Speeches

Consul General Brian L. Browne
The Diaspora -What Next?
A speech in honor of Black History Month 2006

February 22, 2006

I dedicate this speech to the memory of two dear friends. If they were still on this earth, they might have attended this event. These friends are Alao Aka-Bashorun and Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti. I hope that you find what I say today worthy of being a dedication to these two outstanding men who labored to bring the fruits of greater freedom and justice to us all.

A tree that fails to nurture its branches will itself fail to reach full height. A branch that fails to acknowledge that it is part of a tree will wither and cease to produce good fruit. In this regard, the African American Diaspora is a special branch. Usually, a tree has many branches but in this instance, we see a branch that is attached to two vastly different trees, one American and the other African.

This duality can be a source of creativity and innovation as exemplified by the birth of jazz music which, in its essence, fuses musical elements from Africa and Europe.

Unfortunately, this duality has also been a source of ambivalence and confusion too many times, for too many people, for too many years. This speech is intended to provide a conceptual basis for making this special branch a bearer of equally special fruit for both of the trees that have contributed to its existence.

There is no better time to engage in this discussion than during Black History Month. While Black History is something that should be studied year round, during the month of February we lend it our best attention. It is a time Black people have dedicated to celebrate who we are and to celebrate our collective contribution to the advancement of humankind. That is pretty heady stuff.

If you did these things well, most people would tell you that you did with Black History Month what was supposed to be done.

Today, let's not be like most people. Let us go a step beyond. For I will tell you if we did these things but only did them, then our task is incomplete. We left half the job undone. That we had only walked half-way home. It would be as if we bought a beautiful car only to find that it lacked an engine. How pretty it looks. Yet with all of its style and sleekness, it cannot get you where you want to go.

Alas, we come to the crux of the issue with Black History Month. To remain relevant, Black History Month must be more than a series of rituals, it must help get you to where you are going. Black History Month should not only take us on a pilgrimage into the past, with all of its triumphs and its tribulations, Black History Month must be more than a series of ceremonies and speeches, it should also be a trek into a desired future.

It is in this prospective vein, that I would like to discuss the African Diaspora. Let us not discuss the Diaspora simply as a historic phenomenon. May our remarks not be couched only in the past tense. Instead let us use this opportunity as a chance to craft a better future for all of us, those of us whom are of Africa and its Diaspora and those of us who are not.

Yet in order to achieve a better future, we must better ourselves. This will require a taste of the sometimes bitter tonic called self-criticism. Self criticism - honest introspection - is often painful but in that pain there is growth. So I ask you to join me in a bit of self-critical analysis.

As I have stated previously, too often our celebration of Black History Month have become an end in themselves. True we owe it to our history and to those who suffered and died to make that history, never to forget the achievements and hardships they endured for our sakes. Yes, we must study and understand slavery, colonialism and racism and all the historic events that have merged to form our collective present and presence. To do otherwise, would be to embrace ignorance and render us unworthy of those who labored before us.

However, too many of us wrap ourselves in the tribulation of our history. We trap ourselves in it. Instead of using history as a tool for progress, it has become an implement of self-imprisonment. When confronted by the problems of the day, let alone the uncertainties of the future, too many of us point to the unevenness and injustices of history not only as an explanation but also as an excuse for inaction. As an excuse not to take the hard actions and sacrifices required to resolve the current difficulties that are born of those harsh antecedents. Yet, after a time, you can no longer blame the past for keeping you in the past. And that time has come. The past is dead, but you are not. Learn from it but do not forfeit yourself to living in it. The past must be our guide it cannot be our future.

Thus, let us today begin a journey where we discuss the historic reality of Africa and its Diaspora but take a step beyond that in order to speak to a hopeful future.

The African Diaspora was born from tragedy. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade is a canker on human history. Africans were taken from these shores under the most wretched conditions. Countless numbers died. But many survived their ordeal to reach the New World. Unfortunately, the masters of the New World were so well versed in the inequities of the Old World from which they fled that they managed to have perfected the injustice called human bondage.

From the 1500s to the 1800s, millions of Africans were brought to the New World and called slaves. But they weren't slaves despite the cruelty that fell upon them. They remained human beings. In their humanness, they retained much of the various African cultures they represented. They also adapted their ways to the ways of the New World. Their blood, brawn and brains contributed to the development of that New World. Through it all, the Africans in America survived. But physical survival was not their hallmark achievement.

