Word: gelle
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...noted with disgust your front page story, "Kenya Bandits Chase First-Year-to-Be," The Harvard Crimson, April 16, 1994, by Jeffrey N. Gell. This is a typical example of the myopic, ignorant and racist attitude that the Western media often adopts in covering African affairs and to see such being promulgated in your paper makes a statement about the supposedly "educated" lot in North America...
...interesting experience, depending on what you find and who you are dealing with. To be met by such an article, however, is a throwback to the days when one could use derogatory terms like "native bandits" and 'primitive" to make a point of imaginary superiority. Mr. Gell certainly made the point. I take offense with his use of the term "hunted" in the lead to juxtapose the story and create a misguided and obviously unschooled theme...
...find it ridiculous that Mr. Gell would choose the quote by a Dr. Albright that equates "primitive" to "...the only English they spoke was..." I would expect a member of an institution like Harvard to be between informed than one who uses English speech as the yardstick for civilization. It is not. Kenya has a wealth of indigenous languages which make up the rich cultural background that its citizens are very proud of. Just in case Mr. Gell's history has grown rust, English was not the language in use at the beginning of civilization...
...State Department issues regular advisories on countries that require caution on the part of American travelers. In this particular case, the officials--both in Kenya and Washington--did not think it was necessary to issue an advisory and I am sure they are better informed and equipped than Mr. Gell is to evaluate the situation...
David L. Bosco '95, J. Francisco Famadas '96, Stephen E. Frank '95, Jeffrey N. Gell '97, John C. Mitchell '96, Jonathan Samuels '94, Brad E. White...