I have just returned from a humanitarian advocacy mission to Africa, intrigued by President Barack Obama’s recent announcement that he plans to travel to his father’s homeland, Kenya. He will participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, the latest U.S. government initiative to facilitate participation of emerging markets in the global economy.
Although Western efforts to aid Africa have more than doubled in the last decade, African advancement is still constrained partly by centuries of psychological conditioning and economic deprivation. Only 50 years ago, centuries of racial segregation in the United States was halted by progressive laws that acknowledged the dignity of African people here. Across Africa in this same era, the imperial system of colonialism was shattered as many African nations burst into independence.
The benefits, however, of the civil rights era and the quest for independence were short-lived. Independence gave way to neocolonialism. The Civil Rights Act was transformed into “equality under the law” that ultimately restricted real restitution and equity for African people.
Recently, the World Bank’s Economic Outlook affirmed crises, like the Ebola outbreak and militant terrorism, threaten African progress. The widespread misconception, however, is that bad governance and endemic corruption are key factors that prevent development.
Brazil takes pride in engendering a racially colorblind society. This perspective only makes the Brazilian government blind to the deplorable conditions African people contend with there.
In Iraq and other west Asian countries, a substantial number of African people are held in enslavement. Indicated by unabated financial aid, U.S. foreign policy has been tolerant of African enslavement.
It is within this milieu of African peoples’ struggle for self-determination that African Ascension is constituted. It’s a project that tries to link Africans throughout the globe so they can leverage social and economic strengths. With more than 1.25 billion African people in Africa and the Western hemisphere, we believe we can rise together to tell our stories in our own terms.
African Ascension challenges the world to see African people in a new light — one of truth that won’t allow anyone to cast a blind eye to historical injustices, a light that will inspire everyone to rise to the challenge of promoting African unity and empowerment.
The mission of African Ascension can be seen in the works we have accomplished for African people in many parts of the world.
Recently in Ghana, I met with officials of Cargill Inc. and challenged them to use their vast holdings to improve the quality of life for all Ghanaians. I am preparing to travel to Haiti, where we have already sent more than $1 million in medical equipment to a people still recovering from the 2010 earthquake.
In Kenya, I established a learning center equipped with an online computer lab. This center also shares accommodations with a health clinic, made possible with the help of Bob Quattrocchi, president and CEO of Northside Hospital; Nell Diallo, vice president of corporate and international relations at MedShare, and Partners for Care founder Connie Cheren.
In Brazil, I was instrumental in helping establish the first college for Africans in Sao Paulo, and in 2014, I convinced the Coca-Cola Co. to make a $2.1 million contribution to five African-Brazilian institutions.
We have young board members like Mwangi Moses Mukami and Jumbe J.E. Tatum who have devoted their lives to African unity. Mukami founded Kenya’s National Youth Parliament and many youth advocacy organizations in Africa, while Tatum upholds the principles of Pan-Africanism in numerous Diaspora organizations.
As its president, I am hopeful African Ascension will raise my people to new levels of greatness.
