Is it a crime to have a tribe? Isn’t it natural?
I am in Nuer land. I must pretend I am a Nuer, though I am naturally born a Dinka, I must hide that. I must hide because I need to live. In that land, Nuer are the only human beings. Any other person who is not a Nuer can be killed without fear.
In that land, Dinka people are perceived as killers. Prejudice is numberless. They say Dinka people are rude. They are robbers. They are corrupt. They are merciless. They are bad. If seen, they don’t deserve to live. Even children grow up believing that Dinka men are bad. They are trained to hate them. They should never love them. They should never inter-marry with them. Even a Nuer boy should never date a Dinka girl and vice versa. Children can’t interact in the classroom because of the mind-set they have towards each other.
With all the negative things put on my tribe, I am obliged to hide my tribe. I cannot introduce myself a Dinka in non-Dinka land. Even a Nuer can’t introduce himself/herself a Nuer in non-Nuer land.
But why should it be so? If it is evil to have a tribe, why did the creator create a tribe? Why do we have the 64 tribes in South Sudan if it is evil to have them? Is it true that my tribe is better than other tribes? Never! No tribe is better than the other! Humans are humans! They have the same weaknesses. They have the same strengths. If one Dinka man or woman is rude, it is true a million times that one Nuer man or woman is rude too. If they say Dinka people are corrupt, what of that Nuer man who corrupted the oil money that year?
It is just true about human nature. Every human being can go wrong or right. The intensity of doing wrong or right is not determined by tribe. It is just natural. Unless you grow up in heaven, you won’t live without going wrong. Humans are all sinners. No human being is more sinner than the other.
Of course, I cannot deny the influence of social settings. The environment we are in can affect how we look at things. Imagine you grow up in an environment full of negativities. The probability of you being negative is half. If in a family, people only talk of killing, you may end up being a killer. That is just a general fact. It has nothing to do with tribe.
We must learn to accept the fact that we can never be one tribe. We will always be from different tribes. We must learn that other tribes also deserve what we deserve. They can be loved like us. They can be leaders like us. They can be favoured like us. They can be empowered like us. They can be educated like us. Whatever we need is what they need too. If one is born an Acholi, there is no magic that will change that Acholi man or woman to any other tribe. You and I just need to accept that that Acholi remains an Acholi.
We can live peacefully with each other though there are more than a hundred tribes in a Country if only we learn the power of acceptance. I simply need to accept that you are human like me. I need to accept that you deserve the rights I deserve. You have eyes like me. You have a mind like mine. You have a tribe like I have. I can just learn to respect your uniqueness. It is unique being from another tribe. Being different from me does not mean you aren’t important. Of course, you are important though I don’t know! God determines our importance.
Since human beings are naturally selfish and jealous; they are likely to see what is only good for them. They see themselves without seeing others. That is so bad with humans. They may not value you, but you are valued by the creator. They may ignore your tribe, but your tribe is valued by the creator. They may put all the prejudices on your tribe but know that prejudices are wrong perceptions. They will never be true.
One thing that affects us so much in dealing with others is overgeneralization. You know I am a Dinka. You know one Dinka who killed someone. Because you saw that one Dinka killing someone you conclude every Dinka man is a killer. One Zande lady is a prostitute, we stupidly finalize that all Zande ladies are prostitutes. One Nuer man is a raider; we conclude any Nuer man can raid. I saw one Madi who supports tribalism; I conclude all Madi support tribalism.
Is it a natural reality that what other people do affects me because we are from the same tribe? I can’t believe it! We may come from the same mother, but we can never behave the same. We are all created differently. We may have the same physical look, but emotionally, we must never be the same. I like school. I have a young brother. He does not like school at all. What I do cannot determine the life of another person though being from the same womb.
When I was in the village, I thought every Dinka man is bad. I was amazed when I met a very kind Dinka man. The man is extremely kind. His smiles never go off. He lives as if in heaven. I was astonished to believe. At first, I didn’t believe he was Dinka. I thought he was Nuer since I believed only a Nuer man can be kind or nice. It forever changed my mindset when I finally learned the man was purely Dinka. From there I had learned that I must not generalize no matter the case. I must treat every person differently. It is not the tribe that makes you good or bad. It is only you! Just yourself! If you do any bad thing, I will say it is you, not your tribe! The way you think is not the way the other person thinks.
I recently met a Dinka lady who told me that she can never marry a Nuer man. She said her father was killed by Nuer in 2014. Just because of that, she will never come in contact with any Nuer. Whenever she sees a Nuer man or woman, she feels she can pick up a gun and kill the person instantly. Then I asked her whether every Nuer agreed that time to kill her father. I continued asking her whether the war fought was between every Dinka and every Nuer. I also gave her an example of some Nuer men who fought tirelessly for the government. Why should such men receive her hate when they were on the side of her father?
The young lady just opened her mouth and could not answer me anything. I believe God will help her change. There are many other people in South Sudan who think like that young lady. You bring your problem with one person to every person. That is so immature. You are just naïve. Big as we are, we still carry things of the past to the present people. A mistake was made by my grandfather; you want to punish me for it. I wasn’t born when my grandfather made such a mistake. I went to the village, some men wanted to kill me because my father killed someone from their family. Did I kill the person? Did I know when my father killed the person? People are just static. They cannot think outside the box. You jail me because my brother has committed a criminal offence. I didn’t agree with him. I am not my brother. I therefore can’t be treated as a criminal because he is a criminal. That is just a universal truth.
To erase tribalism, learn to accept others. Learn to appreciate the practices of other tribes. Learn to value every person. Understand humans are humans. There are no better humans and bad humans. I am human. I can do both good and bad.
Be exposed! Exposure is the most important thing to kill tribalism! I couldn’t believe others are human beings like my people if I hadn’t visited other countries with so many different people. I lived in Kenya for years. I lived in Zande land for a good two years. I attended school with many different people. I lived with whites. I interacted with some Arabs. I got exposed to so many different lifestyles. With the exposure I have, I have come to understand human beings. We are all equal before the creator.
Finally, let’s learn to value others. Human beings should be valued because they are human beings. We cannot value human beings because of what they have as many of us do. We must value them because of who they are. Be kind to the Nation.