Guest Article: Back to Africa - Black Press Business/Economic Feature Week of July 26, 2018

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:



The evidence is more and more compelling that our ties between ourselves, the Diaspora, and our Motherland, Africa, are strengthening and growing more and more solid.  As a result, we have to become more and knowledgeable about the issues and opportunities that exist or are potential between us - especially since every other force on the planet is trying hard to keep us apart, separated, ignorant, victimized and poor.

We are coming up on the 400th year of our captivity and kidnapping from Africa, our enslavement, and the first ship landing on American soil in 1619.  The fact is those ships of horror historically have already left African shores with our precious ancestors stacked on top of each other, or thrown overboard.

We had actually begun our initial reunification in the 1920's, thanks to the wisdom, knowledge and insight of Marcus Garvey - but the effort was stopped by the combined efforts of British and American forces (the same forces that enslaved us to begin with) coming together and conspiring to sink our ships, incarcerate our leaders, and break up the relationship between Africa and African Americans by telling each of us lies about the other.

The second major effort of reunification between Africa and African Americans came in the 60s during the Black Power Era, when we truly began to return to our African roots.  We started truly returning to our African roots by wearing natural hair, Afrocentric clothes, making movies, writing books, poems, and making pilgrimages to the Motherland to trace our African roots.  We changed our names to reflect wherever we thought we came from, learned African dances and traditions, and made plans to repatriate to our homeland and build our homes and our futures there.  We even demanded that African and African history be taught in the schools so our children would not continue to be whitewashed.  

Sekou Toure - Guinea

Stokeley Carmichael

First Black Model with Afro

Kwame Nkruman

The upshot of the whole thing is the deliberate destruction of our relationship - via the so-called "Cold war" between Russia and the US - something Africa had absolutely nothing to do with - by fighting it out on African soil.  Subsequently, while Africa was aggressively shedding her colonial monsters - they had the audacity to try to claim that Africa owed them money for their seizure of her lands and the subjugation of her people. 

Coming into the 21st Century there has been a resurgence of African/African American relations - aided in large part by technology - internet, cell phones, overthrow of despotic colonial dominated leaders - and the progress was such that, once again conspiracy has raised iit's ugly head - via the new Chinese invasion to siphon off African autonomy via pseudo building of properties that are not reflective of African needs or wants.  

But this time, something is new - African Americans and Africans are more in tune with each other and collaborating with each other than ever.  Perhaps it's in part because the first Black president of the US is also of African Heritage (Kenyan); but it's more likely that there has been growing interest in Africa long before the 2016 election, with increased travel between the US and the Continent - making the roots deeper and more solid that ever before.  Both Africans and African Americans have been victims of a common enemy - and suffer from "post traumatic slave/colonization shock syndrome" (yeah, I just came up with that).  

But we also share a resiliency and a determination to not remain under the foot of ignorance or oppression - and the opportunities are now even greater for the regeneration of a full fledged successful, progressive amalgamation of our ingenuity, skill, creativity and talent.  This time we cannot afford to be caught on the late show.  We cannot be ignorant of this wonderful opportunity to ensure our and our children's futures.

Interestingly enough the movie "Black Panther" -  a work of science fiction (fact) has reawakened our nascent African affinity on many levels.  While there had already been some stirrings among African Americans,  this movie has catapulted our interests in the possibilties 1000%.  

Black Panther's WAKANDA  started a Paradigm Shift

Whites - especially the New York Times - are already smelling the possibilities and our  progress and have started staking their claim - Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa - are all in their gun sites - just to mention a few.  If they know this, we should be so far ahead of the curve that they will be trailing behind us.  This may be our last opportunity for reunity.  We cannot afford to be weighed in the balance and found wanting.  If we are going to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of slave ships coming to the US, it should be by the reverse, with as many of her descendants having a pivotal interest in the Motherland from which they were stolen.  The time to start is now; the ones to do it is us.  This is an effort at a wake up call - regardless of what your educational or financial level.  This s our time to not be on the late show.

NOTE:  Please be advised that when I say Diaspora, I mean all Black descendents of African Heritage - USA, South America, Haiti, the Caribbean - wherever those ships landed and dropped us off - i.e., ECLECTICALLY BLACK PEOPLE!!

Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria 

Black Press Business/Economic Feature Week of July 26, 2018
By William Reed

Back to Africa

Former US President Barack Obama went to his ancestral home in Kogelo Village, Kenya. Obama’s grandmother lives in Kogelo where he danced at the opening of a youth center launched by his half-sister Auma Obama's Sauti Kuu Foundation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/16/world/africa/obama-kenya-visit-africa.html 

Obama in South Africa on Mandela's 100th Birthday

The first Black American president is leading what’s expected to be Black families and descendants back to Africa. A son of Africa, Obama’s primary gig in Africa was Johannesburg to give the 2018 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture. In reality, Obama’s appearance was made in partnership with the multi-billion dollar-endowed Motsepe Foundation. Obama’s benefactor, Dr. Patrice Motsepe is founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals and one of Africa’s Black billionaires. Celebrity Net Worth reports that both Barack and Michelle Obama’s net worth as $40 million. Both are examples of the up-and-coming contemporary African in the Diaspora. 

https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/world/2018/07/16/barack-obama-visits-kenya-during-first-post-presidency-trip-to-africa/36908899/

The requested action is “Send money back to Africa.” The continental African Union (AU) union consists of all 55 countries on the African continent. The Diaspora is an AU ambassadorial post to "invite and encourage the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of our continent, in the building of the African Union". The African Diaspora are people who were enslaved and shipped to the Americas via the Atlantic slave trade between the 16th and 19th centuries, with their largest populations in Brazil, the United States and Haiti. The AU defines the African Diaspora as consisting: "of people of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent".

Her Honor Arikana Chihombori-Quao - President of the African Union

Thirteen million Africans were shipped to the New World; 10.7 million survived the Middle Passage disembarking in North America, the Caribbean and South America. Large numbers of Diaspora Blacks live and work in high-income countries and among prosperous populations. Most Diaspora members' incomes are modest by the standards of rich nations, and their savings might seem meager in the world of development funding, but collectively they can add up to staggering amounts of money. Worldwide, African Diaspora members have accumulated an estimated US$53 billion in savings ad remittances.

Mounds of opportunity exist in the African Diaspora. Moving cash within Africa is an untapped opportunity for money transfer. Remittances to sub-Saharan-Africa rose to $37.8 billion in 2017. The development potential for Africa's Diaspora is “in human capital" of knowledge and expertise gained while working abroad. The World Bank and other development partners say that the total money transfers by African migrants to their region or country of origin grew to $35.2 billion, in 2015.

