BAVUAL The African Heritage Magazine Fall 2024

PROSPERITY ISSUE

THE AFRICAN HERITAGE MAGAZINE

BAVUAL

DARK DAY SEE PG. 12

AFRICAN WEALTH HOW IT WAS LOST can they get it back?

FALL 2024

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IN THIS ISSUE

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My Take

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Do not despair, for there is still good in the world

The Drift

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The traditional black male’s world is changing

True Grit

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Rev. William Barber, tribune of the black common man

Famous Autumns November 5, 2024: Donald Trump, the disgraced ex-president and criminal felon, returns to power vowing to ignore the Constitution and rule as a dictator, exacting vengeance on friend or foe who doesn’t idolize him without question.

The Times Blacks lose as affirmative action goes away; the race riot in London; Sonya Massey murdered in cold blood by a cop; Olympic gold medalist Simon Biles loves her “black job”; Knowa knows politics

The Culture The Blind Side controversy; BAVUAL recommends: two forgotten black-themed film masterpieces, Imitation of Life (1959) and Nothing But A Man (1964); blackthemed toys for Christmas and Kwanzaa

African Faces of the World Himba tribe, the remote “red people” of Africa: a photo essay

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IN THIS ISSUE

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72 86 Saint Bavual’s Return Bavual Adisa is elected to Congress and meets his colleagues in The Squad

COVER: The Wealth of Africa How it was lost and ways to get it back; an embarrassment of riches; the obligation of Africa’s rich to help their poorer brothers and sisters; the life of an African family; East and West fight to re-colonize Africa;

Educate Yourself Morehouse College in Atlanta; how black Greek societies became so powerful

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The Hustle

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Jocks

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Young black entrepreneurs explode: 25 in the spotlight

NASCAR’s black racing legends; baseball’s “Mr. October” Reggie Jackson recalls the dark side of America’s sport

Roll of Honor

8 honored men and women, legends of autumn

Benediction Dr. Myeshia Babers explains why black men and women should seek a college education; an open letter to our readers 4 | BAVUAL FALL 2024

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BAVUAL

THE AFRICAN HERITAGE MAGAZINE

Bavual Vol. 3 Issue 4 Fall 2024

Editorial Earl A. Birkett Editor Stephen G. Hall, PhD Special Editor Associate Editor Kristen Jones

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My Take Do Not Despair, Rather Rejoice, For

There is Still Good in the World “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” - Micah 6:8 I am going to begin my sermonette by recalling not too many years ago a generous act of kindness shown to me from a perfect stranger in a moment of need. At that time I had contracted a serious disease and became very ill. For a time it was difficult to walk without crutches. One day, while traveling to the doctor’s office by bus, I stepped off the bus not too far from my destination and had to walk the remainder of the way. Awkwardly using the crutches and not having much energy, I soon fell and was unable to get up. I lay in the street (by coincidence in front of a church) in total despair, wondering what I am going to do now (I had no cell phone on me). A woman driving her car evidently saw me lying on the ground, helpless, and immediately slammed on her brakes, right in the middle of the road, and ran out of her car over to me. Out of an act of pure compassion and mercy, she lifted me to my feet, hailed a taxi cab, braced me until I got to the taxi, put me inside the cab, gave the taxi driver some money and told him to drive me to my destination. Extremely grateful, I asked the woman what her name was. Without telling me, she just got back in her car and drove away. That was 13 years ago; I will likely carry the memory of that act of kindness to my grave.

Yes, the world is a cruel place and life is indeed unfair.

Good people suffer and bad people get away with murder.

There is war in regions as diverse as the Middle East, Ukraine and Africa, killing, wounding and displacing many thousands of innocents. Starvation and disease, all of it solvable, plague a planet where only a handful of megabillionaires control nearly all of its wealth. While good men and women, from enlightened leaders to activist regular inhabitants, have made the situation better than it was, there is obviously still more to do. A lot more.

Moving away from the big picture, into your own life, I know you are experiencing a litany of problems: abuse from family or strangers, low pay and an uncaring boss, crippling loneliness, a pile of debts and always when it

seems when you suddenly need to pay for one important thing or another, and a just plain unfeeling world that doesn’t seem to care whether you are alive or dead.

Grim as it appears often time, I’m here to tell you that it is definitely not true. Maybe I am that exception that, in my 64 years on Earth, I have fortunately found a helping hand, many times just when I needed. While I am ever grateful, I am far from the exception. There are far more good parents, good teachers, good bosses, good doctors, lawyers and cops, and caring strangers than there are bad ones. You usually don’t notice them until you need them until you need help or you call on them for help. It’s possible that you yourself might be one of these people. If so, you are a blessing as well as blessed.

It pains me that the people of Ukraine are fighting for their survival, that Gazan citizens are caught in a crossfire between Israel and Hamas, that there is mass starvation in India and Africa, that refugees from tyranny can find no solace in privileged nations like the U.S., the U.K., France, and Germany, that in America, my homeland, the most blessed nation on Earth, can vote to refuse aid to its fellow citizens, be they non-white, poor, pregnant, or those who think or live their lives differently than what some others think is proper or the norm. Such people are hateful and cruel and ultimately self-defeating. I truly believe that, just like the military, a society is only as strong as its desire to help its weakest link. It’s not helpful to judge because many times it turns out that the weakest among us is someone we know or love. It may even be you.

The next time you complain that your life sucks, look around you. You just might find that a) there are people who have it even worse than you who need your help, and b) you are surrounded by many people who will literally give you the shirt off their back, asked or not. If you happen to be one of these angels, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. Also, and most important, don’t just stand there and criticize, help. You might just find out that the world not only looks better, but you feel better about yourself.

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The Drift THE TRADITIONAL BLACK WORLD IS

CHANGING The generation gap has always been with us, but never since the 1960s has it been more pronounced than the generation that separates those generally those over 50 from the ones under 50 - especially the gulf that separates black men in that age range.

As the still-dominant generation, the black Baby Boomers and many GenXers, that group born between 1946 and 1974, reign over the second part of GenX (1975-1980), the Millennial Generation aka GenY (1980-1996), GenZ or iGen (1997-2010) and GenAlpha (born 2010 and after). The Boomers and most of GenX are the more traditional and closely knit, raised in both home and church by two parents and parishioners who endured segregation, the Great Depression, World War II and the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, split with their fathers over Vietnam and the Black Power movement and went on to make peace with them in the 80s and 90s, the first to grow up in integrated schools in middle-class suburbia and benefit from student grants and loans and affirmative action programs and the tech prosperity of the 80s and 90s and the pre-2008 housing boom.

MILLENNIAL

Things began to change beginning with latter-day GenX, mostly affecting the Millennials and beyond. Young black men in particular have bifurcated into several groups. Many continue to pursue their Boomer/X fathers’ dream of education , integration and upward mobility, while not discarding their heritage and the sacrifices made by their forebears. They are the ones who volunteer for social causes, mentor youngsters and either challenge politicians. nudging them to the progressive “left” (usually just plain good government) and DEI, or run for office themselves, hoping to make change from within. Another group, for better or worse, has mostly or completely rejected black men who are more conformist. They have rejected society’s mores, and have an open disregard toward education, ignorance of or hostility toward the past yet they are still aspirational and extremely materialistic. These black males are the most likely to district all institutions, warmly embrace conspiracies and paranoid lifestyles like sovereign citizen and vote for Donald Trump. A third group embraces traits of the other two groups.

BOOMER

Like it or not, as the Boomers and Xers recede in history, society will be ruled by Millennials and their successors.

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True Grit

Activist Reverend William Barber’s

Cross to Bare

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“So if you’re going to boast about your faith,” Immediately after his last service, Barber he intoned, “don’t tell everybody how good headed to Washington for a three-day Poor you are. Tell them how you’ve fallen.”

People’s Campaign event to raise awareness of poverty, which he said is the fourth-leading Using the Prophet Isaiah’s image of a bruised cause of death in the United States. As part of For his final sermon as pastor of Greenleaf reed and the story of a lame man named Christian Church in Goldsboro, North that event, he is scheduled to have a meeting Mephibosheth from the Book of Samuel, Carolina, on Sunday (June 18), the Rev. in the White House on Wednesday.

William Barber II spoke of “the testimony of Barber spoke for 45 minutes about his own struggle and about those of other biblical the cripple.”

Barber said he will always keep a home in the figures such as Job, the Prophet Jeremiah, The sermon, which capped his 30-year South, even as he intends to spend most of his the apostle Paul and many others who were time at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, tenure as pastor of the Disciples of Christ either physically or psychologically church in the mostly Black town about 50 beginning this fall. miles southeast of Raleigh, the state capital, afflicted. was unusually personal.

He felt it was important to leave Greenleaf Sitting behind him was Terri Hord Owens, with a message that hardship can be a source Barber, whom some consider a successor to general minister and president of the of strength, or as he put it: “Your crippleness Disciples of Christ, as well as Sharon Watkins, doesn’t disqualify you.” the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for his antiher predecessor and the first woman to lead “Your crippleness gives God a place to show poverty activism, will devote his time to a mainline denomination in 2005. training future pastors. Late last year, he God’s strength and it also enables you to be in was appointed founding director of the community, because you cannot do it on your Center for Public Theology and Public Policy Barber, who also served as president of the own.”

Adviso: Stephen G. Hall, PhD North Carolina state conference of the at Yale Divinity School.

NAACP from 2005 until 2017, is best known in Barber’s Social Justice Crusade the state for organizing the Moral Mondays In completing his tenure at Greenleaf, Extends To Poor Whites Barber, [now 61], spoke of the struggle that movement as a protest against cuts to In June 2024 NPR's Michel Martin talked to unemployment benefits, health care nearly ended his career before it began.

Rev. Barber about his book , White Poverty: funding, voting rights and environment How Exposing Myths About Race and Class regulations. The movement was credited In 1993, the year he was called to lead the Can Reconstruct American Democracy. He with helping defeat former Republican Gov. church, he was diagnosed with ankylosing remarks about white poverty in an excerpt.

Pat McCrory in 2016. spondylitis. Though he didn’t name the condition, which causes the vertebrae of the MARTIN: You make the point that in raw spine to fuse together and has resulted in a Barber’s dedication to low-income numbers, the majority of poor people in this Americans and their concerns raised his hunched back and a halting gait, he spoke country are white... candidly of the depression and near loss of profile nationally and led to speeches at the Democratic National Convention and later a faith that came with his diagnosis and the BARBER: I didn't know it until we called for a MacArthur “genius grant.” Most recently, ways it forced him to lean more heavily on study to really examine the numbers, 'cause Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones, who was God. the government official poverty measurement is what I call a lie,... It's so low, expelled by the overwhelmingly white, “I had an officer in the Christian church, the Republican-controlled state Legislature and it says we only have 30-something million poor people in this country, but the numbers then reinstated, credited Barber as a sort of national church, call me and said, ‘Barber, are just wrong if you really examine poverty “godfather” to him. you probably gonna need to figure out and low wages. ... we did the numbers like I another thing to do besides pastoring, do my life - you know, I'm Black, I'm white, I'm In a phone call with Religion News Service because the church ain’t gonna want a Tuscarora, and that's all in my DNA, so let's after the service, Barber said he was cripple to be a pastor,’” he recounted. look at everything. Whenever you demean especially proud to hand over leadership of Black people by showing a woman - Black his church to a woman, the Rev. G. Shyrl At a time when muscular Christianity, a woman with welfare and say that's the face Hinnant-Uzzell, who was named his militant, almost warriorlike faith, appears of poverty, it's racist, ...but it's also dismissive successor at Greenleaf. ascendant in many Christian and political of tens of millions of white people. The fact... spaces, Barber, who walks with a cane, has is, 135 to 140 million poor or low-wage staked his life on speaking for the weak and Hinnant-Uzzell has served as assistant people in this country - 26 million are Black pastor at the church for several years. Barber people, are poor and low wage. ... but 66 lowly. has also handed the leadership of another million are white, which is 40 million more “We work so hard to present how strong we organization he founded, Repairers of the than Black people in raw numbers, but 30% are, and we think that’s faith,” Barber said. Breach, to a woman, the Rev. A. Kazimir of white people. The bottom line is this is an American crisis. It's not an anomaly.

But, he added, “God’s grace and God’s glory Brown. Barber will retain the title of president and senior lecturer. is most evident when we are weak.

By Yonat Shimron Published at religion news.com, June 19, 2023

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Infamous Autumns November 5, 2024

21st Century America’s

Darkest Day

By Earl A. Birkett November 5, 2024.

It will forever be known as the Day The American Experiment died.

The United States of America was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1776, of a yearning for freedom by wealthy white male colonists against a tyrant, England’s King George III. 12 | BAVUAL FALL 2024

The founding of the U.S. was originally a selfish act on the part of the privilege class of landowners in the 13 colonies, who balked at the imposition of taxes without representation, but it soon lead to a list of other offenses unjustly committed by the King. In the Declaration of Independence, these aristocrats determined to form something unique in world history: a land devoted to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The divorce was far from easy; it took eight long years of a bloody Revolutionary War to achieve the split, and even after that this same aristocracy made nearly fatal compromises that set in mention the doom of the new nation over the next 227 years. In the Constitution, they completely refused to accept enslaved Africans, women and the poor and un-propertied as full human beings and misread how granting the right to own a gun (not really, they were only meant for militias) would strengthen rather than weaken the public welfare when the exact opposite turned out to be true. Although they got two things right - putting the power in the hands of elected representatives which, though imperfect, at least allowed the possibility of self-rule, and the adoption of the Bill of Rights, which codified among others freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press, without which sustaining a democracy would be impossible. Most critically, they made a fatal flaw: they trusted the people that they would have the good judgment to never elect a persuasive tyrant and demagogue to throw out the Constitution and rule over them as a Caesar, and set in place an Electoral College and “checks and balances” to prevent one of the three branches of government - the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial - from gaining supreme dominance over the other.

By dint of hard work, brute force, a few wise leaders, a gradually enlightened citizenry who amended it and a little luck along the way, the Constitution has largely held fast through wars, economic exploitation, racism, sexism, and religious and gender intolerance. Eventually blacks, Asians, Eastern Europeans, immigrants from Ireland, Germany and Eastern Europe, Central and South America, Africa, and the Middle East came to be protected by this grand document. Until the 21st century, these segments of the population have learned to co-exist and relatively prosper despite theirs biases, cultural differences, complex personalities and flaws.

Always lingering below the surface were men (and some women) of evil intent who sought to manipulate or outright ignore facts, morality and the rule of law for their own greed and selfish gain.

In the 19th century it was slavery apologists, anti-immigrant Know Nothings and the robber barons. In the 20th century it was institutionalized racism, the Ku Klux Klan, “red scare” McCarthyism, the John Birch Society, neo-Nazism and far-right political ideology. Trump and Make America Great Again are the latest political manifestation of humanity’s more regressive group think. MAGA is only unique in that it has combined the traits of a religious and social cult to enhance its appeal. The good news is that there is absolutely no point to this warped ideology beyond ignorance and sheer cruelty.

HOnEST ABE EXPRESSES HIS MORAL ANGST IN THE BACKGROUND

So now Donald Trump, this most cruel and ignorant of men, is now back in charge of the most powerful nation on Earth, with the legal authority to make many millions bow to his insatiable lust for attention and total control.

As unchecked at Trump is - his relatively easy victory brought with it an acquiescent Republican majority in the Senate and possibly in the House as well as of this writing, added already to a 6-3 Supreme Court already in his pocket - he is still not a god. Yes, he has proved that checks and balances, either between the branches or with the voters, is a joke, but until it is abolished by his cowardly cohorts, most of whom know better, it is still the law of the land. There remains a Democratic opposition, however maligned and weakened (unjustly to many), the free press that , like BAVUAL, is still up to the job, will continue to bird dog his every move, and you, the American people, can and will continue to be free to criticize and protest against him and, in 2026 and 2028, have yet another chance to defeat the GOP by voting them out.

The Trump Administration and their nefarious Project 2025 program will find it harder to control the American people than they think. They are rebellious by nature and have a long history of resistance to authority and lock-step behavior. Many voted for Trump over Kamala Harris and for a Republican government because they believed the mirage that 2017-2021 was a Golden Age of peace, prosperity, patriotism, honesty and virtue, replaced only in a “rigged” election that some of his followers tried to overthrow by force - orchestrated by the diabolical Marxist Communist ring-leaders Joe Biden, Harris, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama. It would be laughable if it doesn’t work, in spades.

A t this time, it would be pointless to further discuss the darkness that Trump and his sycophants will bring to the world. There will be time enough for that. For now, it is only useful to remember that not only did Trump, today’s Frankenstein, create the MAGA monster, but that that same monster can and probably someday will, turn on him.

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The Times NON-AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BLACK COLLEGE STUDENTS FACE BIGGER HURDLES GETTING IN AND STAYING ON WHITE CAMPUSES IN 2024 The M.I.T. “solution” Universities across the country have recorded a drop in black freshmen students.

Data from Amherst College showed that the number of black students decreased from 11% in 2023 to 3% this year, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recorded a drop from 15% to 5%. MIT noted lower enrollment for “members of historically under-represented racial and ethnic groups” over the summer. . It was the first university to release statistics since the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in June, according to The Guardian.

Tufts University and the University of Virginia have also shared a decrease in black students who enrolled as freshmen.

Some administrators believe it’s a result of the Supreme Court ruling.

“As a consequence of the Supreme Court’s decision, the incoming class is not as racially diverse as recent classes have been,” Matthew L. McGann, the admissions dean at Amherst College’s admissions, told The New York Times, per Black Entreprise.

“Other institutions have seen a similar impact, and all colleges and universities are evaluating the outcomes of this first admission cycle under the new legal standard.”

Others note how the drop can affect students’ on-campus experience.

“On a small campus, the drop in demographic population can change the experience for those students,” Amherst’s President Michael A. Elliott told The New York Times. “One of the unfortunate circumstances of the ruling is that it might diminish the sense of belonging that a student feels here. And we do not want that to occur.”

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MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

As a response, the University of Virginia has created partnerships with public schools in low-income communities to recruit a more diverse class of students.

“It is a fine example of how universities can be creative, consistent with the Constitution, to avoid the plummeting enrollment of black students that some universities have already witnessed,” Yale Law professor Justin Drive told The New York Times.

As of publication, admissions data from Harvard University and the University of North Carolina have not yet been released.

BLACK MALES DECLINING AT HBCUs A recent study by the American Institute for Boys and Men has brought structure to what were intuitively known observations that stretched beyond being anecdotal.

According to the above research, black male’s engagement with higher education has been in a steady decline over the past half-century. Consider the following data: YEAR BLACK MALE ENROLLMENT 1976 38% 2005 31% 2022 26%

There is no other way of viewing this decline than the fact that within an economy that shifted from a manufacturing to a service economy during the 1980s, black males have been left behind. In contrast, all other groups have increased their presence on HBCU campuses.

Many have chosen to point at the steady success of black females as a factor in the decline of black men on HBCU campuses; studies indicate that their numbers have not increased notably.

Black female collegians, often criticized as occupying spaces reserved for AfricanAmerican males, is a counter-productive claim for many reasons. As black males have receded from the classroom - which has nothing to do with their intellectual capacities - a diverse population of nonblack groups have stepped into those enrollment slots, which has diluted the historic purpose of these schools. Ironically, a few non-black students, such as Asians who originated the successful affirmative action suit, have been among those denied admission to white schools and have resorted to HBCUs.

RACE RIOTS RETURN TO THE U.K. The worst clash in Great Britain since 2011

PROTESTERS DETAINED IN NOTTINGHAM, CENTRAL ENGLAND, ON AUGUST 3, 2024 DURING THE ’ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’ DEMONSTRATION HELD IN REACTION TO THE FATAL STABBINGS IN SOUTHPORT ON JULY 29. (AFP)

The fear of whites over immigration that has consumed the politics of many Western nations, most notably in the United States, was put on violent display in the United Kingdom last summer. From July 30 to August 5, far-right, antiimmigration protests and riots occurred in England and Northern Ireland. This followed a mass stabbing in Southport on July 29 in which three children were killed.

The riots were fueled by false claims circulated on social media by far-right groups that the perpetrator of the attack was a Muslim and an asylum seeker, in addition to broader Islamophobic, racist, and anti-immigrant sentiments that had grown leading up to the protests.

Just as the 2011 riot had eerie similarities to Trayvon Martin’s shooting by a police The disorder included racist attacks, volunteer in Florida and George Floyd’s killing arson, and looting and was the largest by a police officer in Minnesota, the riot last incident of social unrest in England since summer appears to be a manifestation of anti2011. That year, Mark Duggan, a 29-yearimmigrant sentiment that has arisen since the old father of four, was shot dead by Brexit vote in 2016 and the rise of Donald Metropolitan Police officers as he got out Trump’s xenophobic MAGA movement that of a taxi in Tottenham, north London. His same year. Thankfully no one died, but 1,280 death occurred during an operation by arrests and nearly 800 charges had been officers from Operation Trident, which made in relation to the unrest as of investigated gun crime in London’s black September 1. Many rioters had already been community. The circumstances of his sentenced and imprisoned, many for two to death were controversial and initially three years, up to a nine-year sentence for shrouded in confusion (Duggan was later arson with intent to endanger life. Counterdetermined to have been shot lawfully but protests consistently and considerably unarmed), fuelling anger and distrust of outnumbered far-right protesters, and were the police. followed by large anti-racist rallies across the

killer cop GRAYSON just before he murdered massey, crouching behind the counter in her home

country on August 7, which seemed to quell the unrest for now. Newly elected Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called unrest in UK streets "far-right thuggery", said that Muslim communities had been targeted. He announced new measures to allow the sharing of intelligence, wider deployment of facialrecognition technology and criminal behaviour orders to restrict troublemakers from travelling.

