UNITED STATES COWARDLY ON RACE MATTERS

Kinachozungumzwa hapa ni ukweli na ukweli mtupu. Binafsi nimeshuhudia jambo hili la ubaguzi wa rangi nchini Marekani. Kwa mara ya kwanza kulishuhudia nilikuwa nasubiri Metro train Tenleytown-AU kwenda mahala. Nilipofika sehemu ya kusubiria, nilikuta familia ya baba, mama na mtoto wanasubiri pia. Nilipoketi kusubiri treni, mama aliinuka na kwenda kukaa upande wa pili karibu na mumewe. Nilijiuliza sekunde ileile, ni kwa nini nisirudi kwetu Tanzania kama hali ndio hii? Pia baadaye, niligundua kuwa Wamarekani weupe WANAWACHUKIA, WANAWAOGOPA, WANAWAHOFIA, WANAWANYANYAPAA NA WANA HISIA POTOFU juu ya ndugu zao Wamarekani Weusi.

Yaani, niliumia sana kuona nabaguliwa mchana kweupe na Mmarekani. Jambo hili lilinisumbua sana akili kwa sababu kama kuna kitu ambacho nchi ya Tanzania imefanikiwa katika uhai wake, tangu tumepata uhuru Disemba 9, 1961, basi ni kutobaguana sisi kwa sisi wananchi na hata binadamu mwingine yoyote yule atokaye kokote kule kwa sababu yoyote ile. Hivyo nikakumbuka kuwa niko Marekani kwenye taifa kubwa lenye urithi uliojichimbia wa ubaguzi wa rangi. Nikajifariji na kuendelea kuishi Marekani kwa kipindi nilichopangiwa na Wafadhili wangu (Serikali ya USA).

HABARI HII nimeinukuu kutoka Gazeti la "Examiner", la Washington DC, U.S.A. iliyotoka ukurasa wa 20 wa gazeti la Februari 19, 2009.

The new and the first African-American Attorney General in the Obama Administration Eric Holder described the United States Wednesday (February 18, 2009) as a nation of cowards on matters of race, saying most Americans avoid discussing awkward racial issues.

IN a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an athnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," said Holder, nation's first black Attorney General

Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, Holder said, but "we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race."

Race "is an issue we have never been at ease with and, given our nation's history, this is in some ways understandable," Holder said. "If we are to make progress in this area, we must feel comfortable enough with one another and tolerant enough of each other to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us."

He told hundreds of Justice Department employees gathered for the event that they have a special responsibility to advance racial understanding.

Even when people mix at the workplace or after-work, social events, Holder argued, many Americans in their free time are still segregated inside what he called "race-protected cocoons."

"Saturdays and Sundays, America in the year 2009 does not in some ways differ significantly from the country that existed almost 50 years ago. This is truly sad," said Holder.