Circumcising Girls

Fighting over female circumcism broke out at the City Council of Kindlin, Oklahoma, population 639, on Wednesday night, June 10, 1999. The chairman of Dare to be Different, a cultural organization, was reading his presentation to the Council when the altercation occurred. Below are excerpts from that report:

"Perhaps it is because Kindlin is a small prairie town surrounded by so much empty, arid land of tumbleweeds that we attract people accustomed to living on deserts and in the Bush in other countries -- and we have no problem with their presence here.

"What does disturb us, however, is that these people carry on cultural practices not in accordance with ours. One such practice is that of circumcizing young girls, cutting out their clitoris so that they will not enjoy sex, and, thus, are not likely to engage in it before their wedding night. In addition to cutting out the clitoris, they sew up the vagina and don't cut it open until their wedding night.

"This is a barbaric practice that began many centuries ago in the Dark Ages, using sharp-edged rocks to cut out the clitoris; later, broken glass was used -- and still used among many desert and bush people. Imagine the pain and suffering these young girls go through; many become infected and die, others bleed to death.

"We want a law passed against this barbaric practice because, as Afrikan Americans we know that many of our people -- those of us in Dare to be Different included -- are promoting an Afro-centric identity by identifying with cultural features of Afrikan ancestors who got off of those slave ships. We do this, however, selectively. We identify with Afrikan names, and with Swahili as our cultural language, and customs conducive to progress. We flush superstitious-ridden crap down the toilet.

"There are some Afrikan Americans, however, so stupid that they believe in witchcraft, throwing bones and dirt in the air to diagnose an illness. I suppose if one of them needs and operation, he'll use a sharp-edged rock as a knife --" The speaker was interrupted by loud protests. One protester was heard to say, "Y'all hear that? Somebody ought to kick his ass!"

" --- and some have withdrawn from our towns and cities," the speaker continued, "and live in grass huts; they go about bare foot, wearing only a cloth pulled around their loins, and the women walk about bare breasted, their breasts flopping.

"Now, many Afrikan Americans are so dumb and impressionable we just know that some are going to be circumcizing their young daughters --"

"He's criticizing black people!" some black in the audience screamed, jumping to his feet and throwing a chair at the speaker. That was when members of Dare to be Different and another faction of blacks began fighting.