Saturday, December 22, 2012
Lynxxx - Fine Lady ft. Wizkid [Official Video]
1st Video of the Week www.usafricanculturalfestival.com
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
American Gun Play and the Culture of Violence
Every
weekend in the United States some American parents and grandparents from urban,
rural, and suburban areas take their
children and grandchildren out for various family bonding activities such as
ice skating, bowling, roller skating, movies, and video gaming to mention a
few. These events are so enriching and popular that generation of Americans,
immigrants, and visitors have followed suit. Some of these activities like the
movies are guided by certain stipulations such as rating regulations. For examples
young children and teenagers are not allowed to view certain motion pictures.
In places such as bowling parlors there are age appropriate balls to enable
each consumer to develop mastery on how to strike their pins. Most of these
places rent out bowling shoes and skating shoes so that there is not an
avalanche of purchasing these equipment while the kids are in their
developmental stages.
So
instead of advocating common sense gun safety majors that would curtail our gun
play and culture of violence that has transcended economic, ethnic, and
religious prisms we are left with pseudo arguments that make no sense even to
children the ages of the Newtown Connecticut victims. We blame mental disorders
among others as the reasons for gun violence instead of our proclivity with
guns while making sure that mental health and healthcare parity exist on paper
only. But in our rush to label and stigmatize we fail to realize that there are
no higher prevalence of mental health disorders in America when compared to
other countries but indeed what we have more than any other country on earth
within our different strata is the availability of guns and more cheap guns.
Some have
lashed out on the issue of religion in the educational system as the vacuum in
which these mass shootings occur. These hypocrites wobble in the belief that
Americans are any less religious than Europeans, Asian, and any other people on
earth. Jesus Christ and Christianity are put forward as the panacea for a
self-fulfilling prophecy that encourages public policies that are rigged in
corruption and blood to keep the gun industry afloat. Gun clubs and shooting
ranges are allowed to certify National Rifle Association (NRA) programs in these clubs to advocate for mass
ownership of guns without a thought for the victims that pile up when the
safety and security of these guns are compromised. Due to the financial strings
attached to the weaponry industrial complex, there are hardly voices that
inspire gun rentals in clubs and ranges in place of massive gun
ownership/consumption. Instead we become
reactionary when preteens and adolescences murder themselves in Chicago like
flies and when babies are slaughtered in cold-blood at Newtown and various
American cities.
As
Americans we are now in the crossroads of determining whether to become
actually civilized or continue in our barbaric heritages of violence. How can
we wake up in the morning and force our kids to get up to go to school and our
society cannot protect them because of the archaic rights to bear arms? Where
these advocates of the second amendment and their so-called militias blind when
the Patriot Act passed that gave the government various powers that curtailed
our individual liberties? How long are we going to tolerate these senseless
murders and think that racial profiling and stand your ground laws are viable
solutions? During these periods of introspections we need to squarely address
our culture of violence. This should include assessing our national and foreign
policies as it relates to gun play and the culture of violence. Why do we
manufacture and export more guns than any other country in the globe? We should
remember the other angels in Pakistan, Congo, and elsewhere that die due to our
illegal drone attacks and other weaponry as we cry and bury our six and seven
year old angels.
Nnamdi F. Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist
Nnamdi F. Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
Before the Coming African Stampede in Mali
As we await
the so-called mandate/resolution from the United Nations about the future
developments in Mali, Africa needs to ask some critical questions about the
increasing chaos and looming regional wars. How did events in Mali spiral out
of proportion? What remedies have the African governments and organizations
such as the Economic Countries of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African
Union (AU) explored and/or endorsed to seek peace. Whose interests are going to
be served if West, Central, and North African states are embroiled in regional
conflicts that would mirror the situations in the Congo where Central, Eastern,
and Southern African countries have been involved in cyclical violence which
has facilitated the fleecing of large amounts of raw materials from Africa?
The last
time Mali received such prominence in the international arena was way back when
Timbuktu was the citadel of higher education and academics pursuits; when the
Moorish people took their knowledge and Science to enlighten Arabia and Europe;
and when King Mansa Kankan Musa flooded the global market with Malian gold. But
Malians, the link between West and North Africa now finds themselves in the crossroads
of African and global affairs with some sprinkling of religion, globalization, and
geo-terrorism. The Malian government is so weak that is has virtually ceded
major swaps of the country to the Tuareg rebels and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb without evidences of sustained armed struggles.
Instead
what the world has witnessed in the African Sahara desert are subsets of
tactical victories and maneuvers that beg for the answers of the aforesaid
questions. Though Mali the land of the Dogon people and Timbuktu Universities
has being a tinderbox on some occasions with dictatorship, restive segments,
and the much romanticized military coups, the contemporary situation amounts to
drastic escalation. After the onset of the Arab/African awakening in Northern
Africa that crumbled authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, few
could have imagined how events in Tripoli the heartland of the self-proclaimed
African and Arab Kings of Kings-Colonel Gadhafi would have affected Bamako.
