U.S. Affairs

Minnesota, November 15, 2011

Open Letter To Katrina Lantos Swett,

President, The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice

Dear Ms. Lantos Swett,

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Katrina Lantos Swett issued a rude response to the protests against the award of her human rights prize to Paul Rusesabagina, the hero created by a Hollywood movie.

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The charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn (aka DSK) for the attempted rape of hotel housekeeper could not have been more symbolic.

He was director of the organization notorious for the West's harsh austerity measures on the African continent.

He earned a huge tax-free salary with insane allowances; the hotel room where he assaulted  costs $3,000 a night; he drives a Porsche valued at over $100,000, and he spent $700 on a celebration dinner following his release from house arrest.  read more »

On Friday 5 August 2011, one of the world's leading credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor's (S&P), downgraded the United States' top-notch AAA rating for the first time ever in the United States' history. S&P cut the long-term US rating down to AA+ with a negative outlook, citing concerns about budget deficits and political gridlock. In their statement justifying the downgrade S&P stated that:  read more »

Bloggers, pundits and journalists have moved on. The dust has settled, the angst subsided, and for some, the insult has been served. Yet the forces that fueled the fire of this unacceptable insult to Black women and Black people are not impacted in the least. We must move beyond the superficial and come to grips with the sobering reality. The manure that allows such unrelenting assaults on the integrity, dignity, and humanity of people of African ancestry remains opaque and fundamentally untouched. As such, we will see this again and again in the not too distant future.  read more »

Last Monday, May 23, the renowned Brazilian scholar, activist, artist and Pan-Africanist passed away at the grand old age of 97. He was quite simply one of the greatest Brazilians of all time and a towering figure in the annals of Pan-Africanism. I had the rare privilege of meeting and interviewing him in July 2006 in Salvador, Bahia.  read more »

The concept of ‘moral hazard' in politics may be used to explain a situation in which a government is insulated and immunized from the consequences of its risky, reckless and incompetent behavior. For instance, a regime that is heavily dependent on the safety net of foreign aid, sustained infusion of multilateral loans and perpetual supply of humanitarian assistance will behave differently if it were left to its own devices to deal with the consequences of a mismanaged economy, debilitating corruption and proliferating poverty.  read more »

The riddle of identity means I can live in the US for 20 years yet still be treated differently - by both black people and white

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Professor Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, one of my senior mentors in the business of thinking and writing Africa, likes to use the analogy of the kitchen and the table whenever we have had the chance to meet and discuss the African condition since we both moved on from our faculty positions at the Pennsylvania State University a few years ago.  read more »

This year marks 50 years since the year of African independence in 1960 when 17 African countries achieved their independence from European colonial rule. A series of celebrations are being held in specific countries and across the continent as well as in the diaspora to mark this important milestone. Over the next few months, I will be posting a series of reports and commentaries from a wide variety of sources and outlets commemorating the year.  read more »

Having worked on two encyclopedia projects, the one-volume Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century African History, as Editor-in-Chief, and the six-volume The New Dictionary of the History of Ideas, as an Associate Editor, I am quite familiar with the challenges of encyclopedia writing. Careful choices have to be made in selecting topics and authors; coverage can never be comprehensive, gaps are unavoidable.  read more »

"Lisbon lies in ruins, while in Paris they dance," Voltaire wrote of the 1755 Portugal earthquake. The contradiction arrests and startles.

Barely a month into 2010, Haiti lies ruins.  President Wade of Senegal offers displaced Haitians land.  Can an earthquake succeed where Garvey's return to Africa movement failed?

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Henry Louis Gates, Harvard-based celebrity, Cambridge-trained literary scholar, self-taught historian, and current expert and entrepreneur of Blackness, has offered the ultimate post-racial text. And a pernicious one it is.   His essay, "Ending the Slavery Blame-Game" prominently featured on the New York Times editorial page on April 23, 2010 calls on the nation's first Black president to end the nation's sense of responsibility for the legacy of slavery. 

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This year, the roles that won Sandra Bullock and Mo'Nique the Oscars for best actress and best supporting actress respectively shared one thing in common: both were mothers to black children whose size was a significant aspect of the children's characters. The things that differentiated the two roles, however, are disturbing.

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"The God who created the earth; who created the sun that gives us light. The God who holds up the ocean; who makes the thunder roar. Our God who has ears to hear. You who are hidden in the clouds; who watch us from where you are. You see all that the white has made us suffer. The white man's god asks him to commit crimes. But the God within us wants to do good. Our God, who is so good, so just, He orders us to revenge our wrongs. It's He who will direct our arms and bring us the victory. It's He who will assist us.  read more »

In his 11 July 2009 speech in Accra, Ghana, US President Barack Obama declared, 'America has a responsibility to advance this vision, not just with words, but with support that strengthens African capacity. When there is genocide in Darfur or terrorists in Somalia, these are not simply African problems - they are global security challenges, and they demand a global response. That is why we stand ready to partner through diplomacy, technical assistance, and logistical support, and will stand behind efforts to hold war criminals accountable.  read more »

Tiger Woods has become the latest celebrity athlete to fall from grace as his carefully crafted squeaky-clean image crumbles from allegations of prolific extra-marital sexual escapades. Another construct of perfection shatterd by reality that always seems to burn the imagined role models invented by corporate America.  As one woman after another have come to claim raucous affairs with him--up to ten now--Tiger's coveted brand is fast losing its lustre as he becomes the butt of scurrilous jokes.  read more »

In the recent award of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama, the American President, has marked the third time in the last decade that a leading American Democratic political figure has received the prestigious award. In 2002, the former president, Jimmy Carter and in 2007, the former vice president, Albert Gore, were recipients of the award for their roles in promoting solutions to major international problems.

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Over the last three nights I have attended several scholarship awards ceremonies, all remarkable occasions, celebrations of the power of generosity and the possibilities of youth; uplifting affirmations and remarkable investments in the future and public good. As an educator, I believe passionately in the transformative power of education and have the deepest admiration for individuals and institutions that provide scholarships to enable bright young people to get an education that they might not otherwise receive. I should know.  read more »

Challenging the imperialist dimensions of capitalism. Capitalism is in crisis, Samir Amin writes in Pambazuka News, creating new opportunities to challenge its imperialist dimensions.  read more »