Lessons From Today!

Two major events occurred today (well, at least major enough to make me think twice and to write a note) namely; an ACS (African and Caribbean Society) board meeting and watching the movie "The Great Debaters." And I know you are thinking to yourself "how might these two unrelated events possibly be linked?." well I am still asking myself the same question and yet I feel a strong connection. There is something that rings in my head and it seems not a positive ring, it seems to be saying that we as a people are forgetting where we came from and how we managed to get so far "why do you feel this way?" you might ask. I would just as surely answer, "I do not know but I feel it." To sit at a meeting in which a younger black generation can look to you so confidently in the eyes and say "we do not feel a strong connection between ourselves and the next black man (or woman), and we certainly do not have to make it a point to make black people around us feel more at home, than we would for any other race" strikes me deep AND bugs the heck out of me.

Some would explain this away as the next generation being "colour blind", (first of all I have a big issue with the phrase colour-blind, the phrase itself suggests that we would rather love to remain oblivious than accept the reality that we are different, and guess what that's not a bad thing) but I would not even forgive the younger generation (by younger generation I mean those boomers of the late 80's and beyond) by annexing the phrase "colour-blind" to their ignorant state because it attaches with it a sort of legitimacy of which I refuse to accept. It is not colour-blind to acknowledge one's history, neither is it colour blind to embrace one's culture.

Yet out of this frustration I have no solution, it is just the hope that just a few get it, just get it...get the fact that without celebrating the reason of our being or the reason for the success of our people we may be lost moving forward. Now some people may be content with living in a world where nobody has historical or cultural roots and everybody just exists, (when we finally reach that point I pray to be reminded so that I may make my exit out of this world...Mars perhaps) but I think it to be a sorry state . The great Maya Angelou illustrated my sentiments beautifully when she said "no man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place."

As I have no suggestions, or solutions to this plague that disturbs me I shall end here, though I feel a pit in my stomach having to do so....

Personal Time: The Vindicating Interview!

“So why is it that after all your human rights experience you are heading into the corporate arena?” she asked with an ostensible certainty in her eyes that said “hah, I’ve got you now, see how you would get out of this one.” “Well,” I confidently exclaimed while I hurriedly searched for the right words, ”yes it is true that I have had ample experience in the human rights field, with my background training, and an outstanding fellowship with the Commission on Human Rights in Ghana, at which point I gained tremendous insight into the world of advocacy, and experienced the dramatic impact lawyers made in the lives of their clients on a daily basis. I enjoy my work in the field, however, the human rights field also enabled me to realize that for a person with such drive and ambition, I would need a fast paced competitive environment where I can gain more substantive insight into the diversity of practice areas. Your firm seems like the best fit. I was particularly impressed with the firms’ international expertise in cross-border transactions and mergers, acquisitions and the excellent work it is currently doing in the energy sector in Ghana. As for my human rights experience, I do not believe it will be wasted, some skills gained can definitely be amalgamated with new skills learnt in a corporate world, however, for those specialized human rights skills I am positive that when hired my experience would prove to be a much welcomed addition to your firms pro-bono team” I secretly sighed. “Yes as a matter of fact we have a very lively pro-bono department here, and we have a great wealth of human rights work in our profile” she said, and I smiled.

At that point I was sure that all the weeks of hard work had paid of. Yes, I still had the numerical reasoning test to do (of which just the though of frightened the heck out of me, I had only started recapping on the little mathematics I knew about a week before), but I knew that the point at which I needed to really impress was over, I reasoned. “Well if this interview doesn’t get me the job I don’t know what will, I mean I’m sure the numerical test is just a formality, lawyers are not great at math anyway” I tried to reassure myself. I went back to the room where the other candidates were, “how was the interview?” the guy from Oxford asked, “oh it was good, or at least I think it went well, I was able to answer all their questions with some level of ease and funny enough I did not get any commercial awareness questions.” He looked at me as if I had told him a lie but I reassured him that it was not as intimidating as would be expected. “Just be conversational and you’d be fine,” I said.

When heading home from the interview I knew I had performed to the best of my ability, however, I was still unsure of how the other candidates had performed (they sure enough sounded extremly intelligent). I mean I was competing with some seemingly smart guys and I was the only woman in the room (black woman). Albeit, it was incontrovertible that I had put in a tremendous effort the sight of my competitors succinctly brought me back to reality. I was sure that I would not get the position, however, surprignsly the thought of it did not bother me nor made me feel sick to my stomach. I sank into a deep sense of pride for I had pushed myself to a level I had never done before, and I now knew my limit. On the two hour train ride back home from London to Exeter, I gazed at my reflection in the window next to me, sighed and fell asleep.