However,
the fluid situations in Libya were used as the pretext to setup the present
conditions in Mali. When NATO and some Arab states were busy flying drones and
sorties in North Africa, deals were made with large segments of the Tuareg
fighters within the Libyan military to abandon their allegiance to the maverick
Gadhafi and gain save passage to the northern tips of Mali into Western Africa.
Ironically, when these movements were going on the international corporate
media which includes CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera, was busy reporting the rape and
killing of poor Libyans by Black African men in Colonel Gadhafi’s army. It was
as though they could only stomach the rape and killings of Libyans by Arab
Africans which happened to be the majority of committed atrocities but did not
get the sensationalized coverage.
But these
melancholy tales with regards to Libya and West Africa is not unique to the
contemporary occurrences in Mali that threatens to spill into regional wars. In
the late 1980’s the current international war criminal and former president of
Liberia Charles McArthur Taylor was hand-selected and mysterious released from
the American jails by the CIA and handed to the authorities in Tripoli. Libya
was supposed to be under United States sanctions without an official diplomatic
relationship. Charles Taylor commenced his training as a guerilla/rebel fighter
in Libya and ended up in the Western African forest before unleashing turmoil
and wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, and Guinea. Before these
interferences in West Africa the Libyans and Gadhafi were already infamous for
their incursions into the Central African republic of Chad.
The Libyan
connections and forays into other African countries have occurred largely due
to the vacuum of leadership and vision within the African continent. Some of
these strategies would have been rebuffed were it not for the impotence of the
various rulers that have come to dominate Africa and the indolence of
organizations like ECOWAS and AU. Our rulers are hesitant to provide concrete
solutions to the problems in Mali which mirrors those in their respective
countries. For example, political structures built to sustain the interest of a
very few, unresponsive governments that pride themselves on going against the
wishes of their people, and using the security apparatus to repress the few
progressive voices in their various countries.
Rather than
offer solutions in Africa to assist regular people, the African Union (AU) and
the other regional groups are used as mechanisms to reward African Dictators
and their cronies with plump official portfolios. Unlike our leaders of yester years
such as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Mr. Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Capt.
Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, President Sekou Toure of Guinea, our present-day
rulers are more eager to line their pockets whereas their people suffer and die
needlessly. There are no proposals for regional independent election monitoring
units that would arrest the scourge of electoral irregularities in Africa. Nor
are there efforts to setup regional and African wide courts that would deter
the impunity and corruption within Africa by the African elites, their military
backers, and their foreign enablers.
Consequently,
what we have in Mali are zealous suggestions of war instead of exhaustive attempts
to prevent bloodshed and mass suffering. After the Tuareg rebels were granted
passage from Libya to West Africa by the so-called international community, Malian
military officers that were training by the same international community
planned a coup d'état. Their intervention resulted in more acquisition of the
country by rebels. For Christ sake Capt. Amadou Sanogo of the Malian army and
some of his lieutenants who overthrew President Amadou Toure (who was stepping
down for a new president) just months before the elections was training at the
International Military Education and Training (IMET).
Subsequently,
the quest for the autonomy of the Azawad region morphed into the Al-Qaeda in
the Islamic Maghreb with Saudi, Kuwaiti, and Qatari cash infusion. It is worth
noting that these countries are also strong pillars of the so-called
international community and are very friendly with the US and Western Europe.
These are all petroleum exporting countries and there are reports of oil discoveries
in Mali and across the Chadian basin that gives traction to the school of thought
that the international petrochemical industries are pulling the strings behind the
scenes. For instance, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, and Chad are basically client
states of the international and local petroleum cabals who are plagued by
either massive oil corruption and/or dictatorship.
Ironically,
the Africa Sahel/Sahara that is bracing for war also holds some keys to the
development of solar energies. According to various scientific studies on
global warming and renewable energies, Africa and Europe can be kept afloat for
centuries with such green energies with simultaneous reductions in carbon
emissions. But maybe Africans would come to their senses before embarking on
another avoidable war. As a former member/part of the Mali federation, Senegal
could offer an African path to quelling these stampedes. In spite of the domestic
challenges in Senegal, President Macky Sall could be the conduit to seeking
justice and peaceful resolutions to the international community manufactured
Malian crisis.
Nnamdi
F. Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Nelson Mandela- Why I Reactivated My Activism
Although
I grew in Nigeria going against the norm in secondary school where I earned the
reputation as a student leader, my desire to rededicate myself towards activism
did not peak until 2001 just one month before I graduated from University of
Maryland (UMD). I had made the decision to concentrate on my studies when I got
to the Maryland academy due to some negative experiences in my high school
student government at the International Secondary School, Rivers State
University of Science and Technology. At the UMD I joined the African Students
Association (ASA) and was instrumental in setting up our very first website
which was established with my second student (glue) account. When the president
of the ASA who happened to be a Nigerian was forced to relinquish his position
due to misappropriation of our public funds and academic probation, I was
distraught but hung around as an active member to ensure that the organization
was in solid footing.
However, when we elected the first
African American female as the president of the University of Maryland African
Student Association, I worked with the organization for a while before deciding
to concentrate on my studies and employment opportunities. At certain times as
a student I took up full time job positions while enrolled in school as a
fulltime student with upwards of 12credits per semester. Since I did not want
to make the same mistakes I made in high school, I eventually disassociated
myself from the ASA and the larger student body Student Government Association (SGA).
