Daughter of human rights activist speaks
by Kathryn Graham
The Metropolitan
Dr. Nontombi Naomi Tutu, the daughter of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, spoke at the St. Cajetan's Center at Auraria campus Monday.
Tutu was invited to Metro as the 2004 Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professor. She speaks frequently on South African issues to schools, churches and universities across the United States and is currently the coordinator of race relations at Fisk University
As an international human relations scholar, Tutu spoke to Auraria students Monday about global human rights.
"When we speak of global human rights, I think very often we look at issues in Afghanistan and Iraq but we displace ourselves. When we talk about human rights the question is, whose voice do we listen to?" said Tutu.
Tutu reminded Auraria students that America supported the apartheid in South Africa because they were against communism and how, in Afghanistan, the United States forgets that it armed and trained the Taliban because, at that time, anyone against communism was our ally.
She explained how we don't listen to the story of those people anymore because we have decided they are terrorists.
The women of Afghanistan asked for help long before the United States got involved but their concerns were, in the past, put aside until it became in our best interest to help them, Tutu said.
"How often do you see a Palestinian woman interviewed about her life?" Tutu asked students.
Look at a Palestinian woman whose child became a suicide bomber. She may tell people that she is proud of her child's deeds but we can't imagine that she wanted that for her child, said Tutu.
"We don't hear those stories. We don't hear of what these women dream of for their children and we've decided that we don't need to because they're terrorists," said Tutu.
Tutu spoke about the stereotype that many may hold when the issue of women on welfare is mentioned.
She described that stereotype as: a woman who has fifteen children with one on the way so she can get more money from the system-a woman who watches soap operas on her big screen television, eating steaks while we have to get up and go to work every morning.
"When we look at our situation at home we must ask; Whose voices are heard? When we look at welfare reform we don't listen to the voices of those who experience it. The way we silence people's voices is we label them. We label them as welfare moms and we get an image in our head and decide that her voice isn't important," Tutu said.
Tutu supports the development of South African Female Empowerment (SAFE), which focuses on sexual violence programs and economic empowerment of women, as she is a profound global advocate for women's rights.
Tutu advocated for the value that each person possesses and the voice within them that we often don't validate.
"When we talk about human rights we have a feeling that there are some people that are less than we are. When I go to a restaurant I see people who can't see the person that is waiting on them.
"When we decide that people are less than (us), we decide that their voice isn't worth hearing. If our children were as slow to pick their clothes up off the floor as we are to deal with human rights, they would be grounded," said Tutu.
It seems we're getting information but if we look at where that information comes from and what it's about, "over and over the information is not complete," said Tutu.
"I grew up as a black child in apartheid South Africa. Our voices weren't heard," said Tutu
Tutu spoke with pride about the social progress in South Africa.
"I don't want to say that we South Africans have the answers to the world, but we do," joked Tutu.
"For the first time a nation listened to everybody. We listened and made it part of our national story.
"We have to start by getting rid of the notion that there are some whose stories are more important than others," Tutu said.
Tutu commented on how we don't hear from the grass roots. She gave examples of the genitalia mutilation that takes place in the name of religion and culture and how we still don't hear much about it.
She also questioned why we stopped hearing about the women that were liberated in Afghanistan and asked, "How are they?"
"Those stories that we don't listen to, that voice that we don't let be heard, that is human rights abuse," Tutu said. |
