It was to be expected that in a Pan-Africanist forum such as this one, the petition would harvest the target number of signatures in no time at all.
Of absolute relevance here: Aimé Césaire: Like a Misunderstood Salvation and Other Poems
Emma Lazarus' The New Colossus is emblazoned on the plaque at the feet of the Statue of Liberty
"…and her name
Mother of Exiles."
Consistent with the laws of psychological hedonism I guess that for the African folks who arrived at the greener pastures of America by passenger ship or by Boeing 787 and have been granted either political and economic asylum and the opportunity to fulfil their spiritual quest, their dream education, their professorships and directorships of multinationals (where the money rolls) - it's salvation : they are saved : redeemed , compared with the quality of life they lived in Africa they have indeed arrived in heaven, and as some of them put it, for them there's no going back to hell even given the racial scenario at street level according to the CNN newsreels , for that lost generation a return to Africa would be akin to jumping ( by air) from the racial crucible of frying pan and into the hellfire: Africa.
In the US too, there's the pessimist , realistically so.
In his response Ikhide sounds a lot worse than the literary icon he loves to criticize: V.S. Naipaul
It's possible that by 2017 when optimists say that the United States of Africa will come into being, that with the headquarters at Addis Ababa or Abuja there will be another Statute of Liberty (maybe Lucy?) and at her feet:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
In June 1991 I was on my way to Gaza, from Cairo – via the Rafah crossing and in rehearsing what I was going to tell the Israeli guards when they asked "And what is the purpose of your mission?", I told my Californian mentor that I was going to say, " I'm here to liberate my oppressed Palestinian Brothers and Sisters!"
For months, we had been staying at the same hotel in Alexandria and in Cairo. That night he stole my diary and address book. He must have thought that I was serious.
Eldrige Cleaver got asylum first in Cuba and a few months later in Algeria finally moving to Paris in 1972 and there (his story) the CIA picked him up a couple of times and showed him the sharp edge of a knife) and it was there (according to his autobiographical Soul on Fire) that he saw Jesus' face on the surface of the moon and soon enough came to this realisation "Come now, let us debate, says the Lord. If your sins prove to be like crimson, they will become white as snow; if they prove to be as red as crimson dye, they shall become as wool." (Isaiah 1:18)
In my time I've met dozens of African Americans and South Africans who were either voluntary exiles - a few artists in Sweden, and jazz musicians many of whom relocated to France and apart from the conscientious objectors who did not want to do Uncle Sam's bidding in Vietnam, I have kept the company of about half a dozen African Americans that were granted political asylum in Sweden and a couple who were not granted asylum Bankole Irungu and his wife Aisha Irungu, always going on about the woes Cointelpro was visiting on Black people …
As Professor Segun Ogungbemi says so soulfully, anyone who wants to return to Africa is welcome! That's the true spirit talking. This earth belongs to you and me, this earth my brother!
After Charles Taylor was shipped down river, even after having been previously granted asylum by Obasanjo's Nigeria it should come as no surprise that would-be political asylum seekers should be wary. I guess that if Soul sister Assata Shakur had been granted asylum in e.g. Nigeria she would probably be living in day to day uncertainty as to whether or not Nigeria would submit to pressure from Uncle Sam. It's not an unreasonable doubt – it's for the same reason that Julian Assange is reluctant to come to Sweden to be interrogated about the rape that he is alleged to have committed. He believes that Sweden would succumb to pressure from Uncle Sam to have him extradited to the US to face the music. It's doubtful that Snowden would be granted asylum anywhere in Africa, either.
Now apart from asylum seekers as we know, African Americans are the most educated people in the Black world and among them are many who can contribute to Africa's development - W. E. B. Du Bois's move to Ghana is nothing to sneer at. We still need medical doctors, engineers, musicians, artists, maybe less ivory tower political scientists whose thoughts and books seldom impact on reality back home in Africa, with a few exceptions such as George Ayittey and more lately this wonderful example: Patrick Awuah. This is his inspiring true story
From my diaspora corner,
On Saturday, 1 August 2015 01:00:46 UTC+2, seguno2013 wrote:
I hope the story is true. My belief is that if they really really want to come back to Africa, they are welcome. It is their root. They have equal rights with the rest of us.
Prof. Segun Ogungbemi--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index. html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com .
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout .
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment