Ebrima/All,

Like many, I've had to cut down my on-line hours especially during weekends.
I'm just too busy -so I stay away from the net. Someone just tipped me about
your request for Rep Ford's email. This is the deal: I did not ask the
gentleman if I could distribute his e-address to this distro. But because he
is a politician, I'm not sure he'll mind if we can keep our heads straight.
My point: there's no point in sending the man a deluge of email. At worst,
we may end up annoying him so much that he may not be inclined to push his
compatriots to rebuff Mayor Samba Faal's invitation. He did tell me that he
is a really busy fellow. So I assume he doesn't have much email time. For
that reason, I'll advise (to the rest of the crew) that we stay with
Ebrima's letter for now. Then if needs be, other people can email additional
stuff if the man is disposed to read it. Email - unlike most forms of
communications, is easy to get rid off. Bombarding the fellow with email
could only harm us. I believe this is the angle Dr. Janneh is coming from. I
do share that concern. On a personal stand point, Rep Ford doesn't strike me
as insincere. I didn't feel the man was BS-ing me when we spoke. He sounded
very sincere. I believe he is terribly mis-informed, but that's a different
matter. One line he kept repeating when I spoke to him is that "I'll NEVER
do anything to harm that beautiful country. I'm from there; I'm Mandingo!"
Having spoken to him, I believe left to him alone, his movement will do the
right thing. The only problem may be the rest of his group. We'll have to
see.

Here is the address: [log in to unmask]

And again to everybody else: pls. hold fire in terms of email. Let's give
the gentleman the chance to digest what he has received so far. Some of us
can try to talk to the man on Monday to see if the materials have had any
effect on him. We can only hope...

Good night.

Saul.


>That's the spirit Coach! I know Amadou, and I know he means well. We are
>all in this struggle together like I just told Bro Saiks. I hope he accepts
>your apology in good faith. By the way, do those marabouts
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