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Who are you and who am I?-Mandingoes
in Liberia: By: Ishmael Komara August 31,2009  Brother
Seama and others Over the past few weeks, I have read different opposing emails and articles about the issues of “Quardu Gboni Mandingo Association”. Having read the last email written by brother Seama, I felt obliged to join in the discussion that I now feel is necessary to highlight some of the outrageous points he and others have outlined. In an email written by brother Seama dated August 28, 2008, he wrote: it is one thing for our members to suggest a changed in our association' s name and quite another for a non member set up as an opinion leader advocating for whoever tries to suggest our name to be change because FELMUSA has Mandingo in its name if FELMUSA want to talk to us let them bring it on. What these self proclaimed opinion Mandingo leaders do not understand is the fact that this organization [ FELMUSA] was giving every opportunities to do her home work in the interest of Mandingo unity and be inclusive of all Mandingoes but has continue to down play this, and refusing to recognized our existence as a people and an organization. But what he and others have failed to realized is, the discussion they are currently engaged into was not initiated by FeLMAUSA neither is it FeLMAUSA intention to engage into such childish discussion. If you read the article written by Brother Sekou, you will agree his suggestion was for the name “Mandingo” infused into your organization appellation is representative and specific to your district instead of the current name (Quardu Gboni Mandingo Association) which exclude Mandingoes from other parts of Liberia. The issues brought up by the brother were not geared toward disdaining the existence of the Quardu Gboni district; neither was he asking for the name of the district to be changed. He did not ask for your forefathers legacy to be changed, neither did he asked for you to change your name as indicated in previous emails. It is obvious that the brother suggestions were done in good faith, but you have basically ignored the issues by engaging into personal attacked and making flippant statement. You further deliberated that “being Black in America does not make me a Black American.” Brother, not only Mandingoes born in Lofa County are citizens of Liberia. It appears to me you have forgotten both the constitution and the history of Liberia since you have lived in Minnesota for “28 years”. I invite you to join the Mandingo book club which solely focuses on Mandingo history in West Africa with emphases place on Liberian Mandingoes. The club meets the last Saturday of every month in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. For your information, every Mandingo person(s) born in Liberia is a Liberian regardless of their parental place of birth. The Mandingoes born in Lofa are not more Liberian than those born in Bong or Nimba County as you have inferred in your email. You have jumped on the same old ban wagon like elements from some tribes in Liberia that suggest that Mandingoes born in other parts of Liberia other then Lofa are not Liberian. Like your forefathers, the history of our grand parents and parents is well documented and their contributions to the nation Liberia is not clandestine (that is a debate we can take on). Personally, two of my great grand parents migrated from Guinea into Liberia in the middle of the 1800s to buy cocoa, coffee and cola nuts. According to family history, they went their separate way upon entering the hinterland of Liberia. One of them went up to what is now known as Nimba County, while the other went to the Lofa region. They both settle in these respective geographical location and later started family. Today, part of our family is considered Lofian while the others are considered Nimbanien. These historical aspects of this discussion lead me to ask you one question: who are you and who am I? Maybe you are the children of “farmers” and we are the children of merchants, but that does not make you more Liberian. Same old same old Even as we memorialized the killing of three hundred innocent Mandingoes from Barkeidu during the senseless civil war in Liberia, you have not learned. I guess you were somewhere in Minnesota for the last “28 years” drinking wine. In your most recent email, you wrote “We have been bombarded on this list served in the past by some of our uncles from the Lormas tribes of Lofa County that we the Quardu Gboni citizens are not doing enough to distinguished ourselves from other Mandingoes in Liberia…” Your statement about your uncle suggestion is not one that is strange to our ears. In 1990, when we were killed by Charles Taylor and his entourage, your so called uncle suggested for you to distinguish yourself from other Mandingoes and the result was massacre against our innocent brothers and sisters in Barkeidu and else where. Your statement is the “same old same old” that continue to undermined and distort the hard work of our forefathers. When will you learn to stop listening to your uncles encouraging division in our community while keeping theirs together? I have not seen or heard your “uncles” distinguish themselves into Liberia Loma or Guinea Loma. Instead, they are asking you to distinguish yourself from your brothers. Go on!!! In a related email, Brother Varmadu Sheriff suggests to us that because “Quardu Gboni Mandingo Association” has been in existence since the inception of time, it was fruitless for anyone to suggest a change of name. But what brother Varmadu failed to realized is that bearing such name from the inception of time does not necessarily means that’s the right thing to do. In this case, brother Varmadu is suggesting the theory of “This is what we always do”. The “This is what we always do” theory has been proven to be counter-productive in society and therefore is not an approach that sustains intellectual engagement. It is a blockade to fruitful discussion. Because you did these 50 years ago, does not immune re-examination of the fact. Bro. Varmadu indicated that 95% of those in the Quardu Gboni district were Mandingoes, 95% were Muslims and most importantly, he tells us vastness of the “Quardu Gboni” enclave, but what he failed to tell us is how the rest of the 5% fit with in the current nomenclature since they are non- Mandingoes and non-Muslims. Brother Varmadu, I personally admired the courage, effort and energy that is employed into “Quardu Gboni “Yet I equally agreed with Brother Sekou that this sends a mixed signal to our adversary. You have chosen to minimize the brother points into an identity issues based on geographical heritage. What you have not understood is that Mandingoes from other parts of Liberia have enclave like what your forefathers handed to you as claimed by Brother Camah Mulabah. Your argument attempts to support the fruitless points made by some of our adversary that “Mandingo people has no County”. This is one of the “same old same old argument that Charles Taylor and merciless “freedom fighters” use to slaughter our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and the list goes on. Go on Bro. Varmadu!!!!!! Sekou Kenneh, an Opinion leader The last time I check my lexicon, an opinion leader is an influential member of his/her group, community or society whom others turn to for advice. This title is not one that is conferred as indicated by Bro. Kenneh from Philadelphia. In fact, Sekou is an influential member of the Minnesota Mandingo community, which gives him the right to refer to himself, as an opinion leader from Minnesota. However, he did not say he was an opinion leader from elsewhere but Minnesota. Therefore, please revisit your dictionary on the definition of who an opinion leader is. Brother Seama claimed to live in Minnesota for “28 years” but we have not seen him at a single Mandingo gathering, except for those that he is recognized as President of Quardu Gboni like the FeLMAUSA inauguration in Milwaukee. He has not attended a single meeting of the Minnesota Mandingo Association neither is he a member of this (MMA) organization. Now, you can see why brother Seama does not understand Sekou role as a community leader. Current Issues The current issue in our community is not where you come from or where I come from. You will agree that there are more burning issues in our community such as the Nimba county land dispute, the open Senate vacancy in Montserrado County, the ongoing harassment of our people and the inadequate distribution of economy resources. These issues can not be tickled in such divisive spirit. These issues require us to employ every avenue and resources available to ensure that we execute our goals in oneness. If we must succeed as Mandingo, we must embark on the wagon of solidarity, which can only be achieved with respect and mutual understanding.
The writer can be reached at justicekomara@yahoo.com,
or 763- 458-2727
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