“I have been an eyewitness to terror,” says Cynthia McKinney, the former Georgia congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate whose fact-finding delegation to Libya observed some of the heaviest NATO bombing of Tripoli, the capital. The U.S. corporate media are present in Libya, “but the truth is nowhere to be found,” McKinney told a press conference across the street from United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
Listening to the racist comments from the historian David Starkey on BBC's Newsnight one is horrified to hear his comments about ‘black culture’ and 'black people' more generally. The way in which the BBC presenter Emily Maitlis allowed him to dominate the discussion and did not challenge his racism was reprehensible.
As we commemorate the martyrdom of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (4/4/1968) and reflect on his awesome sacrifice and meaning for us, the country and the world, we must first distance him from the dominant society’s calculated construction of him as forever fashioned and frozen in an immobilizing dream, drained of his active anger at injustice, his assertive advocacy for the poor and vulnerable, his opposition to war as an enemy of humanity and the poor, his insistence on a peace with justice, and his dedicated resistance to the triple evils of racism, materialism and militarism. Indeed, he noted that, those who raised questions about the width and wisdom of his field of moral vision which includes resistance to war and commitment to the pursuit of peace, “have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live.”
There was a time not so long ago when Americans, regardless of their political stripes, rallied around their president. Once elected, the man who won the White House was no longer viewed as a Republican or Democrat, but the President of the United States. The oath of office was taken, the wagons were circled around the country’s borders and it was America versus the rest of the world with the president of all the people at the helm....Suddenly President Barack Obama, with the potential to become an exceptional president has become the glaring exception to that unwritten, patriotic rule.
Making the Diaspora part of the development process in many developing countries is an idea whose time has come even in Africa. While Asian countries have since the 1970s been using their Diasporic communities to boost their development efforts, African countries have just recently embraced the idea and, in many cases, there has been some reluctance in many quarters. However, this is fast changing as many African countries are gradually recognizing that their Diasporic communities constitute a huge treasure trove of development information, experience and investment resources. Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, is mired in abject poverty and some of these countries have, for a long time, been dependent on aid whose flow is no longer regular given that other parts of the globe such as Asia – the Philippines, Thailand, India, etc- are competing with African countries for these scarce development assistance.
It will never be enough to underscore the importance of involving Africa’s Diaspora in the continent’s efforts to walk away from the grinding poverty that has robbed so many Africans of their lives. The continent’s Diaspora has some of the answers to the many issues that have plagued Africa for too long. Their wide experience and multicultural perspectives on life make them great assets in the continent’s fight against poverty and underdevelopment. After having noticed that they too can do just what others have done to uplift their people from the depth of poverty, the Diaspora always believes that it could be a key link in their country’s development chain. In many cases, what drives migrants is the genuine feeling of pride and affection for their home countries, though many of them have a negative opinion about the economic management of their countries. The great majority of Africans who quit the continent do so with a heavy heart, but with the objective of learning and making life better for their immediate families, especially by sharing the knowledge and experience they will acquire in their host countries.
PIERRE EMMANUEL JALLA, age 39, and JACKSON NTONE NDEMBA, age 36, citizens of the Republic of Cameroon illegally present in the United States, were convicted today by a federal jury sitting in New Orleans of conspiracy to counterfeit and counterfeiting, announced United States Attorney Jim Letten. During the two-day trial, the government presented evidence that JALLA and NDEMBA conspired to steal $60,000 they solicited from an undercover FBI task force agent.
Whether in religion or in the science of evolution, the Black woman has a place in world history as the forbear of the human race. However, her offspring that remained in the mother continent have historically been characterized by an underachievement of momentous proportion. This underachievement is explained largely by machinations that other groups have historically employed to exploit Africa. Strangely, however, the vice is more on the unawareness of people of African descent on the resources at their disposal and the potential inherent underneath their feet. Historically, Africa and the Sub-Saharan African people have always provided wealth to the rest of the world for free, unfortunately, the only difference today is that the exploitation continues in a different format or disguise as assistance or Aid to Africa. Africa is so rich and yet it may still need to provide the rest of the world with its abundance of wealth for pennies. Any true African and friend of Africa will need to ask the important question: why?
While the urgency to address Chicago's rampant wave of violence is extremely warranted, I think it's absolutely ridiculous that two Illinois lawmakers are requesting to bring in the National Guard as a way to control the problem...Granted the city has seen a rising surge of violence recently, especially now that the weather appears to be warming up. Every year residents here have to deal with a deadly trend that only gets worse as summer approaches and it's our children that continue to suffer its tragic consequences. Last week alone seven people died and 18 were wounded, mostly by gunfire. Chicago has had over 100 homicide victims so far this year. And 25 Chicago student's lives have been cut short due to youth violence. The numbers are grim and the reality of young lives lost is staggering. At the same time working-class families in Chicago, whether Black, Latino or white are dealing with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Good jobs that pay livable wages with decent benefits not to mention health insurance are increasingly scarce these days. Everyday families across the city are being hit with dire unemployment figures and many continue to lose their homes in an on-going foreclosure crisis....More
The False Dream One hundred years after Lincoln freed the slaves of African descendants, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had a new dream for the African. This dream was an ideal of hope that the African man would have his equal share or part of the American dream and live in peace and harmony beside his new brother as one people. I was four years old when King marched on Washington. This became an historic and prophetic moment in the life of the Negro. He was fighting for the rights to be African -American. These new Africans wanted to become part Americans and be entitled to the same citizenship rights as their new brothers while they live in under the sun. However, king did not foresee that this dreamed up agreement would bind us to a new dream that would make us lesser gods called the African –American.
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