Attack Against Humanity

Attack Against Humanity

by Jules S. Damji

(remarks read at the Vigil—Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC)

I am not here simply because members of my community or tribe died at the hands of the terrorists at the Westgate Mall.

But I am here because a terrorist attack in Boston is an attack against humanity.

I am here because a terrorist attack in New York is an attack against humanity.

And I am here because a terrorist attack in Nairobi is an attack against humanity.

You’re here because the blood that runs in your veins is no different from the blood shed at the Westgate Mall—and you feel its senseless loss, its pain.

You’re here because the spirit and the flame of life, the flame of the candle you going to hold tonight, that flame that glows inside your heart is no different from the one that was extinguished in your friends’ hearts at the Westgate Mall—and you feel its darkness, its emptiness.

President Abraham Lincoln said, “A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have.”

And our enemies are those cowardly, callous terrorists, who preyed and pounced upon innocent citizens, our friends, our humanity, at the Westgate Mall.

But our common humanity will defeat them.

Our common courage will vanquish them.

The Great Madiba said, “Courage is not absence of fear, it’s the conquest of fear.”

And the courage shown by the heroes at the Westgate Mall, who saved others, were not without fear. But they conquered the fear and rose to fight the evil.

Like the young five-year-old British boy who stared in the eyes of Al-Shabbab terrorist, who first shot his mother in the leg and then pointed the gun at the boy.

The boy said, “You’re a coward man! Leave my sister and my mother alone.”

Imagine, a little boy standing up to the terrorist, with an AK-47, which could cut the boy into shreds, with a grenade that could blow them all into smithereens.

But the boy vanquished, because he conquered fear, because he showed courage.

So can humanity vanquish terrorists, with our collective courage!

May our friends rest in peace.

May God furnish strength to their families.

And may God grace all Kenyans.

Thank You.