The Kenyan crisis continues. While some say that it is merely a manifestation of inter-tribal conflicts which have been smouldering beneath the surface for years, it seems to me that before the recent elections people of different tribes were for the most part getting along perfectly well with each other. An article by Mildred Ngesa in yesterday’s Daily Nation provides a checklist for identifying whether you’re slipping into ethnic discrimination. The signs include:
- Changing your hairdresser, mechanic or doctor
- Ceasing to communicate with a friend or acquaintance
- Recoiling when you hear someone answer a phone with a certain language or accent
- Tensing up when a colleague joins the lunch table
- Preventing children from playing with others
- Refusing to attend an inter-ethnic wedding
- Experiencing bitterness in your heart against another community because of things you cannot clearly explain
Every human has the capacity to do good and to do evil. The problem is that in times of stress it becomes harder to recognise the difference. People who are normally peaceful and law-abiding members of society can be caught up in perpetrating ugly crimes of hate and brutality, and that provides the fuel which flames the conflicts.