Quote Of The Day

"I wouldn't like to be the one to put a pin in this balloon, but the victory of Obama does not say anything about black people. It says something about the United States of America. If it does give hope to 'blacks,' it is only to those who are fortunate enough to be citizens of this great nation. If anything, Obama’s victory exposes just how far behind the rest of the world is to the United States of America and, instead of being a cause of celebration for Africans, this should be a moment for some very serious self-criticism. Africans would do well to ask themselves if a comparable event is even possible within their borders. Is it possible for a non-black African to become president of any nation in Africa even if he had better ideas than his black counterparts? Kenyans have just recently emerged from a violent electoral episode that saw the death of hundreds of people. The battle was along tribal lines, not even racial lines, and yet Kenyans cannot see the absurdity of celebrating a peaceful election somewhere else that easily anointed a man from a minority group. The people of Kenya should realize that what triumphed in the American elections is not 'blackness' but the American spirit of individualism, the culture of permitting a man to rise on the basis of his qualities, not his racial or tribal identity. The reason America is so unique is because it is the only nation that was specifically founded on the principle of individual rights. When you respect individual rights – because you respect the absolute dignity and equality of every individual – it becomes natural for individuals to rise to greatness when they put their effort into something. This does not mean that America has always had laws that respected individual rights, but it means that this principle has ultimately triumphed against unjust conventions and practices. It's the principle that has shaped the general course of American history whenever it has led the way in any great social and cultural achievement." — Chanda Chisala, Zambian libertarian journalist who is currently a John S. Knight International Fellow at Stanford University's Department of Communications