African American

That means a lot to me!

I was in Belgium for a month back in the late '80s. The Belgians were the warmest, most down to Earth people I met in Europe, not that I've visted every country to be really fair. Years later, future husband turns out to be 1/2 Belgian. It was husband who clued me to the never-mentioned reign of Leopold.

So as soon as I thought, why attack Belgium, I remembered Leo and felt let's mourn the milions upon millions of Congolese victims and plunder of the country's riches, well into the 1940s, that eventually made Belgium the 2nd richest European country. I mourn all of the dead innocents.

There's this interview from Last Year, after the Paris attack, of Vincent Kompany, star footballer born of a Belgian mom and Congolese dad, and outspoken critic of the government.

"When I was a kid in my neighborhood there was nobody that supported Belgium," Kompany told CNN. It was impossible and unthinkable because there was nothing they could relate to." http://us.flash24.news/sport/paris-attacks-belgium-must-heal-divisions-says-vincent-kompany/

Kompany said Belgian politicians had failed to recognize the potential problems because of their lack of interaction with the local communities.

“There’s a sense of me that really believes that it was predictable, really predictable,” Belgium’s national captain, who grew up in a troubled Brussels neighborhood, told CNN’s Amanda Davies.

“I think it was inevitable, because I only used to see politicians in our neighborhoods once every six years when they needed to come for votes,” he said.

“But I have really struggled to see a real concern, a genuine desire to be a part of making those neighborhoods.”

However, if Belgium is fighting for the hearts and minds of the disenfranchised, Kompany fears the battle is being lost.

“The reason why it hurt me so much is because they’re not people of a religious faction, they’re people that have been able to fall off the grid and people have been able to indoctrinate them,” the 29-year-old said. http://wgno.com/2015/11/26/paris-attacks-politicians-failed-the-people-of-brussels-says-vincent-kompany/

I can only imagine King Leo is part of the ever-present history that fuels radicalization of disenfranchized Arabs and Africans who've been in Belgium for generations.