Diol Family, You Are Not Forgotten

Moving from the Green Star all the way to the Centennial State

Starting a new life for this family of five

All for a fatal blaze to snuff out these innocent souls

The injustice was a mile high like the city they resided

Parents and children all destroyed by satanic teens in masks

While the flames were from the igniting bigotry

One suspect didn’t fit the narrative of the conglomerates

As it was contrary to an unrelated isolated incident to fuel propaganda

Thank the Divine they’ll face justice as adults while living to tell about it

Others have been erased despite never slaughtering men, women, and children

Diol family, you didn’t deserve this

May your murderers face the most severe of consequences



Here’s a link to this story: https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/crime/two-teens-charged-as-adults-in-connection-to-denver-house-fire-that-killed-senegalese-family

2 Stories: A Karen getting arrested and Senegal & Gabon handling Coronavirus

Angela Baker, I appreciate your honesty about your racism. Now, the whole world can see how much of a hateful harpy you are. In Oregon, Ohio, this racist scumbag of a woman straight up admits to using racial slurs against Black people and was even about to give them the Charlottesville treatment by running them over with their car. She’s arrested and charged with ethnic intimidation which is certainly a good step. Angela needs to be in jail for a long time for doing that. I bet you if the races were reversed, then she’d be dead on site or if she is alive, she’ll get hard time. Sorry, but people are making up to the systemic racism in this country. I’m even seeing other white people getting sick of these Karens running around blaming Black people for nothing.

In world news (mainly Africa although this partially involves Europe), Senegal and Gabon were banned from EU countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, those two countries retaliate by banning Europeans from coming over to their nations. You’d be surprised how many Europeans visit those nations (especially the French since Senegal and Gabon are former colonies and they don’t have to worry about language barriers). Besides the back and forth with the travel bans, those two countries have something going for them when it comes to dealing with this pandemic. As of today, Senegal has 8369 cases and Gabon has 6121 cases. Keep in mind, they have less people sick from COVID than most European countries or let alone most states in America. Let that sink in. Those countries have been stepping up. In Senegal, they’ve made readily-available testing kits for only the equivalent of $1 USD, so anyone can afford it. There’s even a medical engineer who 3D-printed fully-functioning ventilator kits for hospitals and clinics while selling them for $60 USD a piece instead of importing them for over $10K.  Isn’t that awesome? Anyone who thinks African countries are so backward or are considered [poop]hole nations needs to check themselves. What does that say about these countries handling the virus and taking care of people when so many 1st world nations don’t have the numbers (testing positive and fatalities) as low as them?

Even Rwanda has robot nurses to take care of COVID patients while their human staff can still work full-time in the hospitals for example.

I hope everyone is being safe and doing their best to see the humanity in others.

Ospreyshire Origins: Art Theft series (Benin, Nigeria, Senegal)

Benin Lyrics:

[Yoruba]

O ti ja aworan wa
Mase paro ki o so pe o se awon ohun-oso wonti
Awon ile iso re je awon ewon
Je ki a je ki eyi se alaye si o

[French]

Rends-nous notre art maintenant!

Nigeria Lyrics:

[Igbo]

I bu ihe nleda anya

[Yoruba]

Nitori ti o ji wa aworan

[Hausa]

Bidajen kayan tarihin ku ya sa aka kama su. I ghotara?

You better return what’s ours!

Senegal Lyrics:

[Wolof]

Luy sa tiis?
Am nga tere xewoonu Afrig?
Yeena ngi saacee yi

[French]

Comprends maintenant?
Vous ne possedez pas notre histoire!

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Here’s a triple header for the Art Theft series! These were challenging songs to write lyrics and Art Theft: Benin was actually an Ospreyshire first for me. That was the first poem I wrote that contained absolutely no English words in it! The Senegal one was even tougher because I really had to work on my Wolof since you can’t use Google Translate or any easy online sources for example. Fortunately, I bought a book on a whim that has words and phrases in Senegal’s native language.

These three countries among others in Africa are quite ticked and rightfully so. Their art, crafts, and artifacts have been looted by Europe. They’re held in museums in that continent and these African nations are suing these countries to get their stuff back. To add insult to injury, some of these nations are giving things back…as LOANED items. No, I don’t want to see loans whether temporary or permanent. You stole them, so you give them back to these nations! I really hope these nations get full returns on their art.

