<p>Well put, mini. And in any event, Bill Cosby’s son would be a development admit.</p>
<p>Ultima, while I am certainly aware that there are, sadly, African Americans who harbor negative views towards Africa and African immigrants, I am also aware of many other African Americans who embrace Africa and all things African from a very sentimental and idealized perspective. I don’t know how many middle-class African American homes you’ve been in, but many proudly display African art. Certainly the reception that former South African President Nelson Mandela received in African American communities throughout the United States would suggest that these communities do not “despise” Africans for any reason, let alone the reasons you describe. Ditto the warm fraternal views held toward Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah (who attracted thousands of African Americans to Ghana, including WEB DuBois and Maya Angelou) and Haile Selaisse in earlier generations. They were and are men and countries that most African Americans were and are intensely proud of.</p>
<p>I’ve traveled extensively in Africa and the influence of African American culture is on display everywhere (music, hair styles, couture, idiomatic expressions). If America today is open to enterprising Africans, it is because of the struggles of African Americans to make it so. Prior to the civil rights revolution, that would not have been the case. </p>
<p>Africans would be well served to learn that their ability to exert influence on US policy is critically related to their ability to strengthen the pan-African feelings of African Americans. US policy toward Israel, Cuba or Greece is clearly tied to the influence of US Jews, Cuban Americans and Greek Americans, respectively, in this country. Likewise, African Americans must appreciate that until the world sees Africa through new eyes and until Africa rises from its knees, people of African descent everywhere will be judged as less than they truly are.</p>