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The rise and rise of Yo Maps

  Yo Maps Originally published in the Zambia Daily Mail  By VICTOR KALALANDA For any ardent follower of Zambian music, there appears to be enough reason to believe that celebrated Zambian artiste Yo Maps (real name, Elton Mulenga) is nothing short of extraordinary. If he was average, as his detractors would desperately have us believe, he wouldn’t have lasted more than six months on the local music scene after releasing his smash hit song “Finally.” He would have disappeared like snow in the summer sun. The unwritten rule in the music industry is that without a decent prior music catalogue, any artiste who happens upon instant fame is destined to become the infamous one-hit wonder. In any cut-throat field of human endeavor, big doors don’t swing on small hinges. The roots must run deeper than outward appearances, or else nothing lasts. For an artiste that keeps exceeding public expectations since rapturously coming to the notice of the nation in 2018, Yo Maps proves that not on
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Answers to America’s chilling gun violence

 

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The Pilgrim, July 8, 2022*

From my experience, I live in arguably one of the safest neighborhoods in the United States . There’s clearly an added layer of security now that I’ve taken up residence on my university’s campus, where I’m surrounded by flora and fauna.

It’s so safe that public smoking is outlawed. The few people I’ve seen pulling out a cigarette on campus do so out of brazen folly and need to get some grip or get locked up. They gang up together in blind spots in the night, or near my university lake, to feed their lust.

And the levels of safety can sometimes be luxurious, even nearby in Collinsville, where I first stayed. I remember ordering my WiFi paraphernalia and having it stay outside my apartment nearly the whole day unscathed, after it was delivered. I could only secure the parcel after I got home from school.

If I left the same package outside my apartment in Lusaka, or even inside, I would have known what time it was.

The last time I felt this protected was when I was working in Switzerland. The country was so wealthy that people didn’t care leaving their cars or doors open. It was a laidback existence. Not once did I hear of a shooting or robbery. In fact, it looked as though if it happened, a state of emergency would be declared. Such vices were so alien to the country.

But fast forward to the United States, the shooting spree bothers me. Every time a mass shooting takes place, friends and family ask me, are you safe?

Well, I’ve been the least nervous because not only is my neighborhood safe, but I also tend to think that such wanton destruction of human life is prevalent in places like New York. Just this year alone, it’s not even yet done, New York (the city that’s so good they had to name it twice) has recorded 237 homicides.   

But as far as gun violence is concerned, I learnt this week on Monday that anybody can be a victim. A shooting incident took place right in my state in Illinois.

On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that “a gunman on a rooftop opened fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago on Monday, killing at least six people, wounding at least 30 and sending hundreds of marchers, parents with strollers and children on bicycles fleeing in terror.”

Can you believe it? It sounds very sadistic. It’s the unprovoked nature of the attack that’s even more chilling and annoying.

And even though the shooting suspect has been charged with seven counts of murder and US flags are flying at half-staff, the question still begs: why do people do these things? These disasters often fall into the category of hate crimes. But again, one would ask: what amount of hatred prompts someone to pull out a gun on an unsuspecting crowd and end the lives of innocent people?

In the other recent Buffalo shooting case in New York, for example, the suspect’s motive was to prevent Black people from replacing the white race. Can you believe that? Sounds ridiculous.

Even after we learn about what motivated the shooting suspect in the latest Illinois incident, what we can all agree is that all instances of gun violence are indictments of not only the United States, but the sort of society we’re living in today.

We’re being punished harshly for our own misdeeds, miseducation, and bad parenting. We are relegating religion to the periphery of our existence, and this is how we pay for it. In our society today, nobody wants anything to do with God.

You see, we want to do what we like. We want to party every weekend and live life without any moral code and yet we can’t see how this leads to a dysfunctional society.

The corruption of modern society means that none of us is safe from such displays of human hatred, greed, and violence. Today the shooting is in the Chicago-area, but who knows if the next one will be right on my university campus?

We need to restore human society and that means embracing the central role of the church once again and the values which it advocates. We need to restore the human family and ensure that our children learn about love as they grow. It’s only when we do this, and do it well with the time that we’ve, that human civilization can be saved.

*This column is published every Friday in Zambia's leading newspaper, the Zambia Daily Mail 

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