The newest riot has revealed that native working-class whites’ feelings of rage against immigrants and people of color, including blacks, is at a boil. With the influence of rightwing social media platforms spreading disnformation, it likely wounded take much to spark more civil disorder.

SONYA MASSEY’S EXECUTION BY COP In what appears to be another senseless police killing of an unarmed black person, a police cam released by Illinois State Police in July showed 36-year-old Sonya Massey, a Springfield, Illinois, resident, being fatally shot in the face in her home by sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson. The 36-minute video, which revealed a chaotic scene after two deputies responded to a 911 call reporting a possible intruder at Massey's house, shows Grayson, 30, yelling at Massey over moving a pot of boiling water from the stove to the sink. He is seen threatening to shoot her in the face and screaming "drop the f***ing pot," before shooting her three times which included the fatal shot as she ducked. According to court documents, Grayson struck Massey once in the face. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of firstdegree murder, aggravated battery and official misconduct. He remains in custody without bail.

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THESE AND THOSE AND THIS AND THAT 2024 Olympic superstar Simon Biles loves her “black job” American gymnastics superstar Simone Biles’ three golden moments at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 brought her relief, not euphoria.

“There’s such high expectations on me that I’m supposed to win, so whenever I do win or get whatever medal that is, I feel relief off my shoulder like, ‘I did it. I’m done. Let’s move on to the next,’” Biles told Olympics.com correspondent Aly Raisman August 6 during an exclusive interview.

That’s what she did, going from team gold to all-around gold to vault gold in back-toback-to-back finals.

Sure, she celebrated: raising one finger in triumph after the team final and running onto the floor U.S. flag in hand with bronze medalist Suni Lee in the all-around final.

But her true joy shown through in the victories of others, as Italy’s Alice D’Amato and Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade claimed historic golds; when training partner Jordan Chiles captured floor exercise bronze.

“When it’s something for somebody else, I know and I see the hard work that they put it,” Biles said. “Because for me, since I’ve been living in my own body, I don’t feel it the same. I know I put the hours in and I know I put the work in, it’s like, ‘Okay, thank God that’s over.’

KNOWA OWNING MIKE LINDEL, DRESSED IN COGNITO AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION IN CHICAGO

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SIMON BILES, 2024 OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST DISPLAYING THE REWARDS OF HER “BLACK JOB”

Though the 27-year-old now owns 11 Olympic medals, including seven golds, she knows there will be critics who point to missing the podium on the balance beam or taking silver on the floor.

“People will have to talk, have Twitter fingers, whatever,” said Biles. She doesn’t care. Biles sees those as moments to support her peers in a way she can’t applaud herself.

“Whenever I see somebody else accomplish it, I feel like that’s the excitement I get because I’ve seen the hours and I wish I could celebrate myself like that,” she said. “But [for myself], it’s just like, ‘Whew, thank God that’s done!’

“But for somebody else, I’m like, ‘Wooo!

Let’s go!’”

Biles’ victories in Paris weren’t all met with humility, and justifiably so. At the 2020 Olympics , she was heavily criticized for withdrawing from most of the competition after the qualification round, where she was favored to win at least four of the six available gold medals (she did win a silver medal) due to "the twisties", a temporary loss of air awareness while performing twisting elements.

Now that she has 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals - making her the most decorated gymnast in history, probably the greatest gymnast of all time and one of the greatest Olympians ever - she felt obliged to answer Donald Trump’s racial slur toward blacks insinuating that they are consigned to menial jobs made during his 2024 run for the presidency by responding, “I love my black job.” Victory is sweet indeed.

KNOWA, THE 12-YEAR-OLD NEWS PRODIGY WHO TOOK A MAGA REPUBLICAN TO SCHOOL It’s certainly not hard to make a fool of crackpot Trump cultist Mike Lindell , the self-destructive MyPillow mogul being sued for $1.3 billion by two voting machine companies for falsely implicating them in a bogus Democratic scheme to steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump. Lindell took his lunatic claim to the DNC in Chicago in August but couldn’t even sell it to Knowa DeBalsio, a preteen activist and social media content creator, who demolished Lindell with a simple question that he couldn’t answer: “Where’s your proof?”

The Culture The OSCAR-WINNING FILM THE BLIND SIDE IS

Not What It Seems

By Kristen Jones In 2009 we watched the heartwarming film The Blind Side, which tells the story of NFL player Michael Oher, who was taken in by the Tuohys, Sean and Leigh Anne, and their two children. The family met the young Michael in 2004 through their son and went on to develop a dynamic that helped Michael to change his lifestyle and achieve the impossible dream of becoming a professional football player.

Having your first memory being of homelessness is not something that most people would want to be their story.

Michael’s rough start in life began in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was homeless at age three. Born to a mother who struggled with both alcoholism and crack cocaine addiction and a father who frequently went to prison, he was shuffled through foster homes from the age of seven after a childhood filled with no love and support. After being kept back twice, he attended numerous schools in his elementary and middle school years.

Michaelwould bounce between homelessness and foster homes, until he ended up living temporarily with an auto mechanic who suggested he enroll at Briarcrest Christian School. After enrolling at Briarcrest, Oher was named Division II (2A) Lineman of the Year in 2003, and First-team Tennessee All-State.

Though he received scholarship offers from Tennessee, LSU, Alabama, Auburn, and South Carolina, Oher ultimately decided to play for Ed Orgeron at the University of Mississippi, the alma mater of his guardians, Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy. He graduated with a degree in criminal justice in the spring of 2009.

2009 would continue to be a big year for Michael Oher. Aside from the film

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debuting and him graduating college, he was drafted into the NFL by the Baltimore Ravens as their 23rd pick. The Tuohy family was there to help celebrate this achievement. On February 3, 2013, Oher won a Super Bowl ring as the Ravens' starting right tackle as the team defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 34–31, in Super Bowl XLVII. On March 14, 2014, Oher signed a four-year, $20 million contract with the Tennessee Titans, and one year later he signed a two-year, $7 million contract with the Carolina Panthers. In total he played eight seasons with the NFL and gained many accolades along the way.

In his personal life ,Michael married his college sweetheart Tiffany Roy with whom he shares four children. He penned an autobiography in 2011 chronicling his life titled I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to The Blind Side and Beyond.

Trouble began when the film The Blind Side - adapted from a biography of the same title - was released in 2009. At the time it was hailed as both a “white savior story” and a gut wrenching tale of family, love, and beating the odds.” Grossing over $300 million at the box office, the film earned a “Best Picture” Oscar nomination and an Oscar win for Best Actress for Sandra Bullock’s portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy. Gradually people began asking what the real story was. Michael Oher has since denied the couple's claims that they ever adopted him and instead says they “tricked” him in order to line their pockets and continue gaining support from the public. Michael denies compensation for his likeness being used in various charities and organizations, and called on the courts to decide the fate of his ongoing

conservatorship, which had continued since 2009. Was it legal for the Tuohy’s to gain conservatorship in the first place? Was it their intention to keep Michael under conservatorship forever? Was the whole story from Micahel just a ruse conjured up whilst he committed a shakedown on Sean and Leigh Anne? The courts will ultimately decide the matter as other parts of the case are also still being decided.

In August 2023, Oher filed a lawsuit alleging that Leigh Ann and Sean Tuohy never actually adopted him, but instead created a conservatorship that granted them legal authority to make business deals in his name.

He alleged that the Tuohys used their power as conservators to strike a deal that paid them and their two children millions of dollars in royalties from The Blind Side movie while Oher got nothing. The producers of the movie, Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, and the author of the book, Michael Lewis, denied the Tuohys were paid "millions", claiming the family was paid about $700,000 after taxes.

Oher's legal action asked the court to end the Tuohys' conservatorship and issue an injunction barring them from using his name and likeness. It also asked for a full accounting of the money the Tuohys earned using Oher's name, to be paid his share of profits, and other compensatory and punitive damages.The Tuohy family later claimed in legal documents that Oher tried to extort $15 million from them or else he would take his accusations to the press and social media.

In September 2023 a judge ended the conservatorship and declined to dismiss the case. In response to Oher’s petition, a Tennessee judge on September 29, ended the conservatorship agreement, saying she was shocked it had ever been created, because Oher was in his right mind and not physically disabled when he was asked to sign it. The Tuohys also later told the court they would remove all references to Oher being adopted from their website and public speaking materials.

Film Review Two weeks after Precious opened to blockbuster grosses, along comes The Blind Side, another life-struggle chronicle centering on an uncommunicative, smart but stunted, 300-pound African-American teenager who overcomes enormous familial and social problems with the help of outsiders. Like Precious, The Blind Side features a domineering matriarch (played by an actress who's being touted as an Oscar contender), a well-known singer giving a persuasive performance in a supporting role, a concerned teacher going beyond the call of duty and a couple of supportive comic-relief buddies.

storybook sweet, credulity-straining and... um, true.

It's based not on a novel, but on Michael Lewis' fact-based football book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, roughly half of which is devoted to the rise of Michael Oher from impoverished circumstances in Memphis, Tenn., to college stardom at the University of Mississippi. (An endcredit sequence brings the story up to date: Oher was a first-round 2009 NFL draft pick for the Baltimore Ravens, where he currently plays right tackle.)

EDITOR’S NOTE: This review, written by Bob Mondello for NPR on November 19, 2009, is a contemporary view and should Unlike the tale told in Precious, however, be considered in the light of recent The Blind Side's story is contrived, revelations as presented in this article.

QUINTON AARON (MICHAEL OHER) AND SANDRA BULLOCK (LEIGH ANNE TUOHY) IN THE BLIND SIDE (2009)

REAL-FE: MICHAEL OHER (FOURTH) WITH THE TUOHY FAMILY, (FROM LEFT) SEAN “S.J.” JR., SEAN SR., COLLIN AND LEIGH ANNE

In the aftermath many have questioned whether the movie was true at all, , or if in fact we the viewer were ironically on “The Blind Side”.

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BAVUAL RECOMMENDS 2 LANDMARK FILMS SOURCE: RottenTomatoes.com

AUDIENCE This drama, claimed to be melodramatic, is much more. The racial angst and disparity and Hollywood's use of owning a star is revealed brilliantly by the actors portraying the allegory of imbalanced life. I was caught up in the story. What else could be the goal of a movie? - Bonnie L

SELECTED REVIEWS CRITICS It is precisely this feeling of calm that makes it such a totally credible, fine and true picture.Joseph Gelmis, Newsday

‘Nothing But a Man’ is a great movie. It has a universal story. It is superbly acted. It keeps to a Douglas Sirk refashions the 1934 black-and-white point of view, something rare in American film classic, perking it up not only with colours but also making. - Margo Miller, Boston Globe with a meatier story of the two pairs of

dysfunctional single mothers and daughters struggling with conflicts and all in the glory of his baroque visual style. - Audience Member The toughest-minded, most irresolvable movie ever made about race in this country. - Charles Taylor, Village Voice

The film inherits a lot of its texture and pacing from Italian neorealism, approaching its setting honestly, realistically, and recognizably. - Scott Nye, Battleship Pretension

Lora Meredith (Lana Turner), a white single mother who dreams of being on Broadway, has a chance encounter with Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore), a black widow. Annie becomes the caretaker of Lora's daughter, Suzie (Sandra Dee), while Lora pursues her stage career. Both women deal with the difficulties of motherhood: Lora's thirst for fame threatens her relationship with Suzie, while Annie's light-skinned daughter, Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner), struggles with her AfricanAmerican identity. Remake of the black-and-white film Imitation of Life (1934).

Sirk unleashed a melodramatic torrent of rage at the corrupt core of American life-the unholy trinity of racism, commercialism, and puritanism.

- Richard Brody, New Yorker Like its predecessor, this film Will be praised and criticized, but few will be able to deny at it is exceptional entertainment. - Staff, Jet Magazine

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‘Nothing But a Man’ is about battling discrimination on an uneven playing field but also about tenaciously preserving friendships and families. - Imran Khan, PopMatters masterful in its subtle drama and commitment to a neorealist-style depiction of lived reality James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk

IMITATION OF LIFE Released Apr 30, 1959, Wide, by Universal International Pictures . Directed by Douglas Sirk.

Running time 125 minutes. Streamed on Amazon Video.

SELECTED REVIEWS CRITICS Lana Turner is great at embodying all of these conflicting parts of [Lora]... It helps when Sirk and his DP Russell Metty know how to light her and use lighting and composition to accentuate her performance. - Adam Kempenaar, Filmspotting

‘Nothing But a Man’ is a minor masterpiece and one of the most important American movies in recent years. - Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

AUDIENCE A first rate independent drama based in Alabama and was about blacks coming up against racism. It was sad and beautiful. - s r

NOTHING BUT A MAN Released August 31, 1964, by DuArt Film and Video, Nothing But a Man Company. Directed by Michael Roemer. Running time 92 minutes.

Watch for free on YouTube.

African-American rail worker Duff Anderson (Ivan Dixon) has left his 4-year old son with a nanny, and now drifts through life with little ambition.

Duff's outlook on life changes when he meets schoolteacher Josie Dawson (Abbey Lincoln), a gentle preacher's daughter. Although Josie's father (Stanley Greene) disapproves of Duff's lifestyle, the two eventually marry. Duff and Josie struggle to hold on to their marriage as Duff must face up to the oppressive racism of 1960s America.

The acting performances are excellent by every actor. The black and white cinematography is excellent. The story is simple and very good. But it is the truth that it tells, that makes this a must watch movie. Even about 100 years after the civil war when this was made, blacks in the Unites States were still lynched, oppressed, segregated, patronized and treated as inferior, not only in, but uniquely in the south. 50 plus years after this film, things have improved greatly in some ways. But to think that the mentality that underlies 250 years of slavery, and 100 plus years of overt oppression is gone would be naive. Ivan Dixon went on to be in Hogan's Heroes not long after this film, and then did much of his work behind the camera as a director in television for several more decades.

But this was probably his best acting of his career.

This may have been Yaphet Kotto's first credited role on film. Abbey Lincoln's performance is also outstanding. Please watch this if you have a chance. I echo Peter Bradshaw's professional critic review. - Audience Member

Toys and Games For Christmas And Kwanza FOR CHRISTMAS The holiday season is quickly approaching, and with it comes Christmas lists for boys and girls everywhere. Shopping for your African American kids can be difficult, but not impossible. The items on this list will surely give your family joy and have them smiling from ear to ear. As a mother of five children I would feel comfortable purchasing these items for my family. They offer a variety of fun and learning and will give them many happy memories and moments. - Kristen Jones Ada Twist For the budding scientist in your household, there are gifts designed to ignite their creativity and not put a dent in your wallet in the process. “Ada twist” is an interactive doll for kids ages three and up.

With the press of her hand your child can hear “The Scientific Method” song and watch as Ada’s dress lights up.

FOR KWANZA Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration of African American culture, history, and values that takes place from December 26 to January 1. It was created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, an activist and scholar, and is based on harvest festival traditions from across Africa. If you or your family celebrate this occasion, there are also gift ideas available for your children that will help keep tradition alive and offer them entertainment. December 26 is Ujoma, the endeavor to maintain the unity of family, community, nation and race. Kwanzaa’s second day marks the recognition of Kujichagulia. This is the principle of self-determination and recognizing one’s value to the community. The third day of Kwanzaa focuses on the principle of Ujima which is the idea of shared work and responsibility. Ujamaa is the Kwanzaa principle of cooperative economics. This is the fourth day of Kwanza. Nia means “life’s purpose” and is the fifth principle of Kwanza. To leave the community in a better place than when inherited is the Kwanzaa principle of Kuumba. The final day of Kwanzaa represents the concept of faith.

You can find engaging games and puzzles that celebrate Kwanzaa culture and values. This could include board games focusing on African history, puzzles featuring Kwanzaa symbols, or card games with a Kwanzaa theme. Another great gift idea to incorporate this is family games. No matter what you choose to celebrate this holiday, your children will be sure to enjoy it with these gift ideas. They can also be a brilliant way to inspire and educate kids to strive to be successful and keep traditions alive.

If you’re looking for an educational Kwanzaa gift from a Black-owned business, this is a great option. Designed for kids ages 3 and up, this beautifully illustrated memory game introduces kids to all kinds of musical instruments, accessories and dances.

Lego Duplo and Playmobil Lego set Duplo is a community people set that features African American pieces. Playmobil has also taken the initiative to create products for children that will let them see “themselves” when playing.

Play House and Kitchen Sets Play houses, play kitchens and any “real world” item made for children to play with can offer your child an opportunity to feel like they are actually using these items like an adult. Kitchens that come with moving parts can help them feel like they are in their own little home.

African American Holiday Barbie Barbie has launched an African American Holiday Barbie. The 2024 Barbie Holiday Doll embodies the warmth and love of the season with a festive gown for a glamorous celebration.

Featuring gorgeous drama, the dress sparkles and shines! Big tulle accents offer a modern take on a classic look, with beautiful statement making earrings that add to the elegance. This collectible doll makes a great gift for anyone looking to build a collection or brighten up their seasonal decorations.

Looking to diversify your little one’s bookshelf? Then this storybook gift set is sure to be a winner. It comes with three vibrant, hardcover picture books that are beautifully illustrated and follow the global adventures of Aya and her adorable sidekick Pete. Even better, the latter is available as a plush toy to truly bring your kiddo’s favorite characters to life.

Action Superhero Figures Action heroes and superheroes Miles Morales as Spiderman and Black Panther items are still at the top of kids’ Christmas list.

With the release of the second movie, Black Panther: Return to Wakanda, more products have become available from Amazon to Walmart and everywhere in between. These play items can allow children to feel as if they are the “hero” themselves. They can immerse themselves into scenes from the same movies and shows they watch on television.

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African Faces of the World

The Remote

“RED” PEOPLE OF AFRICA

By Jane O’Shea The Himba tribe are one of the few tribes in the world who still live a very traditional lifestyle, maintaining their primitive culture and historic beliefs—which are absolutely fascinating. In fact, they are known to practice black magic, giving them power to cause malicious events. But that's not all, another particularly intriguing tradition explains how they got the nickname, the "red people" of Africa.

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The Himba People

The OvaHimba live in northern Namibia, a country in southern Africa. They live in the Kunene Region, nearby to Angola.

The Himba people are an indigenous group with only about 50,000 people. They call themselves OvaHimba in the plural and OmuHimba in the singular. They speak OtjiHimba, a language within the Bantu family that is prevalent throughout Niger-Congo.

The OvaHimba are semi-nomadic.

Although they move around according to rainfall and other weather patterns, they have homesteads where they cultivate their crops.

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The majority of OvaHimba work in livestock farming, in particular breeding sheep and goats.

They also grow crops like maize and millet. As a peoples mostly isolated from the modern world, the OvaHimba frequently do not use our notions of currency. Instead, they count their wealth in the number of cattle they own. Very few OvaHimba make any kind of salary, and they almost never sell any of their cattle for cash. They tend not to have any kind of wages at all, whether pensions or otherwise. If the OvaHimba come by any kind of money, it is usually through work on conservation of the nature around them, including drought relief, and it's given to them by Namibia's government.

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The OvaHimba eat mostly sour milk and maize porridge. If meat and milk are scarce, they will sometimes eat hard, plain porridge. In addition, they sometimes have cornmeal, chicken eggs, herbs, and honey on hand. Women and girls, rather than men and boys, usually perform most of the hard labor in the community.

Women will carry water, repair homes, and collect firewood. In addition to this manual labor, women will also usually cook meals, child-rear, and clean living areas.

They also perform artisanal work like making jewelry.

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Although women and girls tend to the cattle's immediate care needs, the men and boys have primary control over the livestock. They do the job of herding the cattle, which usually means being away from the homestead for long periods.

The men also do initial building construction, and hold council with the village's chiefs.

The OvaHimba organize into small family-villages they call a homestead. Homesteads are a circle of huts that go around a sacred ancestral fire, or an okuruwo. Nearby, there is also a special animal pen for the livestock the OvaHimba consider sacred. The sacred fire and sacred livestock at the center of the homesteads are important parts of Himba beliefs. The OvaHimba believe the sacred fire gives them ancestral protection, and that the sacred livestock let them have "proper relations between human and ancestor."

The OvaHimba believe in a version of black magic, which they call omiti. Some believe that people can use omiti and cause death or malicious events.

The OvaHimba believe in one god, Mukuru.

However, they also practice ancestor reverence. While Mukuru only blesses people, their ancestors can bless and curse.

The sacred fires need tending. This is done by the fire-keeper, who communicates with Mukuru and the ancestors on behalf of the family every week or so.

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OvaHimba, especially their women, are renowned for their use of the red-tinged otjize paste, which is a mixture of butterfat and ochre. They will often cover their hair with it, and the earthy red is synonymous with beauty in their culture.

Otjize also cleans the skin, which is an especially important function when there is water scarcity in Namibia. It also protects the skin from drying out, and deters bug bites.

OvaHimba women will also use otjize paste in their hair, giving it a smooth, red cast that acts as decoration and protection. From their teen years onward, male OvaHimba will plait their hair into one braid. Girls, meanwhile, will often have multiple braids in their hair. Some of the braids even act as a veil for the women's faces, though for everyday use the braids are pulled back.

