I happened to catch the beginning of the Miss Universe pageant on television tonight.  My children glanced up at the screen when the contestants from Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania and some of the Caribbean islands were announced.  These were some lovely black girls who stood out amongst the 80 participants.    Then they introduced the judges […]

I ran into a Kenyan couple last weekend at a party in Chicago.  I thought I was being gracious when I mentioned to them how excited they must be to see Barak Obama do so well in the US presidential primaries.  To my utter amazement, they eyed me suspiciously.  So I persisted, “You know, he […]

A student of mine was wondering aloud one afternoon.  She wondered about the different rules and standards to which black and white folks had to live up to.  She says, for instance, that it is fine for black folks to say “I’m proud to be black” but when white folks say “I’m proud to be […]

The fact that most Haitians live well below the poverty level should baffle us all. It should make us sit up and wonder how it is that such a proud nation, with such a revolutionary history, that started off as such a leader in the African Diaspora has fallen to this level. An […]

I’m often asked what I miss most about living in West Africa. I certainly miss the obvious things like family, friends, colleagues, school mates, the food, the music. The list could go on and would probably be the same for any immigrant who has left home and started a new life in a […]

For centuries, African Americans have searched for their roots in Africa. They wonder where exactly on the great continent they come from. Few are as lucky as Alex Haley to trace their “roots” to the Mandinka tribe in Gambia. These days, there is exciting news of DNA testing which will lead […]

President Bush has embarked on a whirlwind tour of Africa - 5 African countries in 6 days! A few things strike me about this trip. First, how do you visit 5 countries in 6 days? Are you hoping to really visit or just touch down and make a point? For instance, […]

I find it extremely disturbing that Larry Elder has chosen to call his new book “Stupid Black Men”. I have not read the book. I skimmed through it while sipping a cup of tea in a bookstore. I suppose Elder is capitalizing on Michael Moore’s bestseller “Stupid White Men” (the same way Chris […]

Forbes has just published the list of top ten music money-makers for 2007. I excitedly surveyed the list to see how many African-American rappers made the list. After all, throughout the 20th century, Black popular music – and most recently, rap music – affected and gave birth to various manifestations of pop culture […]

Missionaries from my church are, once again, embarking on a mission trip to Haiti. They often go to Haiti and other parts of South and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, and India. This seems to be the typical itinerary for missionary groups in many churches in the United States. In fact, two […]