By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
As an immigrant from South Africa, Mojabeng Kamala is accustomed to the occasional awkward question in Bowling Green.
But a recent question caught her by surprise. A white woman asked Kamala why Black people continue to be upset about slavery and the fact that they were brought to this nation against their will. Shouldn’t the descendants of enslaved people be thankful that they live in the U.S., the woman said. After all, don’t those Black people have more privileges now than if they were still in Africa?
“There are some questions that don’t warrant being heard,” Kamala, who is coordinator of Welcome BG, said during a Not In Our Town Bowling Green meeting last week.
Kamala handled the question as gracefully as she could, but found it difficult talking to someone who believed after hundreds of years of enslavement that Black people should now be thankful.
“That’s like saying to Jewish people, ‘The holocaust was rough – but look, you’ve got Israel,’” Not In Our Town member Gary Saunders said. “That’s crazy.”
NIOT Co-Chairperson Dawn Shinew said civility can be difficult.
“It’s hard not to get frustrated and impatient and angry,” Shinew said.
“That’s one person who had the nerve to ask,” but how many others are thinking the same thing, she said.
“This woman didn’t come up with that question out of the blue,” Saunders said, surmising that her false belief is being spread on social media. “It’s a lot bigger than that particular woman.”
Kamala said she tried to gently explain to the woman the inaccuracy of her statement.
“I might be the one Black person she ever talks to,” Kamala said.
Another NIOT member, Ana Brown pointed out that African nations suffered from enslavement of their people.
“What would have happened if Africa would have been left alone and not plundered,” Brown said.
Also at last week’s Not In Our Town meeting, members Carol Kinsey and Saunders reported on the sale of Confederate flag items at the Wood County Fair this year. Kinsey has written to the fair board and the county commissioners in the past, asking that they refuse to allow such items to be sold by vendors.
Kinsey said she did not see Confederate flag items at this year’s fair, and Saunders reported seeing a few items. They agreed that there were far fewer items than in previous years.
Kinsey said she would write another letter to the county commissioners, asking that such items be banned. The county commissioners had previously sent a letter to the fair board saying that the county would not approve capital improvement requests unless Confederate items were banned.