The OvaHimba group colors into four categories. Zuzu is for dark shades of blue, red, green, and purple. Vapa describes white and some yellows, while buru is for certain shades of green and blue. Finally, dambu is for different shades of green as well as red and brown.

Because of the heat the OvaHimba have to endure in Namibia, most of them wear only a skirt-like garment, usually made from calfskin and sheepskin. These days, the garment is sometimes made from more contemporary textiles.

Because of their lifestyle, the OvaHimba generally have extremely good vision. This is often true of traditional societies, and anthropologists believe this developed in the OvaHimba because of their work with cattle and the need to identify livestock markings.

Not all OvaHimba wear shoes, but when they do it's often sandals. Women's sandals will be made from cow skin as well, but some men wear sandals made from car tires.

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The OvaHimba have several rites of passage, some of which can be detected in their clothing. For example, if a woman has given birth, she will wear a small, animal skin backpack.

Marital status is important in Himba culture, and is also often reflected in what they wear. Women who have been married for a year or more, or else who have a child, will wear the Erembe headpiece. This headpiece is made from sheepskin, and around it they wear many tendrils of braids, colored with otjize paste.

From their adolescence and into adulthood, OvaHimba men and boys continue to wear the single braid at the back of their head. But married men will wear a cap or head wrap, and keep their hair unbraided underneath it.

If a man becomes a widower, they will remove the head wrap or cap they wore to signify their marriage, exposing the unbraided hair underneath.

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Somewhat controversially, OvaHimba traditionally practice polygamy. On average, a man has two wives at the same time.

In addition, the OvaHimba engage in arranged marriages. In these marriages, fathers choose grooms for their daughters, starting around when the girls hit puberty.

Because the ritual of marrying girls off at puberty means that girls as young as 10 are married, this practice is not popular in Namibia and is even illegal. Certain OvaHimba even reject it, but it nonetheless continues.

According to Himba thought, a boy turns into a man upon marriage. A girl, however, is only a woman when she gives birth to a child.

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Some cultures practice giving dowries, where the bride's family gives money to the groom. However, the OvaHimba arrange marriages through "Bridewealth," where it is the groom's family who gives money to the bride's relatives.

In OvaHimba marriages, most of the bridewealth transactions are of cattle. The cattle must be high quality, and most families tend to offer an ox, though this price can go up if the groom's family is wealthy.

OvaHimba clans have a leader, who is always the oldest male in the clan.

Unlike many cultures around the world, the OvaHimba practice bilateral descent. This means that every Himba member belongs both their father's and their mother's ancestral clan.

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Because they practice bilateral descent, inheritance in the OvaHimba is somewhat complex. Wealth doesn't pass down through the father, but rather through the male members of the mother's clan.

That means a son doesn't get his father's wealth.

Instead, it passes down from his maternal uncle.

Wealth is usually cattle, but also water-points and pastures. Sons are born in and continue to live with their father's clan in death. When daughters marry, however, they go over to their new husband's clan.

Bilateral descent is rare in world cultures, and can only be found in West Africa, India, Australia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.

Still, experts believe this system is particularly good for extreme, dangerous environments like the one the OvaHimba live in.

That's because it creates multiple kinship support networks over wider areas.

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Many OvaHimba have contact with urban cultures, even though they tend to reside in rural areas. The OvaHimba who live near the Kunene Region capital, Opuwo, even shop at supermarkets and visit doctors there.

In the 1980s, the OvaHimba's traditional way of life nearly got wiped out. Thanks to political conflicts and a severe drought that killed the vast majority of their cattle, many OvaHimba gave up rural life entirely to become refugees in nearby towns. Their survival today is a testament to the remaining OvaHimba commitment to their culture.

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From their marriages, to their religious beliefs, to their beauty practices, the OvaHimba are living a life rooted in the old traditions of their sacred ancestors. It's a testament to their drive for survival, both physical and cultural.

YOUR AD SHOULD BE HERE CONTACT EARL A. BIRKETT 212-419-5831 eab@bavual.com

Saint Bavual’s Return Saint Bavual Adisa, back in human form, decided to enter the political fray as the best way to change the future.

He settled in Newark, New Jersey, and contested an open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in that district.

After a hard campaign, Bavual won election on November 5, 2024. He now had an effective power base.

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BAVUAL IS ELECTED TO THE 119TH CONGRESS (2025-2027) AND JOINS “THE SQUAD”

WE STAND FOR PEACE PROSPERITY COMPASSION TOLERANCE TRUTH

THE DEMOCRATS JOIN REPUBLICANS OF GOOD FAITH TO PASS BILLS THAT HELP THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

“our agenda: advance life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!”

TO BE CONTINUED...

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THE WEALTH OF AFRICA

HOW IT WAS LOST

Africa is home to 135,200 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) with $1 million or more in liquid, investable wealth. Also, there are currently 54 African-born billionaires in the world, yet the continent has some of the world’s poorest countries.

Several of the billionaires, if not all, engage in humanitarian activities in a bid to support Africa’s development. According to an article on The New Humanitarian website, an estimated $7 billion is given away every year by Africa’s philanthrocapitalists to provide home-grown solutions to local needs.

Nevertheless, make no mistake: Africa is poor, but the world can try to help its people.

It’s a simple statement, repeated through a thousand images, newspaper stories and charity appeals each year, so that it takes on the weight of truth. When we read it, we reinforce assumptions and stories about Africa that we’ve heard throughout our lives.

We reconfirm our image of Africa.

Try something different. Africa is rich, but we steal its wealth.

That’s the essence of a report from several campaign groups released [in 2017]. Based on a set of new figures, it finds that subSaharan Africa is a net creditor to the rest of the world to the tune of more than $41 billion. Sure, there’s money going in: around $161 billion a year in the form of loans, remittances (those working outside Africa and sending money back home), and aid.

But there’s also $203 billion leaving the continent. Some of this is direct, such as $68 billion in mainly dodged taxes. Essentially multinational corporations “steal” much of this – legally – by pretending they are really generating their wealth in tax havens. These so-called “illicit financial flows” amount to around 6.1 percent of the continent’s entire

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CAN IT BE REGAINED?

gross domestic product (GDP) – or three times what Africa receives in aid.

than $50 billion) can turn into unpayable and odious debt.

Ghana is losing 30 per cent of its government revenue to debt repayments, paying loans which were often made speculatively, based on high commodity prices, and carrying whopping rates of interest. One particularly odious aluminum smelter in Mozambique, built with loans and aid money, is currently There are also more indirect means by which costing the country £21 $27.13USD) for every £1 ($1.29USD) that the Mozambique we pull wealth out of Africa. The report government received. estimates that $29 billion a year is being stolen from Africa in illegal logging, fishing British aid, which is used to set up private and trade in wildlife. $36billion is owed to Africa as a result of the damage that climate schools and health centers, can undermine the creation of decent public services, which change will cause to their societies and is why such private schools are being closed economies as they are unable to use fossil down in Uganda and Kenya. Of course, some fuels to develop in the way that Europe did.

Africans have benefitted from this economy.

Our climate crisis was not caused by Africa, There are now around 165,000 very rich but Africans will feel the effect more than Africans, with combined holdings of $860bn. most others. Needless to say, the funds are not currently forthcoming.

But, given the way the economy works, If African countries are to benefit from foreign where do these people mainly keep their investment, they must be allowed to - even helped wealth? In tax havens. to - legally regulate that investment and the Then there’s the $30 billion that these corporations “repatriate” – profits they make in Africa but send back to their home country, or elsewhere, to enjoy their wealth.

The City of London is awash with profits extracted from the land and labor of Africa.

corporations that often bring it.

In fact, even this assessment is enormously generous, because it assumes that all of the wealth flowing into Africa is benefitting the people of that continent. But loans to governments and the private sector (at more

A 2014 estimate suggests that rich Africans were holding a massive $500 billion in tax havens. Africa’s people are effectively robbed of wealth by an economy that enables a tiny minority of Africans to get rich by allowing wealth to flow out of Africa.

By Earl A. Birkett from Multiple Sources

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So what is the answer? Western governments would like to be seen as generous beneficiaries, doing what they can to “help those unable to help themselves”.

But the first task is to stop perpetuating the harm they are doing. Governments need to stop forcing African governments to open up their economy to privatization, and their markets to unfair competition.

If African countries are to benefit from foreign investment, they must be allowed to – even helped to – legally regulate that investment and the corporations that often bring it. And they might want to think about not putting their faith in the extractives sector.

With few exceptions, countries with abundant mineral wealth experience poorer democracy, weaker economic growth, and worse development. To prevent tax dodging, governments must stop prevaricating on action to address tax havens. No country should tolerate companies with subsidiaries based in tax havens operating in their country.

Aid is tiny, and the very least it can do, if spent well, is to return some of Africa’s looted wealth. We should see it both as a form of reparations and redistribution, just as the tax system allows us to redistribute wealth from the richest to the poorest within individual societies. The same should be expected from the global “society”.

To even begin to embark on such an ambitious programme, we must change the way we talk and think about Africa. It’s not about making people feel guilty, but correctly diagnosing a problem in order to provide a solution. We are not, currently, “helping” Africa. Africa is rich. Let’s stop making it poorer.

Nick Dearden Published at aljazeera.com, May 24, 2017

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Subscribe @ Bavual.com 38 | BAVUAL FALL 2024

FAMILY OFFICES A new investment vehicle for Africa’s wealthy

Family offices provide a broad spectrum of private in the world after Asia. This may see a rise in wealth management services to one or a small family offices, albeit multiple family offices number of ultra-high-net-worth families. growing in the overall African market and servicing the needs of the wealthy.

Besides financial services, which has become a core focus of many family offices, family offices With this in mind, how are the African qealthy also offer planning, charitable giving advice, creating and driving their family offices? Are they concierge, and other comprehensive services. using their wealth to invest on the continent, or Typically, family offices are exclusively for family are they taking it offshore and investing in high members and their trusts, foundations, charities, return markets. For some years now, Africa has NGOs and investment been attracting the attention of serious investors.

And much of that attention is moving from the It is said that the world’s first family office set up traditional primary industries that have shop in the United States in the 19th century. And dominated investor interest in the past to more its sole purpose at the time was to manage the consumer-led sectors as Africa’s wealth has risen. fortunes of corporate moguls such as JP Morgan Africa has so much potential as a platform and and John D. Rockefeller. investment with the ongoing global ESG (Environmental, Social, and (Corporate) I, however, would like to challenge this thought Governance) surge and focuses on socially process and present the fact that the family office responsible investing. may have started on the African continent centuries before this. As we already know, Africa Among prominent African families utilizing the had prolific kingdoms that were managed by family office concept are Oppenheimer “monarchies,” which were essentially families Generations, the family office of Nicky who then grew their vast wealth and influence into Oppenheimer and his son Jonathan; Heirs vast empires, which can be described as the Holdings, the family investment group of one of historical family businesses. Each monarchy had Africa’s well-known entrepreneurs, Tony Elumelu; advisors and people working to ensure the Man Capital, the family office of Mohamed kingdom worked for the benefit of the community Mansour and Loutfy Mansour; Dangote Family and, more-so, for the ruling family. Thus, the office, controlled bt Nigerian billionaire Aliko family office has its heritage on the African Dangote; TY Danjuma Family Office, which continent, although a lot of research would need manages the assets of Theophilus Yakubu to be done to understand how these vast empires Danjuma; Tanzanian billionaire Rostam Aziz’ worked and were managed so intricately. family office; the family office of Nigerian bankers Herbert Wigwe and Aigboje AigFast forward to today: what we see globally is that Imoukhuede; furniture tycoon Eric Ellerine’s Eric the family office offering continues to evolve into Ellerine Trust (Pty) Limited; Sam Darwish’s elaborate and further-reaching intricacies. Family Singularity Investments; South African billionaire offices have gained real traction in the past two Douw Steyn’s Steyn Family Office; PanAfrican decades and have become a significant contender Investment Co., founded by American billionaire in the money management game. A lot more Ronald Lauder and Richard Parsons, a prominent wealthy families are setting up these vehicles, and Afro-American business veteran; and it has become a booming business within itself.

One Thousand & One Voices (1K1V), which, According to research from Camden Wealth, although not a family office, invests in SubAfrica has 1.4 percent of the world’s billionaires, Saharan Africa with an exclusive limited partner which is 44 individuals with a net worth of over $99 (LP) base of leading global family offices, led by billion. the Coors family of U.S. brewing fame.

According to the AfrAsia Bank Africa Wealth Report, total individual wealth in Africa is expected to rise by 34 percent over the next 10 years, reaching $3.1 trillion by 2027. A report by academics Ihsaan Bassier and Ingrid Woolard suggests that South Africa has an estimated 182,000 dollar millionaires based on tax data.

Furthermore, research by Knight Frank established that just under 4,400 individuals will join the league of UHNWIs in Africa between now and 2026, a growth rate of 33 percent, the fastest

Simply put, these families do not have the economies of scale to establish stand-alone family offices. The multi-family office will allow them to share administrative costs. Family offices look after managing household staff, property management, philanthropy coordination, managing family education, inter-generational transfer and legal and tax services, on top of the usual investment services.

Tsitsi Mutendi

Posted on billionaires.africa February 14, 2022

AN EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES

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Due to its position on Earth and its climate, Africa is home to many resource-dense natural habitats, including forests, oceans, coasts, deserts, highlands and more. For centuries, these resources have allowed people to live in Africa without degrading the land or its ecosystems. Africa’s diamonds, cobalt and other natural resources help to facilitate the production of technology and other modern conveniences. Historically, colonial powers have leveraged Africa’s people and resources for wealth without making significant investments in local communities.

In today’s world, however, African countries are beginning to take hold of their own futures and grow their own wealth through their resources. Still, African countries face a number of challenges as governments and companies in Europe, North America and Asia continue to vie for control and influence over Africa and its resources.

Furthermore, the resources themselves are vulnerable to environmental risks and there continues to be exploitation of local workers and other human rights concerns.

Agriculture Africa, the second-largest continent, is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It is divided in half almost equally by the Equator. Climatic zones lie on either side of this line as if it were a mirror, with tropical wet climates closer to the Equator and more arid conditions closer to the north and south.

This climatic symmetry is disturbed, however, by Africa’s unequal shape. The continent’s narrow southern section is more influenced by oceanic factors than the bulging northern section.

The climate exerts significant influence on Africa’s agriculture, which is the continent’s most important economic activity.

Agriculture employs about half of the continent’s working population, though the percentage of agricultural workers varies widely among individual countries.

Tropical conditions occur along the Equator, the Gulf of Guinea and the eastern Madagascar coast. Temperatures remain

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THE MPONENG GOLD MINE, LOCATED WEST OF JOHANNESBURG AND OWNED BY ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI, IS THE WORLD’S DEEPEST GOLD MINE. EACH DAY, ROUGHLY 4,000 MINERS TAKE THE PLUNGE TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THE MINE. THE JOURNEY INCLUDES TAKING THE WORLD’S TALLEST ELEVATOR, WHICH HITS A TOP SPEED AT 40 MPH, TO MAKE THEIR WAY DOWN.

above 18°C (64.4°F) year-round. This climate also has significant rainfall year-round, totaling 175–250 centimeters (69–94 inches). Important crops to Africa’s tropical wet regions include plantains, coffee, cocoa and oil palms.

Savanna conditions occur in much of Africa.

Temperatures in the savanna are cooler and more varied than in tropical wet regions.

The savanna also receives less annual precipitation, with most of the rain falling during a relatively short rainy season.

Important savanna crops include the cassava (a root vegetable related to the potato), peanuts, okra and eggplant. Africa’s most important grain crops, millet and sorghum, are grown in the savanna.

Desert conditions occur in northern Africa, especially in the Sahara. The Sahel, also in northern Africa, is a semi-arid region that serves as a transition between the desert conditions of the Sahara and the wetter climates to the south. Temperatures can range more than 38°C (100°F) on the hottest days to below freezing -4°C (25°F) on the coldest nights. Annual precipitation is around 7.5 centimeters (3 inches), though some areas go without rain for years.

Important desert crops include date palms, which grow in oases, and cotton, which grows in the Sahel and other semi-arid areas.

Mediterranean climate conditions occur along the northern coast of Africa and the southwestern tip of South Africa. The Mediterranean climate is characterized by mild temperatures, dry summers and moderately rainy winters. Cabbage, tomatoes, oranges, olives and figs are all important crops in this area.

Highland conditions occur at the highest elevations of Africa, with the Ethiopian Highlands being one noteworthy area.

Temperatures here are much colder than the surrounding lowlands. Important highland crops include grains like wheat, a subsistence crop that makes up a high percentage of the local population’s diet.

Forestry Forestry, the management of trees and other vegetation in forests, is an important economic activity in Africa. Forests cover around 21 percent of Africa’s land area, and globally, Africa is the continent with the third largest area dedicated to forests. Most of the forests in Africa are located within the wet tropical climate band in countries like Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Tanzania. In Cameroon, timber is exported to Europe and China, and forestry accounts for anywhere from 4 percent to 6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Gabon is the top producer of processed wood in Africa, and the government is increasing production efforts with the goal of becoming the top producer of wood in the world.

Africa’s forest sector faces many challenges, however, including illegal logging. African nations lose an estimated $17 billion in revenue each year from illegal logging, and much of the wood is smuggled to China.

Another challenge is deforestation due to agricultural expansion; roughly 10 percent of Ghana’s trees were cleared for cocoa farming between 2001 and 2014. One major issue limiting the protection of forests is a lack of government safeguards, with only 24 percent of Africa’s forests having sufficient management plans.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER

Despite these challenges, governments are taking steps to both help protect the forests and address economic concerns. For instance, the Central African Forests Commission was created to regulate Africa’s forestry sector and promote sustainable uses of the Congo Basin’s rain forest products. The commission created the Sangha Tri-National Landscape, a reserve that covers more than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of rain forest in.

Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Marine fisheries are important to many coastal countries in Africa. West Africa is one of the most economically important Fishing fishing zones in the world, and around 7 Africa’s fishing industry is valued at around million people in the region are employed in $24 billion per year, accounting for around the fishing industry. Namibia is also a major 1.3 percent of the continent’s GDP. Africa fish producer, with increasing amounts of has fisheries on all of its marine coasts, as fish being exported year over year. Small well as inland. The Great Lakes and Nile fish, such as herring and sardines, are the River, for instance, support huge most common catch on the African freshwater fisheries. coastline.

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Much like the forestry sector, Africa’s fishing sector suffers from overharvesting. Some of this is due to illegal fishing, often by fleets from China. Demand for fish caught in Africa is high in China, where it is used as feed for more profitable fish and other animals.

Chinese vessels are better equipped than traditional African fishing boats and can garner a significantly bigger catch. Foreign fishermen have been known to destroy African fishing nets. African fishermen say more patrols and stronger regulations are needed to keep foreign ships out of African waters. One group working on this issue is The Partnership for African Fisheries (PAF).

PAF also aims to focus on stricter environmental management to help grow fish populations. The goal of these processes is to increase fishery revenue and promote the sustainable use of marine and inland fish resources.

Mining and Drilling Africa is a major producer of important metals and minerals. Many of the minerals exported from Africa come from countries in the south and central areas, like South Africa and Nigeria. Metals exported by African countries include uranium, used to produce nuclear energy; platinum, used in jewelry and industrial applications; and nickel and cobalt, which are both used for rechargeable batteries, such as the types found in smartphones and laptops.

Africa’s two most profitable mineral resources are gold and diamonds. In 2021, Africa produced 680.3 metric tons of gold.

Africa also dominates the global diamond market. The continent produces around 65 percent of the world’s diamonds by value each year.

Unfortunately, several African conflicts and civil wars have been caused and funded by the diamond industry. Diamonds that come from these regions are known as conflict diamonds or blood diamonds. In 2003, the United Nations created the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in order to certify diamonds have been sourced from regions free of conflict. The KPCS also aims to prevent diamond sales from financing wars. Though the KPCS has been successful in reducing the production of conflict

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diamonds, critics say that it does not address significant concerns related to human rights or environmental degradation.

Africa is home to select deposits of oil and natural gas, which are drilled for energy and fuel. The amount of natural gas produced in Africa has doubled since 2000 and continues to climb each year. Nigeria, Algeria and Egypt are major producers of natural gas, and Nigeria is also a consistent major oil producer.

Oil production has also been connected to civil conflict and pollution. In Nigeria, indigenous tribal groups, who have typically been underserved by the government, have raised concerns that oil companies based in North America, Europe and China have exploited the group’s oil resources and their labor while keeping most of the wealth. They also charge that out-of-date equipment has severely polluted air, soil and water resources.

When their protests were ignored, some people resorted to damaging the pipelines and other acts of civil disobedience, which, as time went on, became more and more violent. Some of these groups, like the Ogoni, have been able to stop oil companies from extracting oil from their land. This has caused its own set of problems, however, as the oil companies have left their pipelines in the region even though they are not extracting oil. These pipelines eventually break down and cause devastating oil spills.

In 2023, a major oil spill spread over 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of the Okulu River, an important fishing area for local residents, and took more than a week to contain.

However, in recent years, the Nigerian government has taken stronger steps to protect the environment and the “host” citizens living in the areas where drilling occurs. In 2021, the government passed the Petroleum Industry Act. This act has a wide range of provisions to improve the oil sector, including diverting funds into environmental remediation and support for host communities, and giving host communities more input in decision-making.

