Sheku Kemo's Naming Ceremony

On Sunday 9th November 2008, a cross section of the Sierra Leone community here in Minnesota, Joined me and my family to carry out the traditional naming rites of our son Sheku Kemo Sheriff, who was born on October 23rd 2008 at St. John's Hospital in Saint Paul, the capital city of the great state of Minnesota.

The ceremony was carried out in accordance to the Islamic traditional rites for the naming of a male child, involving the sacrifice of a ram. Though he is born an American citizen, we intend to raise him to value both his American and African heritages.

We are extremely thankful to all those who took time of their busy schedules to join us in celebrating his birth and are especially grateful to those who helped us plan and implement the event. The value of kinship is made more meaningful when we all come together to celebrate such momentous events. I am especially grateful to Karmoh Lamin Jabbie for leading us through the religious rites and my family and friends for the good food. May God continue to bless you all in your singular endeavors and may our homeland Sierra Leone one day rise from the depths to which it has sunk. Sheku Kemo is the only son of Maria Philip and Sheku Sheriff.

A Historic President

Tuesday November 4th 2008 will go down in history as the seismic day that America decided to turn its back on its sorry past, and embraced the future with one loud and resounding cry, CHANGE!!!!.

On this day, at exactly 10pm central time, most of the major networks announced Barack Obama as the newly elected, 44th President of the United States of America. After hearing earlier that night that Obama had carried the great state of Ohio, I had already started celebrating, secure in the knowledge that the final nail in the McCain-Palin coffin had been firmly struck. Barack Obama in January 2009 will becomes the first African American president of the greatest nation on earth, and the only ever black president in the West.

To truly appreciate the significance of this event, one only needs to look at the history of the black man in this country. Our black forefathers were stolen from Africa, bound in chains and brought to slave in the cotton and cane plantations of the Americas and Europe. Millions died at Sea and those that survived the Atlantic crossing endured the rest of their lives in bondage and suffering, working in fields all their lives, without pay, scant food and cramped into horrible spaces.

Black slaves were systematically dehumanized, their children and dignity taken away from them. For hundreds of years, slavery was institutionalized and rationalized. Such human degradation was rationalized by essentially assuming that blacks were subhuman, just because their skin happened to be of a different color. It took a bloody civil war in America for slaves to be free and took years and the lives of many civil right leaders like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, among many others, for blacks to slowly be accorded all the rights that were their due as citizens of this vast country. The journey from slavery to leadership has therefore been slow and costly for the black people as a race, and they therefore need to be proud of November 4th 2008 and the rest of America with them.

Barack Obama is taking over the mantle of leadership at a time when the country is in an economic quagmire, but by the grace of God and all those who have been before him, he will surely succeed. He has the vision and insightfulness that is the hallmark of great leaders, combined with a tremendous calmness of spirit that will propel him to higher heights. I am humble and thankful to my creator for having given me the opportunity to be alive to witness this momentous event. We will continue to pray so that he can find a way to end the wars we are in and resuscitate this economy. The middle class and poor that have taken such a pounding over the past 8 years will once again walk with a spring in their steps, smile on their lips and joy in their hearts.

A new day has Dawn

The Sheriff family is proud to introduce a new member to the family. He is Sheku Kemo Sheriff, born to Maria Philips and Sheku Sheriff in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Thusday 23rd October 2008 at 10.00pm.
The baby weighed a whopping 10.2 pounds at birth, with the appropriate number of fingers and toes. We intend to raise the boy to be proud of his American citizenship, while remaining acutely aware, proud and respectful of his Sierra Leone heritage. The baby's paternal ancestors are the Sheriffs, Kallons, and Kannehs. The Maternal ancestors are the Kemokai and Margai families of Sierra Leone, and the Philips family of Liberia.
Calls of congratulations have been pouring in from friends and relatives all over the world and we pray that Sheku will grow to be a man of integrity, who will make a meaningful contribution in the lives of others.

Endorsing Obama

On behalf of the Sheriff, Kallon, Ballay, and Kanneh families here in the United States of America, and on behalf of my weblog, www.segbwema.blogspot.com, I wish to take this opportunity to formally endorse Barack Obama for the presidency of the United States of America.

Barack Obama has manifested a unique understanding of the myriads of problems confronting the middle class and lower income groups in USA, and is committed to the redemption of the moral standing of this country in the world. Over the last 7 years, the outgoing Bush administration has, through the pursuit of unilateral policies, diminished the moral standing of this great nation in the eyes of the world. The lack of understanding of the principles and the implications of globalization, and the basic lack of understanding of the aims, aspirations and traditions of other people has led to the commission of serious foreign policy blunders, whose consequences are only now starting to become apparent.

The Republican administration, in its bid to appeal to the conservative base of the party, has played down the threat of global warming and almost rejected the science of stem cell research. This failure to recognize the threat of climate change to the future of the global ecosystem and the potential of stem cell research to offer significant advances in the treatment of major diseases is testament to the narrow mindedness of the far right in this country. If this ignorant bunch continue to have their way unchecked, USA will face a significant decline in the rate of scientific progress and may one day lose its lead in this field. A vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin who by all intents and purposes are bent on following in the footsteps of the Bush administration, will just be a continuation of the same backward and ignorant policies that has dragged this country into the quagmire it is in.

Another major reason to reject the McCain-Palin ticket is to reject once and for all the politics of fear that has pervaded every facet of life in USA. The Republicans have over the years falsely, but successfully convinced the American people that they are the only party that can keep them safe. Democrats have been portrayed as the party of wimps, and some Bush administration officials have even been brazen enough to state that a vote for democrats would lead to another attack on this country. This fear mongering is the main reason that Americans have sat down and let the inept Bush administration drag this country into the economic mess it is currently in. The McCain-Palin ticket have also started the same fear mongering, insinuating that Obama should be feared and distorting his background. All this negative campaign simply means that McCain and Palin have no major issue to run on. The American people should therefore reject them and vote for Obama, replacing fear with hope and the pessimism with a vision of brighter days to come.

McCain is a war hero and this nation has showed its appreciation to him by allowing him to be in the Senate for over a quarter of a century. But at 72 years, he is just too old. At his age he should be thinking about retirement and not running around trying to take up one of the most complex jobs in the world. As he has clearly and publicly stated, he has very little knowledge of economic issues, and in this bad economy, choosing him would be a terrible mistake. His choice of the moose hunting, "six pack" drinking, college hopping, Sarah Palin, who has manifested a serious lack of understanding of complex social, economic, and international issues a testament to his poor and hasty judgement. Barrack Obama was careful to pick a serious running mate and not some beauty queen who was picked to court female votes.

A final reason to vote for Obama is to endorse his plan to which ensure that all Americans have access to quality and affordable healthcare. John McCain's plan to give us $5,000.00 healthcare credit will just be matched by a $5,000.00 premium increase by the insurance companies. He does not believe that honest tax paying American have a right to healthcare. He thinks it will be too expensive to cover all, but wants to stay in Iraq for a 100 years. Let us tell McCain and his insurance lobbyists that we will vote for healthcare for all hardworking and taxpaying Americans

In view of the above I feel greatly honored to endorse Barack Obama, a candidate of hope and change, a physical manisfestation of American diversity and a man of the common people. I believe his presidency will allow a new day to dawn in this country.