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• Wednesday, November 19, 2008 09:27 AM

  @ cecilbeanie, having cut and pasted the above, I didn't have space to ask you why you're so intent on linking Sarah Baartman to Michelle Obama as

  the facts are completely against you. Sarah Baartman came from people who have been almost wiped out as a result of Dutch land-grabbing and, yes, also the depradations of the Bantu tribes from further north who moved into southern Africa. Sarah Baartman was small in stature, as is characteristic of her people, with yellowish-brown skin and with eyelids that lack a perceptible fold, more evident in the Chinese and Japanese than in Europeans and Africans. Her large buttocks were exceptional by any standards but that was nature's way of conserving protein in women of child-bearing age in regions of drought. There is absolutely no connection between Sarah Baartman and Michelle Obama unless you're one of those people who believes that a huge continent such as Africa is a "country", as Sarah Palin is alleged to have thought. I could be wrong but I've always understood that the slaves shipped to America were from West Africa whose languages, traditions and appearances differ considerably from those living thousands of miles further south, while, north of the Sahara, the population is Arab.

  Sara Baartman's story is sad but history teems with millions of sad, heart-breaking stories. If you really can bear the idea of present-day sadness and horror, you should consider the fate of albino children born to indigenous African people. As The Times of London reported yesterday (courtesy of AFP) a six-year-old albino girl was murdered in Burundi by a gang who took her severed head and limbs to make lucky charms. There's no point in bewailing what happened Sarah Baartman centuries ago when this sort of thing, associated with witchcraft, is going on today.

  Erin (doh!) Aubry Kaplan's article is still stupid, no matter how you try to defend it, but if it's any consolation to her she should see that her own ancestors were the healthiest, strongest and most resourceful to have been selected for that dreadful voyage to the New World and that they had the resilience to survive lives of dire hardship, big butt or not.

  I noticed that whole villages of Scandinavian Laplanders were also put on show during those cruel times for the enjoyment of the gaping voyeurs. That hasn't changed much anyway as Sarah Palin from the Frozen North was mocked and excoriated on the pages of Salon as if she had been one of those frightening "exotic" creatures put on show in those freak-shows of the past when a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon was to visit London's Bedlam )Bethlemen Hospital) and have a good laugh at those suffering from mental illness, exulting in the cries and groans of those tormented human beings.

  —maureenodonnell Read maureenodonnell's other letters
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