About Senegal.
It is one of the African countries that intrigue me.
I read all Leopold Senghor’s poetry and admired Negritude with all its inadequacies. Senagalese literature is a staple of African literary studies. Sembene Ousmanne God’s Bits of Wood is one of my best possessions in life. I enjoyed Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter.
When in New York, my barber, Mafall was Senagalese. He was a thoroughly decent dude and used to tell me that I should stay in America and get a slice of Uncle Sam’s Dream.
Senegalese are wonderful people.
We all remember that class of 2002,and how it made us feel, beating France (the immediate former world cup champiosn then). That team was world class and losing to Turkey broke our 14-15 year-old hearts.
I hope to visit Senegal one day, and see the door of no return, that slaves used when they were being shipped America.
Tonight, they didn’t exactly play good football. But we are glad that they carried Africa’s hopes on their shoulders.
I was in Club 64 and you could feel our joy in no small measure.
They won’t go far. But we will stay with them to the end.
