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As the
world becomes ever more competitive on a global scale, are Africa and people
of African ancestry prepared for the battles? How will we win? Everyone from
the late scholar Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop, in his numerous writings, to Senegalese
music star Youssou N'Dour, in his recent song “New Africa,” suggests that defeat
is guaranteed without unity.
Most analyses of Africa, the Caribbean, and Afro-America
highlight similar weaknesses. Each group is on the outside looking in as the
West, Japan – and increasingly, China – make strategic resource decisions for
the rest of the world that will continue to weaken those outside of their network.
Africa is asking for debt relief from the G8. African Americans are searching
for reparations from the U.S. government. The Caribbean is struggling to break
through various U.S.-centric trading blocks. Each group suffers from a shortage
of financial and intellectual capital.
There are potentially three common areas shared
by people of African ancestry -- economics, cultural ties, and a search for
respect.
Lifetime ownership is at the core of the economic
challenge. African Americans create billion-dollar ideas, but don’t own the
financial results of those ideas. A clear example can be seen in the fact that
black urban America’s massive contributions to pop culture have not brought
an equally massive financial gain. Similarly, Africans have tremendous natural
resources in their countries, but do not collect the money for the finished
products. With gems, metals, agricultural products and oil the greatest profit
margin opportunity is in the finished product. Those riches are collected and
counted outside of Africa.
Cultural ties exist, though most are superficial.
These include common foods, dance, humor, dress, and hairstyles that survived
the middle passage and colonization. A recent exhibit at The DuSable Museum in
Chicago depicted the many African traditions that African Americans
continue to practice during funerals and mourning periods.
Christianity and Islam are shared religious systems, but they were
mostly forced upon Africans during their enslavement and colonization. For
this reason, they are ties that both bind and impede progress. Howard
University’s development of a genetic test for people of African ancestry that
can identify a person’s specific ethnic heritage of an individual could lead
many to a renaissance of interest in Africa. |
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The Political & Spiritual Purpose of the
Holy Land
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The third common issue is an ongoing search for
respect. Africans are eager to reclaim their historical position in the world
as major contributors to civilization. Respect also has a present-day meaning
for people of African ancestry. Efforts to highlight media bias in reporting,
boycotts of various companies, and civil disobedience in the pursuit of equal
justice – all are grounded in a drive for respect.
What is the success model for moving forward? Examples
can be found outside of the African Diaspora in India and Indians in America.
The amount of wealth created by Indian Americans over the last ten years in
high tech, and increasingly in the Internet space, is remarkable. In a recent
study for the Indian government reported in the Wall Street Journal, it was
estimated that more than 300 Indian entrepreneurs have a personal net worth
of more than $5 million. Their collective net worth is $25 billion and they
have some $6 billion available to invest. The Stanford Institute for Economic
Policy Research estimated in 1998 that 774 companies in Silicon Valley were
run by Indian and Indian American entrepreneurs.
Indian Americans have not created their wealth
just to secure power and respect in America. They have begun a systematic process
of shifting portions of their wealth back to India to create more wealth and
prosperity. The technology successes of India are many. Bangalore, a high tech
center in India, produces more software source code than any other city in the
world.
Nique Fajors is a Harvard MBA and the author
of Cultural & Economic Revitalization --
A Five Step Reference for Overcoming Black Failure.
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