Experts say this is an important first step in improving issues around oil production.

Industry and Innovation Africa’s natural resource economy contributes greatly to the continent’s built

NIGERIA IS ONE OF AFRICA’S MAIN OIL PRODUCERS. WITH 15 OPERATING PIPELINES AND AN AVERAGE DAILY PRODUCTION OF SOME 1.5 MILLION BARRELS IN 2023, NIGERIA IS THE FIFTEENTH LARGEST OIL PRODUCER WORLDWIDE. MOREOVER, THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY ACCOUNTS FOR ABOUT 5.5 PERCENT OF NIGERIA’S GDP AND FOR AROUND 92 PERCENT OF THE VALUE OF ALL EXPORTS.

environment, or its human-made buildings and structures. Many of Africa’s recent famous architectural achievements are related to sustainability and the environment. The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, which was formerly a grain silo, is one such example. Its soaring ceilings made from the storage chambers of the silo are a stunning example of adaptive reuse of materials. The Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre, also located in South Africa, was designed to be energy efficient as well as self-supporting, with no major framework supporting the structure.

Building city infrastructure in Africa is a huge challenge, due to overcrowding, lack of services, climate change and other issues.

Lagos, a city in Nigeria, is booming economically and contributes around 25 percent to the country’s GDP. However, the population is expanding so rapidly that residents are pushed to live on the outskirts of the city in areas with little or no public infrastructure, such as running water or electricity. Though residents have shown ingenuity in building housing structures on reclaimed bodies of water, the government has largely refused to create infrastructure and services for those living there. These communities are susceptible to flooding and damage, a danger that only increases as a result of climate change.

City dwellers are creating innovative solutions to combat some of these problems.

Due to concerns from flooding, a local architect developed a plan called the

Floating School, which consists of school For example, Uganda has many coffee buildings that can adapt to changing water farmers who are fair-trade certified, which levels so children can continue to attend has improved the production and profits of school no matter the conditions. Urban the export since the 1990s. The cocoa development projects in cities in Rwanda industry in Ghana, however, has not had and Kenya plan to create hubs of sustainable such success. Farmers there saw their technology that will help their communities incomes fall in 2023 even though production come together and plan for the future. went up, and despite fair trade cooperatives being quite active there.

Challenges Africa is facing many challenges related to Fair trade has helped some farming sectors both the protection and the use of its improve in equity, but there remains much resources. The compounding effects of to be done. Critics of fair trade argue that its poverty and economic pressures from certification process comes from the global nations in Europe, North America and Asia north in the form of large cooperatives and exacerbate the challenges of addressing that African farmers have less of a say in how decades-long imbalances that have they get certified. This had led to some hampered development in the continent. companies creating their own fair-trade certification. Some of these companies are One of the most significant challenges is a doing this to have more control and voice in trade imbalance that is the legacy of the process, while others may be trying to colonialism. In recent decades, fair-trade get around the standards or use the fairpolicies have been put in place to remedy trade label as a marketing technique. Many this issue. Fair trade is a movement that critics agree with the stance that “fair trade” reached worldwide attention in the 1990s is overused as a marketing term. They say with a goal of making sure that farmers, that the “fair trade” seal of approval is particularly African farmers, are paid fair meant to appeal to consumers in North prices by Europeans and Americans. During America and Europe and make them feel and after the colonial era, Europeans and good about their purchases, without Americans were buying high-demand advocating for systemic change. Finding a products, such as cocoa, from African balance between the African workers’ right farmers and reselling them for a much to govern their own industries yet be held to higher price. They profited off of African an international standard of fair practices is farmers in a similar way that the colonial a challenge that individuals, companies, powers exploited African workers and and local and national governments must resources. Fair trade is designed to address work together to address. such imbalances by setting a minimum (“fair”) price for products to be paid to the Another area in which human rights and farmers. Fair trade also focuses on human environmental concerns are coming up rights and exploitation issues like child against industry and resource management labor, equal opportunities for women, is mining. For example, cobalt mining in the sustainability and other issues that affect DRC has repercussions for both local The African farmers. Many fair-trade situation is dire, but experts are pushing for organizations are based in Europe and change. If countries that buy cobalt from the North America, including the World Fair DRC, including China and the United States, Trade Organization, which was an early join together to require mines to institute international network of independent fair- safety protocols and proper mining trade organizations. procedures, conditions would improve.

Different countries have had different experiences with fair trade. Some countries that have greatly increased their participation in fair trade certification have gained profit and improved their industry.

Experts point out that other countries in Africa have had success in reducing human rights issues in mining, including South Africa. Until recently, South African mines have traditionally had many fatalities. In the

1990s and early 2000s, the death rate was around 100–300 people per year. Prior to that, the death toll in the mines could be as high as 800 people per year. This was in part because gold and platinum, two of South Africa’s most important exports, are found deep in the ground in the region. The long mining shafts increased the chances of injury and death, as well as poisoning or explosions due to toxic gasses. Another contributing factor was the population that mines chose to hire, a large percentage of whom were migrants from other African countries with little or no formal training in mine work. Since then, however, mining companies in South Africa have improved safety measures, which has decreased the death toll dramatically. The death rate has mostly decreased year over year and was as low as 49 deaths in 2022. Though the death toll increased in 2023—mostly due to a single catastrophic incident where 11 people died in an elevator that fell in a shaft —mine safety has been trending in a positive direction since 2000. populations and the world at large. Cobalt is in high demand because it is used in making rechargeable batteries for devices such as smartphones and computers. Companies based in the global north source cobalt from Africa, increasing the demand astronomically. In the DRC, cobalt mining has been plagued with human rights violations. People living in cobalt-rich areas have been forcibly removed from their homes and told to relocate so that mines can be opened on their lands. Those who refuse to comply may be beaten or have their homes burned down. There are also issues related to safety for cobalt workers.

Companies pay workers just dollars a day and provide no job security or benefits. The dangerous work is made more so because workers are using old and outdated tools.

The mining process is also toxic. It both damages the environment and makes workers sick. To add on to the human rights issues, child labor is frequently used. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that 25,000 children work in mines in the DRC. education.nationalgeographic.org

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TOP 5 RICHEST COUNTRIES IN AFRICA Africa is a continent rich in history, culture, and natural resources. These rich heritage and resources have positioned the continent as a hub for economic opportunities and progress because they attract investment, foster trade, and promote industrialization.

Over the years, many African nations have tapped into their wealth of resources and strategic industries to secure their positions as economic powerhouses. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at these richest African countries, examining their GDP and the key factors behind their economic success. Let’s dive right in!

1. South Africa (GDP – $373 Billion) With a GDP of $373 Billion, South Africa is currently the richest African country. This impressive wealth stems largely from its abundant natural resources, including precious minerals like gold, platinum, and diamonds, which have given rise to a robust mining industry.

However, South Africa’s economic success isn’t just about what lies beneath the surface. The country also boasts a thriving financial services sector. Major cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town are home to well-established banks, insurance companies, and investment firms, which are crucial in sustaining the nation’s economic stability and growth. These institutions not only facilitate investments but also support business operations and contribute to the overall financial well-being of the country.

South Africa is also one of the leading African countries in industrialization. Compared to other African countries, the country has a relatively well-established industrial base with significant activities in various sectors, including clothing and textiles, food and beverages, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, etc.

Tourism, specifically, is a significant contributor to the nation’s economy. Every year, millions of visitors are drawn to ancient Egyptian monuments like the Pyramids of Giza and the temples of Luxor. This influxof tourists not only boosts revenue but also supports local businesses, creates jobs, and plays a vital role in preserving Egypt’s rich cultural heritage.

Another major asset vital to the Egyptian economy is the Suez Canal. This artificial waterway in Egypt links the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, making it one of the most vital shipping routes in the world, offering a shortcut for ships traveling between Europe and Asia.

The canal is a crucial player in global trade, and Egypt benefits significantly from it.

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Beyond oil, agriculture also remains a key economic sector in Nigeria. It employs a significant population share and is crucial in ensuring food security and boosting exports. In fact, the country is currently one of the largest producers of several agricultural products, including cassava, yams and maize.

Nigeria’s rapidly growing population also plays a positive role in its economy, significantly contributing to economic activity by expanding the labour force and creating a large domestic market, which fuels business growth and attracts investment.

3.Algeria (GDP-$266 billion) Like other Rich African countries, Algeria’s wealth comes from its rich natural resources, especially oil and gas. The country is a major player in the global natural gas market and supplies a significant portion of Europe’s needs.

This energy export not only drives Algeria’s economy but also strengthens its geopolitical influence and provides substantial government revenue, which is crucial for funding public services and infrastructure projects.

In addition to its energy sector, Algeria has a growing manufacturing industry, particularly in petrochemicals and construction materials.

The country has also been investing in diversifying its economy, with initiatives to expand the agricultural sector and develop renewable energy sources.

Algeria also benefits from its strategic location in North Africa, with access to the Mediterranean Sea and proximity to Europe.

This is key to the country’s international trade and economic connections.

2. Egypt (GDP – $347 billion) With a GDP of $347 billion, Egypt sits second on our list of the richest African countries. The country’s economy is supported by three primary pillars: tourism, agriculture, and manufacturing.

4.Nigeria (GDP: $ 252 billion) Nigeria has always been one of the richest African countries, which is why the country is always referred to as the giant of Africa. Nigeria’s wealth is primarily fueled by its vast oil and gas reserves, making it one of the world’s leading oil producers. This oil production contributes significantly to the country’s export revenue and government income.

5. Ethiopia (GDP – $205 billion) Ethiopia boasts of one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies at the moment. The agricultural sector, which employs most of the population, remains the backbone of the economy, producing coffee, grains, and livestock for domestic consumption and export.

The country is also pushing for industrialization, which has led to substantial growth in manufacturing, especially in textiles and apparel. Infrastructure projects, such as roads, railways, and dams, are also expanding rapidly.

These efforts are all part of a strategy to diversify the economy and lessen its dependence on agriculture.

THE GREAT AFRICA WEALTH HEIST

Long in Exile, the Looted Benin Bronzes Tell the Story of a Mighty African Kingdom BAVUAL FALL 2024 | 45

Much of Africa's cultural treasure was looted during colonial times and has remained in museums and private collections in Europe and North America ever since. For the last few decades, however, African nations have been asking for the stolen treasures to be returned.

the court of the Asante king during conflicts between his people and British soldiers.

A gold peace pipe, a sword and other significant pieces were returned, again on a long-term loan from the museum to the king.

In the Asante culture, the gold artifacts are believed to be invested with the spirit of Last week, 39 artifacts were formally handed former kings, so the return of the treasures back to the government of Uganda by was described as the return of "the soul of the Britain's famed University of Cambridge. people."

While the return is technically a three-year loan between museums, it is extendable, and Why are artifacts loaned and not just could see them remain in their country of returned? origin.

In February, the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles Martin Mugarra, the minister of tourism, permanently returned seven looted objects said that while many important artifacts to the Asante people in Ghana. In a statement remain overseas, it was still a significant issued at the time, the museum's return of cultural objects. In a social media management said they considered post, he said the process to get the pieces themselves "temporary custodians of the back started in 2016 under the "rethinking objects in our collection."

Uganda Museum" project, in collaboration with the University of Michigan.

"In the case of pieces that were violently or coercively taken from their original owners "These invaluable pieces were taken from or communities, it is our ethical Uganda during the 1890s and early 1900s by responsibility to do what we can to return British colonial administrators, those objects," said Erica Jones, the senior anthropologists, missionaries and soldiers," curator of African arts and manager of he said. curatorial affairs at the Fowler Museum.

The pieces had been kept at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge for more than 100 years. The collection includes human remains taken from the Wamala tombs, a headdress made of human hair and a traditional Bunyoro drum.

Ugandan heritage specialists say the pieces will be acclimated to Ugandan conditions before being put on display in 2025 or 2026.

Restitution remains a common issue for many African governments and communities. More and more are seeking accountability and the return of items of cultural value looted either before or during colonial rule.

In April, the popular Victoria and Albert Museum in London loaned 32 artifacts that were taken from what is now Ghana more than 150 years ago back to the country's current king. The objects were stolen from

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The collections in many European museums tend to be owned by the state, however, with laws in place to govern their care — and in many cases, bar them from being removed, even to return to original owners, which is referred to as deaccessioning. To permanently give back contested antiquities from their collections, those countries would need to change their laws.

A 1963 law bans the British Museum in London from removing an artifact from its collection unless it is a duplicate, is damaged or is deemed "unfit" for the collection.

The National Heritage Act of 1983 prevents the V&A from legally returning its artifacts.

More museums in the United States are privately owned, with the notable exception of those run by the state-owned Smithsonian Institution. That means institutions like the Fowler Museum can more easily and quickly repatriate artifacts back to their original owners.

"I agree that in order to maintain public trust in museums, deaccessioning should not be taken lightly," Ngaire Blankenberg, a museum specialist with the Creative Repair Studio and the former director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art, told CBS News.

She added, however, that "where there is will, legislation can be changed."

"Most of the laws prohibiting restitution were enacted long after the work in question was taken, or in some cases, in order to justify criminal activity," Blankenberg said.

"If a law can be made only in 1983, for example, there surely is a mechanism to repeal or amend it in 2024?"

Within a few weeks of her arrival at NMAFA in Washington D.C., Blankenberg launched the process to hand back Benin bronzes that had long been in the museum's collection.

"As an African, it is personally offensive to see looted African work displayed as a trophy, even if the text below it acknowledges the circumstances of its removal from its source," she said. "So, I immediately took them off display and began a conversation with the Nigerian Commission of Museum and Monuments about what they would like to do with the Bronzes. They indicated they wanted them back, and so began the process."

"It's not just a question of ownership" How contested artifacts are displayed is an issue unto itself.

There are tens of thousands of African artifacts spread across the Western world, most of which are unlikely to be returned anytime soon given the slow pace of deaccessioning thus far.

Blankenberg said it was important for museums and galleries to consider how such works are displayed, including whether there are accompanying explanations of why ownership is contested, and what words are used to describe them and their significance.

"It's not just a question of ownership, but

spiritual significance," she said. "In some cases, what are referred to as 'inanimate objects' described only by the material they are made with, are in fact considered living beings or 'with spirit' by their societies of origin. Using eurocentric reference points robs these works of their context and meaning and results in misunderstandings, assumptions and stereotypes about the cultures they originate from. So the issue is not only about who owns these, but also who gets to decide who sees them, how they are displayed, how they are documented and the role they play in our understanding of the world."

field agree it should not be seen as an end, but the beginning.

Blankenberg and others hope there's an opportunity to start building strong, sustainable, well-resourced institutions in Africa to rebalance the relationship between African art and knowledge and the continent's former colonizers.

Molemo Moiloa is the co-founder of Open Restitution Africa, which is looking at the restitution process and gives small grants across the continent to activists and other researchers involved in returning artifacts to their rightful owners.

Looted artifacts have been controversial for decades, but many museums in the West might The group compiled a report in 2022 that did not exist in their current forms if it wasn't for show "a massive shift in the discourse and these collections. action — but this is only from a zero base, a total refusal, disengagement, up to now," While countless researchers, conservators, Moiloa told CBS News. registrars, scholars, administrators and curators have built their careers on their "We are just starting to see policy expertise in managing these collections, developments in practice, and people African institutions and scholars suffer from a acknowledging that there is a need for chronic lack of resources and often need to go return, but not actually returning it yet," she to the West to access work from their own said, noting that experts estimate as much as cultures.

90% of Africa's cultural and historical material has been held outside the "We need to recognize not just the harm of the continent for hundreds of years. original theft, but the ongoing harm that depriving cultures of their masterpieces, their The decision to return artifacts currently spiritual guides, their cultural icons does to a depends entirely on the leadership of people. What has undoubtedly added value to Western museums and their owners.

Western museums, has been to the detriment "Africans need to be given the resources to of African societies and scholarship," deal with returns, and ultimately allowed to Blankenberg said. be in charge of every aspect of the decision making," said Moiloa.

Moving forward to make amends for the past There is a growing movement among "What we have found is that many museums antiquities experts, who feel reparative have many African art pieces in storage, and restitution must include more than just a as they open new wings or put work out on handover, and incorporate an public display it creates a certain visibility acknowledgement of the harm that's been that then requires accountability," she said. done as well as financial reparations in the "It's just one step in a conversation; where form of money and other resources. many museums see the opening of a wing as the end, it should be seen as an opening to They believe fundamental apologies are also the public for a conversation — a warranted, along with commitments to never transparent engagement with what is in repeat the crimes of the past. their collections, and that could lead to what Africans want back."

As the Ugandan art returned last week is studied and prepared to be put on display Several recent visits to the continent by Max back on its home soil next year, experts in the Hollein, from the Metropolitan Museum of

Art in New York, and Emmanuel Kasarherou, from the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, were taken as potential good signs of a new approach toward Africa.

It might be an indication that France, for example, will make good on the promise issued by President Emmanuel Macron in 2018 to repatriate all African artifacts held in French museums.

Artifacts being returned to their home countries on loan is, in the end, just an exercise in diplomacy. The real test will be what happens next.

Will the hundreds, if not thousands of contested works from Africa in the Quai Branly actually find their way back home?

How will the Met deal with the contested works in its collection when it opens its new gallery of African art next year?

"We need to go beyond lip service and see some concrete and speedy action," said Blankenberg.

- CBS News.com

Traditional artifacts repatriated by the University of Cambridge are shown in Kampala, Uganda, June 12, 2024.

The British university returned the 39 items, which range from tribal regalia to delicate pottery, to the East African country.

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A Guide To Africa’s “Looted” Treasures

By Ashley Lime BBC Africa, Nairobi During colonial rule in Africa, thousands of cultural artefacts were plundered. African countries want them back and major museums across Europe have agreed to loan the famous Benin Bronzes back to Nigeria. Now France has launched a report calling for thousands of African art in its museums to be returned to the continent.

Benin Bronzes The Benin Bronzes, which are actually made of brass, are a collection of delicately made sculptures and plaques that adorned the royal palace of the Oba, Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, in the Kingdom of Benin, which was incorporated into British-ruled Nigeria.

They were carved out of ivory, brass, ceramic and wood.

Many of the pieces were cast for the ancestral altars of past kings and queen mothers.

In 1897, the British launched a punitive expedition against Benin, in response to an attack on a British diplomatic expedition.

Apart from bronze sculptures and plaques, innumerable royal objects were taken as a result of the mission and are scattered all over the world.

The British Museum in London says many of the objects from Benin in its collection were given to it in 1898 by the Foreign Office and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.

Man-eaters of Tsavo These were two infamous lions from the Tsavo region in Kenya, East Africa that killed and ate railway workers on the British KenyaUganda at the end of the 19th Century.

The labourers were building the railway line between Mombasa and Lake Victoria over nine months in 1898.

The two killer beasts were eventually shot dead by British engineer Lieutenant Colonel John Patterson, at the helm of the railway project.

The stuffed lions were purchased from Patterson by the Field Museum of Natural History in the US city of Chicago in 1925 and catalogued into the museum's permanent collections.

Lt Col Patterson reported the lions' feeding frenzy took the lives of 135 railway workers and black Africans, but the Field Museum says later research conducted by its scientists drastically reduced that estimate to 35.

The Kenya National Museum wants the lions returned.

Lt Col John Patterson pictured with one of the lions he killed

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Rosetta Stone

Bangwa Queen

The 1.12m (3ft 6in) high Rosetta Stone in the British Museum is originally from Egypt and is a stele made out of granodiorite, which is a coarse-grained rock.

The 32in (81cm) tall Bangwa Queen is a wooden carving from Cameroon, representing the power and health of the Bangwa people.

It is a broken part of a bigger slab with text carved on to it that has helped researchers learn how to read Egyptian hieroglyphs - a form of writing that used pictures as signs.

It features three columns of the same inscription in three languages: Greek, hieroglyphs and demotic Egyptian - and is the text of a decree written by priests in 196 BC, during the reign of pharaoh Ptolemy V.

It is one of the world's most famous pieces of African art and has huge sacred significance for Cameroonians.

It is unclear how the stone was discovered in July 1799, but there's a general belief that it was found by soldiers fighting with the French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte as they were building an extension to a fort near the town of Rashid - also known as Rosetta in the Nile Delta.

When Napoleon was defeated, the British took possession of the stone under the terms of the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801.

It was then transported to England, arriving in Portsmouth in February 1802. George III offered it to the British Museum a few months later.

Sculptures were made of titled royal wives or princesses and would be referred to as Bangwa Queens in the Bangwa land of present-day Lebialem district of Cameroon's South-West region.

The Bangwa Queen was either given to or looted by the German colonial agent Gustav Conrau in around 1899 before the territory was colonised.

It ended up in the Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin and was then bought by an art collector in 1926.

According to the New York Times, US art collector Harry A Franklin bought the carving in 1966 for $29,000 and after his death it sold at a Sotheby's auction for $3.4 million.

Surrealist portrait photographer Man Ray also included the Queen of Bangwa in a 1937 portrait of a nude model - in what the New York Times says became one of his famous images.

The Dapper Foundation in Paris, France now owns the Bangwa Queen sculpture - and it was on display at the Musée Dapper until 2017 when the museum that focused on African art closed because of low attendance and high maintenance costs.

Traditional leaders of the Bangwa have been corresponding with the foundation, requesting its return to Cameroon.

