We have received, dated 12 July, a warm reply from the director of Boston MFA, Matthew Teitelbaum. A clear and concise explanation of the appropriate steps being taken to remedy matters and a clear statement that the audio track was unacceptable. It is not always we can say an effort was worthwhile but also a great thank you to Matthew for taking these matters seriously.
Attended the unveiling of a blue plaque to Phyllis Wheatley. This famous African poet had to come to London from the US in 1773 to find a publisher for her poetry. She was born in The Gambia and by the age of 15 was fluent in Latin, Greek and English and was publishing her poetry in her teens. No publishing house in US would touch her work. She met Granville Sharp among many British dignitaries and also Benjamin Franklin….
Michelle Goa writes in Harvard Crimson: ‘It bemuses me that some absolve non-white people of racism. They declare point-blank, “It’s literally impossible to be racist to a white person.” “Racism against white people doesn’t exist.” “Because there’s no scenario in which racism is not a bad thing. If some extremists won’t engage in good faith, we can’t force them. But at least among the rest of us, we can do better. We shouldn’t need to compare how a possible…
Boston Museum appears not to have learnt anything or taken steps to root out racism in its institution since our earlier commentary. We had thought our previous report of their absurd commentary that ancient Royal Egyptians got their dark skins from working outside in the sun may have been a one-off to be dealt quietly and circumspectly. We now learn that racism is rather endemic at the Museum. A teacher took her class to the Museum only for them…
Nigerian passengers are very profitable for many airlines. However that does not always translate into due respect. There is some silly behaviour that in my original opinion was due to rogue staff. they would harrass African passenger who were in transit over their passports. Remember these passengers are not seeking entry into Turkey. These are passemgers who have already been checked for the final destination at their port of embarkation by Turkish airlines staff. In one case I heard…
It was predictable that after the crash of Ethiopian airlines some Western commentators would be insinuate that it was due to poor African pilot skills. However FT reports 4 April 19 : ‘ Ethiopian minister of transport Dagmawit Moges said that the crew of the Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi on March 10 “performed all the procedures repeatedly provided by the manufacturer but were not able to control the aircraft”. ‘ Note 1 Much to my…
On 8 Feb we went to a private screening of ROMA. This was a visually enchanting film which was quite magnetic and held one’s attention. At the private screening the director, producer, cine-photographer, and the main stars came on stage for a Q&A after the film. For once the Q&A was utterly rivetting. Alfonso Cuaron, the director/producer described his unusual way of producing/filming in that everything was shot in sequence. He also confessed that the final scene in the…
Front page news: The Pope dismisses a US cardinal from the priesthood! WSJ reports that after a report documented decades of clerical abuse the Catholic hierarchy has chosen to act. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-former-cardinal-is-defrocked-after-sex-abuse-conviction-11550311326 ) A more interesting question for Africans is the almost total absence of convictions or public allegations in Africa. Given the long history of the Catholic church in Africa and the role of European priests it beggars the imagination that the same priests who misbehaved in US or…
There is currently great hysteria about IP theft by China. Even reasonably sensible Americans loose all sense of reality on this topic. For example WIRED wrote 11 October 2018″From US companies, Chinese hackers and spies have purloined everything from details of wind turbines and solar panels to computer chips and even DuPont’s patented formula for the color white. “ You cannot steal a patented formula !! You can only infringe it. The purpose of patents was to spread knowledge around the…
Spent this evening listening to Bill Bryson at the London Library. The London Library is an august institution founded in St James’ Square London and has associations with many great British writers whose ghosts are seen happily strolling along its arcane alleyways, browsing along the shelves, brimming with delight when their books are NOT on the shelves because they have been taken out to be read! Bill gave an enchanting talk about how he came to England (note specifically England…