But as the years went by, I was able to relate from a distance with the first
African/Black (Nigerian origin) and minority (in the United States) female SGA
student body president. After Juliana Njoku’s historic elections as the
President of the Executive branch and head of the student body, she was
confronted with several racial hostilities in 1999 that got the campus engulfed
in some publicized tensions.
In those
days, I would see the worried looks of stress on her face. I saw the student
president’s situation as analogous to that of my friend Irabor and mine in high
school. Nonetheless after witnessing the last 3years of the Obama presidency
and the explicit racial currents, I reckon that her situation is parallel to
that of President Barack Obama. Irabor was the president and this writer the vice-president
of the Christian Student Unions (CSU) in secondary school. Both of us were
strong evangelical students within the school body who believed in academic
meritocracy and were tapped to get nominated by the teachers as senior student
prefects in our final year. But our expectations were dashed when we received
our report cards. We found out that our arch rival and the principal of the school,
who hated us dearly because he was Sabbatarian and resented our Pentecostal
influence in school, had won the battle for control by rigging our grades and
essentially failing us. We were devastated and went back to the University
Chaplain for solace as we had done at other times when we were presented with
challenges from the principal.
Ironically,
the university’s pastor could not assist us because he was embroiled in his own
scandals. There were allegations that some of his academic documents from universities
in England and the United States could not stand scrutiny. Our dear chaplain
was also alleged to have sexually assaulted some of the university and high
school female students during his often held deliverance sessions. On some of
our visits to his office on campus I wondered out loud with my friends. Why he
took so long casting out the demons? Why there was a noticeable environment of
privacy? Why he came out with tremendous perspiration after his closed sessions
with the subjects who were alleged to be his victims? How come the ladies in
question always looked irritated and avoided eye contact after their emergence
from the so-called prayers? In the midst of these developments in Nigeria, I
got an epiphany about most organized religions and embraced the notion that
religion is indeed politics. I became conscious of the reality that secrecy,
sycophancy, and corruption were not only in the Catholic Church, the
denomination of my parents but also in my adopted Pentecostal community. These
teenage experiences enabled me to tread carefully when I got into the UMD.
During Juliana Njoku’s tenure at
College Park Maryland as the president of the SGA her situation was mostly complicated
because of the disarray within the black student bodies. Although, she did not
have a solid base and/or reliable allies who could give her the support that
was necessary as the first SGA president of African origin she was able to
maintain her pose. The Ethiopian students were busy breaking away from the ASA
and forming their own campus body. The Black Student Union (BSU) was involved in
shameless heated acrimony with the ASA and rejected the peace efforts of the UMD
Nyumburu Cultural Center staffs. When Ms. Njoku and others received hate mails
we thought that was an aberration but soon witnessed another round of uniform
hatred and distortions after President Nelson Mandela was invited to the
campus. His invitation was a crescendo to the anti-immigrant, anti-African, and
anti-black attitude on campus. Madiba as he is affectionately called was
invited to deliver the Anwar al-Sadat Lecture for Peace on November 14th, of
2001 at the University of Maryland, an annual lecture series named after the
former Egyptian Head of State.
However,
this most sacred moment was nearly upending by the venom of racial intolerance
and pseudo historical analysis on the pages of the Diamondback student
newspaper by some misers of the truth within the student body. The Republican
Student Association led the canard of opinion writers to suppress the truth on campus
by christening President Mandela as a terrorist. These nefarious, insensitive,
and privileged students decided to accuse Mr. Nelson Mandela of being an
extremist without portfolio. I and many others were lost for words and wondered
how one of the best symbols of peace and reconciliation in the history of the
world could be so maligned by few students. I marveled at how in a left leaning
state like Maryland (maybe second only to Massachusetts), people could have so
much irresponsible misrepresentations of facts. Thus my assessment was that if
these east coast chaps would call Mr. Mandela a terrorist then surely they must
realize that President George Washington is not as dignified as the Nobel Peace
prize winner Madiba. The Republican students took to a smear campaign because
most republican presidents are not honorable enough to touch the soles of
Madiba’s feet in a thorough and objective analysis of history.
After
witnessing the speech of President Mandela at the Cole field House and his
uncanny ability to speak truth to power especially on the issue of the original
9-11 attack and his opposition against the impending Iraq war, I was moved to
embrace my activism. In his keynote speech he called out the double speaks,
double talks, and insidious lies that were orchestrated to obfuscate the truth
in the United State and the West at this sold out gathering. Then my analysis
of the situation came full circle when I realized that the conservative and
Republican students had gone ahead to demonize President Mandela because he was
against the misinformation apparatus that would eventually lead us to an
illegal and unjust war against Iraq. Mandela spoke up way before we found out
that Dick Cheney was feeding information to the New York Times through Scooter
Libby and then going on the Meet the Press show with Mr. Tim Russert to cite
the same stories/sources as facts.
