choosing to be led by Donald Trump. Your country has been a symbol human rights, gender equality and place of opportunities for all people than any other country on earth so we believed. The results of the recent elections have shuttered that glowing picture. But there is one thing that has remained intact. Listening to both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama delivering their concession and congratulatory speeches to the President-elect respectively was refreshing. Both of them rose above the anger and disappointment to thinking about the country and emphasized the importance of putting the country.
Akosua: It’s so true about Clinton and Obama showing true state wo/manship. I think it’s ridiculous though that here we are again with Democrats losing out on this electoral college thing – the worlds ‘greatest democracy’ but each person’s vote is not equal. Like Al Gore she (HRC) won the popular vote and yet lost the election. I hope the conservatives don’t do further redrawing of electoral lines. However, as a Christian I have no doubt that God has allowed (maybe even forged?) this for some lessons we must all learn. The Democratic party, the US establishments, the American people, ALL of us who hail their democracy as if salvation lies with humans or systems. Yet I do hope this is not darkness before the dawn.
Simanga: I agree with you Akosua. We all feel let down by our model of democracy. But we’ve got to keep hope alive.
Akosua: God doesn’t MAKE bad things happen but may allow them. God is sovereign and could intervene. Sometimes God does ‘interrupt’ our free will. Sometimes, usually I think, God doesn’t. And I believe the US and we all have mighty lessons to learn. The left has taken too much for granted (see the verysmartbrothas.com below). We so called Christians have taken much for granted (see Bill Maher, below). There’s a reason to the madness …to enable the people to rise methinks.
http://verysmartbrothas.com/once-again-black-women-did-the-work-white-women-refused-to/
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_581d7c7be4b0aac62484ad99?
Simanga: My only words of encouragement are: Do not be paralyzed by the recent events. The future of the US and the rest of the world depends on critical voices.
Generally, we tended to live under the illusion that the US as an advanced democracy had gone beyond things such as bigotry, fascism, mysogyny, racism and authoritarianism. The recent events have reminded us that democracy is forever a work in progress. It is never a finished product, in any country including the US. Because it depends on human beings who are fallible, it remains vulnerable. So there is no substitute for a conscientized citizenry that will serve as a watchdog. This Blog must seek to add to its focus on humanitarianism so that it is not only directed at Africa, but also to the US, where the violation of people’s rights based on who they are, where they come from, their religious and sexual orientation seems imminent. Our work is cut out for us.
Akosua: The hatred and bigotry that is surfacing were not crated by DT, he simply exploited them for political gain. Americans have to stop seeing their country as the ‘greatest on the planet” and see their country with all its warts. Those who say ‘this is not what Americans are really like” need to wake up and realise that actually, this IS what many Americans are like. All Americans have to be hurt and/or feel the pain of others. The ‘left’ has also been very fundamentalist. I don’t know many other countries where the discussion is so devoid of nuance for both liberals and conservatives.
Dismal as it may look, and scary days that may be ahead, this is not the end. When there is trauma, we must mourn and then we must heal and then we must fight. AS MLK said, we can’t drive out hate with hate, we simply cannot. Seeking salvation for the haters is our only option, for it is fear that drives them. And as for us, we will rise. God’s children do. And so we will fight and we will survive! The US will, I pray, learn to fix its broken system, and remember all ‘the least of them’ who felt their only route to salvation was a man who could, ironically, abuse other ‘least of thems’… . And as they are fixing, perhaps they will be humble enough to recognise that America is not ‘the greatest country on earth,’ because we must measure ‘greatness’ in how committed we are to ‘the least of them.’
The disappointment, fear, and anger must find positive expression in re-re-re-doubled efforts to fight all forms of injustice everywhere and create a new consciousness for all. “Still we rise!”
Dr. Adomako Ampofo is co-editor of The CIHA Blog and Professor of African and Gender Studies, and Director of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon.
Dr. R. Simangaliso Kumalo is co-editor of the CIHA Blog and Director of Research and Postgraduate Studies, School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, University of KwaZulu-Natal.