13 Stripes

My reaction to it surprised me. I didn't understand it at first.  There it was in the distance staring at me, like a friend's outstretched arms welcoming me home. My heart actually skipped a beat and I just couldn't stop smiling. 13 stripes, each one had to be about 20ft long, suspended in air like a cloud providing momentary comfort
from the noonday sun. Being here in Africa you cannot escape the harsh realities of global colonization and the constant effects it has had on the indigenous cultures of so many people. I thought back to my childhood history lessons and the term colony is something that brings celebration in America. We even get two days off in November to eat turkey and remember the destruction of the native peoples of our land.  But that was over 231 year ago. The colonization of Africa is much more prevelant and immediate. It is like I have gone back in time to
see how cultures were being destroyed and "civilization" merges into one way.

I phoned the US Emabassy in Bamako, Mali early in the morning just to check in and to re-register my trip (on the State Department's site you can register your travels just in case something happens they know you are in the area and will help you get to safety). I was altering my route a bit and the road from Dakar to Bamako was a little shady with armed bandits car jacking people along the way (thank God it did not effect our bus). I wanted to make sure they knew my movements in Africa. The man on the phone said that I could come down to the embassy at my leisure and speak to the consulate about anything I wanted and I could even file my taxes there and of course re-register my trip. I hung up the phone feeling good. Off to the Embassy I go.

In countries that the U.S. has diplomatic relations there is usually an Embassy in that country to tend to the U.S. affairs,  interests and citizens. The US Embassy in Bamako was a grand place (in true American fashion) and walking into the place gave me a strange feeling. I didn't think I would be this excited to be there. And technically, you are on US soil when you are there, so if your baby is born in that building it was born in the US and may be eligible to be a U.S. citizen, amamzing huh? Anyway, I conduct my business with the consulate and get all my documentation in order and leave. On the way out though, I pass by those 13 stripes again, a symbol of America's
past colonization of the land we now call home. In just a moment, I will once again leave my country and step back into a former colony ruled by France, with its aweful legacy evident in the country's impoverished condition.

In just over 233 years, America has risen to become a great place. The more I travel the more I am realizing that there is no other place on earth I'd rather be or be from (ignore for a moment every poem/commentary have ever heard me recite on the subject). Of course it is not perfect with its second-rate, unequal public urban education system, disproportionate incarceration rates and struggling social service system, it is still a great place. I am learning more and more what makes America tick, why so many people want to come here and better their lives and what about America I was missing so much being here.

I guess that is I why my heart skipped a beat when I saw it and a smile was on my face. Yes, those 13 stripes represent a terrible colonial tragedy that occured on American soil over the last 400 years and a past that cannot be forgotton, forever represented as our national identity. It is a banner that now bonds us together. But, as much as it shows us where we have been the 50 stars on it also show us where we are, and ultimately where we can go. I even thought about putting my hand up to my forehead and for the first time in my life solute it, proud to be a representative, a citizen. But I didn't (because we still have a very long way to go). But I did feel a little better about these French colonies I was in, and was more hopeful that one day these lands will emerge from their cultural destruction into the wonderful, diverse, yet somehow united people like where I was from that I have too long under-appreciated.....