Ava: We are starting back up with book reviews at
community sites. After the review is posted, we will again interview
the person who wrote the review. The reviews for 2023 kicked off with
C.I. who posted "Mafia Wives (Susan Williams' WHITE MALICE)" on Saturday. Obviously, she can't interview herself
-- maybe she could? -- so I'll ask questions. Your book was Susan
Williams' WHITE MALICE: THE CIA AND THE COVERT RECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA
Why did you pick that one?
C.I.:
It was in a pile on my desk of books I wanted to read but hadn't gotten
around to yet. I grabbed ten and checked them on KINDLE. This book
was on sale for $4.99 so I thought it was something a lot of people
might want to follow up on -- as opposed to one that's 18 dollars or
more.
Ava: Susan Williams is a historian. You noted she has a wide range of sources -- including government documents.
C.I.:
Right. Patrice Lumumba is one of the leaders that the US, the UK,
Belgium and the United Nations worked to destroy in Africa. He was the
Prime Minister of the Congo. Then President Dwight Eisenhower decided
Lumumba needed to be killed and the CIA began working on that -- with
help from MI6. The US government may have spent as much as $150 million
on their operation to take out Lumumba and other leaders including
Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah who was overthrown in 1966.
Ava:
At one point, we were talking about the book when you finished reading
it, at one point, Lumumba is ahead of the killers and then he's not.
Talk about that.
C.I.: So
they want to kill him. He and his crew are attempting to escape. They
go to the British embassy and are refused. And they're also refused
military help. But either the British military there didn't know that
or decided to ignore the order so they help stop the people pursuing
Lumumba. Coll Mobutu Sese Seko is trying to overthrow -- capture and
kill -- Patrice. And no one is helping. When people in Africa distrust
the United Nations, it's not by mistake and it's not because they don't
know what the UN does. It's precisely because of what the UN did that
they are distrustful. And Maya Angelou was over there during this time
period. She talked about how it went from people telling her they
didn't understand how she could leave the US and big cars to come to
Africa to becoming very wary of the so-called American dream because
that dream was targeting them.
Ava: You strongly recommend this book, correct?
C.I.: Absolutely. It's an important moment in US history and it goes to why we are seen so poorly around the world.
Ava: You talk about us being "mafia wives."
C.I.:
Absolutely. Lumumba was killed because the US government could profit
from his death, could profit from uranium and diamonds. We want to wear
the furs our mafia husbands bring to us but we don't want to know about
the blood spilled to get those perks.
Ava: One last thing, Jim just texted me. Can we reprint the review here?
C.I.: Only if we agree that we're going to do that with everyone's review throughout the year.
Ava: Agreed.