LP replies former U.S. Amb. Greenfield

As Liberians experience an unprecedented legal case, which seeks redress for election grievances through the law rather than the barrel of the gun, many are fast becoming fatigued by the legal process. But the Liberty Party has strongly reacted to recent statement by former United States Ambassador to Liberia, Madam Linda Thomas Greenfield.

In a press statement released late Monday, November 20, in Monrovia, the party says it is understandable because Liberians had never experienced such a process, neither have the civic stamina been so tested.

“What is not understandable are remarks attributed to former US Ambassador to Liberia, Dr. Linda Thomas Greenfield, which gives the impression that the legal case is a letdown to Liberians and it has been led by ‘a third place candidate who has run three times and never got more than 10 percent’, the statement says.

“This is unfortunate because Dr. Greenfield, an accomplished individual, was born in 1952 in Louisiana, and experienced racism at its core before graduating from a segregated high school in 1970. If anyone should understand the value of a grievance, it should be the Ambassador,” the party continues.

According to the LP, if anyone has benefited, in part or in whole, from a grievance being taken to the Supreme Court of a country, it should be Dr. Greenfield, noting that between the 1950s and 1960s, blacks in America made up about 10% of the population of the United States; yet such small percentage of blacks relative to their white counterparts did not minimize the value of the civil rights struggle, nor detract from the legal cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. In fact, many whites at the time felt Americans were wasting time on the “irrelevant” issue of race when they could be spending time on other “important” issues.

It continues that but it was the persistence of the civil rights pioneers who legally challenged an unjust political environment, which led to the freedom millions now enjoy.

Dr. Greenfield, who did her political science fellowship in Liberia in the 1970s, has since benefited from the struggles of civil rights pioneers, many, who themselves, did not live to enjoy the fruit of their labor, the party laments.

According to the LP it seeks to stop an attempt by few powerful and cunning individuals from usurping the voice of the people.

-Editing by Jonathan Browne