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Mr. Sidike Kuyateh of New York
Speech delivered by Richmond Konneh at the inauguration of the officials of the Liberian Mandingo Association of Pennsylvania
January 22, 2011
I have lived 20 years in this country, all in Philadelphia. I consider Philadelphia my home just as I consider my hometown-Saclepea, Nimba County.
About 17 years ago, I was part of the founding members of the Liberian Mandingo Association of Pennsylvania-LIMAP, as we know it today. I was one of the first executive leaders serving alongside our first president, Mr. Mamadi Kromah. I also worked with the outgoing president, Mr. Mohamed Bility. I want to pay homage to both presidents and their leadership teams for running the affairs of LIMAP for the past 17 years. I also want to pay homage to the founding members; one of who is no longer with us, Mr. Morris Cooper- may his soul rest in peace. We will not be here tonight without the support of our mothers and all the elders. I want to thank you all for your guidance.
I can recall having a packed house at Mr. Kromah’s residence on Springfield Avenue during all of our meetings. During these well-attended meetings, Mrs. Beatrice Kromah, known to us all as BEE, fed us all and very well. It was like a feast at the Kromah’s residence during LIMAP’s meetings.
If I were to tell you that back then Dr. Alhassan Conteh, Sam Mohamed Kromah, Mr. Warety and many other personalities attended LIMAP’s meetings, will you believe it? Well, believe it!
What happened then to have these distinguished folks participate in LIMAP and what changed? How can we get all of the talented and/or educated members of our community to participate in our organizations?
We all have our vision about the current reality of the Mandingo ethnic group, both in the Diaspora and back home. Allow me to candidly share mine with you tonight. I want to talk to you tonight about adopting a philosophy of inclusion as an ethnic minority group of Liberia.
Mr. Lamine Kromah, President-elect
Mr. Mohamed Bility, outgoing president
Mr. Edwin Seie, Deputy Ambassador of Liberia
Officials of FELMAUSA
Members of the Board of Directors
Elders
The leadership and members of the various women groups
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
In this time of change in our country, we as an ethnic group need to also change. We need to change our philosophy about how we view our community relative to the broader Liberian society. We have shared responsibility in the development of Liberia and thus creating better life for our children. It is time for us to move beyond our differences with the other ethnic groups of Liberia, which have created generational mistrust between our people and our fellow Liberians.
We are part of the Liberian middleclass here in the USA and this should open a new window of opportunities for our people back home. Liberian organizations in the Diaspora –LIMAP included- need to help open doors for our children back home. It is time for Mandingo organizations to forge constructive ties with other groups in order to create greater understanding among us. These are the issues that matter in Liberia moving forward. We all have stake in the progress of each other.
We have endured civil war and we continue to struggle in terms of civil rights concerns as many Mandingoes are disproportionally questioned at checkpoints due to names such as Mohamed, Sekou, mawata etc. With this in mind, as we discuss the immigration status of Liberians here in the USA whether through talking to our congressmen and/or congresswomen or through a march on Washington D.C., we need to encourage the same thing in Liberia.
All the Liberian organizations in the Diaspora, FELMAUSA included, should work together under the auspices of ULAA, to open a new window of opportunity to dialogue intelligently and in good faith in finding solution to the immigration problems affecting the Mandingoes in Liberia.
Encouraging national identification system for instance, will help eliminate selective application of immigration laws at checkpoints and also prevent the discriminating practice of denying some Liberians, particularly Mandingoes, their constitutional rights to register and vote. This will allow us to be proactive instead of reactive in helping to eliminate the humiliating practice of singling out Liberians with Mandingo and/or Muslim names at checkpoints. The alleged disproportional scrutinizing of the Mandingo ethnic group during the current voter registration is not a surprise or is it? It happened in 2005. We knew it was going to happen again. What proactive action did we take? It takes open society and active citizens to reject inequality and injustice, as is the case at immigration checkpoints in Liberia. All Liberians have equal rights, whether you are called Mohamed, Zawolo or Robert.
If we are to effect change in Liberia, we must work proactively with our fellow Liberians for there are aspirations and values we all share as Liberians. We should now endeavor not to be defined by our differences. The time has come my friends, for us as Liberians of the Mandingo ethnic group to be inclusive in all our activities so that other ethnic groups can get to know us. In so doing, we will learn about each other and be able to perhaps bridge the perceptual divide between us and the other ethnic groups of Liberia. This will also enable us to appreciate our diversity and compare us all to commit to our shared interest in building a peaceful and prosperous Liberia. We are part of many different tribes united under one Liberian flag. We should begin to see ourselves in other groups of Liberia.
Allow me to share a story with you. A few years ago, in one of my graduate classes, a cultural diversity class, we were asked to visit a place foreign to our cultures and to write about our experiences. I wanted this experience to have a meaningful impact on my life. After a careful consideration, I decided to visit a church. The church environment was totally foreign to me. However, the experience was very enlightening. The compassion and the positive message in the church will forever remain with me. The people were very welcoming and at the end of the service, I must admit, I was very impressed.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a Muslim and a proud one, but I am not going to allow that to define me. We as Muslims should not be defined solely by our faith. We need to embrace our commonalities with our fellow Liberians and commit ourselves to the pursuit of empowering our people to contribute to the progress of Liberia. We are all God’s children. We should welcome Christians in our mosques and we as Muslims, should visit the Christians’ place of worship. Visiting others’ place of worship is in my opinion healthy for interfaith collaboration and religious tolerance.
When I was president of the Federation of the Liberian Mandingo Associations in the USA-FELMAUSA, I received a call from a fellow Liberian, who was thinking about vying for the presidency of Liberia. This person happened to be a Reverend. This distinguished Liberian had visited many predominantly Muslim countries and during his visits, he reportedly visited mosques during Friday prayers to gain a broader understanding of Islam. Accordingly, he was able to develop a sense of appreciation of the Islamic faith. By visiting mosques, this Reverend became more tolerant of Islam. How many of us have invited our Christian friends to worship with us for a day? How many of us are willing to worship with our Christian friends for a day? Let us appreciate the common humanity of all people, particularly our fellow Liberians.
What is the vision and/or mission statement of LIMAP or all the other Mandingo Associations? Beyond the social aspects of the various Mandingo associations, our ability as a group to address the prevailing challenges in our community and our homeland depends in part, on our willingness to forge alliance with our fellow Liberians. We need to reach out to the other ethnic groups. The Liberian Mandingo Association of Pennsylvania-LIMAP and the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania-LAP need to forge an alliance.
Moving forward, let us create an environment that will make other ethnic groups of Liberia to join our organizations. To the various Mandingo women groups; I am talking about Lanaya, Millionaire, Diplomats, Sabare and all the other women groups across the USA, It will be very progressive were you to move away from making the membership of your organizations exclusively Mandingoes. Invite other Liberian women to join your organizations. Raise money for worthy causes. For example, Mandingo women are lacking far behind in education compare to other Liberian women. I will suggest that you work collaboratively to focus singularly on girls’ education. I am available to help you in setting up a scholarship fund.
There are young people brimming with talents, energy and hope, who can claim the future of Liberia. To realize such dream, as members of the Liberian middle class living in the Diaspora, we must educate our young people. We need increased collaboration in order to build the capacity of our young people for transformational change in Liberia.
Our diversity as Liberians should be a source of strength and not a cause for division as demonstrated by the success of the diversity here in America, which brought millions of us to this country. We all share common aspirations – to follow our dreams, to live in peace and security, to access education and opportunity, to love our families, our communities and our faith. We must all therefore strive for peace, security and progress in Liberia.
Thank you.