Open Letter To The President of Sudan from Broke Down Oprah

President Bashir

Dear President Bashir

You are ruling your country under troubled times and I hope you can take a minute or two to read this letter from me. I have read about the conflict in your region. I have read about the charges of genocide, government backed militias, and the word Janjaweed--which is new to my vocabulary.

What I have not heard until now, as far as I can tell, is why are you and the Janjaweed killing the ethnic black people of Darfur (who are by the way Muslim, like yourselves),when as far as I can tell you are all black.

If you came to America and drove a BMW down the streets of Beverly Hills you would be stopped and questioned by the police, just like any black man living in America.

If someone put you in a time machine and sent you back to Mississippi in the 1920's you stand a good chance of being lynched, like any black man in America.

If they sent you back further in time you stand a good chance of being captured by Arabs, castrated and turned into a Eunuch and forced to watch over that Arab's harem, just as many African men were forced.

So I don't understand the racism.

I haven't seen any Janjaweed but I suspect they are just as black as you are. I am trying to picture in my mind the absurdity of a Janjaweed man raping a black Darfur woman telling her that she should be happy to get pregnant; because at least her baby will be light and not black like her, when he is probably the same color she is. Insanity is hard to explain sometimes but that just defies explanation.

I have often heard that Eskimos have about nine different words for snow, because they live in snow and it is necessary to their survival to know snow in and out, could this racial confusion be an example of that kind of complexity?

To our untrained eyes you are all black but to your eyes there are colors on the spectrum we don't see, but are very apparent and obvious from centuries of living under Arab domination and self hatred. At least that would make some kind of sense.

So if someone were to take you to a Darfur Village and drop you off there right before the Janjaweed arrived to murder and rape, would they recognize you as one of them, an Arab? Or would they just kill you along with all the rest of the blacks?

I was watching a news program about a boy who dropped his book bag when fleeing from the Janjaweed. He was lucky enough to make it to a refugee camp. They found a composition book full of geometric problems and solutions and beautifully handwritten Arabic. He appeared to be a good student. When they tracked him down he told them they can donate the bag and the contents to the Holocaust Museum so people would remember what has happened. This child could have grown up to be a great person in Sudan. A mathematician or scholar to help your country overcome all kinds of problems, but he has been broken, physically and spiritually, watching his family slaughtered while he wastes away in a refugee camp. Why? Because he is black and not Arab?

In a CNN article you state that,

"We are hoping that we are capable of reaching an agreement to solving the problem of Darfur."

You are the cause of that problem, all you have to do is to stop. Or else one day the Janjaweed may decide you don't fall on the correct side of your imaginary color scale and come after you.


Sincerely

Broke Down Oprah