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Following on from Keguro…

A leadership that degrades its people is unfit to lead.
A leadership afraid of its people is unfit to lead.
A leadership indifferent to its people’s suffering is unfit to lead.
A leadership afraid of political critique is unfit to lead.
A leadership that betrays and dishonors the Constitution is unfit to lead.
A leadership that feeds on its people’s carcasses is unfit to lead.
A leadership that breaks its people’s bones is unfit to lead.
A leadership that eats while its people starve is unfit to lead.
A leadership that stands by and watches its police kill with impunity is unfit to lead.
A leadership that practices impunity is unfit to lead.

A leadership deaf and blind to its people’s needs is unfit to lead.

A leadership that stops peaceful protest is unfit to lead.

A leadership that curtails the freedoms of its people is unfit to lead.

A leadership that rides roughshod over its people’s rights is unfit to lead.

A leadership that lives in wealth while its people die in poverty is unfit to lead.

A leadership that doesn’t ensure equal rights for all is unfit to lead.

A leadership that allows and doesn’t combat corruption is unfit to lead.

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On International Women of Colour Day, I celebrate by highlighting the work of Magdalene Odundo, Professor of Ceramics at the University College for the Creative Arts.

I cherish the memory of a workshop I attended where Magdalene, soft spoken and charming, presented her work. We, the audience, gave a collective gasp of awe and admiration as we watched her hands adroitly create poetry from clay as she built a stunning pot from scratch – a process brilliantly executed in the most superbly simple way one could imagine.

Magdalene’s work has been exhibited in many places including the Crafts Council at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg and the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire. Her work is also found in museums worldwide including the Smithsonian, the Gardiner Museum and in private collections. Due to their uniqueness and excellence, the works are sold for quite large sums of money – in 2006, for example, a piece of art was sold for £28,405.

If you look closely at her work, you can see the various forms of women represented; among them, flaring hips, the belly of a pregnant woman and a graceful long neck with the head elegantly tilted back.

Magdalene and her superlative art make me want to stand on a spire and tell the world: This is who we are. See what we are capable of.

Viva Magdalene.

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This is the house that hate built

This is the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the machete
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the man
That used the machete
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the gun
That killed the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the policeman
That shot the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the politician
That gave the order
That shot the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the mob
That confronted the politician
That gave the order
That shot the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the priest
That calmed the mob
That confronted the politician
That gave the order
That shot the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

This is the coffin
That carried the priest
That calmed the mob
That confronted the politician
That gave the order
That shot the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built.

These are the people
That mourned and wailed
That bore the coffin
That carried the priest
That calmed the mob
That confronted the politician
That gave the order
That shot the man
That killed the boy
That threw the rock
That lay in the house that hate built

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