Here are some videos from Dr. Mumbi about the matter:

Even Dr. Y. had some choice articles about this situation:

Europe’s Largest Museums to “Loan” Looted Benin (Nigerian) Artifacts back to Nigeria

Bronze Cockerel from Benin Kingdom to be returned to Nigeria

France urged to change heritage law and return looted art to Africa

Wouldn’t it also be crazy if this situation was featured in a mainstream movie even though a character is portrayed as the bad guy for wanting the artifacts back? Oh, wait… Side note: Notice how Benin is mentioned in this clip.

Say what you will about Killmonger, but he was absolutely right about his questions involving the curator’s “ancestors” and that’s historical fact even though Wakanda doesn’t exist.

Here’s another random fact: I’m also part Beninese and I have a tiny bit of Senegalese in my DNA from my mom’s side. #ForTheCulture

The Beninese flag is from Wikipedia.

The Nigerian flag image is from Wikipedia.

The Senegalese flag image is from Wikipedia.

All videos from the Dr. Mumbi show are from Dr. Mumbi’s YouTube channel.

The museum scene is from Black Panther and is property of Marvel Studios.

Since when did appreciating originality make me the bad guy?

Before I begin my little opinion piece, I set aside some time as I deal with this gigantic cold front all over the Midwest. At the time of this article, the high where I’m from is -18 Fahrenheit which is insane. This coldness is more on par with Siberia, Antarctica, and the top of Mt. Everest than the part of America where I’m from. If you’re dealing with this, then please stay warm and take care of yourselves.

Okay, now onto the subject at hand.

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I’ve been wanting to make an article like this for a long time now. The thing is I appreciate whenever people create some truly unique things. Whether it’s music, film, art, literature, or other subjects, I really like it whenever people craft things that no one else has thought of before. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against adaptations on principle, building off other works while acknowledging inspiration, or even parodies/satires when done right.

What does grind my gears is whenever I hear people say things such as “Oh, everybody rips off things”.

In my opinions, I find that to be intellectually insulting and just lazy thinking.

At the risk of sounding arrogant, I do try to be as original as I can be with my various works such as my spoken word projects, poems, reviews, music, books, and other things I create. One of the biggest compliments you could give me is telling me that no one else sounds like me, writes like me, or that I’m an innovator in whatever I try. Yes, I’m certainly influenced by others, so I’m not going to lie to you, but I want to be unique in my creative endeavors. There’s one quote from Oscar Wilde that I like a bit too much: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” I truly believe that some people aren’t even trying and just follow the leader in music, film, books, etc which I find to be quite slothful.

So why does this make me the bad guy for wanting originality to still be a quality worth desiring?

Seriously, I’ve been made fun of for mentioning how I like more original content as others dismiss my tastes for whatever reason. Possibly it’s insecurity on their part, but I could be wrong.

Over the years, I’ve been realizing how many things have been stolen whether it’s movies, art, video games, or something as extreme as cultural appropriation. You have artwork from Benin and Senegal that’s in European museums without those country’s permission. There’s an obelisk in Ethiopia known as the Obelisk of Axum which was stolen by Italy and a certain leaning tower bears similarities to it. For those who’ve checked out some of my film and anime reviews, I’ve mentioned a few examples. Yes, one of them involves this nefarious lion named Claw from Kimba the White Lion as seen in the featured image who predates a certain other villain let alone other characters in some popular movie by 44 years (or 29 if you only count the anime), yet Tezuka Productions never got credited to this day for that series. If you got triggered by that picture, well…that says more about you than it does about me. Besides that, I get tired of people even resorting to scripture by saying “There’s nothing new under the sun”. I know it’s in Ecclesiastes, but did those same people miss “Thou shall not steal”? Sorry to mention theology in this post, but I needed to use that example to prove a point.

With all these rampant remakes, clones, and frauds going on, it’s really tough for me to cling on to a bunch of media. It’s no wonder I try to make my own stories, music, blogs, and other things. Does me appreciating the innovative make me pretentious? Do I see others as peons for only liking whatever the mainstream spoon-feeds them? I hope it’s not the case for the former, and I certainly don’t want to think that way about the latter.

The image of Claw is from The New Adventures of Kimba the White Lion and is property of Tezuka Productions.