Forgotten Heroes - Captain Mbaye

I think when we learn about people who are courageous, people who carry out acts of kindness, who do things from a place of love or selflessness, they are worth remembering, especially during the times when we fall short.. Lack the courage of our convictions, or fail to question or challenge a status quo which lacks legitimacy, is unethical, or even lacks common sense.

Okay, so yesterday.. I knew nothing of this man

Captain, Mbaye Diagne

In the past, I could never quite get why the UN peacekeepers were/are unarmed, but the answer is really in the title isn’t it..

From what I’ve always understood of many African countries which were colonised, is that colonial rule has always operated by creating an 'indigenous' African hierarchy. Appointing, in many cases, 'warrant chiefs' and ensuring that colonial (or white) power is/was maintained by it appearing not to have any. When taxes were gathered or punishments carried out, the administrators were those appointed to do so... they were often black ..and were paid well... or at least they ate the crumbs from the masters table.

They would be educated to British 'esq' standards, and on independence it was often those people who stepped into the institutional/governmental positions once created by the colonisers.

An illegitimate hierarchy or power structure will always cause animosity.. and has a shelf life.
And if the elite 'preferred' ethic group was the minority group... the dominant majority could potentially have an axe to grind.

What’s sad about places like Rwanda is that there were many relationships and marriages across ethnic boundaries, and children from these unions, and in reality, the ethnic divisions were a socially constructed illusion.
Sad.

'The masters tools, will never dismantle, the masters house'
Audrey Lourde


Tribute to Captain Mbaye.

A man from Senegal - BBC Report [A good man in Rwanda]