Opinion
Africa and Obama ‘On the Move’
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
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S
ome people are now saying
what was really obvious to
me before President Barack
H. Obama was re-elected to con-
tinue leading the United States of
America: he is a Black man. He is
an African man. As the first Afri-
can American to be the president,
the unprecedented hostility and
threats against the President have
been, in too many instances, ra-
cially motivated as well as based
on partisan politics.
Yet President Obama continues
to be strategic about how he rep-
resents his race, genealogy and
his commitment to promote and
sustain African freedom and em-
powerment.
Yes, he is the President of all
the people in the U.S. That is not
the issue. We are not debating or
taking exception to the fact that
President Obama represents all the
people of the U.S.
I believe that his historic trip
to Kenya and to Ethiopia is in-
dicative of Obama’s distinctive
characteristic of taking strategic
moves that go far beyond the tra-
ditional limitations of American
politics and global outreach. This
was the fourth trip of the presi-
dent to Africa. As the first sitting
American president to visit Kenya
and Ethiopia, his timing could not
have come at a better time.
I guess Donald Trump and other
so-called Birthers will once again
raise politically-divisive questions
about whether President Obama
is a real citizen of the United
Benjamin F.
Chavis, Jr.
NNPA
President and
CEO
States. But like the other divisive
issues that Trump and others are
now raising about the “browning
of America,” those stiff-neck far
right leaders really miss the point.
Like China, the United States
should see that its place in the
achieve in Africa was about trade,
economic development, invest-
ments, innovation, geopolitical
politics, security and the funda-
mental promotion of African uni-
ty and socioeconomic progress.
He rendered a keynote speech to
the Global Entrepreneur Summit
in Nairobi. In fact, going forward
there are economic development
opportunities for Black-owned
businesses in the U.S. to develop
joint ventures with African entre-
preneurs.
President Obama strongly af-
firmed at the summit that, “Afri-
ca is on the move.” Referring to
entrepreneurial projects that were
There are economic development
opportunities for Black-owned
businesses in the U.S. to develop joint
ventures with African entrepreneurs
global market place will be in-
creasingly and inextricably linked
to having a productive relation-
ship with Africa. Yes, it was good
for President Obama to first re-
unite with his close relatives in
Kenya. The pictures of President
Obama hugging his Kenyan sister,
Auma Obama, and other relatives
in the capital city of Nairobi were
very inspiring and affirming of
strong family values in Africa and
in America.
In truth, however, President
Obama’s major objective to
now being owned and led by wom-
en in Kenya and in other nations
in Africa, Obama took note and
was supportive. He said, “It’s the
spark of prosperity. It helps people
stand up for their rights and push
back against corruption….. means
ownership and self-determination,
an opportunity to not simply be
dependent on somebody else for
your livelihood.”
No sitting American president
has ever attended or addressed
the African Union (AU) while it
was in official session in the capi-
tal city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia has the second-largest
population in Africa, behind only
Nigeria. The economy in Ethiopia
is growing and the African nation
owns and operates one of the larg-
est airline services on the conti-
nent. President Obama’s speech to
the AU was well received by the
African heads of state who attend-
ed the meeting. The theme of Af-
rican unity and mutual economic
cooperation was a priority issue at
the AU.
Lastly, I detected a renewed
sense of African pride that was
exemplified by the statements
and actions of President Obama’s
latest trip to Africa. I think that
African Americans, in particu-
lar, should also strive to establish
more effective unity and coopera-
tive business development in our
communities throughout the U.S.
Owning our own businesses in
America in the past was a source
of pride and self-empowerment.
When Obama was introduced at
the summit in Kenya, he stated,
“Obviously, this is very personal
for me. There’s a reason why my
name’s Barack Hussein Obama.”
He is proud of his name and his
Kenyan ancestry. Auma Obama
also said that her father, Barack
Hussein Obama Sr., would be very
moved to witness his son return
to Kenya as the president of the
United States. She stated, “He’d
be extremely proud and say, ‘Well
done.”
