This is not a matter of comparing or ranking the various struggles people are engaged in. In many cases they may intertwine. However, regardless of one's gender, colour, ethnicity, religious or political affiliations, social status, sexual orientation, etc., when one has to engage in a war for their personal dignity and bodily integrity, you are not just battling against flesh and blood, "but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places".
No clearer is this seen than the treatment of African women and girls... by standards set for the benefit African men! Not all African women, girls and by all African men, but specifically in the exploitation of forced marriages, the denial of education, the brutal use of rape as a weapon of war and the barbarity of female genital mutilation. I saw this documentary on Al Jazeera, "Abandon the Knife" on female circumcision in a rural communitiy of Kenya. My emotions went from astonishment, anger, sadness and empathy and others I can't define. I commend the young women on their courageous stand to fight for their dignity, to protect their integrity, to take control of their future and to dream the impossible dream.
Thank you Bro. Asa for speaking out on these heartbreaking issues. It's ironic that for many these mutilative procedures garner some form of status for the males who actually insist on the practice for their own personal reasons. They seem to have no concern regarding the health risks and the chronic pain that ensues for these young women. A quote from one of my favorite writers of the Harlem Renaissance sums it up as follows:
ReplyDelete"Human dignity is more precious than prestige".
Claude McKay, 1889-1948