We should think Blacks of the Diaspora share values, interests and heritage. The Diaspora’s Blacks could all get rich by connecting and working together. According to the AU, links between the African Diaspora and African development are already happening. Diaspora members already invest in real estate, entrepreneurial businesses, and capital markets. Sometimes they pool their money with friends or form an investment consortium.

Merging of the mindsets and monies of Africans of the Diaspora is the AU’s goal. Blacks can be Diaspora benefactors by matching keen entrepreneurial sensibilities, strong cultural ties to partners in the ancestral homeland. Africa’s Diaspora accumulates an estimated US$53 billion every year.

The African Union Commission is seeking to implement the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA). The African Continental Free Trade Agreement is a noteworthy achievement in African diplomacy, trade, and economic development. The CFTA has the potential to cover 1.2 billion people and over $4 trillion in combined consumer and business spending. The CFTA opens the continent to new investors and better opportunities for its entrepreneurs.

Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao, a Ghanaian national (from Zimbabwe), is the Permanent Representative of the African Union Representational Mission to the United States of America.  She recently invited the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Quartey Thomas Kwesi to Washington to discuss next steps for implementing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA).  The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) is a noteworthy achievement. A groundbreaking achievement in African diplomacy, trade, and economic development the CFTA has the potential to cover 1.2 billion people and over $4 trillion in combined consumer and business spending opens up the continent to new investors and better opportunities for its entrepreneurs.  Intra-African trade is expected to skyrocket, and with it, industry and manufacturing. At the same time, the agreement introduces opportunities to re-approach existing trade relationships, like the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), to make trade more beneficial for all.

William Reed is publisher of “Who’s Who in Black Corporate America” and available for projects via Busxchng@his.com

 NOW THAT YOU KNOW

WHAT ARE YOU 

GOING TO DO 

ABOUT IT?

Stay Blessed &

ECLECTICALLY BLACK 

Gloria

AFRICA UMOJA: South African Culture and Pride Triumphs at Symphony Space - Now let's bring them back!

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:

Those of you who had the opportunity, privilege, and pleasure of seeing the wonderful tour de force called AFRICA UMOJA, can understand why I'm still writing about it.  I can't get the music, dance, rhythms out of my head.  When you consider that the entire performance, from beginning to end, was totally live and in living color - electrifying and energizing - there are just some things that words just can't describe.




I caught the performance on Friday, January 9, which was, unfortunately the final night of a four-day run at Symphony Space.  And what a run it was.  Packed house every night - close to standing room only - and the word was just getting out!  Four days is entirely too short a run for New York, with 8 million people who need to see this fabulous performance.

"UMOJA" which means "unity or oneness" in Swahili, and is not even part of the South African language, shows that, contrary to popular belief, there are vast areas of unity throughout Africa.  In fact, Nelson Mandela may well have brought both the word and the concept back with him after having been forced to flee South Africa during his initial fight for freedom and justice.  He was given assylum in Tanzania under then president Julius Nyrere.

AFRICA UMOJA  shows the unity of spirit that has endured throughout the entire time South Africa was subjugated to invasion by the Boers and Trekkers, pass laws, apartheid, and many other egregious acts that took away their freedom in their own land; and their resistence and resiliency that finally led to their throwing off the yoke under the same leadership of Nelson Mandela, who, despite 27 years of incarceration never lost his fighting spirit.  In fact, a great deal of it is an homage to the sacrifice Mandela made for his people - one song "Long Road to Freedom" is performed in his honor.

AFRICA UMOJA  celebrates the 20 years of South Africa's freedom - which came about in large part because of the resistance within  South Africa, coupled with the boycotts on the part of the African Diaspora who pressured the US and other governments to withhold trade with South African whites until Mandela was freed and South Africans were no longer under the oppression of white racist laws.

And when I say  AFRICA UMOJA  is about celebration, that's an understatement!  There are no words to adequately describe the overwhelming feeling of pride and euphoria in Symphony Space that night as the audience - predominantly African and African American - were regaled with music, songs, dances, all depicting South African culture - both traditional and contemporary.  The narrator chronicled the history of South Africa in a manner that literally transported the audience into a village where men did challenge dances, women did dances of unity; where men and women of the villages did dances of celebration.  In fact South Africans (as well as Africa in general)  celebrated via dance and song - whether it was a victory, defeat, sorrow, loneliness, children, you name it - there's probably a song and a dance for it!  

Traditional clothing, made of sheepskin, leather, feathers, beads and hand made fabric adorned with fine beadwork had many of us trying to find out where to purchase them for ourselves.  Hand made traditional instruments: drums, xylophones, and others were on display in the theatre - depicting the craftmanship of traditional South African artisans.  The same instruments were being used onstage by the artists. 

Dances of strength and energy as the performers leaped across the stages, turning flips in place, hand stands, defying gravity and our imaginations had us in complete and total awe! And the melodic harmonic tones of the voices as they sang the traditional songs left the audience humming as they left the theatre.  

The performance, which has been touring the US  off and on for the past three years, has only just come to New York City for the first time - and needless to say, four days is definitely not enough.  We were only just beginning to whet our appetites for more.

They eye-popping performances of the "Gumboot Dancers,"  inspired by miners who had learned to adapt to working in diamond mines and developed a series of dances using the containers and the boots they were required to wear to protect their feet was amazing.  It reminded those of us who grew up in the South of "hambone" a similar pattern where the performers used their hands to pat out rhythms on their thighs and lower legs. 

A great deal of the show reminded me of my own days at Lincoln University, which had a large population of students from South Africa who were then refugees.  They would practice the boot dance in the student union during classroom breaks.  Many of the songs performed in the stage production were traditional songs they had sung as youths in Soweto, Durban, and Johannesberg.  Unfortunately most of them are no longer with us, but those dancers brought them back to life for me.  

Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masakela, Leta Mbulu, Duma Ndlovu, Mbogeni Ngema and so many others were part of the era that much of  AFRICA UMOJA  depicts.  The melding of South African music with African American music was no accident.  We were both simultaneously the most oppressed people on earth in the most urbanized country (South Africa and the United States). 

Many members in the audience remarked at how many similarities there were in some of the dances - jitterbug/boogie-woogie in the 40's being one, where the dancers were throwing each other over their shoulders, between their legs, making gigantic leaps into the air, defying gravity.  Those were dances of my parents era now being performed on stage in real life.  Wow!

In speaking with Sparkie Martin, the promoter who's been working with this production since it hit the US shores, I asked if there was any possibility of bringing it back for a longer run.  Something similar to what had to be done once the world discovered Fela and how magical it was. The performance has already toured 26 countries.  It's been in DC three times, but just reaching New York.  Obviously we want more!!   He responded enthusiastically that there is a possibility of bringing it back for a longer engagement, but declined to say specifically when, where, or for how long. 

Celebrities in the audience, including actress Ebony Jo-Ann, vocalist Allyson Williams, ticket promoter Kojo Ade, and others were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the performance.  

