Captured from the Internet underground, this critique of the relationship between Black America and Africa is thought provoking and mind stirring. Engage yourself in the dialogue and ponder, seriously, the words to follow.

On this issue of Black Americans and Black Africans, the bottom line is this:

1. Africa is a mess. No one needs to be told this: war, poverty, state collapse, corruption, etc. etc.
   
2. African leaders and governments are a HUGE part of the problem.
   
3. The white man WON'T fix Africa, no matter how hard we rail against racism, colonialism and imperialism. We Africans have to do it ourselves. Africa's destiny lies in the hands of its own PEOPLE. Even the defunct and useless OAU recognized that.
   
4. To fix Africa, we need to reform our political, economic, legal and other systems.
   
5. Black Americans have the political clout and the credibility and can be of immense help in fixing Africa.
   
6. Black Americans did help and were instrumental in the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa.

But elsewhere in Africa, they have NOT been helpful in our efforts to push for change and democratization. They have embraced, coddled, consorted and allied themselves with brutal African tyrants in the name of racial solidarity. More often than not, black Americans have NOT been on the side of the PEOPLE. We often see black American leaders wining and dining with African dictators at summits, conferences, etc.

How do we fight the enslavement of blacks in Sudan and Mauritania when Minister Louis Farrakhan is dined by the brutal Bashir regime and denies that slavery exists in Sudan and it is just "western propaganda"?

What help did black Americans give to pro-democracy activists in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Benin, and many other African countries. For example, in 1994, President Clinton appointed Rev. Jesse Jackson as Special Envoy to Africa.

When Clinton sent him in June 1994 to help defuse Nigeria's political crisis, pro-democracy forces refused to meet with him due to his support of the former military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida. Some even threatened to stone Rev. Jackson if stepped foot in Nigeria. And Sierra Leonians have not forgiven Rev. Jesse Jackson for brokering the 1999 Lome Accords which awarded a ministerial position to Foday Sankoh, the barbarous warlord whose band of savages (the Revolutionary United Front) chop off the limbs of people, including women and children, who stood in their way. Sierra Leonians were outraged when Rev. Jackson compared Fodah Sankoh to Nelson Mandela. I can tell you about Senator Carol Mosely-Braun's dalliances with the Abacha regime.

I can go on and on and give countless examples of how black Americans leaders have been on the WRONG SIDE of the new struggle: The second liberation of Africa. This time, the second liberation is against black neo-colonialists, brutal tyrants, briefcase bandits, and quack revolutionaries.

Just because a black African leader rails against Western imperialism, colonial injustices, and the iniquities of the slave trade does NOT mean black Americans should embrace such African leaders in the name of racial solidarity when such African leaders are standing on the necks of their people, oppressing them and looting their wealth to deposit in Swiss banks.

Where are black Americans on the crisis in Zimbabwe? You guessed it. They are on the side of Robert Mugabe, not on the side of the PEOPLE. Where are black Americans on the constitutional crisis in Nigeria? Tell me this: In which African country are black Americans helping to push for political CHANGE?

If they won't or can't help, fair enough. But they should NOT stand in our way by consorting with African dictators and conferring legitimacy upon them. These dictators need to be ISOLATED, just as the racists in apartheid South Africa were with boycotts and sanctions.

WE WANT black Americans to help us fix Africa. They can play an instrumental role in the democratization process in Africa by demanding the institution of freedom of expression, the principle of one-man one vote, and the holding of free, multiparty elections in every African nation. Their true brothers and sisters are the victims of oppression, not the dictators upon whom they shower honorary degrees.

Furthermore, they should shun diplomats from undemocratic African countries. Too often, black Americans invite these ambassadors of tyranny to play a prominent role in social functions (for example, keynote speaker) to the distress of oppressed Africans. These diplomats should be told, in no uncertain terms, that what their governments do to their own citizens is a disgrace to black people.

I am not trying to suggest that the problem between black Americans and black Africans is a one-way street. We both need to learn from and understand each other more. Just as we black Africans should NEVER get close to anything that smells of the KKK, black Americans should NEVER get close to anything that smells of black tyranny in Africa.

Freedom CANNOT be defined in racial terms. Oppression is oppression irrespective of the skin color of the oppressor. Any black American who thinks that, in black Africa, blacks are free because blacks rule them but in apartheid South Africa, blacks were NOT free because they were ruled by whites is an impediment to the second liberation of Africa. Sadly, there are many black Americans who still think this way.

I will like to end on a positive note. Fortunately, things are beginning to change -- ever so slowly and imperceptibly. Last July, black Americans held a demonstration outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington to protest the situation in Darfur. It was led by former D.C. Councilman, Fauntroy. Second time something like has happened - black Americans protesting the actions of an African government. The first was in 1996, when Randall Robinson organized a protest march against the Nigerian Embassy to protest the hanging of Ken Saro Wiwa.

On the personal level, my relationship with many black American leaders has improved. I used to "battle" them over African issues. In the late 1980s and 1990s, I clashed repeatedly with Rev. Jesse Jackson, Randall Robinson, Congressman Donald Payne, etc. I demanded that the campaign against apartheid South Africa should be coupled with an equally aggressive campaign to free blacks elsewhere on the African continent. They BALKED, although Randall Robinson could understand my position.

I could also understand their position. They claimed that:

1. Broadening the campaign for one-man one vote would DIVERT attention from apartheid South Africa.
2. Broadening that campaign would provide ammunition to the racists since that would be tantamount to washing Africa's dirty linen in public.

So, Randall Robinson said, "George, let's free the blacks in South Africa FIRST, then we will turn our attention to the rest of Africa."

My reply was short: "By then, it will be TOO LATE." That was in 1989.

As it turned out, we freed the blacks in South Africa in 1994. We won 1 but we LOST Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, Zaire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and now Togo with more African countries teetering on the brink. We won 1 but lost 8. Did we go or did we come?

These days when I meet some black American leaders in Washington, they tell me "George, you were way ahead of the curve." It may be personally gratifying but look at all that destruction, grief, chaos and deaths that could have been avoided had they listened back in the late 1980s.

George Ayittey,
Washington, DC

>>> Part 2

© June 2005 by Afromerica