Authors of the report commissioned by President Macron, Senegalese writer and economist Felwine Sarr and French Historian Bénédicte Savoy, have recommended that French law is changed to allow the return of the African art.

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Maqdala treasures treasures include an 18th Century gold crown and a royal wedding dress, taken from Ethiopia (formerly Abyssinia) by the British army in 1868.

Historians say 15 elephants and 200 mules were needed to cart away all the loot from Maqdala, Emperor Tewodros II's northern citadel capital.

The British raided Maqdala in protest at the detention of its consul when relations between the two powers deteriorated.

Some of the treasures were later deposited at the UK's Victoria and Albert Museum.

The crown, admired for its silver and copper filigree designs and religious embossed images, and royal wedding dress are significant symbols of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Scholars believe the crown was commissioned in the 1740s by Empress Mentewwab and her son King Iyyasu and given as a gift to a church in Gondar, together with a solid gold chalice.

The dress and jewellery belonged to Emperor Tewodros II's widow, Queen Woyzaro Terunesh.

This crown is admired for its filigree designs and religious embossed images

Ethiopia lodged a claim in 2007 for the return of the antiquities. In April this year, the V&A offered to return the treasures to Ethiopia on loan.

Made in the 1860s, this wedding dress is thought to have belonged to Queen Woyzaro Terunesh Advertisement

Zimbabwe bird A soapstone sculpture of a fish eagle is Zimbabwe's main national emblem. Eight of the Zimbabwe Birds were looted from the ruins of an ancient city. Only eight of the birds were ever recovered. They stood on the walls and monoliths of the ancient city built between the 12th and 15th Centuries by the ancestors of the Shona people. Seven of the carvings are in Zimbabwe since 2003 when the bottom section of one was returned by Germany. It had ended up in the hands of a German missionary who sold it to the Ethnological Museum in Berlin in 1907.

Then after Soviet troops invaded Germany at the end of the World War Two, it was moved from Berlin to Leningrad and remained there to the end of the Cold War and then returned to Germany. The eighth remains in the old bedroom of 19th Century British imperialist Cecil Rhodes, whose home in the South African city of Cape Town is now a museum. He had taken a number of birds from Great Zimbabwe to South Africa in 1906. South Africa returned four of them in 1981, a year after Zimbabwe gained its independence.

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THE RICH IN AFRICA

ARE THEY HELPING OR HURTING THEIR BROTHERS?

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African billionaires are increasingly recognising the importance of giving back to their communities. A recent philanthropy study by Business Insider Africa shows that these wealthy individuals are using their resources to positively impact the continent.

One notable example is Aliko Dangote, Nigeria's richest man and the wealthiest person in Africa. Dangote is a prominent philanthropist who has donated billions of dollars to various causes, including education, health, and poverty alleviation.

His foundation, the Dangote Foundation, has committed over $1 billion to various initiatives across the continent, such as the fight against polio and malaria, and the construction of schools and hospitals.

In South Africa, billionaire Patrice Motsepe has also been a prominent philanthropist.

Through his foundation, the Motsepe Foundation, he has donated millions of dollars to various causes, including education, health, and social entrepreneurship. Motsepe has also pledged to donate half of his wealth to charity through The Giving Pledge, a campaign founded by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet to encourage wealthy individuals to give away the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.

Aside from these well-known philanthropists, many other African billionaires are also using their wealth to make a difference. For instance, Nigerian businessman Tony Elumelu founded the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which supports African entrepreneurs with training, funding, and mentorship. The foundation has established a 10-year, $100 million initiative to support 10,000 African entrepreneurs. This initiative aims to create sustainable businesses that can drive economic growth and job creation in Africa.

Through their philanthropic efforts, African billionaires are using their resources to positively impact their communities by addressing critical issues such as education, healthcare, entrepreneurship, and job creation. Furthermore, by collaborating with international organisations and taking a strategic approach to their philanthropy, they are making significant contributions to the development of their countries and the continent.

HALIMA DANGOTE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ALIKO DANGOTE FOUNDATION

THROUGH HIS FOUNDATION, THE MOTSEPE FOUNDATION, PATRICE HAS DONATED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO VARIOUS CAUSES, INCLUDING EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

Victor Oluwole Published at africa.business insider.com March 7, 2023

Another billionaire who has significantly contributed to their community is Strive Masiyiwa, a Zimbabwean businessman and philanthropist. Masiyiwa has donated millions of dollars to various causes, including education and healthcare. He also founded the Higher Life Foundation, which supports vulnerable children and young people in Zimbabwe and several other African countries.

HIGHERLIFE FOUNDATIONFOUNDERS STRIVE & TSITSI MASIYIWA

THROUGH HIS FOUNDATION, THE MOTSEPE FOUNDATION, HE HAS DONATED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO VARIOUS CAUSES, INCLUDING EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

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NINE WHO GIVE BACK NICKY OPPENHEIMER

South African Nicky Oppenheimer and his family created the Brenthurst Foundation in 2004. It essentially operates as a think tank, generating ideas and policy proposals to strengthen economic expansion in Africa. The Brenthurst Foundation convenes high-level private meetings to encourage key decision-makers and experts to share insights and experiences. Oppenheimer and his family also fund the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust (OMT), which makes grants to public benefit organizations and institutions, principally in the education sector. It also supports the arts and a range of civil society organizations engaged in policy research and advocacy work. The Oppenheimer family donated $80 million to OMT in 2012.

MOHAMMED DEWJI

In 2016 Tanzanian billionaire Mohammed “Mo” Dewji joined the Giving Pledge, promising to give away at least half of his wealth to philanthropic causes. Dewji’s Mo Dewji Foundation focuses on three areas: health, education, and community development in Tanzania. Over the last five years, the Mo Dewji Foundation has spent more than $3 million in grants and other forms of funding for community service projects, supporting schools, hospitals and water wells.

MIKE ADENUGA

Last June, Mike Adenuga, the oil, banking and telecoms magnate received France's highest national honor from President Macron in recognition of his contribution to the development of FrenchNigerian relations, his appreciation of the French culture and also for the advancement and betterment of humanity. Adenuga spent several millions of dollars in constructing the new headquarters of the Alliance Française Lagos, which is located inside the Mike Adenuga Centre in Lagos. In 2011, the Nigerian multibillionaire donated millions of dollars to flood victims in Bayelsa state in Nigeria. Adenuga has also donated millions of dollars to several educational and religious institutions in Nigeria and Ghana.

In 2016, former Ghanaian President John Mahama honored Adenuga with Ghana’s highest national honors for his philanthropic pursuits in the county.

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THEOPHILUS DANJUMA

Theophilus Danjuma is a distinguished businessman who is the founder of South Atlantic Petroleum Limited (SAPETRO), a Nigerian oil and gas exploration and production company focused on creating value in the exploration, development, and production of African opportunities. SAPETRO holds the second-largest operating acreage in all of offshore east and southern Africa.

He reportedly gave $100 million to set up the TY Danjuma Foundation, a grant-making organization that partners with NGOs in education, health, policy, and poverty-related fields.

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ALLAN W.B GRAY

The reclusive South African billionaire who passed away in November 2019 is arguably the most generous South African philanthropist ever.

In 2007, Gray, who founded his eponymous investment management firm, endowed his Allan Gray Orbis Foundation with $150 million. Based in Cape Town, the Orbis Foundation invests in the education and development of individuals with entrepreneurial potential within Southern Africa. The foundation offers full high school scholarships that cover tuition, hostel fees, and living expenses at leading South African high schools.

FOLORUNSHO ALAKIJA

Nigeria's Richest Woman Folorunsho Alakija donated a Skills Acquisition Center to Yaba College of Technology, a higher educational institution located in Lagos. In 2016, Alakija and her husband donated a $2.7 million building to the Ajayi Crowther University, in Oyo, Nigeria. In April 2017 she donated $700,000 to the University of Osun and has started building a pediatric hospital for the same institution.

Her Rose Of Sharon Foundation gives grants to destitute widows across Nigeria and financial independence & educational opportunity for widows and orphans through programmes that assure ease of socioeconomic integration.

ONSI SAWIRIS

In 2001 Onsi Sawiris, the patriarch of the Sawiris family business dynasty of Egypt founded the Sawiris Foundation For Social Development, a charity that provides micro credit to Egyptian entrepreneurs and grants scholarships to outstanding Egyptian students in tertiary institutions. Onsi’s sons, Naguib, Samih and Nassef all sit on the board of the foundation.

MOHAMED & YASSEEN MANSOUR

The Mansour brothers are the financial backers of the Mansour Foundation for Development, a non-profit organization involved in welfare and socio-economic development of the Egyptian society through education, health, and capacity building. Among other things, the foundation offers scholarships to indigent Egyptians, rehabilitates infrastructure at local educational institutions, and provides critical infrastructure to medical institutions in low-income areas in Egypt.

ABDULSAMAD RABIU

Nigerian cement and sugar billionaire Abdulsamad Rabiu is the chairman of the BUA Foundation, which funded the construction of the Centre for Islamic Studies at the Bayero University in Kano in Nigeria. In 2015, Rabiu donated more than $1 million towards the Boko Haram Victims Support Fund. The BUA Foundation is also in the process of constructing a $20 million, 220bed specialist hospital in Kano.

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The Mysterious Billionaire Behind The Dangote Group perception a boost, said Zainab Usman, a political economist and director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

African billionaire Aliko Dangote is wealthier than ever now that his longawaited Nigerian oil refinery is up and running. But his mood suggests a man who just built his dream house only for the roof to start leaking.

The Dangote Refinery outside Lagos is the biggest single-train oil refinery in the world and one of the most complex, capable of processing most global crude types. It has the potential to transform Nigeria’s economy by making the country self-reliant for fuel. And it’s more than doubled his net worth to $27.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

He said he wouldn’t wish the experience on his worst enemy.

“I didn’t know what we were building was a monster,” Dangote, 67, said during a recent visit to New York. “The pressure was coming from different directions, people confusing us, disturbing us every day with different media stories that it will never work, it will never work, it will never work.”

Since the refinery started running in January, there have been disagreements with the government and state oil company, as well as concerns over its impact on locals and the environment. Dangote is smarting from the blowback, his tone quickly shifting from warm to bitter as he runs through the challenges.

For Dangote, who made his first billions in cement, the refinery was the most audacious undertaking of his 46-year career. Building it took 11 years and $20 billion, three-and-ahalf times as long and more than twice as much as initially planned. He financed most of it himself.

UNPARALLELED SCALE Short in stature with neatly-trimmed graying hair, Dangote is an industrialist on an unparalleled scale. The bedrock of his

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ALIKO DANGOTE

empire is commodities: mainly cement but also sugar, salt and flour. His fortune is an anomaly in a country where 40% of the population lives below the national poverty line and sizable wealth is often tied to oil holdings.

Dangote’s critics call him a politicallyconnected monopolist, but he’s proud of his role in building Nigeria’s manufacturing sector. Before he went into business, Nigeria imported most of its cement — a literal building block of developing markets. Now it’s a net exporter of the substance. With the refinery, he saw an opportunity to do the same for the country’s oil industry.

Through it all the trials, he said his goal was to address Nigeria’s economic paradox. The country is Africa’s biggest oil producer but a dearth of functioning domestic refineries meant it was exporting its own crude, refining it abroad, then re-importing it as fuel in a loop rife with waste.

For most of his career, Dangote has had close relations with Nigeria’s leaders, who supported his economy-boosting factories.

Not so with current President Bola Tinubu, who took office last year. In January, the antigraft commission raided Dangote Group’s offices as part of an investigation into the foreign-exchange dealings of a former official. Dangote Group called the visit an “unwarranted embarrassment” and said it hadn’t been accused of wrongdoing.

Typically somewhat press-shy, Dangote’s sudden stridency is giving his public

Maintaining wealth of any level has become substantially harder in Nigeria of late. The naira has lost more than two-thirds of its value against the dollar following Tinubu’s relaxing of foreign exchange restrictions.

Dangote boasts that 80% of his business is dollarized. Next year he said Dangote Group will be the biggest supplier of dollars to Nigeria, whose economic woes have been exacerbated by a shortage of the US currency.

Dangote’s ties to his home country are deep.

He’s lived in the same house, a Lagos mansion, for 34 years. But his assets, like those of most members of the extremely rich, are stateless, held by an entity based in the Cayman Islands called Greenview. He’s opening a family office in Dubai to diversify and manage his fortune that will be run by his daughter Halima, who moved there this summer.

He has a charitable foundation that donates millions of dollars every year but he wants to give away more, $10 billion over time. He talks of stepping back and transitioning the business to his children and other family members, including a grandson who’s finishing university next year. He laments that his daughters are already older than he was when he got his first private jet (age 23) and built his mansion (33).

The strain of building the refinery has piqued his interest in diversifying, though he’s proud that the industrial sector will define him.

“I’m passionate about it because you’re going to leave a real legacy, especially in Africa,” he said. “I’m making my country and continent self-sufficient in things that they never ever dreamed of.”

Devon Pendleton Published at finance.yahoo.com October 17, 2024

HOW AN AFRICAN FAMILY LIVES

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Family plays a central role in African society. It shapes such daily experiences as how and where individuals live, how they interact with the people around them, and even, in some cases, whom they marry. It can determine a person's political identity and the way money and property are transferred. In rural areas, the family typically remains the basic unit of agricultural production.

However, no single type of family exists in Africa. Societies have defined family in many different ways, and many bear little resemblance to the Western idea of the nuclear family.

Furthermore, throughout the continent, traditional family patterns are changing. Colonialism, capitalism, the growth of cities, exposure to Western culture, and increasing opportunities for women are some of the factors that are affecting the shape of family life.

FAMILY STRUCTURE Each of the many family systems in Africa can be defined in terms of two broad kinds of relationships. Relationships of descent are genealogical—that is, based on the connections between generations. Relationships of affinity are marital—based on marriage. The interweaving of these relationships creates the family that an individual sees every day, as well as the wider network of kinship that surrounds each person.

RELATIONSHIPS OF DESCENT Everyone is part of some sort of descent system, either patrilineal, matrilineal, or both. In patrilineal systems, property and political power pass through the male side of the family; the female side determines descent in matrilineal systems. In these relationships, senior generations have more power or status than junior ones.

Younger people are expected to show respect toward older family members. In the past, this power could take the form of ownership.

Among some peoples in the Congo Basin, for example, a man could sell his sister's child into slavery.

RELATIONSHIPS OF AFFINITY Marriage systems in Africa are highly diverse. In sub-Saharan Africa, some pairings of men and women are temporary, others permanent.

Depending on the culture, a couple may live in the husband's home or the wife's home. Among some groups, such as the ASANTE, each spouse continues to live in the home in which he or she was born.

Children may stay with their parents until they marry, or they may spend part of their adolescence in the home of another relative. In some cultures, young people leave their families at puberty to live in villages of adolescents.

African marriage can be polygynous—that is, a man may have more than one wife. In practice, though, only the senior or wealthy individuals in a society have been able to have multiple wives. When polygyny occurs, the family unit is based on mothers. Each wife has her own house and property that are generally transferred to her own children. The mother and child, rather than the husband and wife, thus form the basis of family and kinship in such communities.

Christian marriages in Africa, as elsewhere, are generally monogamous, with a man having only one wife.

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In some African societies, nuclear families are contained within larger social groups that may include kinfolk, neighbors, people of the same age or gender, and others. The nuclear family does not always have its own property or decide what tasks its members will perform. Rather, relationships between husbands and wives and between parents and children often unfold within larger domestic units called households, which may consist of joint or extended families.

HOUSEHOLDS In a household community, several generations and several nuclear families live and work together. In joint family households, all members live together in a single large homestead or compound. In extended family households, the nuclear families within the household each live in separate compounds. A joint or extended family is under the authority of its senior member, typically a grandfather or greatgrand-father. Such families may be patrilineal or matrilineal.

Most members of a joint or extended family household are born and raised within it or marry into it. Some, however, such as adopted children or adults, may be unrelated to the others. In sub-Saharan Africa, distant relatives are sometimes invited to settle with a household, but they usually have lower status than their hosts. A household might also include servants or, in the past, slaves.

The household functions as an economic as well as a family unit. It can be described in material terms—for example, by acres of land, number of buildings, or certain tasks performed by certain members.

A family compound among the Tswana of Botswana might include the huts and grain sheds of a man and his wife (or wives) and children, an unmarried brother, and an elderly mother. In rural areas, household members work together to produce food and other goods; in a town or city, the members might work to pay rent and buy groceries. In either case, the household needs to maintain itself, which means that productive new members must be added to replace the elderly, the disabled, and those who die. In this way, households are more flexible and inclusive than other family groups.

ISLAM AND FAMILY LIFE Islam has had a profound influence on family life in some parts of Africa. It has affected not only the ARABS, the majority population in North Africa, but also such non-Arab peoples as the BERBERS. Arab Families Arabs who live in rural areas tend to maintain more traditional customs than the inhabitants of towns and cities. Rural Arabs live in extended families, with three generations or more sharing a residence. Marriage is regarded not as the union of two individuals but as the joining of two families, often already linked by ties of KINSHIP. Family members are expected to stick closely to expected roles: fathers are stern disciplinarians, mothers are nurturers, and children become members of the family workforce who will one day provide for their parents in old age. Children of both genders are treated with affection, but boys have a higher position in the family and inherit more of its money and land.

The tight, traditional structure of rural Arab families is sometimes weakened when family members take on new roles—as when a son leaves to work in a city or a daughter decides not to marry the man chosen by her parents. Such breaks in traditional patterns occur most often in urban settings, where people have more job opportunities and can be more independent.

Berber Families The Berbers are non-Arab peoples descended from the original inhabitants of North Africa. They have adopted the Islamic religion and some Arab customs. A traditional Berber household consists of father, mother, and unmarried children. Family descent is patrilineal. Today, however, with many men working away from home for long periods, more households are headed by women. Both the Berbers and the Arabs permit polygyny under Islamic law, but in practice only wealthy men can afford separate households for each wife.

CHANGES IN FAMILY LIFE New social customs and the cash economy are changing the household structure. As senior members lose control over the marriages of junior members, and as younger people leave rural households to work in cities, the household weakens and becomes dependent on money sent home by members working elsewhere. One reason the household is still important, however, is that it is often the only reliable form of security in old age and sickness in fast-paced modern societies based on wage labor and competition.

Just as the household structure is changing, family is also being redefined in some parts of Africa. In some patrilineal groups, women who traditionally moved in with their husband's families now often remain with their own families or move back to them. Some studies show that women are becoming more reluctant to marry, perhaps because marriage may limit their control over resources or their access to education and jobs. Some women are raising children apart from the traditional family frameworks. Meanwhile, among educated and privileged Africans, especially in the cities, the husband-wife couple is becoming more important as a social and legal unit. This trend sometimes means that nuclear families are growing farther from their kinship networks.

The spread of Christianity has also affected families, sometimes introducing great conflict when one member of a family converts to Christianity but others do not. As tradition and modern life continue to combine in new ways, family life in Africa is likely to continue to change.

POVERTY AND INEQUALITY PERSIST, BUT...

Poverty in Africa is widespread and high in various areas of the continent. In 2019, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) had the highest share of people living under the extreme poverty line of 2.15 U.S. dollars per day, with a share of 35.1 percent. The closest region was South Asia, with a significantly lower share of 8.5 percent of the individuals living there. Although this was dropping compared to the early and mid-1990s, it was falling slower than the rest of the regions. In fact,

the global share living under extreme poverty dropped to 8.4 percent, significantly lower compared to the share in SSA as of the same year, driven by drops in other regions. Furthermore, out of the20 countries with the most considerable income inequality worldwide, more than half of them (12 countries) were in Africa.

Since the early 2010s, development actors, financial experts, and academics have been discussing the “middle classes” in Africa. The rising income of considerable shares of the populations in many countries triggered a focus on a so-called “indispensable” middle class and was eagerly promoted by the African Development Bank. It had an aura of success in “development” and counteracted the longcultivated perception in the Global North of Africa as a “lost continent.” Not surprisingly, the discourse received considerable attention.

Middle classes are defined mainly by daily income or expenditure.

But the concept seemed to stand for much more than a slight financial improvement. Many of the ascriptions of middle classes in Africa were either hopes promising a better future, or unconsciously taken over mostly from middle class descriptions in North America and Europe since the 1950s. However, measurable empirical evidence was mostly weak with regard to middle class criteria, such as financial stability and well-paid employment or entrepreneurism, a lifestyle with consumption and leisure time, and a pro-democratic political orientation.

This middle-class concept came under critique and posed the question “Where and what (for) is the Middle?” Nevertheless, many of these connotations drew much attention to the “narrative of the African middle class.” Idealized as political actors, middle classes were turned into fictitious spearheads of democratization and opponents of corrupt regimes. The idea of middle-classes as political actors received increasing attention in reaction to the Arab Spring that began around 2011. North African and Middle Eastern countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, and Turkey saw massive protests against authoritarian regimes. These protests were frequently labeled as “middle-class.”

Yet, the discussion about the middle class as political actors in Africa remained arbitrary. Although many referred to an economic definition of middle class, they added a range of characteristics, such as a certain political consciousness. The empirical foundation of middle classes in Africa, their political positions, and the theoretical explanations remained thin. They could be considered a kind of distraction from and a caricature of class analysis. We engaged, therefore, with some of the main arguments about middle classes and protest and have been discussing them more systematically with colleagues.