Allyson Williams stated: "What really gets me is that these aren't teeny, scrawny, petite women - they're my size and they're just as agile and flexible!  Makes me proud and makes me want to get out there and do some leaps myself!"

Literary agent, Marie Brown commented: "There was so much culture on the stage, that it just wrapped itself around you and  made you a part of it!"

Many South African nationals in the audience. seeing the performance for the first time were proud to say: "Yes! We used to do those dances when we were back home!" or "I'm from Durban, and we still have those dances."  Some just had tears of pride and joy on their faces, as they watched their fellow South Africans do them proud.  

Here's hoping there will be a long running return engagement of this electrifying production - on Broadway, if possible - off if necessary - as long as they bring it back.

Stay Blessed & 
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria

 



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EVENT ALERT: Brooklyn Boro Pres Eric Adams Presents Go Caribbean! International Business and Investment Expo

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Brooklyn Borough President, Eric Adams to host Go Caribbean! International Business and  Investment Expo
 

BROOKLYN BOROUGH PRESIDENT ERIC ADAMS

 

 

 

Brooklyn Borough President, Eric Adams will be hosting a 2-day inaugural event, Go Caribbean!, scheduled for Monday, September 22^nd and 23^rd, at the Brooklyn Marriott.

This is the ideal forum for entrepreneurs, financiers, high net-worth individuals, government agencies and other business entities seeking investment or commercial opportunities with Caribbean businesses across the Caribbean region and North America.  The Expo will focus on industries with high growth potential - Information Technology, Agribusiness, Energy, and Media & Entertainment and Infrastructure.  The organizers are expecting over 1,500 attendees and over 100 exhibitors.

The event, themed, “Raising the Tide” is centered on Diaspora engagement, trade and investment.  The conference will feature presentations, workshops, networking forums and a variety of opportunities to promote Caribbean businesses globally.  Caribbean dignitaries, industry stalwarts, local and international government representatives will lead panel discussions on, “Financing,” “Innovation”, “Commercialization (Export Readiness),” and “Sustainability” for Caribbean-led businesses.

“Go Caribbean! is a long overdue platform.  This event is about unlocking the Caribbean’s value through the leveraging of global connections”, said Mr. Kevin Howell, President of Anchor Strategy Group and organizer of Go Caribbean!.  “Individuals, entrepreneurs or business owners seeking to sell goods or services and access financing,  or want to find out the do’s and don’ts of import/export between the Caribbean and the U.S. , will find answers, partners or networking opportunities at the conference”, he concluded.

Expo speaker include Fitzgerald Miller,  Director of Investments Openheimer & Co; David Mullings,  Managing Partner Real Vibez, Inc. & CEO of Keystone Augusta, Inc.; Tilokee Depoo, Dean & Professor of Management School of Business Metropolitan College of New York; David Panton, Partner Navigation Capital Partners; Regina Gordin, Regional Director Eastern Region EXIM Bank; Neil Lowe, Managing Partner of GCHUS; K.Milele “Kiki” Peterson; Celebrity Fashion Veteran;  Michael Bentt Award Winning Actor and Boxing Champion;  Dr. Joseph Batiste, Chairman of National Association for Advancement of Haitians; and Ambassadors of Trinidad & Tobago, Dominica and The Bahamas, among others.

Anchor Strategy Group and Go Caribbean! Monday, September 22, 2014 at 9:00 AM - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 at 2:00 PM (PDT)

Ticket Information

Ticket Type	Sales End	Price	Fee	Quantity
Conference Package Ticket: Promotion Tickets - VIP Luncheon, VIP Reception and All Day Seminar   more info	1d 12h 46m	$189.00	$11.39
Full Day Seminar and Training - Access to 15 Session	Sep 21, 2014	$100.00	$6.49
General Expo Attendees - September 22, 2014	Sep 22, 2014	$0.00	$0.00
Business Super Special (10x10 Booth, 1/2 Page Color Journal Ad, 2 VIP Luncheon Ticket, 2 VIP Reception Ticket) - September 22, 2014 10x10 Booth 1/2 Page Color Journal Ad 2 VIP Luncheon Ticket 2 VIP Reception Ticket	Aug 31, 2014	$1,100.00	$42.95
Conference Special (All Day Workshops, 1 VIP Luncheon and 1 VIP Reception Ticket) - September 22, 2014   more info	2d 18h 46m	$200.00	$5.99
Exhibitors - Small Businesses - September 22, 2014 10 x 10 Booths 1 VIP Reception Ticket	Aug 31, 2014	$500.00	$24.95
Conference Package Ticket: Promotion Tickets - VIP Luncheon, VIP Reception and All Day Seminar   more info	Ended	$160.00	$9.79	N/A

Order Now

Event Details

GO-CARIBBEAN! International Business and Trade Expo will facilitate the convergence of entrepreneurs, financiers, high net-worth individuals and strategic partners focused on the development and support of Caribbean business across the region and in North America.  It is a place to meet and learn about new business trends, discuss best practices and identify opportunities to increase investment in the Caribbean and for Caribbean businesses in the Diaspora.

Highlights

• Increase the diaspora’s commitment to Caribbean investment through an increased dialogue around opportunities in the region

• Align new Caribbean companies with venture capitalist and private equity firms internationally

• Champion meetings that will lead to key strategic partnerships with Caribbean based businesses and enhance multi-national, multi-lateral and global cooperation 

• Provide training to Caribbean delegates around trade and investments in North America and similarly to the Diaspora about the Caribbean markets 
• Facilitate the development of an active cluster of entrepreneurs on both sides through greater access to funding and knowledge of the international markets 
• Strengthen the visibility of Caribbean owned business in United States and Canada

Target Industries
For the inaugural expo the GO-CARIBBEAN! will focus on the traditional and emerging high profile Caribbean industries. The selected sectors are:  

• Information and Communication Technology (Call Center, E-Medicine, Software Development, etc.) 
• Food & Beverage – (Manufacturing and Packaging) 
• Energy – (Oil, Alternative Energy - Solar, Wind & Geothermal) 
• Construction and Infrastructure 
• Creative Services: Sports & Entertainment 
• Tourism (Medical Tourism: Spa & Wellness and Infrastructure Development)

Target Attendees
GO-CARIBBEAN! anticipates approximately 3,000 attendees and 250 exhibitors from across the Caribbean and North America. Exhibitors include corporations, government agencies from the North America and the Caribbean, International Funding and Trade Agencies and Caribbean Affinity Groups.

Key Partners

• Caribbean Tourism Organization
• Institute of Caribbean Studies
• Caribbean Association of Industry & Commerce
• Caribbean Business Connections
• Brooklyn Borough President 
• Consul General Corp 
• Caribbean Churches in the  New York City  Tristate
• Private Sector and Investment Organization in Various Caribbean Islands

Have questions about Go Caribbean! International Business and Investment Expo? Contact Anchor Strategy Group and Go Caribbean!

