THE LION IN CAPTIVITY

by Ajax D'Alcantara, Salvador da Bahia, BRAZIL

Which is more important? A lion roaming free in the savannas of Africa, enchanting some and frightening others? Or a lion in captivity in a zoo? Or serving as an attraction at a circus?

In the view of the lion, it’s more important to run free through the African savannas. And those people who participate in ecological safaris would agree with that. But in the view of the owner of the circus or of the public that likes to go to zoos and circuses, more important, is the lion in captivity. Conclusion: It’s a matter of preference.

It was in February of 74, a Thursday shortly after Carnaval in Salvador that I found myself in conversation with some of the brothers about the happenings in the Carnaval of that year. One of my friends was beside himself with enthusiasm, "Hey man, did you see it?! A whole bunch of Niggahs dressed in African cloth, yelling ‘Ile Ayé’! Ile Ayé is that culture club from over there in Liberdade . I was in Piedade watching the parade when they passed by. Man, they had only Niggahs in that group! ! A bunch of Niggahs! Nobody understood anything they were yelling, but I liked it!"

Less than a year after his colorful observation and they were still talking about Ile Ayé, except by then it wasn’t only the fellas on my street, but it was teachers, nurses, housewives, etc.

Like a mighty wind that removes everything in it’s path, Ile Ayé had roared in like an African lion, transforming shame into pride, lewdness into respectfulness, fear into a sense of security, and sadness into joy, for all the Black people of Salvador. In less than five years, Salvador’s whole point of view had changed, leaving far behind that psychological box where, timid and frightened, lived most of the descendants of Africans in Salvador, da Bahia. It brought a sense of pride in being black, that soon spread throughout all of Brazil.

It was as if a light went for the Black man of Salvador, who suddenly realized that his African heritage had value. And others in Bahia were realizing them same thing and it was changing their attitudes toward their Black selves.

And yet at the same time as this renaissance man was giving and restoring hope and dignity to his fellow Black brothers, he was starting to frighten and concern the Brazilian Whites.

What did he want? Asked many of them, perplexed. Many others became suspicious and took care to be on guard and protect themselves, and began a network of intrigue to find a way to tame that lion. The economic and political elites among them began plotting. They saw a threat in this Black Brazilian’s new sense of pride and went to work bring him under control.

The intellectual elites went to work with the cords, weaving their net. There were the cords of research as they began to study and trying to understand this phenomenon. They used the needles of anthropology and sociology in designing this net. The composers and poets got involved, even more because of their fetish for entanglements and net design, than their interest in capturing the lion, but involved they were nevertheless.

With all that help, the Great White Hunter could not fail in strengthening his net and netting up the lion. Among other cords making up this net were cables leading to microphones, lights and cameras. Thus, the hunter stalked him and then captured him. But it was a capture that was so gentle that the lion didn’t notice. The hunter showed him wines, whiskeys and dinners with powerful and "important"people. The lion was invited to frequent places that before he could not even have imagined. Slowly, the net began to close with a lasso of seduction.

Today the lion lives in the circus, certainly still roaring, but no longer frightening or threatening to anybody. He no longer hunts, but instead eats a balanced diet from the hand of the hunter whom he must ask for his food. The lion travels to various countries of the world nowadays, since he’s learned to jump through rings of fire and over and around obstacles. He shares the stage with the hunter’s whip, standing upright on his back paws while growling lovingly for his master.

No doubt the lion is still dangerous. Who knows if one day he won’t flee and return to the savannas again? Who knows? I know that for the time being, he is so enamored with his master that he is bewitched. I also know that his master is a crook, who leads a life of embezzlement, of robbing the circus ticket booth, of occasionally assassinating a clown and such crimes. But the worst is that the lion know that too, but has become so dependent on the Great White Hunter, it is difficult for the lion to flee.

note: Liberdade(Liberty) is a black neighborhood of Salvador, Brazil. Piedade(Piety) is another neighborhood. Ile Ayé, which in the African Yoruba language, means "house of the world"is the name of a cultural group which marches each year in Carnaval in Salvador. It was distinct when it began in that it only allowed Blacks in it's group. Also Ile Ayé uses the Yoruba language in it's religious ceremonies in the African religion "Ifé", which the Afro-Brazilians have preserved since slavery. They call their version of the Nigerian-born Ifé religion"Candomble."