Letter to Urban Update

– March 2001

It has been very satisfying for me to know that Urban Update continues to present features on African issues. Personally, I find it fundamentally necessary that the problems of African nations are conveyed to the American people and to the American political and economic leadership for awareness and help. For decades, the America government poured huge economic aid into other Third World nations in Latin American and Asian, while ignoring the needs of Sub-Sahara Africa. Ironically, however, these same African nations for decades, have supplied much of America’s pertinent raw material needs. The Republic of Congo, for instance, has for long sold copper very cheaply to the United States, as well as such other mineral resources as uranium, zinc, cobalt, bauxite, etc. During the centuries of colonial rules, most of African lands were plundered of their gold and diamonds to enrich the European colonialists and the West. African lands were seized for white settlements. The African state of peace and fabric of stability at the time were violently attacked and destroyed over two centuries which effect is still seen today in the anachy and poverty of the African continent. Prior to this, the 350 years of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade still impacts in a deep sense the struggles of African Americans and the Black world in general.

While, on one hand, Africa's serious problems of poverty and disease demand attention, particularly, in light of the present crisis of the AIDS epidemic sweeping its fatalities through many African nations, on the other hand, America and the West need to recognize a total picture of Africa that must include the positive aspects of Africa and her people. And this is exactly what frustrates me about the Western attitude and failure of response to Africa's needs and crises.

For example, upon attaining their freedom, many African nations, like Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Kenya, etc, universalized compulsory formal education within their countries mandating all children to go to school at age six. These African nations had since produced some of Africa's highest literacy rates. Many African students come to the United States with excellent academic preparation and very high SAT scores and often take only three years to complete college in America. Thus, a lot of progress has actually been made since periods of independence. These facts, however, go unnoticed by the American media, which focus primarily to report on catastrophic civil wars, diseases and poverty, and therefore, perpetuating the negative image of Africa. Yet in actuality many African nations have been at peace-time for decades and have achieved varying levels of economic development and political stability. The African nations also deserve respect for their value systems creating richness in family life and community living and placing emphasis on education for their children. All of this imbue the average African child with a strong sense of belonging and identity which in turn reinforces high self-esteem. Consequently, despite the prevalence of poverty and disease, the African people present with a greater mental and emotional stability in their daily lives, so that certain mental illnesses are far less expressed among the African populations than in their Western counterparts.

The unfortunate fact still remains that politically and economically, the Africa nations still have along way to go. While it is true that many African leaders have failed to promote democracy to their people, the question still remains as to why Black Africa was neglected and rejected by America following Africa’s days of independence. Even though African traditions and political problems bear direct resemblance of other Third World countries, such as, the way these countries universally view the West as the oppressors, the enormous difficulty of Third World leaders overcoming corruption and nepotism to accept democratic principles of governance, and their serious poverty issues compounded by unceasing relentless ethnic/civil wars, African nations appear to suffer the worst case scenarios in all these failures. The West and the rest of the world seem to hold the African people in an enduring contempt. This needs to be redeemed by educating the world on African history.

What real solutions must be brought to bear? Essentially, what needs to be done is for Africans to be able to portray their positive aspects through writings, publications, speeches, presentations, documentaries and films, so as to undo the old negative stereotypes. By these new approaches and commitment, Africans can educate the American public, Congress and the corporate companies with information and re-assurance to enable their willingness to invest in the African countries just as they have so readily done for the Latin American and Asian countries over the years and more recently for the new nations of the old Soviet Union. Africans and their western sympathizers have to use practical means of education and publications to fight back against ignorance and handicaps of global racism that have for so long afflicted poor nations including the African countries.