Save This Event

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When & Where

New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge
333 Adams St
New York, New York 11201

Monday, September 22, 2014 at 9:00 AM - Tuesday, September 23, 2014 at 2:00 PM (PDT)

  Add to my calendar

Organizer

Anchor Strategy Group and Go Caribbean!

Go Caribbean! is the brainchild of Anchor Strategy Group (“Anchor”), a New York based consulting firm. Anchor was established in 2009 to design integrated management solutions and position clients in the private sector and government agencies across the Caribbean Diaspora and Caribbean Basin to seize new business opportunities and strategic goals.  Key services provided by Anchor include:

• Project Financing Assistance
• Business Management Training
• Product Placement for both US and Caribbean Companies
• Strategic Relationship Brokering
• Economic Development Research

For further information, contact Kevin Howell at khowell@anchorsllc.com or 347.413.3282.

  Contact the Organizer

View organizer profile

http://anchorstrategygroup.com 

Already registered? Get your tickets

Questions? Contact the organizer

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Event Alert: Meet Jean-Jaques Ekindi Camaroun Presidential Candidate Saturday

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson


By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

My sister/friend P. Sylvie Yonke sent me this information, and I am sharing it with you, because we African Americans need to be just as aware of what's happening on the Continent (a/k/a Mother Africa) as we are here.

On Saturday, July 23, there will be an opportunity to meet Jean-Jacques Ekindi, presidential candidate to Cameroun, who from what I can see is a very dynamic, stalwart and might I add, brave brother. He has run for president of his country on several occasions. These attempts are by no means to be construed as failed attempts, but more a study in perseverance, determination, and commitment. The Center for African Education (CAE) will be hosting the event, which takes place at Dodge Hall, from 5PM to 10PM in Room 179, 525 W. 120th St, between Amsterdam and Broadway.

Ekindi, who is known affectionately as “The Lion Hunter” is running for President in the upcoming election, but is taking the opportunity to interface with Camerounian students here in the US who have ties, interest and influence in the upcoming election. He will also be autographing his book entitled: Politiques du Cameroun et 'Afriqu La Defis

According to the CAE, “Cameroon and the Presidential candidates rely on the Diaspora to engage in the process of participatory democracy, and use their power to bring about progress and development at home. Don't miss this important event! “

What was compelling for me, however, was the bio Sylvie sent me in reference to this dynamic man. With just the little bit I’ve already read, I could see it making one heck of a movie - it’s got conspiracy, intrigue, pathos, success, failure, murder, betrayal, and resurrection, as our hero comes back from the depths of despair and try again at his goal to become the leader of his country.

Growing up in the US, we’ve seen movies set in Africa where the youth has to go out and kill a lion in order to prove his manhood - it’s a rite of passage we’ve all become familiar with (whether that actually ever happened, or still happens, I don’t know - but it’s part of our romance about African men). And those are the images we tend to conjure up when we hear the nickname “The Lion Hunter.”

According to his biographers, he received that nickname because he is smart and patient, bides his time, and never stops looking at his prey! He is a politician in a noble sense of the word!”

Ekindi evolved from vice president of the National Union of Kamerunian Students (UNEK); became information officer and Chief Editor of The Student of Kamerun Magazine, trhough which he expressed his opinions. He was and is an activist, starting in 1968, and continuing to the present date.

Like many African American brothers and sisters who have been incarcerated indefinitely because of their opinions, influence, and potential for leadership, Ekindi was arrested and “detained” indefinitely for a political speech made at the session of the National Commission for Scholarships in Younde` in 1970, for alleged “subversion and endangering the security of the state.”

Like the South Africans, and some US municipalities, the French regime sent him to jail without trial, using an arrest warrant to throw him into prison for an indeterminate time (sound familiar?).

Over the past 40 years, Ekindi has been involved in the political landscape of the Cameroun in one way or another. I could give you the whole story, but I think you’d get more mileage from attending the reception and reading his book.

Let’s just say that these last few elections have been full of trial and tribulations - from his being silenced by the prevailing government to his business wrecked, tottering on bankruptcy; from his wife, body guard, driver all dying mysteriously (??); to his having to leave the country more than one time in exile; to his being betrayed by those who pretended to be his allies. And he has still not let up! That's determination!!

The most recent 2009 election has turned out to be most propitious indeed, and he currently holds dual positions as Municipal Counselor, Representative, and Secretary of the Inter-parliamentary Finance Committee. Since 2009, he is the founder and organizer, with the support from the government, of the Douala International Fair for Development.

Poised to run for President, I am sure you are going to want to meet, greet and support this dynamic man, Jean-Jacques Ekindi, and applaud him for his intrepid spirit.

CAE's mission is to promote research and teaching about education, broadly defined, in Africa and the African Diaspora. Its central aim is to create a community of students, faculty, staff, and New York residents with common interests and commitments to the fields of Education and African Studies. www.tc.columbia.edu/centers/cae/ 212-678-8139 - Please call the above captioned number for additional information and directions. Free admission, but contributions and donations aare accepted.

Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson

EVENT ALERT: Dance Africa at BAM Celebrates its 34th Year Memorial Weekend May 27-30

by Gloria Dulan-Wilson

The Saturday before Memorial Day, is the kick off for Dance Africa, when Baba Chuck Davis, founder of the African American Dance Ensemble, and his troupe land in Brooklyn to regale us with his latest gathering of talent from Africa and her Diaspora. And this week end was absolutely spectacular.

Davis who stands tall at 6’5” presided over the event from the sidelines, while locally based community groups presented their youth, attired in African regalia, dancing their hearts out to youthful and seasoned drummers, reminiscent of what it may have been like in traditional African villages. Local dance troupes were in great form. A young toddler with the spirit of a modern day baby-faced Sammy Davis Jr., played African drums in the manner of a seasoned drummer, to the pleasure and amazement of the adults in the audience. (I told you our children are born geniuses, when their talents and skills are nurtured, people call them prodigies.)

The Elders wore full traditional clothing - lapas, geles, bubas, grand bubas, and agbadas; wearing lekes of their traditional Orisha (or Gods); priests/priestesses were attired in all white, came into the tent in a stately procession and sat in seats set aside for them on the right side of the tented area.

Their clothing was somewhat rivaled by the audience, many of whom wore traditional African dress in respect for the event.

They were addressed by Assemblywoman Annette M. Robinson, who was there to both celebrate Dance Africa’s kick off, and Delta Sigma Theta’s annual event, which also takes place at Bed Stuy Restoration the Saturday prior to Memorial Day. The joint events showcase local talent and pays homage to the accomplishments of locally based community organizations.

