Tommy Curry kyta_swan@hotmail.com
This is my last column. I know what you are thinking; we have all thought that Tommy Curry was gone before, and he has always reared his ugly head once again, but for real.
I am leaving this time.
After almost two years on the DE voices section, I think the time has come to let go.
I will definitely have memories though, of the countless e-mails telling me to go back to Africa. Let's not forget the death threats and the phone calls calling me a nigger.
What wonderful days at SIUC.
The funny thing about all this is that these memories show me that nothing has changed. In past semesters, I have been called everything from a bigot to a racist, all for saying that racism still exists.
When I first started writing, some said I could not speak correctly and that my grammar was horrible. Then it was that my writing was fine, but I lacked a changing theme. And who would have imagined that individuals would criticize my vocabulary? Some accused me of opening a dictionary when I write, pulling out "dollar words" to impress my audience.
Funny, how things don't change much, regardless of where one may be in the country.
I guess the most recent criticism is that I am a black Matt Hale. Umh, that's kind of funny. Europeans are always ready to condemn racism any time an African is saying what should be done to protect their communities or change their standard of living; but to say nothing when blacks are unjustly murdered in their own neighborhoods, or routinely harassed by police, or disproportionately incarcerated for crimes Europeans get a slap on the hand for, is just the way things are.
When Africans die, I guess it's just the way things are supposed to be. But when an Africans says that our neighborhoods and daily lives should not be ruled by the threat of white terrorism, then the individual that says something is Matt Hale.
Ironic, is it not?
I always thought a law degree made people more perceptive about their surroundings, and more critical about the assumptions they held. Like I said before, I am always able to be wrong.
You know, nothing I said while I attended SIUC will probably matter. Tuition hikes will exclude minorities, curricula will seek to marginalize non-European voices and racism will continue that way it always has - I realize this.
So why did I go through all this in the first place if I knew what would happen? Simple. The way to stop racism is not an appeal to Europeans or SIUC, or any other institution in this country to end what it started.
If Africans wish to be equal, Africans have to take the resources and power away from those who use it to oppress them. This does not come in negotiating with the racist institutions of the status quo; it comes from separating from them, and creating a cultural solidarity that supports an African identity - an African identity that would exist even if there were no Europeans in the world. One that understands that African culture does not exist because of oppression, but creates the means by which we can escape it.
These conversations about race and racism will go on forever as long as Africans are willing to talk about it, but if there is one thing that My Nommo should have shown my people, it is that this conversation was never meant for Europeans.
Their reactions have pretty much been the same, and the letters to the editor reflect that quite well. Liberation must come from those who wish to be liberated, not by the mercy of those who chose to oppress you.
My Nommo appears on Wednesday. Tommy is a senior in philosophy and political science. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
