Perhaps not surprisingly, there is already an ongoing war between "Luos" and "Kikuyus" in cyberspace (in quotes because I do not mean them to represent the whole) on whether Obama's success should be seen as a triumph of a "son of a Lake" or if Obama's connection to Kenya is only as a result of him having been a sperm beneficiary from Obama Sr. and as such no champaign should be popped in Kisumu.
A few months ago, this speculative post appeared on mashada.com:
Any sane person could not help but wonder if ethnic animosities between Luos and Kikuyus had gone to the extent of Kikuyus throwing their weight behind Clinton just so that she could defeat a guy who was fathered by a Luo; his outstanding oratory skills and ability to inspire millions not withstanding. Upon probing however, this post turned out to be mere hot air bent on fueling the anger between these two groups.Over the past weekend, some of Clinton's biggest fund-raisers gave her checks, including the one from Friends of PNU in Atlanta, who kicked in the maximum allowable contribution, $2,300, on March 3 after attending an event organized by Clinton's campaign, wanjuguna.blogspot reported this month. An associate of one of the reps of PNU Atlanta Mr Njuguna chipped in $1,000 on the same day.
For a full list of Kikuyu donors from Atlanta go to HillaryClinton.com - Online Headquarters - Georgia/kikuyu donors
In other words, unbeknownst to him, Obama is a pawn in the war of tribe between Luos and Kikuyus. Some Luos are using this instance of Obama's success to gloat over "one of their many accomplishment" and those who see Luos as natural braggarts are ridiculing the "tenuous association" that Obama has with Kenya, a mere product of a "sperm transfer". An anonymous poster on kumekucha.blogspot.com says:
In response follows varied responses hitting at "Mt. Kenya tribe" with one poster wondering why "no single Agikuyu seed" has sired a person of such importance as Obama! We are now down to a contest of sperm supremacy!Obama, bless his soul, is NOT a Jaluo. Even just his behavior rights off that stupid claim. Biology is overrated, even goats have sperm.
Obama clearly has adoration for his paternal roots. Back in 1992 when (whether he had presidential ambitions or not it did not matter because no one was paying attention to him) he paid a visit to his rural Siaya ancestral home a trip which he recounts in his book Dreams of My Father. It would have been been easier for Obama not to make that trip to Kenya after his father died. It would have been easier for this high rising Harvard Law grad to all together forget that he ever had a Kenyan father. It would have been much easier for him to change his name from Obama to a "Mc somebody" especially for political expediency where we all know how much punch in packed in a name...what with these recent "Osama" tongue "slips"!
In fact, the fact that this gentleman has chosen to embrace his humble roots and show his narrative as an exemplifier of the American dream, tells us a lot about his values and principles. When he decided to seek out the world of his father, he was aware that no inheritance was tucked away for him somewhere on the shores of Lake Victoria. He did it because he knows that knowing his fatherland was knowing a part of him. He did it because he was going to pursue the "dreams of his father", the dreams that the 23 year old Barack Senior must have had when he landed at JFK on September 1959.
So the people of the Village in Alego where Obama's father hailed should rejoice, they have reasons to, Obama would like them to. All of Nyanza should celebrate, Obama is, if not one of them, one of their's. Kenya, Africa and the entire world that values progressive leadership should join in the celebration.
We however do a lot of injustice to Mr. Obama when we reduce him down to a level of a pawn in our tribe wars.
GO OBAMA!
7 comments:
once again cicero, you are right on point and well balanced too. nice piece on Obama.
kikuyus are jelous of what Obama has accomplished, let the truth be told and stop trying to hide the fact you stupid ciceraw mungiki type
You are exaggerating Obama's pride in his fatherland or rather refusing to explore the fact that his whole purpose of identifying with Kenya is simply because it makes a good "American dream" narrative as you mentioned in the post. I personally think his travel to Kenya was motivated more by the headlines and not a search for his roots. Put yourself in his shoes; his father abandons him at age 2, what's there to be proud of?
anon 8:15am. then how do you explain the fact that he visited Kenya in 1992 when there were no cameras on him?
I have no doubt that Obama has a lot of regard for his origins, and what's not to like with such a lovely grandma? But I cant help wonder like anon@8:15 at the convenience of it all. Very smart guy.
Kenyans! Kenyans! Kenyans! The guy has some Kenyan blood whether we like it or not. His father was Kenyan whether we like it or not. However much we want to obliterate that fact, we cannot because it is because of Barack Obama Senior who hailed from that dusty village in Kogelo, Siaya District, that he is referred to as BLACK - as AFRICAN and as AFRICAN-AMERICAN. African FIRST, American SECOND.
We need to remember one thing. All these children being brought up by single mothers thanks to absentee fathers sooner or later have the urge to find their fathers and know their origins and where they came from. It is an instinct that is driven from the soul... They need this connection otherwise, there will always be a void that needs to be filled... You only need to read "Dreams from my Father" by Barack Obama to know why he set out on that difficult journey so as to fulfil that dream and eventually be ready to move on with his life.
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