Dance Troupes formed around the community performed both on the stage and on the ground - we were in Africa all afternoon - or was it that Africa was in us?

But it was the folkloric group from Cuba, Folklorico Cutumba, whose Priest had blessed the opening of the event, that really had the audience going. Anyone who had didn’t get the linkage between Cuba and Africa, certainly got it yesterday. From the chants to the Orishas, through the dances, through the music - all ours, all theirs, all Africa’s - and we were all one.

For those of you who are not totally culturally aware, let me explain - Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other islands (South America - esp. Brazil; the Caribbean - esp. Haiti) where those ships dropped us a few centuries ago, has some of the richest practices of Yoruba (primarily Benin and Nigeria) religion in tact, despite the efforts of the slave monsters and the Catholic church to wipe it. When necessary, they changed the names of their Orisha (Gods/Goddesses) to catholic priest names, and kept right on honoring them - and do so to this day. Santa Barbara is an alias for Shango (or Chango - my Orisha)

In order to preserve their authentic ancestral and traditional beliefs, the Lukumi people disguised their orishas as Catholic saints. When the Roman Catholic slave owners observed Africans celebrating a Saint's Day, they were so dumb they thought the slaves were actually worshiping their sacred catholic saints. The term Santería means "the Way of the Saints", but was was originally a perjorative used Spanish to mock the slaves.

Slavery in the US, however, was the most brutal, degrading and punitive of all the practices - anyone caught speaking in their native tongue, playing drums, or any form or remnant of our African culture was severely punished - castration, lynching, and other heinous practices, all but wiped out any remnants we had of our cultural ties to Africa. Notice I said “all but” wiped out -- we may not have maintained the forms, but the substance of who we are still remains, and has been growing ever more strongly daily. There are strong Yoruba centers in the US and parts of England. And while there is no move to leave the Christian faith, there has been more and more of a blending and understanding of the efficacies of many traditions that we were severed from over 400 years.

Perhaps this is why Dance Africa, which started at BAM 34 years ago, remains strong and popular in New York, with thousands coming from all over the US to participate one of the biggest, grandest African American celebrations of Africa. The dancers and performers are brought from all over Africa and the diaspora to perform at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) for four days during Memorial Day Weekend, while on the streets surrounding the Music center a robust street festival with vendors, food products, performers, are likewise entertaining New Yorkers.

This also coincides with Fleet Week, when the Navy comes to New York, so there are a significant number of African Americans from the Navy who have traveled throughout the world, but have never experienced the likes of this event.

So if you think Memorial Day Weekend was a week end to go away, guess again. If you live in New York, you could find no better place to get away to than little old Brooklyn New York. Did I say “little“? There is definitely nothing “little” about Brooklyn. Brooklyn is actually the 4th largest city in the US. So, I strongly suggest you bring or wear comfortable (cute, but comfortable for the sisters) walking shoes; a shopping cart or big shoulder bag - because you will not be able to resist the bargains and the beautiful clothes and African art and crafts for sale; and be prepared to dance on the spot.

By the way, it appears that many of our very own African brothers and sisters, residing right here in Little Old New York City, are totally unaware of Dance Africa or the street festival. So do them a favor, and bring them to Brooklyn, so they can see the influence traditional Africa still has on people of African Heritage. We celebrate the home of our ancestors here big time. Sometimes we are living right next to each other, working side by side, yet they are totally unaware of these wonderful events. So take an African brother or sister by the hand and bring them to Brooklyn. Give them a Dance Afrika Brochure. We have to draw the circle around us so that it brings us together, not leaves us out.

That said, for my brothers and sisters from other parts of Africa, i.e, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, the Congo, South Africa, Namibia, The Gambia, etc; for my brothers and sisters from the Caribbean (actually little pockets of African-ness); South America or just the plain old USA South - south New York, South Carolina; Alabama, etc. - this is for all of us with one tenth of one per cent of Black Blood flowing through our veins - so don't get it twisted. It's for all of us. Come out and play

Concert Dates and Times are: Friday, May 27, 2011 at 7:30pm
Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 2 & 7:30pm; and Sunday/Monday, May 29 & 30, 2011 at 3pm. If you haven’t purchased you tix for the concert, go online for BAM at www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=2655.

Africa is alive and well and living in New York City.

STAY BLESSED &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson

COTE d'IVOIRE ELECTIONS AND PARADIGM SHIFTS

by Gloria Dulan-Wilson

The following is in response to a letter from a brother who will be addressing an organization trying to resolve the dispute over who gets to be president after a controversial election held in November 2010, in the Ivory Coast, also known as Cote d'Ivoire.

He asked if we had any recommendations or messages for the dignitaries who are expected to gather in DC on Monday, January 10. I actually did a contrast between the Ivory Coast of today, and the Ivory Coast under the late president Felix Houphuet Boigny, who was considered the longest serving president in the history of Africa. In fact, under him, the Ivory Coast prospered. Now we see them descending into the same kind of divisiveness that many of our other African countries are suffering from. Both Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Quattara, the two disputed candidates, seem to have the good of the country at heart. So I will not be commenting on either of these two brothers. What follows are my comments on our Homeland vis a vis Cote d'Ivoire's dilemma.

I would appreciate your feedback as well.
Gloria

Hi Ray:

Happy New Year to you and yours.

Thanks for keeping me in to loop in terms of what my ancestors' descendants are doing. There have been many things said about former president Houphuet-Boigny - good and bad; but you have to admit he kept the country "stable".

Somehow, amidst all this controversy about voting and who gets to lead, Ggagbo or Quattara; and whether or not Cote d'Ivoire is a "democracy" or just a benign dictatorship, there should not be the animosity that appears to be coming through.

The message of disagreeing without being disagreeable must be spread on both sides. When we decimate and denigrate each other we only help the enemy who wants to see us wiped out anyway. They frankly don't really care who does it or how; so if we do it to ourselves, we make it that much easier for them.

That said, my highest concern is that all our brothers and sisters get the fact that if they don't resolve this pretty quickly, they had all better start learning an new language: CHINESE -- if they have not already done so. For as surely as they continue to harangue over this, instead of a way of sharing power and appointing representatives to handle different regional concerns, the CHINESE will insidiously come in and just take everything right out from under their noses, under the guise of "trying to help"; and leave them with even less to argue about.

So, how do you like them apples? that's an old saying for those who ended up with more worms and rotten apples after arguing over who got what was in the basket. (couldn't help it - I'm just full of cliches and wise sayings this year -- expect more of same for 2011 - LOL!!!).

With the exception of a dynamic Black President in the US, Barack Obama, we arrive at the 2011th year as Black people - nationally, culturally, racially, socially, emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually -- no better off than when they threw us on those ships, and dragged us kicking and screaming to the Caribbean, South America, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the US as chattel where we were forced to work for no more than crumbs. At the same time that they were stealing us from Africa, they were likewise stealing African land and forcing Africans there to do their bidding; all the while they reaped the benefits of our servitude.