Therefore, as contemporary social
justice activists, I and others are able to stand on the shoulders of the Great
Mr. Nelson Mandela and expose the voters’ suppression laws, election fraud, and
misinformation campaign of the Republican Party and Tea Party. We challenge the
mainstream press or corporate media to do more to address the systematic
suppression, fraud, and misinformation that are hallmarks of the conservative
party. The same folks that told us that part of their packs of lies for
invading Iraq included the establishment of a free and fair election are now
writing their names not with the election ink of Iraq but along the hall of
shame annals of dictators and segregationist. Thus the Republican Governor of
Pennsylvania Mr. Tom Corbett is using the same scare tactic as Saddam Hussein. Governor
Rick Scott of Florida and the Secretary of State Scott Gessler of Colorado are the
new George Wallace of our times. How about other luminaries of the 2012
election cheating and stealing class such as Governor John Kasich of Ohio and
his secretary of state Jon Husted who have flagrantly undermined the decisions
of the courts in their unabashed determination to suppress voters and would go
down as comrades of Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus and Islam Karimov of
Uzbekistan? The chairman of the national Republican Party Reince Priebu knowingly
hired Nathan Sproul the election fraudster of international reckoning and
notoriety.
Like in the President Nelson
Mandela situation at the University of Maryland the Republicans have unleashed their
warfare of obfuscation and retrogression. Instead of expanding their base to include
a broad spectrum of the American public they have hedged their party’s future
on marginalizing all and sundry. On women issues, they are against equal pay
for equal work and women’s rights to control their bodies including in times of
rape and incest. For all immigrants especially Latinos, the Republicans are
espousing electoral intimidation with the pretext of voter identification
fraud, targeted economic sanctions that would starve and cripple families and
ultimately lead to self-deportation. The attack against white men and others
includes downsizing companies with enormous profits, outsourcing jobs, and then
using the proceeds to open hidden accounts in the Carman Islands, Monaco, and
Switzerland. African Americans and students face an unprecedented disenfranchisement
and intimidation exercise that would make apartheid seem like the next step
after a history of police profiling and discriminatory criminal incarcerations.
In
reality these attacks and the misinformation that follow are not exclusive to
these different groups and if the Republican Party is allowed to triumph we are
going to have an economic apartheid state ruled by the 1% for the 1% against
the 47% and/or 99% with more income disparities and indentured labor. If after
spending 27years in trumped up charges in prison President Mandela was
subjected to vitriolic attacks by members of the Republican Party then
President Obama should remain optimistic. Those of us that have lived under
dictatorships and have actually heard martial music on the airways know what
divide and rule and authoritarianism is all about. We know about economic
hardship that befalls the 99% when few plutocrats lie, steal power, and only care
about their privileged friends and country club communities. This is why we are
standing up on the mountain tops and screaming out of our lungs against the
Republican Party and their tycoon tax evading candidate Governor Mitt Romney. Senator
Rick Santorum was on point when he called him the worst republican. Albeit are
the American people going to vote for a job exporter with no moral core just
because he is a white man?
Nnamdi F. Akwada MSW, BA is a Social
Justice Activist
Reference
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Spineless President Barack Obama
After watching the first debate
between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney, most progressives and Americans
were forced to admit that the president was woefully unprepared for the
occasion. Mr. Obama had not bothered to prepare intensively and/or he did not
consult people like Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts who revealed the
real Mr. Wilbur Mitt Romney during the Democratic Party convention. Instead
Obama looked lethargic and perplexed when Romney took his act of etch a
sketching into power driver. My seven year old son was in the know that
Governor Romney was going to say anything in the Denver debate to the American
people to seem reasonable and to appear favorable.
However, the performance of
President Obama did not totally surprise some of us on the left. Mr. Obama has
only stood up to three entities since he assumed the presidency in January of
2009. These are the real terrorists, the assumed terrorist, and progressives. Indeed
he has continued with Bush and Cheney policies and even expanded on them. While
Obama receives praises for killing Osama bin Laden, he also ordered the
assassination of American citizen Anwar al-Aulaqi without any trial. The Colorado
domestic issues discussion did not reckon the drone assassination of 16year old
Abdulrahman al-Aulaqi who was born in Denver. The young man was targeted by his
government 2weeks after his father’s death. The progressives who organized and
volunteered their time for the “Yes We Can” campaign were told to shut up and
keep out of sight while the regime placated conservative Democrats like Senator
Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and Senator Mary
Landrieu of Louisiana.
Hence, the audacity of Governor
Romney to get on stage with the President and proclaim how he was in the race
for the unemployed and the middle class, though he was one of the forerunners
of off-shoring American jobs, investing in tax havens, reaping astronomical tax
benefits in the process, and his definition of middle income earners are those
that make close to 250,000 per year. Mr. Obama did not reference either the 47%
of Americans that Mitt characterized as irresponsible dependent victims who
want government handouts or the fact that Massachusetts was 47% in the country
at job creation under Romney’s stewardship. While Governor Romney embellished
his bipartisan accomplishments and how democrats in the commonwealth extended
hands of partnerships, the President did not once state the Republican
obstructionism and their expressed desire for him to fail at all cost even when
it resulted in detrimental consequences for the nations’ economy.
