Dar es-Salaam

It translates, approximately, into "haven of peace." Given the prevailing climate in this country, and the entrenched racism also, it's no wonder we don't hear about stories like this one.

Of course, we wouldn't want to hear any positive news about Muslims--especially black Muslims.

In other Rwandan news, the country has taken the surprising step of outlawing ethnicity. Well, it might not be that surprising, since the concept (among other things) once led to the death of ten percent of the population.

As a sociology-type-person, I find this interesting due to the fact that it implicitly acknowledges the social construction of ethnicity. It is a common fallacy to assume that ethnicities simply "are," that they exist as objective facts in the world. I don't want to delve into ontology here (it's confusing), but it's good to see people wise up to the malleability of concepts like ethnicity.

As a human, I hope it works.