Surely, by now, we're sick of this. Surely by now we want better for ourselves. Surely by now we've learned to embrace each other, help each other, love each, mutually support each other so that we can all live better - otherwise, what's the point?

If we haven't, guess what, no one is really waiting for us to get it together. There is a certain amount of consternation that goes against a people (us) who don't love or respect themselves enough in this day and age to begin building something beautiful, permanent, viable, prosperous for all involved. It's one of the reasons why in America those pioneer stories are still so popular; those stories about great explorers who established great cities, etc. for the generations to come. We need to be the subject of those stories from the most positive standpoint -- we need not continue to be the "restless natives who are coming to menace the pioneers; or the savages who need civilizing."

Frankly, I'm tired of the argument, but I love my brothers and sisters, at home in the US, all over Africa, Cote d'Ivoire in particular, and throughout the world wherever we are -- but now is the time to really develop our own ECLECTICALLY BLACK CRITERIA. A credo! We've got to get it together -- so that we are as valuable to each other, as whites have made themselves to one another. So that not one drop of Black blood is spilled for trivial matters. So that we begin to honor our own ingenuity and creativity.

If there is any message to be given to Cote d'Ivoire it's this, you were once considered the richest country in Africa - you can dissipate it or you can get it together and share, bringing each and every man, woman and child along - educationally, spiritually, mentally, economically and in health.

Moreover, AFRICA IS THE RICHEST CONTINENT ON THE PLANET!!!! WHAT THE SAM HILL ARE WE DOING STILL HAVING THESE STUPID ARGUMENTS????? WE ARE IN THE 21ST CENTURY. Get it together - we got the internet, cell phones -- come on brothers and sisters, Europe is on its ass wallowing in poverty, trying to recover from their greed and mismanagement of funds so they can come back and oppress you some more and take even more of your riches; and you're still bickering over b.s.

The problem with divide and conquer is that is still works long after the original perpetrators who launched it have left. There is an old African proverb (no, I don't know which tribe) that says, "By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed." And we keep getting tricked over and over and over again by the same ploys and lies.

By the way, in looking at the photos of the candidates, other than the people in the street scenes in cote d'Ivoire, not one of those guys had on any form of traditional African or national clothing. Are we still trying to be ersatz europeans? Maybe that's why the acrimony is still going on. Senghor and Sekou Toure stood for Afrocentricity and Negritude; Houphouet-Boigny stood for financial prosperity and accomodation --

Now is the time for a paradigm shift and put those great philosophies together with that of another great man, who, if he had had his way, none of this would be an issue in Africa today: BROTHER MARCUS GARVEY. "Africa for the Africans, at home and abroad. Up you mighty race, you can accomplish what you will." It's high time Africans studied what this brother, and Carter G. Woodson, founder of Black History, were trying to teach us all, and inculcate it in their philosophies and modus operandii. It was true then, even truer now. And since they were Black men, applicable to the would be presidents of Cote D'Ivoire as well as the people they purport to lead. Wouldn't hurt them to read a litle Franz Fanon as well - you know - Wretched of the Earth, Black Skins, White Masks??? And certainly Frederick Douglass' "My Freedom and My Bondage" just to give them an African American perspective on how much we are being hoodwinked into self sabotage.

We can get so bogged down in b.s., and forget we have the truth right here, under our noses. We have our own geniuses, philosophers. It's okay to try to do stuff the way eurocentrics do; but we still really have to have a philosophy that is suitable for, and works for us as Children of Africa. There's nothing wrong with a great many of what the Euro/Americans have developed. They have made progress very easily (using our labor, of course). But they have this heinous tendenct to deny the humanity of people of other cultures and color; and then to want to confiscate whatever it is they have developed, without sharing any of the benefits.

That's what the Japanese found out; as did people of many other cultures (American Indians). But once the Japanese figured it out, they created a major paradigm shift throughout their country; adapted it in the schools, business, industry, philosophy and they knocked the US, and the rest of the Eurocentric world on their asses with their new technological development, and their protocol of "Quality Control" - you've heard of Toyota, Canon, JVC, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Honda, etc, haven't you?

The Japanese took a major line of departure from the euro/Americo/centric standards and left them all standing in the dust still trying today to catch up with their technological and philosophical developments. There is nothing like quality control, self determination, unity, loyalty, and positive self esteem. But they took it a major step further - they made sure that every man, woman, child, regardless of their economic or educational standing knew everything there was to know about the paradigm shift - through education and training. (Yes, I know it was because of W. Edwards Demming that this happened, but the US rejected his methodology; the Japanese embraced it). They completely stopped the old, ineffective, inefficient ways, and adopted a new way of getting things done -- and blew past all the statistics and standards to the point that the rest of the world had to catch with, and recalibrate their measures.

We gotta get some of that! - for Cote d'Ivoire, African Americans, Africa, South America, Cuba, where ever we are in large numbers. For in truth, there is no place in this whole wide world where Black people are doing well, and are in positive control. Show me one! We are still subjected to eurocentric standards. And when one Black man makes a break through, he is immediately surrounded and separated from the rest of us so that the information that he has is not available directly to us, but is filtered through that of the mainstream's "not necessarily the news media distortions."

Last Parable (I promise): Two mules were yoked together. They had just completed a hard day's work. There was a big pile of hay on either side of the very hungry mules. Mule 1 tried to reach is pile, and in doing so, dragged Mule 2 in its direction. Mule 2 jerked back, so Mule 1did not get any thing to eat. Then Mule 2 tried to eat from the pile near him, and dragged Mule 1 over to his side. Mule 1 jerked back. Then they both tried to eat from their respective piles at the same time, causing a strain on the yoke, but not enough for either of them to reach the coveted hay. So they stood there pulling against each other, angry, hungry, frustrated. Suddenly, an idea came to them (yes both at the same time - it can happen!!): So Mule 1 and Mule 2 walked TOGETHER over to the first pile and both ate the hay TOGETHER. When they had finished that, they walked TOGETHER over to the other pile, and ate the other hay TOGETHER. Then they smiled at each other, sat down, rested TOGETHER.

We have so many things that we need to be doing in Africa in general; Cote d'Ivoire in particular, that we don't have time to be pulling each other apart over this situation. We have to learn to share power; divide labor, and benefit from the wisdom and nuances others have been able to use to move forward. Listen, they worked it out in Kenya; we can do it in Cote d'Ivoire. We have to break the chains of divide and conquer once and for all.