I woke up prematurely and realized I nearly missed my stop, ”Exeter St. Davids” said the conductor and I quickly grabbed my bag and rushed out. I was exhausted. I had two hours sleep the night before and was ready to head home and crash into bed, “oh contract law can wait till tomorrow,” I thought to myself. Upon opening my door and dropping my bags, I kicked off my shoes, un-hooked my bra and jumped into bed. It felt as if I was reliving Iyanla Vazants’ “Yesterday I cried”, except I wasn’t crying I was sleeping. “I came home, went straight to my room, sat on the edge of my bed, kicked off my shoes, unhooked my bra, and I had myself a good cry.” But in my case substitute the “cry” for ’sleep.’ It was going to be a good sleep.

I was in my REM sleep (rapid eye movement), when I heard the phone ring. It was either a class-mate who needed some answers to workshop questions, a family member or a friend who just wanted to chat unnecessarily, at which point I did not want to speak to neither. Surprisingly I picked up the phone (it was an unknown number, which is rare, even my mum’s calls from Ghana does not appear unknown). “Hello” I said trying very hard not to sound tired and defeated. “Hello may I speak to M” the sophisticated voice on the other side said, she sounded familiar too. “This is she, how can I help you” in my sweetest tone. “This is L from D&L” she said. “oh gosh, she is from the firm and is already calling me to tell me, you were a great candidate but we are sorry the others were better than you, but I was ready to accept it” I reassured myself. “Hi L, how are you? long day huh?” I tried to slip in a joke, obviously, it did not work. “M, I would like to say, that we were very impressed with you today, and would like to invite you to our summer clerkship program.” My heart skipped a beat, I searched for the words, they were not coming out, my mind stood still and in a very controlled manner I managed to utter “It would be an honour to join you this summer,” gosh “an honour??” I thought to myself, “that’s so corny.” I hung up and let out a huge "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" (in the most feminine tone I could amass) it felt good. The sleepy feeling was gone. I sat up and thought about the course of events in the day, it seemed unreal, I knew that at this point I had been vindicated.

Democracy…don’t get it twisted!!

Discussions of ‘democracy’ in our times would lead to several understandings. One tendency (what I would call the evolutionary approach) would be to vilify the past and subconsciously historicise our understanding of democracy as though we have come to enjoy democracy with the passing of time, for as we become more civilized and more intelligent as a species we veer to be more democratically inclined in practice.

Another clearly misunderstood line of thought is to look at democracy as belonging to a certain group of people (the chosen approach) who only deserve it because of cultural practices or as some sort of divined gift. Or lastly the view of democracy as a set of rules where, if one society follows other benefits will likely flow into place, a sort of cause and effect panacea, thus, democracy becomes an end in itself (the cause and effect approach).

Well, I am here to destroy all these notions of democracy, while they are incontrovertibly important in the discourse it is important to focus on a different (less advertised) system of thought, one that examines democracy more as a struggle within any society and views it not in itself as an end but as a means towards a certain structure where struggles for change never cease, and where one success will easily lead to the fight for another (what I dub, the continual democratic struggle). It is imperative to keep in mind that these various struggles may and often have manifested themselves in countless ways depending on the case at hand.

So ultimately, the challenge I pose to you the reader is simple. Re-deliberate on your understanding of Democracy. Don’t for a second think that you have reached your peak and always keep in mind that a Democracy is continual not an end but rather a means towards it.So as you examine your current “Struggle for Democracy” ask yourself, What are my interests?How can I relay this interest to the general populace?Do I have a coalition?Are my interests Universal?

If you are poor, your democratic struggle is being able to feed yourself and your family and sustaining a good salary, so obviously you have not reached your peak. If you are wealthy, your interest is to acquire more and in this sense you democratic interests would be securing a political environment that tolerates your interest.

As I hope I have demonstrated, our democratic struggles are solely based on our needs and our desires. Don’t let anybody convince you otherwise.Democracy is not solely the ability or the freedom to perform freely in the political sphere, but also the ability and the freedom as individuals with varying levels of need to assert our values or communicate our stance in society and see change.If a poor person dies poor, he or she has not lived in a democracy for somehow someway someone did not listen to his or her need. Realize your constant struggle and vote accordingly!