Bombing reactions:The dumb and stupid

BOMBING REACTIONS: THE DUMB AND STUPID

My hood is highly volatile, if I could describe it as so. Just waiting to explode when the appropriate time comes. It’s a fact I take no pride in. Everyday there are hordes of idle youths sitting on the roadside. Chewing khat and talking gibberish. They ogle at chics and once or twice they mug you in daytime and always at night. Now they are scared. A few years ago they were tribalistic, they still are. Now they are officially xenophobic. I talk alot, when necessary and listen even more. Whenever I am home early I like blending in to their cliques, listening to their different views on current issues.

Yesterday happened to be one of those days. I had a specific reason of knowing their take on Mwaura’s bar shit. I did not need to ask anything, it was the talk. I might have hundreds of adjectives to describe their reactions but one sums it all, stupid. I had a feeling that they were plotting on how to chase Somalis away. Regardless of their citizenship. The talk was still going on when a grenade was detonated at O.T.C. It was like an icing in the cake of hate. They talked about picking pangas, rungus etc and going after Somalis. I know most of it is empty talk, borne out of fear. I cannot ignore the fact that these citizens who are not in any way aligned to Al shabaab have a potential of turning Nairobi inhabitable, just like they did in 2007. All along I never said a word. A mere fact that I was in their company was dangerous enough. Conflicting their views would give me at least a black eye and if they mistake me for a Somali because of my hair and slimness, I would be dead meat.

I have grown up with Somali brothers and sisters, who know no other home apart from Nairobi. Sharing ancestry with members of Al-Shabbab does not mean that they support them. It is a baseless stereotype. Many Kenyans are scared of what might happen. Death lurks in every corner. We don’t know where the terrorists will hit next. Chasing fellow countrymen away will not provide a solution, but a bigger problem. I know my estate idlers don’t read blogs, but our stupid politicians do. They can make a difference here, because those guys listen to them.