The starting point was a 2017 conference in Stellenbosch funded by the German Research Foundation´s Point Sud program. Scholars from a wide range of African countries and other parts of the world identified crucial questions and examined the relationship between

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middle classes in Africa and protest. Many of the presentations focused on South Africa, but other speakers discussed the situation in countries such as Kenya and Namibia. As a follow-up, we initiated a guest-edited special issue of the Journal for Contemporary African Studies on African middle classes and social protest. It offers a range of case studies from Ghana, Cameroun, Kenya, South Africa, and Namibia. In our introduction, we summed up four major difficulties in the transfer of the middle-class category from Europe and North America to African societies.

African societies are not only heterogeneous in comparison to each other, but also they have different historical trajectories from Europe and North America, where the concept of the middle class originated. There, merchants and self-employed craftsmen began to advance their positions in the 19th century, when overwhelming numbers of people were working on farms and in burgeoning industry (with North American settler colonies still a different case).

In the 20th century, better education and demanding physical work led to higher wages in the industrial societies of the Global North.

Households became mostly identical to the nuclear family, workers had one qualified occupation, and families benefited from several public and private security systems. This was the foundation of the middle class as a social group and way of life. Can we compare the situation of these middle-income groups with middle-income earners in colonial and postcolonial African societies? The innocent use of the term “middle class” suggests that.

There is no compelling connection between a middle-income position and a pro-democratic orientation. Again, the progressive European and North American “middle classes” were the outcome of a specific historical context with certain economic and cultural conditions. Even in Europe, the association of middle-class and prodemocratic worldviews has only been true for certain episodes of the 20th century. Consequently, a transfer of the concept to African settings must consider the divergent backgrounds. As history suggests, middle classes were as often displaying conservative if not reactionary tendencies as liberal democratic ones and were active participants in right-wing policies. By all standards, they were never homogenous politically.

In the international academic division of labor, European and North American research is still hegemonic. This is problematic on many levels: African contexts have been marginalized for decades and are still marginal in empirical research and theory building. The knowledge about Africa is limited and social structures in Africa are not a common topic of theoretical explanation. To date, research on Africa is in the mainstream of many disciplines in international academia considered merely area studies or knowledge about “exotic” contexts. The lack of data and expertise in international disciplinary debates such as sociology and political sciences is a major factor because we must rely on potentially misleading terms like “middle classes” to describe social strata in Africa.

In spite of the aforementioned critique, we think it is highly promising to study “middle classes” and protest in Africa. New

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groups of middle-income earners are part of ongoing political and economic changes. Urbanization, economic growth, and new ways of life are a matter of fact in most parts of the continent. It is crucial to develop a more nuanced concept of “middle-class,” rather than the overstretched but rather empty notion that persists. There are many questions: How do individuals arrive at their middle-income position? How stable is their situation? How can we study different groups in the same income range?

We, therefore, opt for a multi-dimensional and intersectional approach. Socio-cultural features such as the extended family as a household unit, ethnicity (as well as gender and religion) as a relevant factor, and the specific shape of political networks are significant influences. Middle classes and protest have to be investigated in relation to culture, lifestyle, ethnicity, and/or “race” and religion, as well as gender and other sociocultural positioning.

These and many other aspects must be understood in a mix of empirical research and theorization to get to an appropriate understanding of middle classes and politics in Africa. Our published thoughts and arguments, in company with many others, are a modest effort to contribute to a more nuanced, less Eurocentric debate to challenge the hegemonic status of Western scholarship.

From Multiple Sources, including geography.name

WHERE AFRICA’S RICH LIVE

Top 10 African countries with the highest number of millionaires* South African citizens have the greatest combined wealth at $651 billion, followed by Egypt ($307 billion) and Nigeria ($228 billion).

According to the report, Egypt now has the most billionaires, more than any African country.

There are currently 136,000 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) with a private wealth of USD 1 million or more living in Africa.

Africa’s ‘Big 5’ private wealth markets (South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, and Kenya) account for over 50% of the continent’s total private wealth, according to the latest 2022 Africa Wealth Report.

The report published by research firm New World Wealth and Henley & Partners was based on data from New World Wealth and Henley & Partners’ wealthy individuals’ database.

Data from the report reveals that the total private wealth currently held on the African continent is USD 2.1 trillion and is expected to rise by 38% over the next 10 years. The report also noted that the creation of wealth and the flow of capital across the continent would be linked to the performance of frontier economies, which will be driven by the need to diversify wealth-creating sources.

Another critical highlight from the report revealed that Africa currently has 21 dollar billionaires, 305 Interestingly, South Africa remains the country with the most HNWIs than any other African country, while Egypt emerged as the African country with the most billionaires.

centi-millionaires worth $100 million or more, and 136,000 HNWIs with a private wealth of $1 million or more.

Here are the top 10 African countries with the highest number of millionaires 1. South Africa - 39,300 2. Egypt - 16,900 3. Nigeria - 10,000 4. Kenya - 8,500 5. Morocco - 5,000 6. Mauritius - 4,800 7. Ghana - 2,900 8. Ethiopia - 2,900 9. Tanzania - 2,400 10. Angola - 2,400 In terms of wealth held by private citizens, the report ranked South African citizens as having the greatest combined wealth at $651 billion, followed

by Egypt ($307 billion) and Nigeria ($228 billion).

“Total wealth refers to the private wealth held by all the individuals living in a country, including their assets (property, cash, equities and business interests) less any liabilities. We exclude government funds from our figures,” states the report.

Victor Oluwole Published at africa.businessinsider.com July 12, 2022

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THE NEW CLASH OF EMPIRES

OVER AFRICA’S RICHES

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THE 21ST CENTURY ECONOMIC COLD WAR

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram, published at cetri.be, September 13, 2022 After a quarter century of economic stagnation, African economic recovery early in the 21st century was under great pressure even before the pandemic, due to new trade arrangements, falling commodity prices and severe environmental stress.

EUROPEAN SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA Africa’s borders were drawn up by European powers, especially following their ‘Scramble for Africa’ from 1881 ending by World War One. Various culturally, linguistically and religiously different ‘ethnic’ groups were forced together into colonies, to later become post-colonial ‘nations’.

Europeans came to Africa seeking slaves and minerals, later building colonial empires. The US attended the 1884 Berlin Congress, dividing Africa among European powers. Colony-less ‘latecomer’ Germany got Southwest Africa and Tanganyika, now Namibia and mainland Tanzania respectively.

Namibia’s Herero and Nama peoples revolted unsuccessfully against German occupation in 1904. General Lothar von Trotha then ordered “every Herero … shot”.

Four-fifths of the Herero and half the Nama died !

Communities were surrounded, with many killed. Others were held, with many dying in concentration camps, or driven into the desert to die of starvation. In 1984, the UN Whitaker Report concluded the atrocities were among the worst 20th century genocides.

Asymmetric interdependence ?

Europe’s post-Second World War recovery benefited immensely from their primary commodity exporting colonies. After the wartime devastation, European imperial powers relied on colonial currency

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arrangements for precious foreign exchange. Imperial power also ensured captive colonial markets for uncompetitive post-war European manufactures. Recovery and competition brought down commodity prices, especially after the Korean War boom. For well over a century, such prices have declined against those for manufactures.

As decolonization became inevitable, French politicians promoted the notion of ‘Eurafrica’, mimicking the US Monroe Doctrine’s claim to Latin America. French elite discourse insisted African independence should be defined by (asymmetric) ‘interdependence’, not ‘sovereignty’.

Although Germany lost its few colonies in Africa after losing the First World War, the influential West German Die Welt wondered wistfully in 1960, “Is Africa getting away from Europe ?”

FROM DECOLONIZATION TO COLD WAR The US was the first nation to recognize Belgian King Leopold II’s personal claim to the Congo River basin in 1884. When Leopold’s brutal atrocities and exploitation of his private Congo Free State domain, killing millions, could no longer be denied, other European powers forced Belgium to directly colonize the country !

Since then, the US has shaped the Congo’s destiny. The US has been keenly interested in its massive mineral resources.

Congolese uranium, the richest in the world, was used in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs. But Washington would not allow Africans control of their own strategic materials.

Patrice Lumumba became the first elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). An advocate of panAfrican economic independence, his wish for genuine independence and sovereign control of DRC resources threatened powerful interests.

CHINA’S PRESIDENT XI JINPING

Lumumba was brutally humiliated, tortured and murdered in January 1961.

The shameful assassination involved both US and Belgian governments which collaborated with Lumumba’s Congolese rivals.

STRUGGLING TO STAND UP Pan-Africanist leader Kwame Nkrumah wanted independent Ghana to chart an ‘anti-imperialist’ path, staying non-aligned in the Cold War. He wanted hydroelectric dams to power Ghana’s industrial progress, beginning by smelting its bauxite to develop an aluminum value chain.

The US, UK and World Bank agreed to finance the Akosombo Dam, on condition it provided cheap energy to a Kaiser Aluminum subsidiary to process alumina for export to Kaiser. This arrangement was only rescinded decades later, early this century.

Ghana made technical cooperation agreements with the Czechs and Soviets to build two other dams. But both were ended after Nkrumah was overthrown in a military coup abetted by Washington in February 1966. Thus, Nkrumah’s development ambitions for Ghana were killed.

A scaled-down Bui dam was finally built by Chinese contractors decades later.

Nkrumah’s 1965 book, Neo-colonialism : The Last Stage of Imperialism, was probably the final straw in embarrassing the West.

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Elsewhere, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere’s Ujamaa ‘African socialism’ focused on developing villages and food security.

Western antagonism ensured Ujamaa’s failure, while his efforts were harshly condemned to deter other Africans from trying to chart their own paths.

Meanwhile, Nyerere’s pro-Western contemporaries were supported by the West. Such countries, e.g., neighboring Kenya and Uganda, received much more Western aid although their development records have not been much better.

ZAMBIA’S EXAMPLE At independence, Zambia had no universities, with only 0.5% completing primary education. The country’s copper mines were mostly in British hands. Most people survived on limited land for the villagers, without electricity and other amenities.

Hemmed in by Western-supported racist states, President Kenneth Kaunda – a devout Christian – sought foreign help to bypass hostile South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to change the landlocked nation’s fate.

After the US and World Bank refused to help, he reached out to the Soviet bloc and China. China built a $500 million railway linking Zambia to the Indian Ocean through Tanzania.

Côte d’Ivoire has long been a major producer of cocoa and coffee. But three decades of misrule by its pro-Western founding father, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, ensured endemic poverty and stark inequalities, culminating in civil war.

In 2020, almost 40% of its people lived in ‘extreme poverty’. In 2019, the middleincome country’s human development index score was a low 0.538, which dropped to 0.346, when adjusted for inequality.

Both Kaunda and Houphouet-Boigny later abandoned their early, more neo-colonial policies. Zambia nationalized copper mines, hoping to improve living conditions, instead of enriching foreign investors.

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Meanwhile, Ivorian cocoa was withheld to secure better prices. But both efforts failed, as copper and cocoa prices collapsed. Thus, both nations were severely punished for trying to better their fates.

RUSSIA’S INFLUENCE GROWS Earlier in 2024, General Michael Langley, head of US Africa Command ,warned Congress that Russia is aggressively working to expand its footing among African countries, leaving several “at the tipping point” of falling under its influence.

RUSSIA’S PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN

There are hundreds of US service members in Africa, according to AFRICOM. US officials have warned for years now that both Russia and China are working to tighten their grips on the continent. The former head of US Africa Command, Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, said in 2019 that Russia was using mercenaries and arms sales to gain access to natural resources in Africa.

Langley called for more resources to combat Russia’s narrative, particularly more resources for US information operations. But it wasn’t just Russia Langley warned of; both Russia and China, he said, have “long-range plans” on the continent.

While the US maintains a significant advantage over both countries with its state partnership program, which pairs US state National Guard units with foreign militaries, including Kenya, Niger, Liberia, Djbouti, Burkina Faso, Rwanda and Tunisia, the next US president must deal with this changing power dynamic.

NON-ALIGNMENT BEST During the first Cold War, Western hostility to African aspirations forced many to turn to the ‘socialist camp’ to build infrastructure and develop human resources. Washington then was as concerned with economic gain as countering ‘Reds’.

The Kennedy administration had increased foreign aid, urging allies to do likewise. But instead of supporting African aspirations, the West pursued its own economic interests while claiming to support post-colonial aspirations.

Increasing African government indebtedness over the 1970s forced many to accept structural adjustment program policy conditions imposed by international financial institutions from the 1980s. Of course, developing countries following International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank prescriptions became Western darlings.

Nyerere observed : “The IMF … makes conditions and says, ‘if you follow these examples, your economy will improve’. But where are the examples of economies booming in the Third World because they accepted the conditions of the IMF ?”

Cold War considerations have also meant US interest in Africa has waxed and waned. Now, the West warns of imminent Chinese ‘takeovers’ and nefarious Russian designs. China seems more interested in financing and building infrastructure, while Putin promotes Russian exports.

Neglected by the US after the first Cold War until its 21st century African initiatives, including Africom, African nations have increasingly welcomed alternatives to the West, albeit somewhat warily.

U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT donald trump

Together, the world can help Africa progress.

But if support for the long cruelly exploited continent remains hostage to new Cold War considerations, Africans will choose accordingly. Non-alignment is now the panAfrican choice.

However, that stance could change as the incoming US president Trump realizes that he must compete with China’s Xi and Russia’s Putin for Africa’s precious resources.

Educate Yourself

Mighty Morehouse

An Illustrious Past, A Challenging Present

Inspired By Stephen G. Hall PhD Between the end of the Civil War and the turn of the century, Atlanta became home to several of the nation’s most important historically black colleges and universities, including Atlanta University, Clark University, Spelman College, and Morehouse College.

Morehouse is the only all-male African American college in the United States.

Originally founded in Augusta, Georgia as the Augusta Theological Institute in 1867.

The school moved to Atlanta in 1879 and changed its name to Atlanta Baptist Seminary and operated out of the basement of Friendship Baptist Church. In 1885, Samuel H. Graves—the second president, moved the college to its present day location. Dr. Benjamin Mays was perhaps the best known and most influential president of Morehouse, expanding the

school’s academic reputation during his tenure from 1940 to 1967.

In the first part of the twentieth century, Morehouse, along with Spelman, its allwoman sister college, were symbols of hope and inspiration to Southern African Americans. Over time, they had a profound effect on the quality of leadership in Atlanta’s black community. In the last 157 years Morehouse has expanded and grown into an international powerhouse, educating leaders in the world across a variety of professions and disciplines.

Morehouse produced many famous and influential graduates, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Julian Bond, Maynard Jackson, Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Edwin Moses, former Surgeon General David Satcher, and Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, who was appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services by President George H.W. Bush in 1989.

MOREHOUSE COLLEGE

Morehouse College is a private institution that was founded in 1867. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 2,738 (fall 2023), its setting is urban, and the campus size is 66 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Morehouse College's ranking in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 edition of Best Colleges is National Liberal Arts Colleges, is number 95. Among historically black colleges an d universities (HBCUs), it ranks number five. Its tuition and fees are $32,893. The school is located three miles from downtown Atlanta and is a member of the Atlanta University Center Consortium, an academic partnership between Morehouse, Clark Atlanta University and Spelman College. Morehouse has a National Fellowships and Awards Committee to help students apply for scholarships and fellowships, and the college houses a research institute, entrepreneurship center and the Morehouse School of Medicine.

Atlanta Baptist Seminary, later known as Morehouse College, west of downtown, ca. 1895.

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GRAVES HALL, BUILT IN 1889, IS THE MAIN BUILDING ON CAMPUS. IT IS named in honor of Samuel T. Graves, the second president of the college.

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thThe years 1918 to 1968 were filled with expansion and growth domestically and internationally for Morehouse College.

From defining the legacy of a Morehouse man to the trenches of World War II, Morehouse men were determined to show the world how to build coalitions within the United States and across the globe.

Highlighting post-graduation student success was very important to Morehouse College.

Many of the college’s early achievements were accomplished under the administration of Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, president of Morehouse College from 1940 to 1967. When Mays became president of the college, morale and funds were low. By highlighting student and alumni for their service to the community, President Mays and students embraced the challenge of rebranding the college with a series of brochures to grasp the attention of prospective Morehouse students and donors.

The years of expansion are most memorable because of a large fundraising campaign by President Mays. A lofty fundraising campaign led to the erection of a prominent science building on campus which was known as the Chemistry Building in 1952. The Chemistry building was boasted as one of the most modern of its time. It was renovated in 2002 and is now Merrill Hall.

CHEMISTRY BUILDING 1967 marked the 100th anniversary of Morehouse. In his address entitled, “TwentySeven Years of Success and Failure at Morehouse,” President Mays speaks about the history of Morehouse, the history of African Americans, and what he experienced during his time at the college.

In it, he states that “[he] can only advise you to utilize the past, whatever it is, to good advantage and to look to the future with courage and confidence.”

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

The Morehouse School of Medicine was founded in 1975 as the Medical Education Program at Morehouse College by thenpresident, Dr. Hugh M. Gloster. The school was independently chartered in 1981 and the school held its first commencement in 1985 with 20 graduates receiving medical doctorates.

Dr. Hugh Morris Gloster, Class of 1931, was the first alumnus president of Morehouse College.

He served as president of Morehouse from 1967 to 1987. During his time, the college conducted a successful $20 million fundraising campaign and added 12 buildings to the campus such as the B.T. Harvey Stadium and the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel. The College also established a dualdegree program in engineering with Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Michigan and Boston University.

HUGH GLOSTER

BENJAMIN MAYS Word of achievements of Morehouse College transcended national borders with the debut of A Candle in the Dark, the college’s first written history authored by Dr. Edward A. Jones, Morehouse College French Professor from 1927 to 1977 and Chairman of the Department of Foreign Languages from 1930-1977 and 1926 alumnus, in 1967. The “Candle in the Dark” slogan was adapted as the name for the College’s annual awards ceremony and This brochure is filled with dean and department chair fundraising gala with the progress of the testimonies of Morehouse men in their graduate and college living up to its motto et facta est lux professional degree classes. which means “and there is light”.

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In the late 1960s concerned students and faculty of Morehouse and the other Atlanta University Center institutions met to discuss steps toward improving the consortium. The students had multiple concerns; they believed the majority of Board of Trustees members controlling Black institutions should be Black, and that there should be more course offerings and a better black studies curriculum. These meetings and the events that followed resulted in the student-faculty takeover of a

culture where every achievement, big or small, is recognized and honored as a victory for the entire community. In this nurturing and uplifting environment, students are empowered to thrive, excel, and embody the true essence of brotherhood that defines the spirit of Morehouse College.

Morehouse Board of Trustees meeting in 1969. The protest led to a new African American Studies program for the College.

Former president of Morehouse, Dr. Walter E. Massey, urged students to think of Morehouse on a global scale. In his introductory message, he states that “throughout its proud history, Morehouse College has produced thousands of outstanding leaders…whose contributions have been felt, not just in this country, but around the world.” The below issue of Morehouse College’s alumni magazine includes sections on study abroad and its impact on students, international business careers, alumni as ambassadors in the Foreign Service, and a profile on Nima Warfield, who in 1994 became Morehouse’s first Rhodes Scholar.

“A CANDLE IN THE DARK” IS MOREHOUSE COLLEGE’S ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY HELD DURING THE SCHOOL’S ANNIVERSARY. THE FIRST ANNUAL BENNIE AND CANDLE AWARDS CEREMONY WAS HELD IN 1989.

a profound bond that weaves together students, faculty, and alumni in a shared journey of personal growth and collective advancement. This supportive network creates an environment of unwavering mutual respect and genuine camaraderie, where each individual's success is not only acknowledged but celebrated as a triumph for the entire Morehouse family. It is within this tight-knit community that students find unwavering support, encouragement, and a sense of belonging that propels them towards their aspirations and goals. The Morehouse brotherhood is a foundation of strength, unity, and inspiration, fostering a

Networking and Career Opportunities Galore As graduates of Morehouse College step out into the world, they become part of a prestigious and influential network of alumni who have achieved remarkable success in a wide range of fields. This network serves as a powerful resource, connecting individuals with unparalleled career opportunities, valuable mentorship relationships, and collaborative ventures that propel their professional growth and development.

Morehouse men are renowned for their commitment to uplifting others as they ascend their own career ladders, embodying the college's ethos of excellence and service. By actively engaging with this network, graduates not only benefit from the wisdom and support of those who have gone before them but also contribute to the ongoing legacy of success and empowerment that defines Morehouse College. This dynamic exchange of knowledge, experience, and support ensures that the torch of excellence is passed on to new generations, opening doors and creating pathways for future leaders to thrive and make a lasting impact on the world.

Compiled from multiple sources

Dr. John Silvanus Wilson, Jr. became president of Morehouse College in 2013.

Prior to this position, Dr. Wilson was appointed by President Obama to serve as the executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Since becoming president, Dr. Wilson has been a champion for STEM programs at the college, and has helped to develop meaningful relationships with the technology community and influential companies in Silicon Valley.

The Brotherhood: More Than Just a Community The sense of brotherhood at Morehouse College is not just a mere connection; it is

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A PROUD LEGACY OF BLACK MALE LEADERS Morehouse men have led the way in many fields for decades The Morehouse College National Alumni Associations is one of the oldest Associations among Historical Black Colleges. The Alumni Association was organized in 1900, and the first national president was elected in 1904. The Association is currently divided into nine regions, each of which is served by a Regional Vice President.