Also remember, to those who have reaped some measure of economic viability in Africa, you still have to help your brothers and sisters. You may have made it, but it means very little if the rest of Africa is still struggling under the thumbs of residual colonization. Nothing trickles down on you but pee - so don't think that some money from someone with some wealth is going to trickle down to the rest of your brothers and sisters. It only works if you set up a plan to make it work. So lets focus on the training and educational programs we need to make it possible to get control over our (Africa's) own mineral and human wealth and capital, and stop letting interlopers come in and take it out from under our very noses, giving us pittances in return.

Cut the border wars, and begin consolidating some of those ties; I should say re-consolidating those ties -- until the arrival of the europeans most of the borders we have now did not exist. United WE stand, divided we reap chaos.

Active sharing with each other, is the way to build an ongoing foundation for multi generational wealth throughout your country - throughout Africa. Sure you may look good riding around in that Citroen Maserati or Mercedes Benz, but when it breaks down, and the only one who knows how to fix it is from France or Germany, you've done nothing to help your own at the end. Where is our African Car? Were is the answer to the new cars they are producing in India to make it possible for people to afford it no matter what their income? Where are our computer and internet geniuses? Who are our next generation educators that can tie all our destinies together and make something magical happen - the reunification of the Children of Africa in a way that completely changes the dynamics of the world for the better?

Ray - I truly wish you much success in this upcoming event. And I hope you share this message with our brothers and sisters from Home, from a sister who resides in the African American Diaspora of Brooklyn, NY, USA!!!

Stay blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson

AFRICAN UNION MOVES TO ESTABLISH STRONGER TIES WITH THE AFRICAN DIASPORA

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All: My friend and colleague, Dr. Chika Onyeani sent me a press release recently that I am sharing with you in a slightly altered form. I’ve woven some of my own comments in with the release, in hopes that you will receive the message and be willing - no, compelled - to play a role in the liberation of Africa, that leads back to the ultimate liberation of African Americans and people of Black African heritage:

Somewhere back in the 1960’s Africans and African Americans began working to re-establish their linkages after 400 years of separation and cultural deprivation. During that time, the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements were running concurrently with what was then called African Liberation from Colonialism. Many African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Liberia, among others got their liberation from the colonial monsters of England, Germany, Italy, France, etc.

It we were on the path to reunification, as we African and African American Black men and women began to honor our lost African heritage. In the US we began wearing our hair “natural“, wearing African colors, and traditional African clothing and jewelry; reading African authors, studying African philosophy, learning to speak Yoruba, Ibo, Swahili, Lingala, and other African based languages; and making trips to the motherland to meet our long lost sisters and brothers.

We began studying, quoting and following quoting Nkrumah, Azikewe, Senghor, Frederick Douglass, Sekou Toure`, Chinua Achebe, Malcolm X, Jomo Kenyatta, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon, Soyinka, Carter G. Woodson, and other great African and African American writers and philosophers, who were popular during that time, and marveling at all the wonders of Africa that we had not been told about as a result of the pariah of slavery that had separated us for 400 + years.

It looked like we were on the right track and that things were coming together for us. Africans and African Americans united together again at last! What wonderful days they were!!

Unfortunately, while we were basking in the glory of our mutual admiration, love and respect for each other, the age old perennial enemy was busy putting together a formula that would undermine any further progress and reunification plans we may have had in mind. That formula and tactic was and is called DIVIDE AND CONQUER. And it is just as lethal today as it was then.

The next 40 years our African brothers and sisters were embroiled in bogus wars on our continent where Russian and American spent millions in dollars and rubles, flooding their economies to buy off those heads of state who were woefully unaware of the ploys in place to destabilize our efforts for unity and autonomy.

Russia and America brought the cold war to Africa, battling in Angola, Mozambique and other areas, that had nothing to do with the people who lived there, but more to do with the neo-colonial powers who wanted to keep us off balance while they continued to exploit us and rob us of natural resources.

{NOTE: I use 'w and us", interchangeably with "my and our" when it comes to Africa, because as far as I’m concerned we are really still one. To me geography does not change family.}

Simultaneously those same 40 years in America witnessed a concomitant loss of our moral compass here in the US, as our youth descended into drugs, guns, gangs, thugs, and a dumbing down of our educational system, to the extent that many of our children (and a goodly number of adults) are functionally illiterate, unskilled, semi-skilled, or “indigent.”

In an effort to rectify the massive problems we face both on the Continent and in the Diaspora, a recently held two-day African Diaspora Conference took place on October 21st and 22nd. Hosted by African Union Permanent Observer to the UN, and the African Union Embassy to the US in DC, it was initiated by the Addis Ababa Headquartered African Union Commission, and The African Diaspora Meeting Committee. The theme of the meeting was "Building Bridges Across the Atlantic."

Ambassador Amina Ali of what the DC-based African Union office had accomplished since opening in 2007. She aggressively delivered the essence of the AU Diaspora Initiative by traveling across the US, Canada, the Caribbean and Central/South American countries. The message was the need for the Diaspora to recognize its important role to Africa and the African Union, especially as the Sixth Region of the Union. Ambassador Ali stayed throughout the two-day meeting, helping to guide the deliberations of the meeting.

Consequently CIDO Director, Dr. Adisa, provided more reasons of why the meeting had been convened, calling it a "precedent setting event, which we hope will set the pace for an annual consultation process with the African Diaspora in US, the Caribbean and Central//South America, Europe and the Middle-East, amongst others. In organizational terms, this is also an exercise in inter-collegiality that serves as an inspiration for the Commission and various organs of the Union to work together as one in the spirit of cooperation and solidarity that underpins the purpose of the African Union."

Dr. Adisa discussed the different sectors of the African Union, including "Objectives of This Dialogue," "The Initiative Within the Context of the Development of the African Union," "Rebuilding the Global African Family," "Definition of the African Diaspora," "Engagement Strategies,""Organizational Processes," ending with the "Global African Diaspora Summit."

Dr. Adisa covered the processes that led to the recognition of the Diaspora as a Sixth Region of the African Union. "Soon after the launching of the African Union in Durban, South Africa in 2002," he said, "the Assembly of Heads of States met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to establish, among other things, a legal framework that would create the necessary and sufficient conditions for putting this decision into effect. Hence, it adopted the Protocol of the Amendment to the Constitutive Act of the Union, which in Article 3(q) invited the African Diaspora to participate fully as an important component in the building of the African Union.

In adopting the decision," he continued, "the Protocol symbolically recognized the Diaspora as an important and separate, but related, constituency outside the five established regions of Africa - East, West, Central, North and South. Thus, although there is no specific legal or political text that states this categorically, it, in effect, created a symbolic sixth region of Africa."

Regarding the definition of the African Diaspora, Dr. Adisa said that a meeting of Experts from Member States had met in 2005 and adopted the following definition, "The African Diaspora consists of peoples of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and building of the African Union."

Dr. Adisa stated that many debates and disagreements on the definition of diaspora had taken place. There were those who felt the need for "academic" and "intellectual" aspects to the definition, while others thought it should be related to the political needs of the Union.

Another group preferred the need to add "permanently" to "living outside the continent. "Others," he said, "argued that the phrase "willingness to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union" should be left out. Nothing, they felt, should be demanded or expected from the Diaspora.

According to Dr. Adisa, the African Union preferred its earlier definition, which encompasses the following:
(a) Bloodline and/or heritage: The Diaspora should consist of people living outside the continent whose ancestral roots or heritage are in Black Africa;
(b) Migration: The Diaspora should be composed of people of Black African heritage, who migrated from or are living outside the continent. In this context, three trends of migration were identified - pre-slave trade, slave trade, and post-salve trade or modern migration;
(c) The principle of inclusiveness: The definition must embrace both ancient and modern Diaspora; and
(d) The commitment to the African case: The Diaspora should be people who are willing to be part of the continent (or the African family).

A special African Diaspora Task Team, elected by the constituency, is in the process of formulating a progress report detailing the accomplishments thus far. The Task Team consists of six members. Five elements had been identified as a guide to what the Task Team should consist of: Afro-Latinos, Community, Gender, Media, and Youth. Members of the Task Team, include Dr. Georgina Falu for Afro-Latinos, Mr. Sidique Wai and Mr. Omowale Clay, for Community, Ms. Kathy Jenkins Ewa for Gender, Dr. Chika A. Onyeani for Media, and Engr. Daniel Ochweri for Youth. The Task Team was later given their terms of mandate within which to work, report and conclude their assignment within three months.

Dr. Chika A. Onyeani, noted economist, author, and publisher of the African Sun Times, and chair of the African Diaspora Task Team, voiced concerns about several challenges Africans and African Americans face, both on the Continent and in the US Diaspora:
1) Being victimized by the media’s portrayal of Africans and African Americans in the news (which is not helped by the fact that there are still internecine wars in the Sudan and other areas, with children being pressed into service and women being beaten and raped);
2) Leaders and heads of state who pay millions of dollars to mainstream white media to write about them, while I gnoring their own Black and African news media;
3) Not having the necessary basic and professional trade skills to fulfill the current demands for building, repair or development services (here and in Africa).

Stated Onyeani, “If you need to build something, or if something needs to be repaired in Africa, we have to rely on whites (and now the Chinese) to do the job. Their prices are usually overly high, and you really don’t know if they are doing the job properly or not because you don’t have the skill or experience yourself.”

One of the key things Onyeani is hoping will come of this new collaboration between the Diaspora and Africa, is a broader based coverage of African and African American news via our newspapers. Training programs that can be exported to Africa by skilled and licensed tradesmen in the fields of plumbing, electricity and electronics, agriculture, green technologies, health and hygiene and educational programs.

“This is the 21st Century. If we have to develop some kind of boot camp so that this training is spread throughout all of Africa, then that’s what we must do. The Diaspora has a great role to play in this, because many of them have those skill sets that we need,” stated Onyeani intensely.

Likewise, the attention to the need to collaborate on business development and support was covered at the conference. Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Malawi Mr. Brian Bowler, Chairman of the African Ambassadorial Group, exhorted his colleagues to be more creative in doing business with the Diaspora. "For example," he said, "during the UN General Assembly meeting each September, let's assume that each of the 53 African countries spend just $500,000 (with a Black business), we are talking $25 million that could go to an African Diaspora company. That's $25 million in less than one month!"

As Chairman of the African Union, Ambassador Bowler represents President Binbu wa Mutharika of Malawi. He challenged his colleagues to look for African Diaspora companies to do business with. He also felt the relationship with the Diaspora should not be a one-way street, "especially as a businessman who owns three breweries in three different African countries."

Finally, in regards to the importance the African Union attached to the Diaspora, Dr. Adisa stated that sixty per cent of the AU Recruitment Committee consisted of individuals from the African Diaspora. and how he himself attained his present position after interviewing with two recruitment committees chaired by African Diaspora.

On October 21, an Award Dinner, organized by Nation to Nation Networking (NNN) CEO Ms. Abaynesh Asarat, in collaboration with the African Union was held at Club 51st Street. In attendance was His Excellency Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, the African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security.

Award recipients included Elinor Tatum of the Amsterdam News; Dr. Kwame Akonor, Director of the African Development Institute; Dr. Muriel Petioni, M.D., the "Mother of Medicine in Harlem"; Dabney N. Montgomery, of Harlem Community Board 10; and Mr. Seri Remy Gnoleba, Chairman of the African Chamber of Commerce in the U.S.

Other AU officials participants included Mr. Anthony Okara, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Bureau of the Deputy Chairperson, Dr. Jinmi Adisa, Diaspora Director of the African Union Commission (Citizens And Diaspora Directorate (CIDO); Dr. Fareed Arthur, Advisor (Strategic Matters, Bureau of the Deputy Chairperson of the Commission), Mr. Wuyi Omitoogun (Expert, Diaspora Relations, CIDO) and Ms. Nadia Roguiai (Expert, ECOSOCC, CIDO).

Two African Union Ambassadors in the United States, who attended, were Ambassador Tete Antonio, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations; and Ambassador Amina Salum Ali, Ambassador of the African Union to the United States, Washington, DC. Much gratitude and appreciation to these two for their involvement in the planning and coordination of this first ever conference.

But it doesn’t stop there. We have a great role to play in this, both here in the Diaspora of the US and in our home continent of Africa. We have to put our considerably creative minds together and begin to unify. There was a saying, created by Alma Johns, “each one teach one, each one, reach one!” that has to be our mantra as we begin to reach out to our African brothers and sisters and reach in to our fellow diasporan brothers and sisters.

In much the same way other imigrants who come here support their “mother or father land”, we have to do the same. Otherwise, we will be the only race of people on the planet to not have supported their own mother land, and become the only continent in the world laboring under the heavy heeled boots of European and Chinese exploiters, instead of being in control of our own destiny and quality of life.

Yes, it’s a tall order, especially at a time when the US is undergoing an economic “crises”. But that does not mitigate the fact that it has to be done and done now. WHEN NO ONE ELSE WILL SAVE YOU, SAVE YOURSELF.

As brother Marcus Garvey said, “Rise up, you might race, you can accomplish what you will!”

And let's not also forget that President Barack Obama is one of the brightest and the best ever produced by both Africa and the Diaspora, and can be an inspiration to us all in what we can do when we put our minds, our might, our discipline and our unity to it. And the time for that to happen is NOW.

Inquiries and comments should be addressed to Dr. Georgina Falu, Secretary to the ADTT Board at email: falug@aol.com or to African Diaspora Task Team of the African Union c/o The Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union to the United Nations, 305 East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017 Tel. : 212-319-5490, Fax: 319-7135; email: AUDTT2011@gmail.com

STAY BLESSED &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson