Is it racist of me to think (or hope) that because Barack Obama is black that more focus will be made towards the African continent in the next four years? It may be a land of no-opportunity based in part on geography and resources, but as I read that rapes are on the rise and child soldiers are being recruited in the Congo that it's just stunning to me that the cruelties of this continent have been allowed to go on for as long as they have.
And with China then raping the continent of its resources, it just seems like in the long run, things will only get worse. (This is, by the way, a really long, but a really good read.)
I want to hurt for these people in their conditions -- which I recognize that I cannot even comprehend -- but I'm instead filled with anger towards the rest of the world that turns a blind eye as country after country on that continent does stupid things to its own people. Which in turn, in my opinion, makes us just as complicit as the person who seems someone being mugged and turns their head, more firmly gripping their cell phone in their pocket and walks on, doing absolutely nothing. And I'm not talking about giving money to help (which I would recommend as employee of a major non-profit that does provide aid to some of the poorest on this planet) but I'm talking about special forces assassinations of cruel dictators and warlords and helping good and earnest leaders to build a stable and lasting government structure that empowers people to improve their own lives and in turn prevents them from continuing to be passive victims, unwilling or unable to realize that their life can and must be better. (Yeah, we need to remind them all of the fact that there are far more ants than grasshoppers but now I'm aimed towards a tangent.)
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