When the seeds were planted for Morehouse College in 1867, it was the beginning of a movement that would change the landscape of America.

Over the years, Morehouse has born fruit worthy of the efforts of its founders and its most prized gift to the world – its alumni.

Nearly 40 years after the founding of the College, a group of graduates met to organize an alumni society. They adopted a constitution, officers were elected and the Morehouse College Alumni Association was born.

Today, the Association connects Morehouse alumni worldwide who gather together through community service projects, networking opportunities and leisure activities. The Association also funds scholarships and fellowships for outstanding Morehouse students and provides assistance to many campus programs.

The mission of the Morehouse College National Alumni Association (MCNAA) is to support and further the ideals and interests of Morehouse College. In partnership with leaders at the national, regional and local level we provide services and support to our alumni, students and the larger Morehouse family through a variety of programs and initiatives.

The Association is divided into nine geographic regions across the U.S. In addition to the college’s most famous alumnus, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , 16 of the hundreds of prominent Morehouse graduates include: Samuel L. Jackson The acting legend was expelled from the college in 1969 after holding Martin Luther King Sr. hostage in a protest for two days. However, he returned later and graduated with a degree in drama in 1972.

Herman Cain Herman Cain, a successful businessman and conservative political commentator, graduated from Morehouse College in 1967. Cain’s accomplishments include serving as CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2012.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. (CENTER), CLASS OF ‘48 Maynard Jackson The attorney, politician and former mayor of Atlanta entered Morehouse College through a special-entry program and graduated in 1956 with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science.

Spike Lee The film directing legend and screenwriter graduated from the college in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications.

Bakari Sellers The son of an iconic civil rights activist, Bakari, the handsome young civil rights attorney, CNN analyst, bestselling author and politician from South Carolina, graduated from the college with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2005.

Raphael Warnock The minister and Georgia Senator graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Morehouse in 1991.

John David Washington The actor and son of acting legend Denzel Washington was a football player at the college and signed to the St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent soon after graduating in 2006.

Guru The Hip Hop rapper and producer attended the college studying business administration and graduated in 1983.

Shaun King The writer and social justice activist majored in History at Morehouse, graduating with the class of 2002.

Edwin Moses The Olympic gold medalist known for his performance on the hurdle event graduated from Morehouse with a bachelor’s degree in Physics in 1978.

Mordecai Wyatt Johnson Known as the first Black president of Howard University, Johnson received his own education from Morehouse, graduating in the class of 1911 when the college was still named the Atlanta Baptist College. He received a degree in English, History and Economics.

Julian Bond Julian Bond was a prominent civil rights activist, leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and a Georgia state legislator. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1971 and dedicated his life to fighting racial discrimination and promoting equality.

Randall Woodfin Woodfin, the youngest mayor of Birmingham, Ala., graduated from Morehouse in 2003 with a major in Political Science. He was also the president of the Student Government Association during his time there.

Jamal Simmons The CNN political correspondent and current communications director for the Vice President graduated in the Morehouse class of 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in History.

Donn Clendenon The New York Mets Outfielder and 1969 World Series MVP graduated as a Morehouse man in the class of 1959 as a letterman after playing for the school’s baseball team in addition to eight other sports teams.

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The Hustle

Young, All-Business and Black

Up-and-Coming Entrepreneurs Show Their Elders How to Do It

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Black Entrepreneurship Growing at Fastest Pace in 30 Years, but Challenges to Success Remain

By Ellen Perrault Published September 2, 2024, at blackvoicenews.com

Black-Owned Business Annual Revenues 2023

As the annual National Black Business Month comes to a close for 2024, now is a good time to reflect on how Black businesses are fairing in the current economy.

This year, the Alliance for Entrepreneurial Equity (AEE) published a new report on the state of Black business in America.

The economic landscape for Black entrepreneurs, continues to be filled with barriers to success.

Despite advancements in civil rights and affirmative action policies, Black entrepreneurs and other business owners of color continue to face challenges unique to these communities.

They include such cornerstones to business success as access to capital, markets, and resources.

The AEE report, The State of Black Busines,s shines a light on the consequences of such continued, far-reaching racial disparities. They contribute “to lower rates of business ownership, limited growth opportunities, and higher rates of business closures among Black-owned enterprises.”

“Business ownership directly leads to economic empowerment and wealth creation, but far too many Black entrepreneurs continue to struggle with systemic barriers that make it difficult to be successful,” stated National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial in a press release that announced the report was released.

Authors of the State of Black Business report found that Black business are growing, but slowly.

Although year over year growth is evident, Black business are still woefully underrepresented in this regard.

97% of Black businesses with employees have less than 20 employees. In addition, every three-infour businesses have less than than five employees.

Black owned business take in less revenue than businesses owned by other racial groups. (Source: Federal Reserve Bank via AEE)

makes them more likely to experience significant barriers when trying to access capital. This, of course, makes these business owners more likely to seek nontraditional financing, like internet lenders for example.

“When lenders assess a business as a greater credit risk, they are less likely to approve it for a loan and more likely to charge the business a higher interest rate if it does get approved,” the report states.

These higher interest rates result in Black business owners having higher debt payments.

Data indicates 53% of Black business owners have higher debt payments than their peers in other racial groups. This has resulted in more than a third, or 38% of Black business owners, being forced to delay plans to expand their business, while 28% find it difficult to refinance existing loans.

Black-owned businesses are three times more likely to be labeled a higher credit risk than their white counter parts making them more likely to experience significant barriers when trying to borrow money in support of their business. (Source: Federal Reserve Bank via AEE)

Black businesses are also starved of venture capital in that they receive less than one percent of all venture capital investments in the nation.

In addition, they are rarely awarded government contracts resulting in their being underrepresented among government contract awardees.

Morial said, “Despite the challenges, Black entrepreneurship is growing at the fastest pace in 30 years. It is essential to recognize the resilience and innovation of Black-owned businesses but also realize how far as a nation we must still go to ensure Black entrepreneurs have equal opportunity to start and scale their ventures.”

Despite the many challenges Black business owners face including the recent political conflict over DEI programs, There is some good news.

Black entrepreneurship is growing at the fastest pace in 30 years.

“It is essential to recognize the resilience and innovation of Black-owned businesses,” Morial stressed. At the same time, he advised that it is also essential to realize that communities, states and nations still has a long way to go to ensure Black business owners have an equal opportunity to launch and grow their businesses.

Black Owned Business Credit Risk

Most Black businesses are located in urban versus rural areas and have been in existence less than two years.

Black entrepreneurs are also not as prosperous as business owners in other groups, taking in less revenue. On the other hand, they also have less debt, usually under $100K. Another area of concern is that Black businesses are three times more likely to be labeled a higher credit risk than their white counter parts which

More Black businesses are identified as being a greater credit risk than those in other racial groups. As a result, they are less likely to be approved for a loan and more likely to be charged a higher interest rate. (Source: Federal Reserve Bank via AEE)

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25 YOUNG MOGULS ON THE RISE Throughout history, Black entrepreneurs have faced unique challenges in America, one of which is the lack of access to capital. Business funding gives life to new ideas, which might otherwise be lost, appropriated, or manipulated.

The problem still remains, as Black entrepreneurs are less likely to receive venture capital funding. Yet, these entrepreneurs continue to start new businesses, despite these odds, furthering a rich legacy of Black innovation and advancement. An Ewing Marion Kauffman foundation study revealed that Black owned businesses often start with three times less capital than white owned businesses. Some, like those below, are getting funded and disrupting the status quo in a variety of industries. These 25 Black entrepreneurs have built successful companies in logistics, tech, retail, and more, setting new standards for business.

1. Asmau Ahmed, Founder of Plum Perfect Asmau started as a chemical engineer but soon transformed her passion for innovation. The Columbia grad founded Plum Perfect, an app that scans a users’ selfie to find the perfect makeup for their skin tone – including the various tones of women of color. Listed as one of five “Top Women in Digital” Asmau Ahmed focuses on extracting business value from innovation.

2. Adelanwa Adesanya, President & Co-Founder of Moving Analytics Adelanwa Adesanya is an engineer turned entrepreneur that merged technology with healthcare to improve cardiac attack care. His company, Moving Analytics, provides a digital rehabilitation program that helps hospitals implement home-based care to patients. His clinical protocols and technology help maintain quality care outside of a hospital setting.

3. Amari Ruff, Founder & CEO of Sudu Previously the CEO of R2 Trucking Solutions, Amari now manages Sudu, a technology-based logistics company. They use data and analytics to help companies ship their freight efficiently using a network of carriers.

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4. Angela Benton, Founder & CEO of Streamlytics

Angela founded NewME Accelerator, the first accelerator for minority founders. She was featured on CNN’s awardwinning documentary, Black in America. At the helm of Streamlytics, she uses data to measure what media people are consuming across streaming platforms.

5. Ashifi Gogo, Founder & CEO of Sproxil Growing up in Ghana, Ashifi Gogo was first introduced to technology via cell phones. By the time he was thirty, he founded a technology company based on them. Sproxil is a supply chain management and consumer engagement company designed to prevent counterfeit goods.

They also help companies protect their brand and engage their customers.

6. Cashmere Nicole, Founder, CEO & President of Beauty Bakerie Cosmetics Brand

Cashmere became a young mom at only 16. That experience inspired her to work hard to give her daughter the best life possible. Beauty Bakerie is a cosmetics company that focuses on long-lasting, smudge-free makeup for a wide range of skin tones.

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7. Chris Bennett, CEO & Co-Founder of Soldsie Chris founded Soldsie to make it easy for small businesses to monetize their Facebook pages.

Customers provide their payment information to Soldsie, after which they can buy products by merely commenting on the stores’ pages. For the sellers, Soldsie includes a full administrative dashboard to help them manage their inventory and user comments.

8. Kathryn Finney, Founder & CEO of Digitalundivided Kathryn founded Simply Good Media after building the Budget Fashionista into a global brand, including a bestselling book titled How to Be a Budget Fashionista.

Now, she is the CEO of Digitalundivide, an economic empowerment program encouraging the growth of black entrepreneurs by helping women of color obtain funding.

9. Damola Ogundipe, CEO of Civic Eagle Born in Nigeria, but raised in the Midwest, Damola sees America as a land of opportunity. Fascinated by the democratic process, he sought out ways to improve businesses’ understanding of local and federal laws and regulations. Civic Eagle provides software that analyzes regulations and legislation without the manual work so that companies can be sure to stay in compliance.

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10. Kimberly Bryant, Founder & Executive Director of Black Girls CODE

After a successful career in pharmaceuticals and biotech, Kimberly founded Black Girls CODE in 2011, which she has grown into an international organization. The nonprofit has reached more than 3000 students so far and continues to grow. She was highlighted as one of “The 25 Most Influential African-Americans in Technology” by Business Insider in 2013.

11. Diishan Imira, Founder & CEO of Mayvenn

Diishan graduated from Georgia State school of business and developed a strong background in international trade logistics. He co-founded Mayvenn in 2012 when he realized that 95 percent of African American salons did not retail the products their customers wanted. Mayvenn makes the process of selling compatible products in a salon setting easier.

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12. Frederick Hutson, Founder & CEO of Pigeonly

After spending four years in prison, Frederick realized that people needed an easier way to communicate with their incarcerated loved ones, encouraging felons to stay connected to their community. He founded Pigeonly, which allows users to send physical photos and greeting cards to inmates via their phones.

13. Christopher Gray, Founder & CEO of Scholly

Chris first became known for earning more than a million dollars in scholarships to attend Drexel University. He leveraged his expertise to found Scholly, an online platform that helps students find and win the scholarships they need to afford their education. He also sits on the investment committee of First Round Capital’s Dorm Room Fund.

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14. Jasmine Crowe, Founder & CEO of Goodr Jasmine Crowe believes everyone should eat. She founded Goodr, a company that aims to reduce food waste by leveraging technology. Using their logistics, analytics, and security, businesses can donate extra food to nonprofit organizations and earn tax deductions in the process. The platform, enabled by the blockchain, benefits hungry people, the donor businesses, and the environment. Jasmine Crowe was also featured on our list of 50 female entrepreneurs everyone should know.

15. Jason Njoku, Founder & CEO of IROKOtv

Jason has brought Nigerian cinema to a global audience through IROKOtv. IROKO was founded in 2010 and has since accumulated the largest Nollywood (a portmanteau of Nigeria and Hollywood) catalog in the world.

He was named the CNBC Africa West Africa Young Business Leader in 2013 and one of Fast Company’s Top 1000 Most Creative People in Business in 2014.

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16. Jessica Matthews, Founder & CEO of Uncharted Power

Jessica invented the SOCCKET ball, a soccer ball that generates power when it is played with, at 19. She then became CEO of Uncharted Play and, at 26, Executive Director of KDDC, a hydropower dam in Nigeria. She was included on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2014 and named one of the “10 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs” by Fortune in 2011.

17. Kunbi Tinuoye, Founder & CEO of UrbanGeekz

Kunbi Tinuoye transformed a career in journalism into a startup focused on minorities in technology, science, and business. With little initial funding, she formed UrbanGeekz, a digital news platform. In a short amount of time, the site achieved viral success, with large advertisement revenue.

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18. Morgan DeBaun, Founder & CEO of Blavity

Morgan noticed that her fellow Black millennials were not being catered to by the media, so she created Blavity. It creates and curates culturally relevant content for Black millennials and sends it to them directly.

19. Ryan Williams, Co-Founder & CEO of Cadre

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Ryan attended Harvard and worked in Goldman Sachs.

He leveraged his experience in the financial sector to develop Cadre, an online marketplace connecting real estate investors and operators.

Cadre makes it easy for investors to manage their investment and gain liquidity by selling their interest in the secondary market.

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20. Natasia Malaihollo, Founder & CEO of Wyzerr

Natasia studied law and worked as a patent specialist before founding her first startup, Sooligan. She then founded Wyzerr, a platform that allows brands to integrate customer feedback in real-time. The platform helps brands quickly fix issues, and consistently make incremental improvements to their product.

21. Paul Judge, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Pindrop Security

In addition to Pindrop, a voice fraud prevention company, Paul is also the founder of Luma and the TechSquare Labs incubator. Pindrop helps banks, insurers, and retailers identify their customers by voice, reducing fraud and improving the customer experience.

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22. Reham Fagirl, Co-Founder & CEO of AptDeco

Reham founded AptDeco to help people buy and sell amazing furniture online. AptDeco offers a verified community of buyers and sellers, as well as pick-up, delivery, and payment options. AptDeco takes the stress out of buying furniture online.

23. Ryan Wilson, Co-Founder & CEO of The Gathering Spot

Private Clubs have been popular for decades, but The Gathering Spot reimagines the experience. Ryan developed the club to give creative professionals a place to connect, network, and develop a dynamic community that will help them achieve their goals.

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24. Sheena Allen, Founder & CEO of CapWay

Sheena was inspired to build CapWay when she was a college student trying to manage her money. Designed to help the underbanked, Sheena did not come from a technical background. She majored in psychology and film and regularly speaks about the challenges she faced in building a tech career.

25. Zack Smith, Co-Founder & CEO of Jobble

After years in the gig economy, Zack Smith tried his hand at entrepreneurship, eventually founding Jobble. Jobble is a Boston startup that provides clients access to a verified workforce of flexible, on-demand staff.

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Jocks The Black American Drivers Who Are

Nascar’s Racetrack Warriors

By Kristen Jones

towed his racecar to a local NASCAR event at the Richmond Speedway and asked the steward, Mike Poston, to grant him a NASCAR license. Poston, a part-timer, was not a powerful figure in NASCAR's For a driver to qualify for NASCAR they must hierarchy, but he did have the authority to exemplify excellent driving and be able to issue licenses; Scott's license was approved pass medical evaluations along with proper and he became the first black driver in references. To qualify for the NASCAR playoffs, a full-time driver must win one of the NASCAR. 26 regular-season races.

In 1963, Scott became the first black driver to win a NASCAR race, but was denied his If fewer than 16 drivers win, the remaining playoff spots are filled by the highest-ranked trophy, victory lap and winnings, which were awarded instead to the second-place drivers based on points. The playoffs are finisher. Scott had defeated him by two made up of three rounds, with each round laps. He was forced to retire due to injuries consisting of three races. Sixteen drivers from a racing accident at Talladega, qualify for the first round, 12 for the second, Alabama, in 1973, although he did make and eight for the third. one more start at the 1973 National 500 in Few drivers that have been able to be among which he finished in 12th place. He the finalists ;even less are African American. achieved one win and 147 top ten finishes in 495 career Grand National starts. Wendell died on December 23, 1990, in his THE PIONEERS hometown, losing his battle with spinal The first noted driver of color was Wendell cancer. He was inducted into the Scott. He was the first African-American driver and team owner to compete and win in International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1999 and in 2015 he became the first all divisions of NASCAR at its highest level.

African American driver to be inducted into Growing up in Danville, Virginia he learned auto mechanic skills early on from his father the NASCAR Hall of Fame. who was a driver and mechanic for two White Marc Davis started driving as a teenager families. In search of more opportunities, Scott repaired his car with the help of a black and received heavy praise early on in his career. He competed in the NASCAR Xfinity mechanic, Hiram Kincaid, and towed it to a NASCAR-sanctioned event in Winston-Salem, Series from 2008 to 2011. Chase Austin, North Carolina. He was refused entry into two then age 14, was the youngest driver to sign NASCAR events which resulted in his decision with a NASCAR team. He was also the third African American driver to ever compete in to try the Dixie Circuit, winning his first race the Indianapolis 500. In 1973, Randy after only 12 weeks as a driver. He experienced racism and hatred from fans and Bethea knocked driver Darrell Waltrip out racers alike on his climb to become one of the of pole position at the Nashville Fairgrounds. In 1975, he was the fourth most memorable drivers in the game. From African-American driver to start a race for drivers wrecking him on purpose, to fans NASCAR. . He became only the fourth black openly showing their disdain for him, he endured it all and his expertise ultimately led driver to participate in a NASCAR Cup race back in 1975. There was minimal media him to gain white fans as well. In 1954, Scott To be an African American NASCAR driver is a feat within itself.

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coverage of the event. NASCAR Drive for Diversity driver Ryan Gifford made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Iowa Speedway in 2013. Willy T. Ribbs competed in several NASCAR series from the mid 1980s to the early 2000s. He speaks out about the lack of diversity in the sport. Ribbs, who previously competed in NASCAR’s top division, became the first black driver to compete in the Indianapolis 500, one of the most prestigious races on the IndyCar circuit, in 1991. Elias Bowie raced in NASCAR's Grand National series in 1955 where he finished 28 out of 34 cars on a 1-mile dirt track in San Mateo.

California. He was actually the first African American driver in NASCAR history. Bowie, from Oakland, California, raced in a Cadillac and kept a single spare tire in his trunk while racing. It was his first and only NASCAR Cup appearance. Morty Buckles was a member of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity Program and the NASCAR/Dodge Weekly series. After racing in the IndyCar Series, George Mack became a test driver for U.S. F2000, Star Mazda, and NASCAR. Bobby Norfleet was a NASCAR racer throughout the '90s and early 2000s. His daughter, Tia, went on to become a NASCAR driver as well. Norfleet competed in the 2000 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. George Wiltshire drove in several NASCAR series from 1968 to 1986. He also competed in the Winston Cup races at a time when few African American drivers had done so. Charlie Scott BRITNEY GRINER raced at Daytona Beach in 1956 where he came in 19th place. Jesse Ekene Iwuji is a fulltime NASCAR stock car racing driver. He is the first active duty officer in the US Navy Reserves to compete in NASCAR. He partnered with Emmitt Smith of NFL fame (the league’s leading rusher when playing for the for the Dallas Cowboys and Arisona Cardinals) an Xfinity Series Racing team in 2022.

American race car driver Dewey Gatson, also known as Jack DeSoto and Rajo Jack, was one

WENDELL SCOTT, the FIRST BLACK DRIVER to earn a nascar cup in 1963

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of the first African American race car drivers in America. He was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2003, commemorating his notable wins in 1920s racing history.

In today’s racing circuit, there is Bubba Wallace. He is an American professional stock car racing driver. Wallace competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing.

He started racing in the Bandolero and Legends car racing series, as well as local late model events, at the age of nine. In 2005, he won 35 of the Bandolero Series' 48 races held that year; in 2008 he became the youngest driver to win at Franklin County Speedway in Virginia. Wallace has also experienced racial discrimination. In 2020 a noose was left in his garage stall after he convinced the organization to ban confederate flags at tracks and facilities. [The incident was investigated by the FBI and later proven to be untrue.] Another incident involved him being called a “nigger” over the radio while he was finishing his race in May 2023. Someone hacked into the system and stated he needed to “go back where he came” , that he’s a “nigger” and that he wasn’t wanted in NASCAR.LISA LESLIE Wendell Scott (one win) and Bubba Wallace (two wins) are the only two drivers to have won NASCAR Cup Series races. Wallace also has six wins and is the first African-American winner in the Truck Series. (The only other African-American winner in the Truck Series is Rajah Caruth, who has 1 win. ) So far there has not been an African-American driver who has won an Xfinity Series race.

DRIVE FOR DIVERSITY The sacrifices that these men have made in order to participate in a sport that they love is astounding. NASCAR itself has made strides through its Drive for Diversity program, a summer internship that recruits new drivers, pit crew and front office employees.