Here I will say something iconoclastic. Many of our intellectuals hail the "so-called slaves" survival as a great achievement. In this, they are misguided. The reality of it is that the slave system, while it had not investment in a slave's human development, had the final say about physical survival. For pecuniary reasons, the slaveholders had a stake in a slave's survival much like a modern day owner has a stake in a car or a personal computer. In the United States, importation of new slaves was costly, and then, ultimately, illegal. Slaves were too valuable a capital asset to have to rapidly replenish. In other places, like Brazil, Cuba and Haiti, plantation life was more brutal and replacement costs were less. In these areas, most slaves died within five years of their arrival. The big difference in mortality was not some chance difference in the stoutness of the slaves sent to these different places but in the brutality of the slave system which, generally functioned in reverse proportion to the worth of the slave as a capital asset.

The real achievement was not their physical survival. The real achievement was that a part of Africa survived within them despite the trauma of human bondage. This internalized remnant, coupled with the noble but then racially restrictive democratic political philosophy brewing in America, led these people to dare think of a future without chains. After they took care of the daily chores of a slave, they turned their minds nightly to thoughts of freedom. Thus, the first phase of the African Diaspora can be distilled into one word: freedom.

The struggle was long and progress gradual. Blacks in the Americas fought in every way to preserve their human dignity and prove their social mettle. Some sought freedom by taking a midnight ride on the Underground Railroad; others actively rebelled against all odds and manner of depravation. Thousands risked and lost their lives in this quest for freedom, which would really culminate in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

After emerging from slavery but before the full blossom of the Civil Rights Movement, Black America faced an existential fork in the road. A decision had to be made. Whether to push for full integration into a society that had heaped one burning coal of injustice after another upon them or whether to turn to a homeland they did not know. In effect, whether to intellectually follow Dubois to knock on the door and ask America to let them in or literally follow Garvey to board a ship to return to a foreign land. In effect, this choice was no choice. Pragmatism, costs, and fear of the unknown made the vast majority side with Dubois.

In Black History, the strategic duels between Dubois and Booker T. Washington and later, Marcus Garvey are second to none. Here I consider Garvey a radical version of Washington. However, I think in deifying these great men we do them and us an injustice. They were both partially right but also partially wrong. They presented their positions as antinomies and thus became implacable enemies at times. However, instead of bickering, they could have sought a synthesis of their different versions of the quest for equal rights. The synthesis could have been that of living in America yet renewing ties with Africa. However, in casting their positions as diametric opposites, they forced Black America to choose one and reject the other. The majority of people went one way to the exclusion of the other. This had a profound effect on how most of Black America and Africa relate to one another even to this very day.

The American Civil Rights Movement coincided with the push for independence in Africa. Africans and Black Americans, knowing that they were equal to any other human being, sought to be treated as human beings. This symmetry is more than historic accident. The similarities in the political and psychological urgings of Black America and pre-independence Africa are real and profound. In both instances, there was a long period of sacrifice marked by new political organizations and activism. While the specter of violence was ever present and violent episodes did occur, both movements reached their goal generally through peaceful means. Both movements had their transcendental heroes. In Africa, there was Nkrumah. In America, King. It would take decades before leaders in both Black America and in Africa would again rise to such global prominence.

Thus, in its essence, the second phase of the Diaspora can be distilled to the following: the quest for equality and the concomitant respect and dignity that equality bestows. Much has taken place during the second phase. Racial discrimination is now illegal. Bigotry is abhorrent in most quarters and must now hide in the shadows. Black people have advanced in all fields. During the past decade, African-Americans have held some of the most powerful political positions in the United States. Black owned businesses have multiplied. The middle class has grown and higher education is more accessible to more Blacks. The African-American community is expected to reach 45 million by 2020, and today has a collective purchasing power approaching 475 billion dollars per annum.

The constant theme of this talk is that progress in Black America and in Africa have historically moved in tandem. Despite the geographic distance and other differences, there are strong political and cultural forces that still link the branch to the tree. For instance, even the global status of leaders in Africa and America parallel each other. We have previously stated how both King and Nkrumah, despite their short comings, assumed larger than life proportions. After their exit, leadership went into a doldrums. There were decent leaders here and there but none with the transcendental vision or personality to match the former duo. But in the 90's Colin Powell emerged on the scene in America while Nelson Mandela emerged from confinement in South Africa. These two men captured the world stage and set the measure for a new type of black leader.

