The Father of "Modern" Liberian Democracy
As the Liberian election draws near I contemplate Liberia's twisted, ironic, long, and bloody road to democracy.
I wonder if the TRC of Liberia recorded all the names of those lost in the struggle. May they Rest In Peace.
Today, I recall one name in particular. Gabriel Bacchus Matthews the young revolutionary who along with others, protested the single party system of the True Whig Party in Liberia. The True Whig Party had illustrious beginnings; a battle between the darker-skinned settlers and the mulatto mercantile class that controlled Liberian politics via the Republican Party since the country became a republic in 1847. The True Whigs' tyrannical reign over Liberian politics ran from 1869-1980 when it was violently usurped.
Gabriel Bacchus Matthews was the founder of the Progressive Alliance of Liberia in 1975. The young revolutionary Matthews, made it possible for the true return to the multi party system present in Liberia today; the ~26 political parties that will vy for the presidency on October 10th, 2017. He died 10 years ago, 10 days from today on September 7, 2007. A Liberian National Hero.
May He Rest In Peace.
“Acting in keeping with a distorted sense of values, these settlers pursued a process of acculturation, by which their values and culture would dominate and replace the traditional norms and values of the people they met. And therein were the beginning of the mistake – the notion of a superior and an inferior culture, which led to a search for hegemony and dominance, rather than equality and respect.
What was needed was a responsible quest for assimilation that is the merging of the two cultures and peoples to produce a new identity, a Liberian citizenry, unified and strong.
Worse, hostilities attended the interactions of these two groups of people,
and, by the time an independent nation was proclaimed, Liberia was already a state going in the wrong direction.
...
By the late 1970’s, it was clear that change had become an inevitable necessity. Change had to come to make reconciliation possible. I, today, call on all Liberians to reconcile themselves to the inevitability of change. To everything under the sun, there is a season.
Change was coming. Identify all the advocates and actors you may. Blame or
applaud whichever ones you wish, change was coming. It was coming, whether
the names of the actors were called Baccus Matthews, William R. Tolbert,
Jr., Richard Henries, Samuel Doe, Joseph Chesson, Thomas Quiwonkpa, Amos
Sawyer, Togba Nah Tipoteh, Boima Fahnbulleh, Oscar Quiah, Rev. Toimu
Reeves, Bishop George Browne, Father Michael Francis, etc., etc., etc. Change was coming. It was coming with them, without them, or even in spite of them. It was coming, and it came. God is always on time.
Liberia had to be saved, for all of us, and not just for some of us. And our generation succeeded in bringing us together. Yes, we do see what you see, and we should all seek to contain what is wrong. In time, however, the dust will settle, and a clear stream will replace the muddy waters.”