Our spineless President Obama did
not point out that Mitt Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan was in the clandestine
meeting planning to derail his economic recovery agenda on the eve of the his inauguration in 2009
and just before he signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 that
guaranteed equal pay for women. Since the debate was centered on domestic
policies Mr. Obama could have easily asked Mr. Romney about his views on equal
pay for equal work and/or asked his challenger if he supported the Supreme
Court in their denial of Mrs. Lilly Ledbetter’s attempt to redress the economic
injustices against her family. On the subject of women’s right the President
could have confronted the debate stage bully on his advocated policies to
defund Planned Parenthood and the Republican’s party agenda of denying women
their right to choose with regards to rape, incest, and clinical life
threatening dangers.
During the October 3rd, 2012 debate
Mr. Romney became a born-again supporter of some Wall Street regulations,
teachers, and unions. Again Obama did not see any need to counter him on these
assertions. President Obama could have forcibly questioned Mitt about his
support of Scott Walker the anti- union and teacher bashing governor of
Wisconsin and rightwing pal of Representative Paul Ryan of WI. But again the
left was not surprised because when the police officers, teachers, and
firefighters took to the streets of Madison, the White House remained silence
and incognito. They did not take a principled stance to challenge the most
radical policies of the tea party and the Koch Brothers’ handsomely funded
astroturf machineries. That is why Romney had the effrontery to be unabashedly
mendacious in view of nearly 70million Americans that tuned in for the debate.
Consequently, Governor Sununu was
able to castigate President Obama a professor of constitutional law as lazy and
detached. Whereas the Romney henchman played up some of his and former House
speaker Newt Gingrich’s best hits of racial stereotypes, President Obama has
indeed been detached from the concerns of progressives. He needs to go back and listen to Governor
Deval Patrick’s speech at the Democratic National Convention. The salient question
that Mr. Patrick asked remains “What do we believe?” What does President Obama believe? When the
President fully believes then he would stop playing nice with his opponents.
Instead he would be harkening on to the time tested words of Vice President Joe
Biden’s mother, “Joe bloody the nose of those school yard bullies.”
Thus in the next debate on foreign
affairs President Obama should look at Mitt Romney right in the eyes and
inquire how dare you insist on another war when you claim we are currently
borrowing monies from China to service our deficits. He could also ask the
governor how a Vietnam draft dodger could be championing relentless wars. An
interesting question for Wilbur Mitt Romney could be why none of his 5 sons are
servicing the US military in the era of September 9-11, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
President Obama must probe Governor Romney in terms of jobs and investment
about how much he has made from his 1% “blind trust” through his investments in
China and why his taxes remains a state secret. When the issue of Libya comes
up the commander in chief should stand up and stiffen his backbone while
informing the governor that the United States is no longer in the business of
supporting dictatorships around the world unlike Mitt’s monies and that new
democracies always have their incubation periods.
Nnamdi F. Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist Reference
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/80701.html
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Friday, August 31, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
When will the African Youths Rise Up and Change Africa?
The Niger Delta people of West Africa use an infamous Pidgin English phrase, “Shine Your Eyes Ohh.” A quick examination of the aforesaid phraseology might connote the mere opening of the eyes to view ones immediate surroundings. However there is a deeper meaning that warns about using cognition to avoid potential hazards and pitfalls. In other words shinning your eyes is not limited to the sense of sight but involves our entire sensory systems. African Youths need to heed this message and rise up to the momentous task of changing Africa in the present and for the future generations. We cannot keep on looking for our messiahs from the West, East, and Middle-East. The reality is that these entities all have their own narrow and often espoused interests that are the antithesis to the development of Africa. More importantly the African Youths need to revolt against our corrupt and scavenger-like rulers who have persistently shown their contempt for their fellow Africans.
Zimbabwe in southern Africa is a prime example of the woefully imposition of autocracy on the African people and by extension, the African Youths. While Robert Mugabe rants about the antics of the European colonial masters and how they exploited Africa, our present reality is that their escapade does not obfuscate the contemporary atrocities of Mugabe and his henchmen and women. The irony of an 88year old former liberation leader assuming the mantle of an internal colonialist is disconcerting at best and criminal at worst. Mr. Mugabe has ruled as either Prime Minister or President since 1980 for a total of 32years. Despite trying to exonerate himself from the problems of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe the “president for life” and his inner circle have hounded critics and laid the country to waste.
Uganda in east Africa has a mirage of peace and economic development but also suffers from despotism in the likeness of Yoweri Museveni. The same man who altered these earth-shattering words “The people of Africa, the people of Uganda, are entitled to a democratic government. It is not a favour from any regime. The sovereign people must be the public, not the government” in 1986 has used political dissonance and other machinations to hold on to power since then. Museveni has used all the usual suspects in his ploy to remain a dictator extraordinaire. He has fostered strife among the different tribes in Uganda, exploited instability in east Africa, and gleefully and/or halfheartedly (please decide) joined the war on terrorism against Al-Shabaab in Somalia. But Yoweri Museveni is not shabby about using his golden trump cards to hedge his rule. His administration has excelled in exploiting the insecurities from the Lord’s Resistant Army led by Joseph Kony whom he has managed to coexist with since 1986 and the existence of Ugandan homosexuals who must be exterminated like yesterday.