Since then, other African leaders like Presidents' Obasanjo and Mbeki have become global statesmen. In America, Condoleeza Rice has succeeded General Powell and there are others like Senator Barak Obama waiting in the wings.

Fortunately, there are two significant positive lessons from the second Diaspora phase. We have already noted the coincidence of the Civil Rights Movement and the Independence Movement in Africa. The two movements served to reinforce each other. Africans supported the African-American quest for civil rights while African-Americans canvassed for the independence of African States. Because both movements appealed to the human conscience, its universal desire for freedom, well meaning people of all races actively supported these causes. People transcended their differences to cooperate with and support each other because of the mutual yearning for freedom.

This unity was repeated again in the 70's and 80's in the fight against apartheid. Not only were the Front Line States active; manning the interior lines were other African states, the African Diaspora but also conscientious non-Africans around the world over. Again, people put aside their differences to rally around a noble cause.

Now we come to the third phase of the Diaspora. The challenge of the third phase is not to unite on an ad-hoc basis around a specific cause as has happened in the past. The challenge is to create institutional links that join Africa and the Diaspora in addressing the chronic problems that have deeply affected either or both of them.

This nexus must be built on the realization that the social and political status of Africa and its Diaspora remain closely intertwined. Many of the economic and social challenges facing one, also face the other. Vestigial discrimination continues to impede both. The one cannot maximize its place in the world without the support and cooperation of the others. In short, the third phase of the Diaspora should be heralded as: the push for economic and political progress through institution cooperation. It means defining a common vision - and working cooperatively, to achieve it.

We must begin to define some concrete steps to reach this goal. First both sides must know who they are. Equally, they must understand who they are not. For a relationship to prosper it must be based on clarity about the identity of the other partner as well as oneself.

The African American is foremost an American. They are proud of America and love it dearly although it may not, in the past, have always loved them. However, the phrase "African American" does not connote a dichotomy it connotes a connection. Thus, Blacks must see that being American does not preclude one from establishing a beneficial relationship with Africa, the home of their forebearers.

On the other hand, Africans must not have the mistaken view that Black Americans should somehow be Africans who were simply transplanted to America. If either group falls for these facile but wrong-minded conclusions, they will be disappointed and enmity will brew. At one and the same time, there is a bond that links but also a distance that separates us. We are distinct but related groups. We are of the same blood but not of the same environment. We must recognize these realities if we are to work together productively for the benefit of Africa, its Disapora and for our nations.

A key to this is the necessity to eliminate stereotypes from the collective psyche of both groups.

The African American community is guilty of vacillating between two extreme, almost dramatically opposed, views of Africa, both of which are wrong and thus ultimately harmful.

On one hand, we have the cultural romanticist who seem to look at Africa as a sort of cultural paradise regained. Hurt by the residual injustices at home, they think that returning to their ancestral homeland means an end to life's struggle. As if cultural affinity resolves everything.

I recall talking to one such cultural determinist who just arrived in Nigeria. As I started to remind him to take malaria preventatives, he silenced me proclaiming he was in the land of his ancestors and there was no way he could get sick. He ignored me when I reminded him that the people of Nigeria were also in their homeland, many had in fact never left the place, but somehow managed to be susceptible to the disease. I saw him weeks later. He was emaciated and tired, struggling to shake the effects of a bout of malaria. He was also on his way to the airport, professing never to return. The failure in this sad episode was not with Africa but with an overly-romanticized view that did not properly prepare this man for his sojourn here.

Conversely, there are Black Americans who hold the worst stereotypes about Africa. They see it as a backward and brutal continent. This misperception makes them ashamed of their ancestry and as a psychological defense they shy away from most people and things African.

Let me not stop there, many Africans also have prejudices regarding Black Americans. Far too many Africans see Black Americans as violent, drug-prone and socially irresponsible. All of these stereotypes are wrong and create a wariness between the two groups that should not exist. The negative myths on both sides should be replaced by the positive realities of both groups - that is that most Africans as well as most Black Americans are honest, hardworking people who love their families, care about their communities and seek a better life for their children.

We must overcome these stereotypes because what started as a forced dispersion many years ago has become an all too voluntary separation, mutually agreed to by both sides but completely understood by neither.

What both must do is to seize on the positive aspects of globalization and a shrinking world. In both Africa and Black America, economic and political leaders have arisen who are now part of the global mainstream. In fact, many of these leaders have more in common with their counterparts around the globe than they do with the average members of their racial community. The end of legal racial discrimination and of colonialism has given them power, freedom and affluence that most others in their group do not possess. The more these leaders become part of the global mainstream the less compelling is the pull of their racial and cultural origins. A major challenge of leadership in both groups is not to see their own personal inclusion into the global class as the end of the struggle for equality and development.

They must look beyond their guaranteed daily bread to expand that guarantee to others. Because the leaders in African and African Americans are of different nations, they must at times work independently of each other. Because they represent people of the same heritage and who are similarly situated in relative economic terms, they must at times work in concert. As history has shown, progress comes during the periods when recognition of the parallelism of both groups is the strongest. Lets look at what we can do to anneal this association.

A stark lesson from the Diaspora's first historical phase that needs to be corrected during this third phase is the case of Liberia. Liberia's establishment was sponsored by the American Colonization Society. In the first half of the 19th century, the Society, promoted immigration of Black Americans to Africa. Financed to a considerable degree by slaveholders, this project was ostensibly intended to provide free Blacks a land where they could truly be free and to prove they were capable of self-governance. The underlying purpose was to export as many freed Blacks as possible from America. The slave holders feared the growing numbers of freedmen would cause those still enslaved to think too much, about freedom too soon.

Unfortunately, the Blacks who ventured to Liberia carried with them the worst lessons from the ante-bellum South. They treated the Africans much the same way the slaveholding South had treated them. Because their quest for freedom was limited only to their own small group, their dream was flawed. It became a nightmare of domination to the Africans they encountered. The seeds sown over the next 150 years reaped the Civil War that turned Liberia into a torrent of destruction. What happened there is a senseless tragedy born of black-on-black prejudice.

Let the lessons of Liberia be clearly understood. Freedom is not divisible. Freedom clutched greedily by one group only means the oppression of all others. Secondly, inhumanity is no less inhumane because it is intra-racial.

Now Liberia has a new dawn and a new president. Black American should awake to the opportunity to work with West Africa to help turn this wretched nation into a conducive home for a new populace. In this way, Black America can remedy an historic injustice by turning the long deformed dream of a "freemans" republic in Africa into a healthy reality.

While Black America must seek to work with Africa on Liberia, Darfur and other issues, Africa must itself develop a collective strategy for engaging the Diaspora. There is a wealth of financial, technical and intellectual expertise in the Diaspora. Africa needs to exploit these human and material resources to help tackle the challenges of development, environmental degradation, food security, energy supply, HIV/AIDS, and the legal infrastructure needed to operate an open society and democratized economy.

Africa must work with the Diaspora to develop a unified strategy. Right now the strongest link between Africa and the Diaspora is cultural. Thousands of African Americans annually visit the continent to gain a sense of their roots; many Africans go to America because they feel at home - they can blend in. This is laudable but not wholly sufficient. More people need to visit Africa, not to identify with their past, but to map out their future.

Here Africa should seek links with Black American professional, educational and corporate institutions. Action links in each key area should be drawn out. The AU, NEPAD and regional organizations like ECOWAS can play the lead roles. Building these networks will be mutually beneficial. For Africa, they will increase investment in the continent and serve as avenues for the transfer of needed technologies and skills. For African Americans, it will expand their business opportunities in ways that may be difficult in their American home. This will put them in closer touch with their African cultural home. If done correctly, this could be the start of a beautiful partnership.

As the largest country in Africa, Nigeria has a special role to play in this enterprise. Nigeria must provide the leadership on the continent. While that is not easy; it also is not enough. The job gets even harder. Nigeria must also spur the large Nigerian Diaspora to organize and use their collective numbers, technical expertise, institutions, growing political leverage and wealth to work not only for Nigeria but the whole of Africa.

Tapping into the African Diaspora is an imperative. If Nigeria falls short on this account, so does Africa. If Africa staggers, its shortcomings will reverberate throughout and weaken the Diaspora.

Because of its size, population and resources, Nigeria has an immense responsibility that extends beyond its own borders. This responsibility encompasses continental leadership as well as setting the place toward developing the strategic framework for the next phase of the Diaspora. This is a profound enterprise. But Nigeria and Africa have the acumen to do it. Now, it is time to show that Nigeria and Africa have the will. Much work awaits us. Now, lets set ourselves to doing it.

 

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