When my wife and I traveled to Africa in the early 90s, I was impressed by the similarity to American cities. There were tall buildings downtown, and men and women traveling around with their briefcases, dressed in business suits, just as if they were in Los Angeles or other American cities. The people were as multi-colored as African Americans are here people. Many people resembled people we know and had similar features.
My wife forgot one of her medications and had to visit a medical clinic to see a doctor who could write a prescription and direct us to a pharmacy. It took us some time to locate an English-speaking clinic, doctor, and pharmacy, but we located them with the help of an English-speaking taxi driver.
I noticed men and women on street corners marketing their products. You could buy African trinkets, all kinds of clothing, and household items. There were also beggars, just as here in America, except many were seated treated with respect and dignity. It was as if someone had a big secret, telling us that Africa was still just a Jungle with dangerous animals and uncivilized savages. You have to wonder where they were hiding the likes of the lawyer named Nelson Mandela.
Accommodations in the SOFITEL and other hotels were worth writing home about. They provided entertainment throughout the day. They religiously observed mid-day siesta. Everything stopped and closed down. During those times, you could only find visitors out on the streets. During the early evenings, they treated guests to happy hour. If you were there to do trade, you could possibly get rich, using honest business tactics and Yankee ingenuity, however, please know, they are shrewd business people. If being rich is your ultimate goal, you may be able to do so if you understand their language, can negotiate their currency, and know how to bargain.
African Americans have lost contact with the Motherland but can imitate where they are. In Altadena, a local businessman and teacher from Nigeria own a dry goods store. He holds marketplace events where African and African-American business people may market their goods and services to the community. Africans and Americans need to share more cultural and business experiences, much like other cultures to try and connect their lost culture. The loss of African culture and business practices lost to African Americans in the unfortunate Slave trade was the result of teaching Black Americans to be shame of being African and being black. Sharing gives us a chance to regain our culture and pride in being African.
It’s interesting that whites tried to shame Blacks about being Black, while Whites took numerous trips to Africa for its beauty and resources. The Black, Brown, and Beige people of America are envied by the same world that spends thousands of hours trying to make it an undesirable asset. The same people treated Jews, Irish, and Asians the same, all the while taking their assets from them for themselves. Their ethnocentrism made them so egotistic, they hated everybody. There are two mantras that I believe with all my heart: “Black Is Beautiful” and “Black Lives Matter.”
I have listed here Black Africans and Black Americans who have changed the world. Look up these persons, and others, for their valuable contributions.
Patrice Lumumba
Dr. Martin Luther King
Nelson Mandela
Malcolm X
Jomo Kenyatta
Jesse Jackson
Marcus Garvey
Kwama Nkruma
Frederick Douglas
Julius Nyere
Roy Wilkins
Jali Selasse
Rev. Albert Sharpton
Miriam Makeba
Angela Davis
Winnie Mandela
Maya Angelou
Kofi Anan
BarackObama
Harriet Tubman
From the arrival of the first Africans in 1619 on the good ship Jesus, till their exit at the Door of No Return at the Aisle of Goree, Africans have sought to be free. It is noted that the Africans did not arrive as slaves, they were Africans who were captured in Africa and brought to America and made into slaves. It is said that if you say something that is a lie enough times, like the lie of who won as President of a country of non-thinking people will believe, it’s sore losers who will sell that lie.
Part of what President Barack Obama said in a recent speech is that we are at a turning point in America to a politics of tribalism and meanness. However, I feel that it is good to see and hear legislators talk about expulsion from Congress or any Congressperson who was involved in the January 6, 2021 insurrection. I agree that this needs to happen.
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