Sweat and Pain for Mama

So, the Kampala Marathon is successfully behind us and we have gotten the results. I have just checked and this is how it went down for me:

Distance: 10 km
Category: Open

Overall: I was the 4,874th out of 6,151 who finished the race. This means I beat 1,277 to the finish line.

Gender: Among the men, I was the 3,862th out of 4,326 men who reached the finishing line. I outperformed 464 other men.

Other vital stats: I ran the race in 1 hour, 27 mins and 3 seconds at an average speed of 6.89 km/hr. This means it took me [on average] 8 minutes and 42 seconds for each kilometre. In the Open category, I was 3,747th beating 445 others.

All these results were faithfully collected by a chip [whose code was or is 2MKZ53Z] that was tied tight to my shoelaces of my right shoe.

For me, the achievement is finishing the race without hardly any prior training but on will and determination.

Ultimately, this is my humble contribution to helping mothers/expectant mothers in northern Uganda return to their homes with a Mama Bag and Return Kit and rebuild their lives [See my previous post].

PS: I have recovered from the muscle aches in my legs and shoulders....The outcome of my participation is appreciation for keeping fit. I promised to jog more often and exercise regularly.

PPS: According to this article in The New Vision newspaper, out of the 10,800 who registered, the race computers registered 7,019 and up to 3,800 didn't turn up or failed to make it to the end. As a participant who was doing it for a noble cause, I thank all those who registered....because their contribution [through the registration fee] will go towards those mothers and families who are going back home after decades in those awful and squalid IDP camps.

Running for fun, running for money but for a noble cause

When the 4^th Annual MTN-branded Kampala Marathon is held on Sunday 23rd November 2008 under the theme "Mama Bag and Return Kit", after the prize money has been won and other accolades awarded, the major beneficiary will be the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS).

The humanitarian organisation is on a drive to raise a total of Shs. 100 million (US$ 51,020) for the resettlement of expectant mothers and their families that were displaced by the two-decades war in northern Uganda. In associating with MTN, the event sponsors, URCS is banking on the magnanimity of the corporate organisations, professional athletes and individuals who have registered for the event. Already, URCS has a reason to smile because the overwhelming response that had the organisers extending the deadline for registration from 31 October 2008 by a week. This marathon is part of a series of fundraising drives, including an Annual Dinner Dance and a Golf Tournament, which URCS has carried out to support its causes and work.

To register for the race, individuals paid Shs. 5,000 (US$2.55) while corporate teams paid Shs. 500,000 (US$ 255). The race is divided in a number of categories: 42 km [where the participants have to be above 18 years], 21 km and 10 km Open [age limit is 16 years], 21 km and 10 km Corporate Challenges, 10 km Wheelchair Race, and 10 km Master's Race where participants have to be above 50 years.

The money that will be raised is to be used for "Mama Bags" and "Return Kits" for 2,000 families that are returning from internally displaced persons' (IDP) camps. Mama Bag contains materials that assist expectant mothers and enable them have a safe delivery, while the Return Kit contains basic farming equipment. According to the information booklet, "a mother, the un-born child, the father and other children will be able to benefit hence making the number of beneficiaries bigger than the target".

Mama Bag was established in 2004 and over the last three years, a total of 6,000 mothers in IDP camps have been supported. The Return Kit has been added as a component to encourage the returnees engage in agriculture for sustenance and income generation.

However, the smiles will be on the faces of the winners of the different race categories. Shs. 5 million (US$2,550) is the top prize for the 42 km, Shs. 3 million (US$1,530) for the 21 km, Shs. 1.4 million (US$714) for the 10 km and the same amount for the 10 km Wheelchair Race, and Shs. 500,000 (US$255) for the 10 km Masters' Race.

At the finish line, whether the aim was fun or money, expectant mothers and families in the North will have gained from that sweat. The media advertisement for the marathon has the catch-phrase "Run for fun, run for life" which captures what this is about.

Now that Obama-mania is burning out, I can blog

The Obama-mania kept me busy writing, these are some of the stories I put out on this blog, BBC radio’s World Have Your Say website and The New Vision, a daily newspaper in Uganda—Feel free to add comments on these articles:

Are We Pre-Occupied with Obama and America http://talesfromabyssinia.blogspot.com/2009/09/are-we-pre-occupied-with-obama-and.html

Is Obama Win the Biggest Moment in Black History? http://talesfromabyssinia.blogspot.com/2008/06/is-obama-win-biggest-moment-in-history.html

My Ranting Response to Obama's Nomination Win http://talesfromabyssinia.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-ranting-response-to-obamas.html

Is Obama really an inspiration? http://talesfromabyssinia.blogspot.com/2008/10/is-obama-really-inspiration_21.html

Malcolm X was truly an inspiration, Obama is not http://talesfromabyssinia.blogspot.com/2008/10/malcolm-x-was-truly-inspiration-obama.html

This post was initially left empty symbolically (save for the title) but it being the third most referred to post on this blog, I decided to fill the space with my writings on the subject

Malcolm X was truly an inspiration, Obama is not

After the publication of my article on Obama in The New Vision newspaper, among the feedback I got was that I was "stuck in the Malcolm X era". This was in reference to my contrasting of Barack Obama with Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah etc.

I have not yet read his (X's) biography [or is it autobiography] but I have watched the Spike Lee film and read different articles over time. But today I was sent an e-mail that had a link to this website that carries a summary of his life.

My conclusion after reading this was that Barack Hussein Obama is no Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King Jr. He is just a politician who gave his best shot at the Democratic Party (DP) nomination, won it and he may just become US President. The others were inspirational because they were driven by conviction to fight social injustices and recognition of black people as equals and not second-class citizens.

For those who may want to read it but not visit www.africanaonline.com, it is below:

Malcolm X was a powerful and influential speaker. This excerpt, from a speech in April 1964, clearly and directly expresses his views about the status of black people in American society.

Malcolm X (Malcolm X Little; later El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz)(1925-1965), a leading figure in the 20th-century movement for black liberation in the United States, and arguably its most enduring symbol.Malcolm X has been called many things: Pan-Africanist (see Pan-Africanism), father of Black Power, religious fanatic, closet conservative, incipient socialist (see Socialism), and a menace to society. The meaning of his public life—his politics and ideology—is contested in part because his entire body of work consists of a few dozen speeches and a collaborative autobiography whose veracity is often challenged. Gunned down three months before his 40th birthday, Malcolm X's life was cut short just when his thinking had reached a critical juncture.

Malcolm X's life is a Horatio Alger story with a twist. Malcom X is not a "rags to riches" tale, but a powerful narrative of self-transformation from petty hustler to internationally known political leader. Malcom X - Born in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Louise and Earl Little, who was a Baptist preacher active in Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association, Malcolm X, along with his siblings, experienced dramatic confrontations with racism from childhood. Hooded Klansmen burned their home in Lansing, Michigan; Earl Little was killed under mysterious circumstances; welfare agencies split up the children and eventually committed Louise Little to a state mental institution; and Malcolm X was forced to live in a detention home run by a racist white couple. By the eighth grade he left school, moved to Boston, Massachussetts, to live with his half-sister Ella, and discovered the underground world of African American hipsters.

Malcolm X's entry into the masculine culture of the zoot suit, the "conked" (straightened) hair, and the lindy hop coincided with the outbreak of World War II, rising black militancy (symbolized in part by A. Philip Randolph's threatened March on Washington for racial and economic justice), and outbreaks of race riots in Detroit, Michigan, and other cities (see Detroit Riot of 1943). Malcolm X and his partners did not seem very "political" at the time, but they dodged the draft so as not to lose their lives over a "white man's war," and they avoided wage work whenever possible. His search for leisure and pleasure took him to Harlem, New York, where his primary source of income derived from petty hustling, drug dealing, pimping, gambling, and viciously exploiting women. In 1946 his luck ran out; he was arrested for burglary and sentenced to ten years in prison

Malcolm X's downward descent took a U-turn in prison when he began studying the teachings of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam (NOI), the black Muslim group founded by Wallace D. Fard and led by Elijah Muhammad (Elijah Poole). Submitting to the discipline and guidance of the NOI, he became a voracious reader of the Qu'ran (Koran) and the Bible. He also immersed himself in works of literature and history at the prison library. Behind prison walls he quickly emerged as a powerful orator and brilliant rhetorician. He led the famous prison debating team that beat the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, arguing against capital punishment by pointing out that English pickpockets often did their best work at public hangings!

Upon his release in 1952 he renamed himself Malcolm X, symbolically repudiating the "white man's name."As a devoted follower of Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X rose quickly within the NOI ranks, serving as minister of Harlem's Temple No. 7 in 1954, and later ministering to temples in Detroit and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Through national speaking engagements, television appearances, and by establishing Muhammad Speaks—the NOI's first nationally distributed newspaper—Malcolm X put the Nation of Islam on the map. His sharp criticisms of civil rights leaders for advocating integration into white society instead of building black institutions and defending themselves from racist violence generated opposition from both conservatives and liberals. His opponents called him "violent," "fascist," and "racist." To those who claimed that the NOI undermined their efforts toward integration by preaching racial separatism, Malcolm X responded, "It is not integration that Negroes in America want, it is human dignity."

Distinguishing Malcolm X's early political and intellectual views from the teachings of Elijah Muhammad is not a simple matter. His role as minister was to preach the gospel of Islam according to Muhammad. He remained a staunch devotee of the Nation's strict moral codes and gender conventions. Although his own narrative suggests that he never entirely discarded his hustler's distrust of women, he married Betty Sanders (later Betty Shabazz) in 1958 and lived by NOI rules: men must lead, women must follow; the man's domain is the world, the woman's is the home.

On other issues, however, Malcolm X showed signs of independence from the NOI line. During the mid-1950s, for example, he privately scoffed at Muhammad's interpretation of the genesis of the "white race" and seemed uncomfortable with the idea that all white people were literally devils. He was always careful to preface his remarks with "The honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches. . . ." More significantly, Malcolm X clearly disagreed with the NOI's policy of not participating in politics. He not only believed that political mobilization was indispensable but occasionally defied the rule by supporting boycotts and other forms of protest. In 1962, before he split with the NOI, Malcolm X shared the podium with black, white, and Puerto Rican labor organizers in the left-wing, multiracial hospital workers' union in New York.

He also began developing an independent Pan-Africanist and, in some respects, "Third World" political perspective during the 1950s, when anticolonial wars and decolonization (see Decolonization in Africa: An Interpretation) were pressing public issues. As early as 1954 Malcolm X gave a speech comparing the situation in Vietnam (see Vietnam War) with that of the Mau Mau Rebellion in colonial Kenya, framing both of these movements as uprisings of the "darker races" creating a "tidal wave" against U.S. and European imperialism. Indeed, Africa remained his primary political interest outside of black America. He toured Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, and Ghana in 1959, well before his famous trip to Africa and the Middle East in 1964.

Although Malcolm X tried to conceal his differences with Elijah Muhammad, tensions between them erupted. The tensions were exacerbated by the threat Malcolm X's popularity posed to Muhammad's leadership and by Malcolm X's disillusionment with Elijah upon learning that the NOI's moral and spiritual leader had fathered children by former secretaries. The tensions became publicly visible when Muhammad silenced Malcolm X for remarking after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that it was a case of the "chickens coming home to roost." (Malcolm X's point was that the federal government's inaction toward racist violence in the South had come back to strike the president.) When Malcolm X learned that Muhammad had planned to have him assassinated, he decided to leave the NOI.

On March 8, 1964, he announced his resignation and formed the Muslim Mosque, Inc., an Islamic movement devoted to working in the political sphere and cooperating with civil rights leaders. That same year he made his first pilgrimage to Mecca and took a second tour of several African and Arab nations. The trip was apparently transformative. Upon his return he renamed himself El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, adopted from Sunni Islam, and announced that he had found the "true brotherhood" of man. He publicly acknowledged that whites were no longer devils, though he still remained a Black Nationalist (see Black Nationalism in the United States) and staunch believer in black self-determination and self-organization.

During the summer of 1964 he formed the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU). Inspired by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) made up of independent African states, the OAAU's program combined advocacy for independent black institutions (e.g., schools and cultural centers) with support for black participation in mainstream politics, including electoral campaigns. Following the example of Paul Robeson and W. E. B. Du Bois, Malcolm X planned in 1965 to submit to the United Nations a petition that documented human rights violations and acts of genocide against African Americans. His assassination at the Audubon Ballroom in New York—carried out by gunmen affiliated with the NOI—intervened, and the OAAU died soon after Malcolm X was laid to rest.

Although Malcolm X left no real institutional legacy, he did exert a notable impact on the Civil Rights Movement in the last year of his life. Black activists in the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who had heard him speak to organizers in Selma, Alabama, in February 1965, began to support some of his ideas, especially on armed self-defense, racial pride, and the creation of black-run institutions. He also gained a small following of radical Marxists, mostly Trotskyists in the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Malcolm X convinced some SWP members of the revolutionary potential of ordinary black ghetto dwellers, and he began to speak more critically of capitalism.

Was Malcolm X about to become a civil rights leader? Could he have launched a successful Pan-Africanist movement? Was he turning toward Marxism? Scholars and activist have debated these issues, but no firm answers are yet possible.Supporters administer first aid to Malcolm X as he lies on the floor of the Audubon Ballroom in New York City, where he was shot as he began a speech in February 1965.

Ironically, Malcolm X made a bigger impact on black politics and culture dead than alive. The Watts Rebellion occurred and the Black Power Movement emerged just months after his death, and his ideas about community control, African liberation, and self-pride became widespread and influential. His autobiography, written with Alex Haley, became a movement standard. Malcolm X's life story proved to the Black Panther Party, founded in 1966, that ex-criminals and hustlers could be turned into revolutionaries.

And arguments in favor of armed self-defense—certainly not a new idea in African American communities—were renewed by Malcolm X's narrative and the publication of his speeches. Even after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., when the civil rights leader was celebrated as an American hero by many blacks and whites, Malcolm X's image loomed much larger in inner-city communities, especially among young males.Despite the collapse or destruction of Black Nationalist organizations during the mid-1970s, Malcolm X continued to live through the folklore of submerged black urban youth cultures, making a huge comeback thanks to rap music, black-oriented bookstores, and Afrocentric street vendors.

The 1980s were a ripe time for a hero like Malcolm X, as racism on college campuses increased, inner cities deteriorated, police brutality cases seemed to rise again, and young black men came to be seen as an "endangered species." Malcolm X's uncompromising statements about racism, self-hatred, community empowerment, and his background as a "ghetto youth," made him the undisputed icon of the young.

The recirculation of Malcolm X as icon during the late 1980s and 1990s got its biggest boost from the commercial marketplace, as retailers, publishers, and Hollywood cashed in on the popularity of hip-hop music and culture. And as Afrocentrism achieved respectability among black urban (and suburban) professionals, Malcolm X's face and name became a central staple among the "Afro-Chic" products that made up their casual attire (see Afrocentricity).

The rush to purchase "X" paraphernalia affected not only African Americans but also suburban whites, Latinos, and Asian Americans fascinated with black youth cultures. Dubbed the "X" generation, ad agencies boldly marketed "X" products without even mentioning Malcolm X. "Malcolm Xania" reached its high point with the release of Spike Lee's cinematic rendering of Malcolm X's autobiography in 1992. Following Lee's lead, retailers sold millions of dollars worth of "X" caps, T-shirts, medallions, and posters emblazoned with Malcolm X's name, body, or words.

Not surprisingly, the selling of Malcolm X in the 1990s generated pointed debate among African Americans. Some argued that marketing Malcolm X undermined his message, while others insisted that the circulation of his image has prompted young people to search out his ideas. Some utilized his emphasis on black community development to support a new African American entrepreneurialism, while others insisted on seeing him as a radical democrat devoted to social justice. His anti-imperialism has dropped out of public memory, whereas his misogyny has been ignored by his supporters and spotlighted by his detractors.However these disputes evolve, it appears that Malcolm X's place in U.S. history, and in the collective memory of African Americans, is secure. Ironically, some of his centrality can be attributed to the mutability of his own viewpoint. Because his ideas were constantly being renewed and rethought during his short career, Malcolm X has become a sort of tabula rasa, or blank slate, on which people of different positions can write their own interpretation of his politics and legacy. Chuck D of the rap group Public Enemy and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas can both declare Malcolm X their hero.

Is Obama really an inspiration?

So much has been said and written about Barack Hussein Obama, who is campaigning for the Presidency of the United States and may win the elections scheduled for next month. Among other accolades, he has been hailed as an inspiration, especially, to Africans and African-Americans; how he symbolises their hopes and dreams of breaking through a system that has tended to exclude them.

What is partly contributing to this euphoria is the fact he is a mix of Kenyan father and white American mother; that makes him as African and as American as either side wants him to be or represent. And also, the fact that no black man or woman has ever come this close to the Oval Office, that has been occupied by white old men in over 200 years.

But is Obama really an inspiration? Will his victory spur the millions of Africans and African-Americans to go against the grain and rise above the hurdles, they are confronted with every day, to realise their dreams and achieve their ambitions?

In other words, is Barack Obama in the calibre of people like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Nelson Mandela or Kwame Nkrumah?

Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) advanced a Pan-African philosophy that, among others, inspired liberation movements and leaders who fought against colonialism in Africa and others parts of the world. He was described by Martin Luther King as “the first man on a mass scale and level to give millions of Negroes a sense of dignity and destiny”. Malcolm X (1925-1965) is viewed as one of the most influential African-Americans of the 20th century and is credited with raising the self-esteem of black Americans and reconnecting them with their African heritage. Nelson Mandela was one of the leaders in the fight against social injustice in South Africa and helped to unite the country after apartheid. He has since become a symbol of freedom and equality.
So, is Obama’s campaign for change borne out of the kind of conviction that these icons had or is it driven by an ambition to break barriers by giving it his best shot?

It should be noted that Obama is not the first African-American to attempt the race for President. Shirley Chisholm, who was the first African-American Congresswoman, sought nomination in 1972 and won 152 delegates. Rev. Jesse Jackson campaigned for the Democratic Party nomination in 1984 and 1988. Twenty years later, Obama is further up this less travelled road.

Since 1870, there have been only four African-Americans in the US Senate before Obama, who is the only one among 100 members. Currently, there are only 42 African-Americans in the 440-member House of Representatives.

In the corporate world, blacks are also a rarity. There only four black Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Fortune 500 companies, the 500 most powerful and high grossing companies in America. This can be contrasted with a study by the University of Georgia, which shows that by 2011, annual black spending power will reach $ 1.1 trillion “representing almost 9 cents of every dollar spent in the US”. George Curry, former Editor-in-Chief of Emerge magazine, said “If African-Americans were represented at the top of the corporate ladder in the same proportion as their percentage of the population, there would be 63 black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies”.

If Obama should win in November, he would be President in country where about one million black males are in prison, more than those who are in college, and where African-Americans are still victims of racial profiling and negative stereotypes.

In addition, despite his popularity in Africa, in his campaigns he has barely mentioned Africa and its position in his foreign policy. While President Bush committed billions of dollars to malaria and AIDS, what will be Obama’s priority for the continent?It remains to be seen if Obama’s participation in the 2008 presidential race will encourage more African-Americans to take a more active role in the politics and economy of the US. It is only then that we can safely say he is an inspiration and not a token that falsely represents blacks as having equal opportunities even in “restricted realms”!

An edited version of this was published by The New Vision on 20th October 2008, see it at http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/655234

My Second Review for Africa Reading Challenge: Apollo Milton Obote: What Others Say

This is a collection of various articles, letters and commentaries, mostly published in newspapers, on Dr. Apollo Milton Obote, who led Uganda to independence in 1962 as Prime Minister, and was President twice, 1966-1971 and 1980-1985. Dr. Obote is a figure in Uganda’s history that draws a variety of emotions from various people depending on how they experienced his regimes, interpreted his achievements and failures or Uganda’s history, interactions with him at the personal and professional levels, their political aspirations and their perceptions.

The authors include former Ministers and former civil servants in his two governments, his wife, parliamentarians, journalists, academicians and members of the public, among others.

As such, the editor has organised these articles and commentaries into four parts: Obote the Hero, Obote the Villain, Obote the Victim, Obote the Mixed Bag. While the latter is the longest part, the second one [Obote the Villain] is the shortest, perhaps showing the man, who is the subject of this book, was to a significant extent influenced by external factors much as he was a victim of the circumstances for the events by which he was labelled a villain. A case in point is the attack on the seat of Buganda Kingdom that eventually led to establishment of Uganda as a unitary Republic. From this, the reader is left to form his or her own view of Dr. Obote basing on how he is presented in this book from several perspectives.

The book opens with two statements from the Uganda People’s Congress, a political party that he headed for several decades until his death in 2005. These highlight his vision for the country and the achievements that were made by his governments. The final article is written by the editor, who bases his argument on his legal grounding to assess whether Dr. Obote can be prosecuted for the “crimes” he has been accused especially by President Museveni and his National Resistance Movement (NRM). Also noteworthy is the coverage of the NRM government’s efforts in facilitating the return of Dr. Obote’s body from South Africa, where he died, through Zambia, where he spent 20 years in exile, to Akokoro village, where he wished to be interred. President Museveni’s seemingly conciliatory speech is ironic considering that he had never said anything positive apart from demonising the ex-President.

In light of the fact that there is no autobiography or memoirs by Dr. Obote, Omongole Anguria has contributed significantly to how the founding father should be judged by posterity instead of the skewed way that has been perpetuated for so long by the NRM and the Baganda or Buganda.

This review was published by The Ivory Post at http://www.theivorypost.com/entertainment/08/oct/ent011008.html

Dishonourable Discharge for Hip Hop

As a fan of hip hop, I thought this story on www.hiphopdx.com was quite interesting. I don't know what I would do if someone destroyed my music collection? At least, Mr. Jackson was able to get new roles from that discharge...for me, you will be dearly departed [just joking....]

US Soldier Dishonorably Discharged For Hip Hop

September 11th, 2008 Author: Anthony Springer Jr

Former US soldier Martin Jackson takes his Hip Hop seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he was dismissed from military duty because of it.One of Malone’s sergeants burned his nine year collection of Hip Hop magazines after a heated argument. Malone’s reaction earned him a discharge for dishonorable conduct. At the time, Malone had served three years which included a stint in Korea and service after the attacks of September 11.

Not taking the discharge lying down, Malone—who goes by the alias Muggsy Malone—hit the studio with Conrad Dimanche [click to read] of Bad Boy Records/Making the Band. The resulting effort is an album titled Probable Cause, which he is dedicating to the military. Malone has remained active since his military days and is a volunteer for the Barack Obama campaign in addition to his duties as an emcee, signed to Warpath Records.

In addition to Probable Cause, which is slated for release in March 2009, Malone is also prepping a reality show scheduled to air on Myspace, titled The Making of the Next Big Thing.