The work of Ekere Tallie

Reflections, September 2005

Don’t just hope for the best

“Don’t just hope for the best, work to make the best happen.” Kalamu Ya Salaam, Sept 2001

I don’t even know where to start. There are so many things to say. I had intended to write some more about my travels in Africa , and I actually did. If you haven’t seen it yet, I have a new account of my time in Namibia , “Pieces of a Dream,” up on chickenbones, and there is a new travel bug up here about an inspired soul we met in Zimbabwe , but I was in the middle of writing something else about my travels when the insanity broke out in Louisiana . I think you know what I mean when I use the word “insanity.” You know that I am not calling the rain or the wind insane. You know I am not calling the folk who tried to get a loaf of bread or some water from closed stores insane either. The insanity I’m referring to is the United States government’s lack of response to such a disaster: how George Bush Jr. decided to chill out on vacation while folk were being washed away, how much of this could have been prevented if the infrastructure in parts of New Orleans had been repaired because folks knew this was on the horizon. My husband actually pointed out another insanity: here we are digging in our pockets to donate money most of us don’t have, when the United States government has infinite resource at its disposal (how else can they hang out in Iraq ?). The contradictions are so blatant they are painful. I don’t understand why impeachment procedures haven’t started. And I keep asking myself why we sit and let this administration go to war, lie to us, let our people die in floodwater…are we really that distracted and if so by what?

Meanwhile, I am moved by the people who left the security of their own homes to go down to Louisiana or Texas or Mississippi to lend their hands. I was touched by pictures I saw of people waiting for the busses with signs saying, “Welcome, neighbors.” I am buoyed by the idea of people opening their homes and hearts to strangers. I am inspired by the courage of people like writer Kalamu Ya Salaam. In the midst of being uprooted himself, Kalamu continues to write, organize, and has decided to document exactly what is going on around him. When I wrote Kalamu an e-mail thanking him for his courage, he simply wrote, “We have to keep pushing.”

As I watch all of this unfold, I am also busy with my creative work. I am sending my poetry and fiction out with something that can only be called urgency as my husband, Dominique, and I are expecting our first child in a matter of weeks. Talk about inspiration. I have had plenty of thoughts of pregnancy and women and media images during the last 8 and a half months and I also want to share those. A friend of mine, writer Zetta Elliott, sent me an e mail saying, “Having a child is the ultimate act of hope.” With all that is going on in the world and the world of my mind, I sat with Zetta’s statement for awhile. I joked with Dominique that I didn’t know if people were, “Having babies out of hope or just because they’re having sex.” We laughed but we also acknowledged the truth of Zetta’s statement. If you see starting a family as a sacred undertaking, then having a child has to be the ultimate rebirth. I have spent quite a bit of time with children and newborns lately and when I look at their faces and watch them discover things we take for granted, I see hope and I rediscover hopeful places in myself.

Then I am taken back to what I learned in September 2001, that the best work I can do is born of hope.

Links of hope:

Kalamu ya Salaam (photo) Needs Work
Kalamu's Neo-Griot Project

George Bush Doesn' t Care About Black People lyrics and link to the song
Kanye West Speaks Out
Michael Moore