Ethiopia the cathedral/headquarters of our African Union does not have that much good tiding to write home about. Meles Zenawi has evolved strategically from president in 1991-95 to prime minister in 1995 to present. Zenawi is a maestro at camouflage which is exemplified by his simultaneous friendships with China and the United States all the while incarcerating thousands of his own people and forcing many into exile. It could be said that Vladimir Putin of Russia is a student of Meles Zenawi who is two years younger and on his way to decimating all his political opposition. Sadly, Zenawi who has been in power for 21years is also more of a maverick than Senator John McCain the republican presidential candidate in 2008. He seems to be on the first half of his ghastly exploits in Addis Ababa.
Nigeria the so-called giant of Africa is in a state of paralysis due to the cabals that are hell-bent on having their way or burning the damn county to ashes if they cannot prevail. These criminals with political portfolios are adept at using the various skill sets at their disposal, including the dummying of our youths through insufficient education, distractions, and religious terrorism. The situation in Nigeria, the most populous nation in West Africa and Africa is confounded and compounded by the ineffectiveness of the Goodluck Jonathan’s regime. For example the leader of the president’s (Peoples Democratic Party PDP) party Youth Wing is an octogenarian who most people speculate is almost 90years. Nigerians are presented and represented with/by political rulers that have stolen millions and billions of nairas and dollars with protection from law enforcement officers. The Jonathan government appears to be in slumber on the wheels of governance while terrorism is traded as the most important commodity in the western African Sahara from Mali to Niger and to northern Nigeria.
However, we would be remiss to not identify one of the recent examples of how Youthful proactive and progressive actions have yield glowing changes. In Senegal, a country also on the west coast of Africa, another octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade 86year was able to circumvent the constitution but not the resolve of the Youths. When we shine our eyes on Senegal which happens to be a majority Muslim country we see how the Youths arose to demand and grab the required changes. They put their lives on the line with the realization that life it worth more living in dignity, communality, and self actualization than in perennial servitude to either local and/or foreign powers. All over the World, Africa and in the African Diaspora our Youths are experiencing resurgence. There are African renaissance in education, entertainment, and other agencies which must be applied equitably in the economic and political spheres. It is time for us to put our comforts and selfishness aside to purse the promise of the wealthiest continent in the world for our people. When will we get off the sidelines and refute our apathy, spectatorship, and cynicism to demand transparent structural changes?
Nnamdi F. Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist
Friday, August 3, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Fuse ODG ft. Tiffany & Donaeo - Azonto (Official Video HD)
Special Guest US African Cultural Festival Sept 29th, 2012
1st Music of the Week
1st Music of the Week
Manzu Avec C-Bolt - Cam Insai Official Music Video
Special Guest US African Cultural Festival Sept 29th, 2012
1st Video of the Week
1st Video of the Week
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Fuse ODG is the Azonto King
Fuse ODG is the Azonto King
Venue- Staley Park
It is with a sense of joy, mission, and fanfare that we announce the inaugural US African Cultural Festival which will take place in Frederick, Maryland.
Special Guest Artist- Fuse ODG
Saturday September 29th, 2012Venue- Staley Park
Time- 3pm-8pm
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012
Sarkodie - Lay Away ft. Sway (Official Video)
1st Video of the Week
www.usafricanculturalfestival.com
www.usafricanculturalfestival.com
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Depression within the African Diaspora Communities
In his Public Broadcasting
Corporation PBS programming show “Faces of America,” Professor Henry Louis
Gates Jr. normally presents the triumphs and resiliencies of our genealogical
ancestors. However, another side of that same coin that is much less discussed
is that of the introspective legacy of mental health disorders. The transitions
from old nations to new nations are accompanied by other demanding stressors
such as the need to survive, integrate, assimilate, and/or acculturate. These
demands are more strident when one contextualizes the scenarios by which some
of our forefathers arrived in the United States and the manmade and
environmental harshness that they needed to circumvent and overcome in a
strange land. Depression appears to be one of those psychological and emotional
landmines that our ancestors dealt with which is still prevalent today within the
larger host societies and especially in the African Diaspora communities.
Indeed some have argued that the
awful and inhuman legacy of slavery and segregation has manifested itself in
post traumatic stress symptoms and disorders. These stressors continue to
present as depressive episodes before evolving and combining with other mental
health disorders to confront our family systems and societal (healthcare,
mental health, and criminal justice) systems. Another contemporary heritage is
that of newly arrived immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas.
These African Diaspora communities that have arrived within the last 40years
find themselves transplanted to other societies while mourning the disruptions
in their lives, the absence of close nuclear and extended families. Most times,
their depression, and grief, extents to the failed state of their countries of
origins that might be involved in wars, economic injustices, internal
colonization, and globalization alias recolonization.