For Centuries, Black Lives Did Not Matter
I
t ought to be unnecessary for
an activist movement to hinge
on the principle of the equiv-
alency of life. In the worlds of
Democratic presidential candi-
dates (don’t get me started on the
Republicans), there is a compel-
ling need to point out that Black
Lives Matter and White lives mat-
ter.
The problem with stating the ob-
vious is that White lives have al-
ways mattered, and institutional
racism has structured a lesser val-
ue for Black lives.
Asserting that “Black Lives
Matter” is rebutting the inherent
supposition that Black lives do
not matter. Black lives have been
devalued since the development of
our Constitution when it counted
enslaved people as three-fifths of
a person. .
We still live with the legacy of
enslavement, when Black folks
were other people’s property.
Black folks aren’t property now
(unless they are the much-exploit-
ed convict laborers), but unequal
treatment is not just historical –
it still happens. That’s why the
Black Lives Matter movement is
so important.
The Black Lives Matter Move-
ment was a constructive out-
growth of the Trayvon Martin
murder, furthered by the protests
that happened in the wake of a
Missouri grand jury’s failure to
bring charges against Darren Wil-
son, the murderer of 18-year-old
Michael Brown. As multiracial
crowds proclaimed, “Black Lives
Page 2 July 29, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner
Julianne
Malveaux
NNPA
Columnist
Matter,” it seemed that, across the
board, people were acknowledg-
ing the existence of institutional
racism.
Too bad Democratic presidential
contenders can’t do the same.
Martin O’Malley and Bernie
Sanders, the two candidates whose
entries into the race may have
pushed Hilary Clinton to the left,
faced protestors at the progressive
Netroots Nation conference earli-
er this month.
spared embarrassment if she em-
ulated O’Malley’s and Sanders’
stance.
To clean up their acts, all of the
candidates need to listen to leaders
of the Black Lives Matter Move-
ment instead of talking at people
the way politicians are most likely
to do.
If they listen, they might hear
the frustration that young folks
feel when the police stop them for
simply walking while Black. They
might hear the despair some will
share when, even while fully pre-
pared, they find few opportunities
for employment, and too many
doors slammed in their faces.
In the wake of Michael Brown’s
killing, Ferguson elected two new
Black members for the city coun-
cil. Now, Andre Anderson, an Af-
rican-American man from Glen-
dale, Arizona, has been appointed
Blacks have a different reality than
Whites do, and it shows up in terms of
economic, educational, and social
indicators
Instead of acknowledging the le-
gitimacy of the Black Lives Mat-
ter movement, both candidates
were prickly. Sanders threatened
to leave the stage because the pro-
tester’s chants drowned him out.
Candidate Hilary Clinton was
not present, and some objected
to that, but she either missed the
opportunity to engage — or was
interim police chief. Ferguson is
under pressure to do better. What
about the rest of our country?
If Michael Brown’s killing was
the impetus for Ferguson voters to
go to the polls, that’s a good thing,
though it shouldn’t take that. If
the Black Lives Matter Movement
does the same thing nationally, the
Democratic nominee has a better
chance of winning in November
2016. If the Black Lives Matter
movement is not treated respect-
fully, it is likely that many voters
will stay home.
The video showing the brutali-
ty involved in the vicious arrest
of Sandra Bland, the Prairie View
A&M University alumnae who
died in jail earlier this month,
makes it clear that the Black Lives
Matter movement is much need-
ed. Their pressure to stop police
brutality has pushed police de-
partments to use video cameras,
and made it possible for us to see
the repugnant behavior of State
Trooper Brian T. Encinia, who
roughed up Sandra Bland because
she would not put out her cigarette
after being pulled over or failure
to signal a lane change.
Don’t tell me that White lives
matter. That’s not new infor-
mation. Whose faces are on our
money? Whose statues grace leg-
islative buildings? Who leads the
overwhelming majority of For-
tune 500 companies? Who domi-
nates our legislative bodies? Our
African-American president, sup-
posedly the most powerful per-
son in the world, is ill-treated by
Congress, often for racial reasons.
We live in a racist and patriarchal
society where the value of Black
life is too-often diminished. That’s
why, Martin O’Malley, there is a
special need to assert that Black
Lives Matter.
Those who would be president
ought to embrace that concept, in-
stead of denying it.