A NEW PRESIDENT AND PROMISE FOR : SEARCHING FOR SIGNS AND WONDERS Los Angeles Sentinel, 01/26/06, p. A-7 DR.

The election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to velopment projects of the UN and the Afri- the office of President holds great signifi- can Union. And they see in her in the an- cance for the long-suffering and struggling cient African tradition, a mother and sus- people of Liberia, the Continent and world tainer of the people who will give them jus- African community, and freedom-and- tice, heal their wounds of war, help them peace-loving people everywhere. This is not rebuild their shattered lives and suffering simply because she is the first woman society, provide them with needed human elected president of an African country, al- services, and guide them honestly and though this is significant, especially in con- quickly toward the life of dignity and de- trast to the U.S. and other countries which cency they so deserve. have not yet done so. Indeed, she follows in an ancient tradition of women leaders of Af- But as Amilcar Cabral reminds us in our rica, from the women pharaohs of ancient liberation struggles, we should “mask no Egypt such as Hatshepsut to ruler queens difficulties, tell no lies and claim no easy and queen mothers throughout Africa, such victories.” Indeed, the President, herself, has as Nzingha of Angola and Yaa Asantewa of told her people “there is no easy fix” and it Ghana, and women leaders in the modern is “a long hard road to recovery.” For there liberation movements like Winnie Mandela is a heavy burden of history to bear on this and Elizabeth Sibeko of South Africa. rock-strewn road to recovery.

So, it is not simply a question of women Founded in faith and hope in the midst in high places, as Condeleeza Rice reminds of the Holocaust of enslavement in 1847, us in her loving loyalty to Bush or Hillary Liberia was to be a haven of freedom for Clinton in her relentless rush to the presi- formerly enslaved Africans from the U.S. dency, alternately ignoring and disclaiming who were repatriated to the Continent. Later, the rights and oppressive realities of the Edward Wilmot Blyden, one of Africa’s peoples of occupied Haiti, Palestine, Af- great statesmen and pan-Africanists, called ghanistan and Iraq. What is more significant, on Africans in the Diaspora to come there to then, is the promise she holds not only for build a refuge and realm of freedom and de- women, but also for the people of Liberia velopment for all Africans. The Hon. Mar- who see in her possibilities of a new leader- cus Garvey also explored the possibility of ship and new opportunities to build a new Liberia as a central site for redeeming and democratic and people-serving society. rebuilding Africa.

The people of Liberia who elected her But history does not always happen as see in her a peace-maker, unifier and we would wish. And thus instead of this builder, a professional who knows the ways special African refuge, Liberia became a of men, women and the world, having spent colonial outpost of U.S. economic and po- thirty years in the rough and raw politics of litical interests in Africa with all its dire and Liberia, the savage circles of international disastrous consequences. Emerging to estab- financial organizations and corporations, lish and defend U.S. interests and their own, and the diplomatic halls and peace and de- a ruling class of Africans born in the Dias- pora set up a system of domination that A NEW PRESIDENT AND PROMISE FOR LIBERIA: SEARCHING FOR SIGNS AND WONDERS 2 Los Angeles Sentinel, 01/26/06, p. A-7 DR. MAULANA KARENGA

lasted until a bloody military overthrow of end to personal and corporate corruption, the government in 1980. This military gov- and to corporate theft of the country’s natu- ernment was in turn overthrown in an ral resources. And there must be special at- equally brutal manner in 1990 and this initi- tention to the needs of women and youth, ated 14 years of civil war, bringing wide- real respect for human and civil rights, and spread death, devastation and displacement, continuing UN and AU presence and sup- and abuse of children and women in the port, as well as support from other Africans most terrible ways of war. on the Continent and in the Diaspora.

The President brings with her also a his- , a deep reader and respecter tory of bitter struggle with opponents and of history, taught us to be diligent students the problem of reconciliation. Also, her long of history. For he said, as history unfolds, history of work with and for the interna- there are signs for those who can see. So, tional financial institutions and corporations we look here for signs and wonders in the is seen as an asset in expertise, but could be changing face of history, hoping that in our a problem in politics, if she takes their ad- Sister/Mother President Johnson Sirleaf, vice and imposes policies which please them there are signs of coming relief, repair and and disable and disempower the people. rebuilding for the people. But we also know that in the final analysis, there will be no To end the hardships and horrors of his- miracles except those the masses of people tory and rebuild Liberia, she must from the make as they slowly and patiently overcome beginning put the people first. This means the overwhelming odds against them, repair putting in place policies to address the im- and reverse the ravages of war, poverty, des- mediate and long-term needs of the people, titution and disease, push their lives con- secure the peace and insure security, rebuild tinually forward, forge a future and life the infrastructure of the country, i.e., its sys- worth living, and leave a legacy that offers tems of health, education, water, electricity, hope and promise for the peoples of Africa communications and roadways, bring back and the world. This is the ultimate meaning exiles with skills and capital, and engage the of President Johnson Sirleaf’s statement to masses in meaningful and life-sustaining her people in her inaugural address that, “the work which rebuilds their lives and society future belongs to us, because we have taken at the same time. charge of it.”

In addition, there must be land reform, return of the nation’s stolen wealth, and an

Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor of Black Studies, California State University-Long Beach, Chair of The Organiza- tion Us, Creator of , and author of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture, [www.Us- Organization.org and www.OfficialKwanzaaWebsitie.org].