According to NASCAR, more than 400 students have graduated the program since 2000, and roughly 60 graduates currently work in motorsports. Wallace is the program’s most prominent alum, but the pipeline includes emerging stars like Rajah Caruth and Lavar Scott.

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Not to be left out, there are African American women who have notably made their own marks on the NASCAR scene.

Cheryl Linn Glass was the first ever African American woman professional race car driver in the US. She became a professional driver at age 18 in 1980 when she bought her first sprint car, and continued her storied career through 1991. Glass was not only a great race driver, but she was also an entrepreneur. When she wasn’t in the race circuit, she was busy running a successful fashion business, Cheryl Glass Designs, where she created bridal and evening gowns for special occasion wear. Shauntia Latrice “Tia” Norfleet is the daughter of NASCAR driver Bobby Norfleet, and she decided to follow in his path at age 14, competing in the drag-race and short track circuits. She was the first and only African American Woman driver to hold a NASCAR license, as well as the first black woman to be licensed by the Automobile Racing Club of America. She made her debut in August 2012 at the Motor Mile Speedway in Virginia. Brehanna Daniels is the first African American woman to be on a NASCAR Cup Series pit crew. She made her debut through the Drive for Diversity program and is inspiring many around the world.

FUTURE HOPES The future for African Americans in the world of NASCAR seems to be one that is filled with promise. With the help of their diversity program, it has brought to light the many opportunities in racing for people of color. Drivers today are looked upon to shed a light on inconsistencies and correct them when they are able to. The way has been paved for individuals to be able to see NASCAR as a place that they too can call home. Where they may have never before seen chances for their future, they are now able to dream impossible dreams and be role models to those who are watching them.

The NASCAR name has now become synonymous with change as they are continuing to make inroads in its effort to diversify racing through programs and leveraging big-name minority talent.

NASCAR has stated that the biggest issue that drivers come up against when wanting to become a driver are the costs. They also recognize that the pricey nature of its sport can turn families away fast. To help, the

company has 11 different programs aimed at bringing people from all walks of life to racetracks. Those programs include the NASCAR diversity internship program, the NASCAR Rise Partnership, NASCAR Institute for Sports & Social Justice, and NASCAR’s partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Along with the Drive for Diversity Program, its oldest and arguably most successful program ,these programs are helping to put those in the driver seat that otherwise wouldn’t have an opportunity to do so.

NASCAR has made significant progress with diversifying its owners; the organization boasts more majority black owners than the NFL, NBA and MLB combined.

Additionally, these owners come with their own limelight, as each one of the figures, including Michael Jordan and Emmitt Smith, is a former athlete who is an all-time great in their original sport. Rapper and Miami native Pitbull is also a co-owner. The barriers that have been put in place for these individuals are crumbling down, and the sport is no longer an “all white” affair.

Whether we’re racing forward into the future, or driving reverse into the past to learn about where we’ve come from, there’s no shortage of notable names in black History in the automotive racing circuit.

RACERS AT TALLADEGA, FLORIDA

THE APPEAL OF NASCAR Why is NASCAR So Famous? NASCAR’s fame can be attributed to a range of factors that appeal to a diverse audience base. It stands as a premier motorsport in the United States, renowned for its high-speed stock car races that offer spectators a blend of speed, strategy, and spectacle. The sport’s rich history, tracing back to bootleggers’ modified cars during Prohibition, adds to its cultural significance and enhances its appeal across generations.

The appeal of NASCAR extends beyond the racetrack to foster a sense of community among fans. Races are often family-friendly events where traditions and camaraderie are as much a part of the experience as the competition itself. The accessibility of the sport, through multiple tracks and events spread across the country, ensures that a wide demographic can participate in the live NASCAR experience.

Additionally, the consistent presence of NASCAR in media and its strategic marketing efforts have played a crucial role in maintaining its popularity.

Engaging fans through year-round coverage, interactive platforms, and branding efforts keeps the sport in the public eye. NASCAR drivers also contribute to the sport’s fame by building personal brands and connecting with fans, further solidifying NASCAR’s position as a mainstay in American sporting culture.

Gallery of Racing Stars

Wendell Scott became the first Black driver to earn a Cup 1963. He was entered into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.

Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. finished second in the February 2018 Daytona 500.

Tia Norfleet, daughter of Bobby Norfleet, has stated that she is the first Black woman to compete in a NASCAR race, although some question the validity of her NASCAR license and criticize the fact she has not competed in any major events.

Chase Austin was the youngest driver to sign with a NASCAR team as he did so at the age of 14. He was also the third African American driver to ever compete in the Indianapolis 500.

Randy Bethea became only the fourth Black driver to participate in a NASCAR Cup race back in 1975.

NASCAR Drive for Diversity driver Ryan Gifford made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Iowa Speedway in 2013.

Willy T. Ribbs competed in several NASCAR series from the mid 1980s to the early 2000s. He's been outspoken about the lack of diversity in racing.

One of only four drivers to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series, Bill Lester said in a CNN interview he was not initially embraced in the racing community.

Elias Bowie raced in NASCAR's Grand National series in 1955 where he finished 28 out of 34 cars. He was actually the first African American driver in NASCAR history.

Morty Buckles was a member of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity Program and the NASCAR/Dodge Weekly series.

After racing in the IndyCar Series, George Mack became a test driver for U.S. F2000, Star Mazda, and NASCAR.

Bobby Norfleet was a NASCAR racer throughout the '90s and early 2000s. His daughter, Tia, went on to become a NASCAR driver as well.

George Wiltshire drove in several NASCAR series from 1968 to 1986. He also competed in the Winston Cup races at a time when few African American drivers had done so.

Marc Davis competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series from 2008 to 2011.

Charlie Scott raced at Daytona Beach in 1956 where he came in 19th place.

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It’s Not What You Think It Was Reggie Jackson Reveals Uncomfortable Truths About His Baseball Career Baseball legend and Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson returned to Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., in June 2024 and recounted the horrors of racial abuse he was forced to endure there during his time in the leagues.

Jackson, 78, was just 21 years old when he joined the Birmingham A's in 1967 as one of a few Black players on the minor league team and at the height of violent racial strife in the American South.

“Fortunately, I had a manager and I had players on the team that helped me get through it, but I wouldn't wish it on anybody,” Jackson said on the Fox Sports panel for the Negro Leagues tribute game in Birmingham.

When Jackson arrived in Alabama in the 1960s, the city of Birmingham was making headlines for its open abuse of Black Americans.

Led by Bull Connor, the notorious city commissioner of Birmingham, racial tensions were at a fever pitch, marking a peak with the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, which claimed the lives of four young Black girls.

“I walked into restaurants and they would point at me and say 'the n***** can't eat here.' I would go to a hotel and they said, 'the n***** can't stay here,' ” Jackson said.

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“We went to Charlie Finley's country club for a welcome home dinner, and they pointed me out with the N-word. ‘He can't come in here.’ Finley marched the whole team out,” Jackson recalled, referencing the Alabama native and Major League Baseball franchisee Charles Finley.

Jackson credited having white friends and allies on his side to stick up for him and keep him from doing anything that might have jeopardized his career or his life in the deeply segregated era.

“I would have never made it. I was too physically violent. I was ready to physically fight – I'd have got killed here,” he said.

Jackson, who earned the nickname “Mr. October” for his ability to overperform in the postseason, would eventually play for 21 seasons in the majors, taking home five World Series wins.

He retired after the 1987 season and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1993.

By Alana Wise (NPR) Published on opb.org, June 21, 2024

Roll of Honor

DO YOU HAVE A NOMINEE FOR THE ROLL OF HONOR? LET US KNOW: EAB@BAVUAL.COM

Dedicated to the Memory of Earl Birkett, 1922-2014 Queenie Birkett, 1923-2023

Legends of Autumn Tom Joyner

THOMAS JOYNER (born 1949) Radio Personality / USA

ACHIEVEMENTS Former host of the nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show (1994-2019), and also founder of Reach Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com.

Sold Reach Media to Urban One for $56.1 million in 2004.

Foundation supports historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) through student scholarship, endowment, and capacity building enhancements. Since 1998, it has raised more than $65 million to help keep students enrolled at HBCUs. BACKGROUND Born in Tuskegee, Alabama Attended Tuskegee Institute, now known as Tuskegee University; graduated with a degree in sociology. joined the fraternity Omega Psi Phi. Joined a band, the Commodores, that included his college friend Lionel Richie, but the band did not make any money and his family encouraged him to seek another way to make a living.

Nikki Giovanni

YOLANDE CORNELIA "NIKKI" GIOVANNI JR. (BORN 1943) Poet and Writer / USA

ACHIEVEMENTS One of the world's most well-known African-American poets.

Work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recordings, and nonfiction essays, and covers topics ranging from race and social issues to children's literature.

Won numerous awards, including the Langston Hughes Medal and the NAACP Image Award.

Named as one of Oprah Winfrey's 25 "Living Legends." proud of her Appalachian roots and works to change the way the world views Appalachians and Affrilachians.

BACKGROUND Born in Knoxville, Tennessee Studied at her grandfather's alma mater, Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, as an "Early Entrant", which meant that she could enroll in college without having finished high school first; graduated in 1967 with a B.A. with honors in history.

Began making regular appearances on the television program Soul!, an entertainment/variety/talk show that promoted black art and culture and allowed political expression.

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Robert C. Maynard

ROBERT CLYVE MAYNARD (1937-1993) Journalist and Newspaper Publisher / USA

Former owner of The Oakland Tribune.

Co-founder of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education in Oakland, California, which trains black journalists.

Became editor of the Tribune in 1979; was the 1st African American to own a major metropolitan newspaper, from 1983 to 1992; widely recognized for turning around the then struggling newspaper ant transforming it into a Pulitzer-Prize winning journal by 1990.

Greatly valued community involvement, as he taught at local high schools and frequently attended community forums.

Positive, proactive outlook helped many in need, including children of cocaine-addicted mothers and earthquake and firestorm victims; used the outreach of his newspaper to better the community by pushing for improved schools, trauma care centers, and economic development.

Father of Dori J. Maynard, noted journalist who succeeded him as CEO of the Maynard Institute.

BACKGROUND Parents were immigrants from Barbados. Dropped out of Brooklyn High School at age 16 to pursue his passion for writing. and became friends with influential New York writers James Baldwin and Langston Hughes and later acknowledged Martin Luther King Jr. as a hero. Journalism career began in 1961 at the York Gazette & Daily in York, Pennsylvania.

Received a Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University (1965).

Joined the editorial staff of the Washington Post (1966) .

Dori Maynard

DORI J. MAYNARD (1958-2015) Writer and Journalist / USA

ACHIEVEMENTS President of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education in Oakland, California, 2001-2015.

Co-author of Letters to My Children, a compilation of nationally syndicated columns by her late father Robert C. Maynard, for which she wrote introductory essays.

Served as the Special Projects Director for the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, a nonprofit organization cofounded by her father and step-mother that aims to improve diversity in journalism.

BACKGROUND Born in Brooklyn, New York.

Mother, Elizabeth Rosen , and father Robert Maynard divorced in 1963.

Traveled to Africa before applying to college.

Graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont with a B.A. in American History, 1982. (Dori was a classmate of BAVUAL’s editor and owner, Earl A. Birkett.)

Reporter for several newspapers, in Massachusetts, Detroit and Bakersfield, California.

Received the prestigious Nieman Fellowship to study journalism at Harvard University, 1993; she and her father Robert are the 1st father-daughter to receive the honor.

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William Marshall

WILLIAM HORACE MARSHALL (1924-2003) Actor, Director and Opera Singer / USA

ACHIEVEMENTS Played the title role in the 1972 blaxploitation classic Blacula and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream (1973) Appeared as the King of Cartoons on the 1980s television show Peewee's Playhouse and as Dr. Richard Daystrom on the original Star Trek television series in the 1960s.

Portrayed then Massachusetts Attorney General Edward W. Brooke in the 1968 film The Boston Strangler.

Portrayed Paul Robeson and Frederick Douglass on stage.

Stood 6‘5” (1.96 m) tall and was known for his bass voice.

Performed in several Shakespearean plays on the stage in the U. S. and Europe, including the title role in at least six productions of Othello. Harold Hobson of the London Sunday Times praised Marshall’s portrayal as "the best Othello of our time."

BACKGROUND Born in Gary, Indiana.

Attended New York University as an art student but transferred to the Actors Studio to study theater; studied at the American Theatre Wing and with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

Made his Broadway debut in 1944 in Carmen Jones. In 1950, he understudied Boris Karloff as Captain Hook in the Broadway production of Peter Pan, 1950.

Duke Ellington

EDWARD KENNEDY "DUKE" ELLINGTON (1899 –1974) Jazz Pianist, Composer and Bandleader / USA

ACHIEVEMENTS Leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life.

Band’s most famous song of many, “Take the A Train,” was also its theme.

Master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format.

Wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become standards.

Recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz.

At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly thirty-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writing and arranging companion. With Strayhorn, he composed multiple extended compositions, or suites, as well as many short pieces.

Following a low-profile period, an appearance by Ellington and his orchestra at the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1956 led to a major revival and regular world tours.

Recorded for most American record companies of his era, performed in and scored several films, and composed a handful of stage musicals.

Referred to his music as part of the more general category of American Music.

Known for his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, as well as for his eloquence and charisma.

Awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Award for music in 1999.

BACKGROUND Born and raised in Washington, D.C. Based in New York City from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem.

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Arthur Fletcher

ARTHUR ALLEN FLETCHER (1924 – 2005) Government Official and Republican Politician / USA

ACHIEVEMENTS Pioneer of “affirmative action" as he was largely responsible for the Revised Philadelphia Plan.

Numbers of his fellow Republicans were often at odds with the affirmative action policies which Fletcher initiated and supported as the chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, 1990-93.

Served in the Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush administrations.

Ran for mayor of Washington, D.C., in 1978 but was defeated by Marion Barry.

Briefly pursued a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, 1995.

Former head of the United Negro College Fund.

BACKGROUND Born in Phoenix, Arizona.

Graduated from Washburn University and obtained a degree from distance learning school La Salle Extension University.

U.S. Army veteran during World War II. Played two games with the NFL's Baltimore Colts in 1950, thus becoming the first black professional player in any sport in the city's history.

Organized a community self-help program in predominantly black East Pasco, Washington and landed a seat on the Pasco City Council.

Ran a close but unsuccessful race for Lieutenant Governor of Washington State, 1968; the first African American in Washington as well as the West to contest a statewide electoral office. (During the campaign, his driver and bodyguard was Ted Bundy, the serial killer who was active in Republican Party politics in the late 1960s through the early 1970s.)

Shaquille O’Neal

SHAQUILLE RASHAUN “SHAQ” O’NEAL (BORN 1972)) Pro Basketball Legend and Entrepreneur / USA

ACHIEVEMENTS 7-foot-1-inch (2.16 m) and 325-pound (147 kg) center who played for six teams over his 19-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and is a four-time NBA champion.

Played for the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Boston Celtics.

Regarded as one of the greatest basketball players and centers of all time.

Honors include Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award; the 1992–93 NBA Rookie of the Year award; 15 All-Star Game selections, three All-Star Game MVP awards; three Finals MVP awards; two scoring titles; 14 All-NBA team selections, and three NBA All-Defensive Team selections.

One of only three players to win NBA MVP, All-Star Game MVP and Finals MVP awards in the same year (2000).

Sports analyst on the television program Inside the NBA. Ranks third all-time in field goal percentage (58.2%) and led the league in field goal percentage ten times.

Elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, 2016; FIBA Hall of Fame, 2017.and the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, 2021.

Varied interests include media personality, Los Angeles police reserve officer, actor and rapper, commercial pitchman, entrepreneur and investor and dabbler in mixed martial arts (MMA) and professional wrestling.

BACKGROUND Born in Newark, New Jersey and went to high school in San Antonio, Texas.

Left Louisiana State University (LSU), where he was named college player of the year by Associated Press and UPI, before graduation to sign with the Orlando Magic.

Later inducted into the LSU Hall of Fame.

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Benediction The Transformative Power of College Education for Black Americans

By Myeshia C. Babers, Ph.D. As we close this issue of BAVUAL: The African Heritage Magazine, let us reflect on the profound importance of college education for black people in America. Our journey through higher learning is not merely a personal pursuit, but a collective ascension that honors the struggles of our ancestors and paves the way for future generations.

A Legacy of Resilience and Aspiration The story of black education in America is one of resilience and unwavering aspiration. From the clandestine schools of the antebellum South to the Rosenwald schools that dotted the rural landscape, our forebears understood that knowledge was the key to liberation and progress. They risked everything for the chance to learn, recognizing education as a powerful tool for personal and communal uplift.

Consider the legacy of institutions like Calvert Colored High School in Texas, which nurtured generations of Black leaders despite the constraints of segregation.

These schools, built on the sweat and determination of our communities, laid the foundation for the educational opportunities we have today. When we step onto college campuses, we carry with us the dreams and sacrifices of those who came before.

Empowerment Through Knowledge A college education empowers black individuals with more than just academic knowledge; it provides the tools to navigate and transform societal structures. In the halls of higher learning, we gain critical thinking skills, expand our worldviews, and develop the confidence to challenge systemic inequities. We learn not only about the world as it is but envision the world as it could be.

For many of us, college is the first time we encounter a diverse range of perspectives

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and ideas. This exposure is crucial in developing a nuanced understanding of our place in the world and the multifaceted nature of the black experience. It allows us to see ourselves reflected in literature, science, art, and history, affirming our contributions to human knowledge and culture.

Economic Empowerment and Community Development In an economy that increasingly demands advanced skills and credentials, a college degree can be a powerful equalizer. It opens doors to career opportunities, higher earning potential, and economic stability. This individual prosperity ripples out to our families and communities, helping to close the wealth gap that has long plagued black America.

Moreover, college-educated individuals often become pillars of their communities, using their knowledge and resources to lift others.

They start businesses, lead organizations, and mentor the next generation. By pursuing higher education, we are not just investing in ourselves but in the collective future of black America.

Cultivating Leadership and Innovation Our communities need strong, educated leaders who can navigate the complexities of the modern world while staying true to our cultural values. College campuses are incubators for leadership, offering

opportunities to organize, advocate, and innovate. From student government to cultural organizations, these experiences prepare us to take on leadership roles in our professional lives and communities.

Furthermore, as the world grapples with unprecedented challenges, from climate change to social inequality, the innovative thinking fostered in college environments is more crucial than ever. By pursuing higher education, we position ourselves to be at the forefront of developing solutions that address these global issues while centering the needs and perspectives of black communities.

Preserving and Advancing Our Cultural Heritage College education plays a vital role in preserving and advancing black cultural heritage. Through African American studies programs, research initiatives, and cultural events, we deepen our understanding of our history and identity. This knowledge empowers us to counter narratives that seek to diminish our contributions and to articulate the richness and complexity of the black experience.

Moreover, as we engage with diverse academic disciplines, we bring our unique perspectives to fields that have historically excluded or marginalized black voices.

Whether in STEM, the arts, or the humanities,

our presence and contributions enrich these disciplines and ensure that our stories and innovations are part of the academic canon.

A Call to Action As we conclude, let this be a call to action for our community. To those considering college, know that your pursuit of higher education is an act of revolution and love – for yourself, your family, and your people. To those already on this journey, persist with the knowledge that your success is a triumph for us all.

To our elders and community leaders, continue to support and guide our young people as they navigate the challenges of higher education. And to our institutions and policymakers, we demand increased access, support, and resources to ensure that every black child who dreams of college has the opportunity to attend.

Let us move forward with the understanding that every degree earned, every research paper published, every business launched by a college-educated black individual is a step toward a more just and equitable future. Our pursuit of higher education is not just about personal advancement; it is about collective liberation and the realization of our ancestors' wildest dreams.

As we close this chapter, may we be inspired to open the books of knowledge, to engage in the rigorous pursuit of learning, and to use our education as a tool for uplifting our communities. For in doing so, we honor our past, empower our present, and secure a brighter future for generations to come.

AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR READERS

The shocking (to many) but not entirely unexpected election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States once again has cast a dark shadow on many American and world citizens and concerned those of us like BAVUAL that are protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of the press.

President-elect Trump has vowed to crack down on opposition to him and anything not deemed the Republican version of American patriotism such as, in their mind, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI), from legeacy media establishments like CBS right down to small independent media such as BAVUAL, which considers itself a progressive-minded DEI print and digital magazine.

BAVUAL wants its readers to know that it will not be intimidated by or accede to the current mood of the U.S.A., its home base, and will continue its quarterly mission to educate and enlighten a public being fed a constant stream of propaganda, misinformation and disinformation about the current state of the world and its historical antecedents. The truth will always will out no matter how despots who fear it attempt to suppress it or snuff it out altogether.

As all media should, BAVUAL expects that there will be attempts by the government and those affiliated with Trump to shut us down; we recognize that there are a lot of ways to do it. Until then, we intend to hold truth to power right up to the last word that we are able to print.

That is our duty and our mission.

Earl A. Birkett Editor

About the Author Dr. Myeshia C. Babers is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at Western Washington University and a Cultural Consultant for BAVUAL The African Heritage Magazine.

She specializes in African American studies, cultural anthropology, and the preservation of black heritage. Dr. Babers is also an independent filmmaker, having written and directed films on African American history and culture. Email: myeshia@drbabers.com . For speaking engagements or consultations on cultural heritage and community engagement, please contact: bookings@drbabers.com

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