Yus,

Here is the deal: When I opened my private mail early this morning, I red a
note from a friend in the Gambia to say that one of my uncles wants me to
call him immediately. I thought of the worse. It turns out, he's got wind of
our exchanges, and happens to have known your late father fairly well. Like
only African uncles can, he has ordered me to shut up or else... I don't
need to go into that.

This is an interesting little story that you wrote. Never mind that you've
conveniently ignored the questions that I asked. I've browsed a few postings
by header, and for the life of me, I cannot understand what Essa Thomas or
Fatou Something are saying. Essa has to be high on something, because I
can't farthom where this guy read my "threats" to your mother. I'm not
"disrespecting" your mother as Fatou allege. I'm asking questions regarding
her role as a cabinet member. It's Satang Jow, the Minister, not the mother
that I am interested in. I'll give you a parallel.

You see, one of Jawara's blood nephews Musa B. Jawara is a good friend of
mine. We talk often. Despite this personal relationship, I never hesitate to
highlight my boy's dad's deficiencies as our former prez. Though Mose has
told me on several occassions to lighten up on the Old Man. But he
understands that it's not personal. I won't be true to myself if I ignore
some of the revisionism going on regarding our recent history. For that
reason, I've blasted Jawara here more times than most members. All one needs
to do is review the archives of this distro.

What irritates me most is the fact that, neither you, nor anyone else who
shares your sentiment has EVER accused me of tribalism for roasting Jawara.
And it's not just Jawara. When I watched the Yaya Jammeh 100ft Deep Freak
Video Show last August, I reported my observations as objectively as is
humanly possible. Even though, there were several Wollof speakers, the show
was dominated by Mandingo people spurring on Yaya to be ruthless. I singled
them out for condemnation. Because that was what I feel is warranted by what
I saw on that tape. I simply call what I see. I find it really interesting
that no one has accused me of tribalism against Mandingo people in that
case. So, when I compare your visceral reaction to my comments on
corruption, and ingratitude as demonstrated by the Great KB, I'm forced to
wonder if you would have kept quiet about my critique of that video, if say
the main culprits were Aku or Wollof speaking people. I really doubted that.
Very likely, my whole critique would have been paraded as the rantings of a
dangerous tribalist, who needs to be condemned. And people like yourself are
supposed to be the "ethno-blind" types. I'm I missing something here.

In short, I can tear your little story apart to prove my point, but why
bother? You want bygones to be bygones, and at the behest of my uncle, let
it be. But to move on, let's set down some ground rules:
I have no problems tolerating you. You have your opinion on issues; express
it freely. I've told you this a year ago. As long as you don't jump on me
and slight me the way you just did this week, we'll never have any problems.

I just wished I could have ignored you. But, I couldn't. The fact is, I'm
from the Malcom X School of Thought - not Martin L. King! I'm not telling
anyone to kiss me. I just want to be. If you don't like me, I can live with
that. Chances are I don't like you either. So we're both not missing a
thing. But if you "slap me on one cheek," not only will I NOT "turn the
other cheek" for you to slap, but you'll in fact be very lucky if I don't
knock out every single goddamn tooth in your mouth! I mean it. That's me. I
don't take a beating lying down. It's not in me to do that. So, for the sake
of those seeking peaceful co-existence, I hope the rules are clear. If you
can be a gentleman and adhere to these rules, we'll never go through another
of these silly exchanges. I have no problems keeping my word. I hope you
don't...

Good luck!

Saul.


>Lers:
>I have a bit of time to splurge this afternoon since I somehow managed to
>get
>in at 5AM this morning. (laugh) Maybe due to a lack of sleep but I was wide
>awake at 3:30 Am this morning.

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