The Soultown! Volume III: Issue 10 OCTOBER 2019 | Page 23

THE GRIOT A Master’s Degree Thesis Blues Call me a Survivor. Ndi Uwarokotse. I survived the Rwandan Geno/Cide. The Rwandan Geno/Cide Against Rwandans. But I’m neither a Hutu nor a Tutsi. Nor am I a Twa. That’s for humans to be ethnic. I am an M.A. Thesis titled Ideals and Absolutes in Herman Melville’s Fiction by Mvuyekure Pierre-Damien, Ruhengeri, Rwanda, June 1986. My Pen Master left me in his Mother’s house at Kirwa Hilltop in Mugambazi County in Buliza Region, Kigali Prefecture. Mvuyekure Pierre-Damien, son of Bisama Jean—Umupfumu a Sorcerer according to Rutongo Parish White Missionaries—and Mukagatare Marie Thérèse— a Medicine Woman Herbalist—Both Root Doctors-- Left me for Buffalo on a Fulbright grant to Study American Literature at SUNY Buffalo. He left me in a brown box to mice, Cock/roaches, book/worms, damp/ness, War, Inkotanyi Tutsi fighters, Interahamwe Hutu militia, Geno/Cide, Post/-Geno/Cide Trauma. Mvuyekure, my Pen Master, left me for a Ph.D. in Buffalo, New York. Yaransize Mvuyekure ngo agiye kwiga Dogitora i Buffalo. Left me alone in lonely solitudes with/out a Room of my own. I got so Sorrow-stricken, jealousy-ridden I wished him to swim in Niagara Falls for/ever. I am a Survivor. Ndi Uwarokotse. I survived the Rwandan Geno/Cide. The Rwandan Geno/Cide Against Rwandans. But I’m neither a Hutu nor a Tutsi. Nor am I a Twa. That’s for humans to be ethnic. I am an Umurera born in Murera region, in Nyakinama County, south of the volcanoes, in Ruhengeri Prefecture, in northern Rwanda, near Mukungwa River, on the Ruhengeri Campus of Université Nationale du Rwanda— Monsignor Georges-Henri Lévesque, a Dominican from Quebec, founded it in 1963, a year after Rwanda recovered its Independence from Belgium— Dr. Bruce E. Fleming served as my Literary “gynecologist”—Thesis Director— Fulbright people sent him to the “jungle” with Indemnités de brousse, special grants for living in the Bush of Rwanda. He enjoyed jogging and visiting Dian Fossey (a.k.a. Nyiramacibiri)’s Gorillas on Karisoke Volcano— They became Gorillas in the Mist. Orphaned. I am happier now but worried: I now live in Ioway--the so-called Hawkeye State--in Black Hawk County. I once caught my Pen Master reading about how President Andrew Jaclson-- Founding Father of The Trail of Tears--’s U.S. Army fired at Chief Black Hawk, even as He was waving a white flag. They captured and Imprisoned Chief Black Hawk in the East. I once spied on my Pen Master: He was reading an excerpt from Black Hawk’s autobiography: Life of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, or Black Hawk. Gerald Vizenor calls this Native American Survivance. Survivability, according to Ray Young Bear, a Meskwaki bard who specializes in “Word Collecting.” I, too, am a Survivor. Ndi Uwarokotse. I survived the Rwandan Geno/Cide. The Rwandan Geno/Cide Against Rwandans. But I’m neither a Hutu nor a Tutsi. Nor am I a Twa. That’s for humans to be ethnic. I sleep and wake up in my Pen Master’s office Atop Neo-HooDoo books by Ishmael Reed-- UncleIsh invented Neo-HooDoo Aesthetic Based on African Vodun from Benin, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, and Congo-- One time Max Roach’s drums giggled and proclaimed JUMP TO PAGE 27 DR. PIERRE MVUYEKURE The Griot ________ Learn more from The Griot at: http://www.thesoultown.com/the-griot.html Email Me: [email protected] Oct. 2019 • The Soultown International Magazine • Celebrating 2 years • Connecting Our Cultures to Our Cyber & Conscious Communities • thesoultown.com 23