According to the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders otherwise known as DSM-IV, depression
falls within the spectrum of mood episodes and mood disorders. The major factor
in any depressive situation is “mood change” which can be a recent
episode and/or reoccurring episodes. Depression within the African Diaspora
communities like in other communities could run the gambit from mood episodes such
as major depressive episode to mood disorders such as bipolar I disorder. The
operative key in dealing with depressive episodes and/or disorders revolves
around our abilities to identify and address symptoms before they exacerbate.
There needs to be the willingness to tackle and/or address depression at the
onset or presentation, rather than waiting until it becomes a compound problem
which results in other symptoms and disorders.
For example, these three
semi-fictional narratives which are similar to recent sensational headlines in
the media might have been resolved if competent and culturally sensitive care
were afforded. Thus there needs to be detailed investigations to uncover the
relationship between depression and the preceding events. Headline 1: Philadelphia police and the FBI have captured a group
of Sierra Leonean men who were in a car theft and car shipping ring. The said
young men in their 20’s and 30’s have been known to operate a criminal
syndicate with underlings throughout the east coast of the United States. Headline 2: The Washington DC police department
took a 35year African American woman into custody today for child endangerment
and neglect, after social workers citied her for going to Atlantic City casinos
during the weekend (Friday-Sunday). She left her 3year old son, 7year old
daughter, and 9year old son under the care of her 12year old daughter. Headline 3: A 45year Nigerian man was
arrested in the Cleveland Ohio area for killing his wife and mother of three of
his children in the midst of their heated divorce proceedings.
Vignettes: With detailed
information and links to Depression:
1st Client- Sierra
Leonean Men: The Philadelphia men were led by two cousins’ 30year old Alfa
and 31year old Karim who were abandoned and left to their own devices during the
Sierra Leonean rebel wars from 1991-2002. Before the war Mr. Alfa was raised in
Bo city by his relatives who focused mainly on the money that was sent back for
his upkeep. He resented the fact that his parents were not around and he could
only manage to speak with them about five times a year. He was treated like an
outcast by family members and was forced to grow up quick. He presented with
major abandonment challenges and got involved in the maladaptive city street
lifestyle at the age of 11.
On the
other side, Mr. Karim was cared for by his mother’s best friend in Freetown. Despite
the necessary clothing and feeding that he received from his caretakers, it
soon became obvious that his situation was special. Within the household he was
treated as a third class individual. Karim was responsible for attending to the
needs of the other members of the household. They included the three teenage children
of the madam and master (Oga) of the house. Karim soon became a punching bag at
home and was forced to drop out of school in the ninth grade. After Alfa and
Karim met in a camp for displaced people during the war, they travelled to Guinea
and Gambia respectively.
Both
guys eventually made it to the United States in 2002 as war refugees and
settled in the Philadelphia (Alfa) and New Jersey (Karim) area. They were
reunited during an end of year party in 2002 and subsequently discussed their
difficulties with meeting family expectations. Alfa and Karim lacked high
school education and could not excel in their educational pursuits due to their
lack of foundational elementary studies, unlike most African immigrants in the
United States who are excelling beyond measures. In 2003, both men were working
minimum wage jobs and were very despondent with their attempts to climb the US
economic ladder and to succeed like others within their communities.
Interestingly,
in 2004 Mr. Alfa found employment as a security officer in the Philly area
working at an auto dealership. He worked for about one year and decided to use
his training as a scout or reconnaissance underling in Sierra Leone and
security officer in the US to steal vehicles from dealership lots. Karim and
other individuals within their tiny immigrant community were soon recruited
into the business and with time they got the stealing and shipping business
down to a science. These young men who were outcast and depressed about their
family and financial situations became grandiose and histrionic with the sudden
influx of dollars. The FBI estimates that between 2005 and 2011 the “Salone
Mafia” as they were fondly called, took in close to $3.5million before their
national manhunt and arrest.
2nd Client-
African American Mother: Ayana was the first child of her parents who
relocated from South Carolina to Washington DC. Her parents came to the
nation’s capital in search of greener pastures and to escape the systematic
racism in southern United States known as the so-called Bible belt. Though Ayana
was older than her brother, she was loved dotingly by her parents and
especially her father. In other words she was the sugar in his tea, apple of
his eyes, and she was spoil rotten by her dad. When they arrived in DC she was
4years old, her brother was 2years, and both parents began working with dad
going off at night and mom reporting to midday work. These were the good old
days for Ayana and her brother and they relished in the affection they got from
both parents and their neighbors.
However,
things fell apart when little Ayana turned 9years and got the news that her
father died of brain aneurism. The family was so devastated and gradually their
situations began to take a turn for the worse. Ayana became extremely depressed and suffered
from anxiety throughout her high school due to her fear of losing her mother
who worked very hard to provide for them. Her brother Jamal was not as
fortunate as his sister and ended up dropping out of school due to the lack of
parental discipline and guidance. While his mother was working he went out and
interacted with antisocial and criminally inclined individuals that were unlike
his father. Jamal eventually got swept up in the drug dealing and drug using epidemics
that have invaded many urban cities in the United States.
On the
other hand Ayana went to work for the DC government despite her presentation of
moderate adjustment disorder. She eventually married Mr. Latrell Chisom who
reminded her of her father while loving and taking care of her as such. She
began to trust again whilst letting go of her depressive anxieties and feeling
of worthlessness. The couples decided to make a family and went on to have two
daughters and a son while experiencing the quintessential middle-income
lifestyle in the DMV area. Things were going so good that Ayana reached out to
her younger brother Jamal who was now a father of seven children with four
different women. She knew he needed some therapeutic intervention because he
was depressed and suffered from social withdrawal.
Interestingly,
her plans did not completely come to fruition as Mr. Chisom was murdered during
a robbery by a 17year juvenile. This second significant lost in Ayana’s life
drove her into a free fall and would ultimately result in her callous decision
making behavior and nonchalant attitude towards her children. She went on to
have her last child by a man who did not care for neither his child nor her
other children. Darien felt Ayana during the second trimester and her 10year
old daughter evolved into the second parent in their home. By the time Ayana
delivered the baby and after he turned a year, it was not unusual for her to
retire to her room when she got home from work with her cannabis and beer. These
feelings of irritability, fatigue, and cry for help increased within two years
and comminuted into weekend outings while the kids remained unsupervised.
3rd Client-
Nigerian Man: Nnaemeka came to the United States from south-eastern
Nigerian when he was just 22years old. He settled down at Chicago the windy
city in Illinois State and within six months he was enrolled at the University
of Chicago. His flight out of Nigeria was his first time on a plane and his
first time outside the African continent. At Chicago he stayed with his 32year second
cousin Uche who had been in the city for about 5years. Before coming to the US
his cousin resided in Port-Harcourt the garden city and was more exposed to
Nigerians from different tribes. At the garden city Uche also interacted and
studied with foreigners from neighboring African countries and around the
globe.
Although,
he was with family, Nnaemeka struggled to be conditioned to the cold
environment and the hostility from fellow blacks who used African to connote a
four letter word. Uche consoled him and told him that he was experiencing the
baptism of fire that was synonymous with new African immigrants that have come
to America. He became depressed and longed for the familiarity of his home,
family, and indigenous foods. Then Uche suggested that he Nnaemeka should let
go of his guards, mingle, and possibly go out on dates. But Nnaemeka went on to
apply himself more into his studies on campus and with time found other African
Americans that were more welcoming. In his final year as he worked towards his
convocation for a degree in business administration he began dating an African
American lady who was a junior in the University.
Astonishingly, Uche went on to marry
a lady from Georgia and left the Chicago area for love and better climate.
Nnaemeka was under the impression that they were only going to date American
women but never marry them. In fact, he was opposed to marrying any other
African woman that was not Nigerian and was not from the Igbo ethnicity. He went
on to breakup with Tanya his African American girlfriend after she hinted him
about marriage upon her graduation. After ending the relationship he underwent
depressive episodes, guilt, and extreme frustration. He nearly lost his job as
a business consultant in the private sector. Nnaemeka would go on to date a
Tanzanian lady who promptly introduced him to East African Bongo flava and
cuisine. Barnaba also introduced him to the Swahili language and Nnaemeka
seemed happy for the first time in a long while.
Suddenly, this infusion of joy was
then challenged by his mother and sister who called from Umuahia Nigeria to
inform him that it was time for him to get married and they knew two good
prospects. After several back and forth conversations Nnaemeka flew into
Nigeria got engaged and performed the traditional rites without telling his
girlfriend Barnaba. He held on for one year to prepare the necessary paperwork
for his fiancé because he could not let go of Barnaba who enabled him to
resolve some of his social inhibitions and provided nurturance. Except that the
pressures continued from Nigeria with threats of Nnaemeka getting disowned by
his family if he refused to prepare the necessary paperwork and sponsor his
soon to be wife to the United States.
Eventually,
he broke down to Barnaba and told her all that was happening behind the scene.
Presented with the choice between his heart and his family, his so-called
family emerged victorious and his fiancé Chidora whom he did not know from Adam
arrived in the windy city. She enrolled in nursing school and become a nurse at
Northwestern Memorial Hospital. They started making a family and settled into
the suburbs with their dual income. Their American Dream soon came to an end
after Nnaemeka lost his job in the financial sector and found out that his wife
was not interested in assuming the responsibilities of the breadwinner for even
a day. She was more interested in sending her monies to her parents, brothers,
and sisters in Nigeria who divorced themselves from any personal aspirations of
bettering their situations. The friction became so onerous that Nnaemeka felt inadequate
and moved to the basement. As his depression and hypersensitivity increased he
began to contemplate a cowardice way of fixing his problems.
Nnamdi F. Akwada MSW, BA is a Social Justice Activist
Please for questions and concerns about depression reach out
to a competent clinician and/or clergy.
ReferenceAmerican Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV-TR. Arlington, VA.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Friday, June 22, 2012
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Friday, June 1, 2012
Chuck Brown ft Jill Scott & Marcus Miller - LOVE
1st Music of the Week
www.usafricanculturalfestival.com
www.usafricanculturalfestival.com
Chuck Brown And The Soul Searchers - Run Joe
2nd Music of the Week
www.usafricanculturalfestival.com
www.usafricanculturalfestival.com
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