From the show of warmth from Pres. Rawling’s Watch in Ghana toward African Americans and the Black Muslims and from decades past with Marcus Garvey and Kwame Nkrumah ‘Africa for Africans’ and the Pan-African movement, many black people throughout the globe have connected to their ‘roots’ and many even returned to or at least long to return to their ‘roots’ in Africa. But by 2007, even with the relocation of thousands of African-Americans to the continent, some migrating slowly there since the 1960’s, I am still not aware of one law on any government’s book in Africa that addresses the immigration status of the so-called African American.
Today, in most all cases when African-Americans finally re-take up residence in Africa they must still make a yearly visit to the local African immigration authorities and pay to extend their visiting status just like any other American. There is no ‘favored status’ for the African-American. Most every other nationality born in the USA with a hyphen to reflect ethnic origin i.e., Italian American, Irish American, and the other Euro-Americans, all are freely and legally accepted and respected in all of the European border destinations when they return to their native shores, American resident or not…..they are all favored in their ethnic homes.
It is a fact that many Africans in America were taken as slaves from Africa as early as the 1500’s, and yet after over 400 years their political link and relationship is still not legally addressed, consequently African Americans are still sorely disrespected and mis-used in this racial identity game. Even when they return to Africa, it appears that only the American dollar gets the real home-coming. Alas, a personal plea for African related people who have been separated from the continent might be: ‘GIVE ME MY NAME, CULTURE, GOD and LAND back, or else drop the African from the American. So please, African ‘think-tank’, what next? We have moved from colored, to Negro, to Black, to Afro-American, and to the current African-American status. Maybe just refer to us as God’s own children, the inherited children of ‘the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel.’ If so, will the real Israelites’-Please stand up?
My name is Dawnis Ba, I have worked within the field of Human Services for over 25 years. I have worked with both Government and non-governmental agencies towards the alleviation of poverty and addressing social service and human rights concerns. I am currently a private resettlement consultant, trainer and specialist: a problem solver for migration and poverty concerns.
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