Dear editor,
Apparently, the motion has been moved from plastic rice to the removal of the statue, to which, exist two robust defence camps!
Camp A – Includes the royal clerics, defending its irreligious attributions!
To the defenders of this camp, I would say that politics and religion are two parallel waves running at the same speed.
Camp B – Comprises the professors of social justice who are firm on erasing events of the past, relating the removal to those of Saddam, Hitler, Chavez et al!
To the Profs, I humbly remind that memories of the past are age mates to the world hence can never be erased.
For sure mankind often forget without regret that they are only custodians and not owners of any worldly existence including their own body which is always donated to the ants upon dying!
And indeed it will be very impolite to say that they should bring down the Arch with numerous others as well, as part of erasing memories of the past regime but will be good to ask the defenders in both camps about the possibility of erasing the period “1994 – 2016” from the Gambian calendar and build a worship centre as victory to the achievement of the former?
Moreover, it will also be good to know how many of the royal clerics are ready to start or have started an advocacy for the raining down of the Luther King and Mandela statues at least with a social media campaign. Not even rhetorically asking how many of them have taken and/or are dying to take pictures with those statues.
In fact it is an open secret, to know that acquisition of the understanding; that the real taste of the beauty of history is better appreciated several years after the encapsulation of its building (regardless of categorization), can often be more challenging than a thesis defence to the finest educationalist battling emotions!
Hence there is need to lower the temperature of the heart while energising the brain for the challenge of emotions – a battle not won by all warriors!
And finally to the elite professors, knowing how they did get to still know about Chavez, Hitler, Saddam et al even after years of removal of their statues and after their demise can also serve history well.
One thing to note about the uniqueness of history is that, you either make good use of it or it do the opposite!
Until then, I shall wait to hear what the defenders would say on arrival of an inevitable replacement currently on board the train!
Muhammed Teks Tekanyi
USA
