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Africa is my home and there is no place like home. I love Africa because there is no place like Africa. Even in my second life (if I get the opportunity), I will choose Africa because I love Africa and there is no doubt Africa loves me. Some people don't understand. Some people think they know but they do not know. Some people think they know all about Africa but the truth is that, none of them knows Africa the way I do. I know Africa and Africa knows me.I was born in Africa, I grew up in Africa and Africa is my home so you must believe me if I tell you there is no place like Africa. If it is true there is a God up there beyond the clouds then I am very sure that God is an African. Why? Because Africa is the rhythm of life. Africa is that mighty tree of ancient origin rooted in mountains of gold and silver.

Africa is that mighty stream. Africa is that stream of life. Africa is that mighty stream full of untold number of souls. Africa is that bird. Africa is that quiet but mighty bird. Africa is that quiet bird with the voice of thunder. Africa is that mighty bird with the wings of gold and diamond feathers. Anytime Africa spreads her precious wings of different colors, even the beasts below the surface of the earth, smile. Africa is my home and there is no place like Africa. It is very true my great-great grandfather did not build an airplane but what people do not understand is that, my great-great grandfather did not need an airplane to fly.

It is very true my great-great grandmother could not write her story in a book but what people do not understand is that, my great-great grandmother was able to carve her story on a mountain that does not move. If you see my uncle walking on the Kalahari desert with no shirt and no shoes on, don't just conclude he is dumb. My uncle chases away wild beasts with his bare hands and it takes great courage and wisdom to do that. If you live in New York City, don't just conclude my uncle in the jungle is a fool because no fool survives in a jungle full of wild animals.

Some people think Mama Africa is an illiterate but what Mama Africa knows, the world can never know even half. If you steal from Mama Africa's backyard and she doesn't chase you away with a gun, don't just conclude Mama Africa is blind. The eyes of Mama Africa shines like the Sun and she sees all things. Mama Africa doesn't judge. Instead, she leaves all things to He who knows how to judge. Once again, I love Africa because Africa is my home and there is no place like home. Anywhere you hear "poverty", you hear "Africa". There is poverty in Africa today. There is no doubt about it. My great great grandfather had food in abundance and he had enough to drink.

My great great grandmother had enough to give her grandchildren anytime they asked for something to eat. My great great grandfather had enough gold and precious minerals to decorate his throne and my great great grandmother had a palanquin full of edible fruits. There was plenty in Africa but plenty has been taken away leaving Mama Africa with very little to give her beloved children anytime they ask for something to eat. The only problem with Mama Africa is that, she opens her arms all the time. Mama Africa opens her arms and welcomes every stranger thinking all men are the same not knowing some men are worse than death.

They come with sweet tongues and friendly faces but wicked minds and charcoal hearts. Some do not understand but instead of taking time to understand, they rush into conclusions.There is poverty in Africa but why is there poverty in Africa? There is hunger in Africa but why is there hunger in Africa? You took away the piece of bread I had in my hands by force and now you are trying to feed me with expired biscuit and diluted fanta because I have nothing left to eat knowing very well that expired biscuit does me no good.

Is it fair? You break my home into pieces then come back later on to teach me "Unity is Strength". Do you expect me to love you? If unity is strength as your good book says then why break my home into pieces? You take away my eyes and come back later on with a walking stick for me. Do you expect me to thank you for the walking stick? Some people think they know but they do not know. Some people think they understand but they do not understand. Some people are very bad but they don't even know the fact that they are bad which is very sad.

Since the late 1950s, Lego bricks have brought hours of enjoyment to young girls and boys. Indeed, for the artist Ekow Nimako, a passion for Lego sculpture that ignited in childhood ultimately developed into a spectacular art form.Nimako uses the humble Lego brick to create sculptures that celebrate African culture. His intriguing pieces are exhibited in museums and galleries around the globe. Here are some interesting tidbits about this talented artist and his work.

You are not alone if you associate Lego bricks with children’s toys. However, this talented artist ingeniously uses this unique medium in a way that brings synthetic objects to life. He achieves this by skillfully fitting the right parts together at the best angles possible. It takes between 50-800 hours to produce a sculpture. But, the end result is stunning. Nimako’s sculptures portray an impression of movement, depth, varying textures, and richness.

The motivation behind Nimako’s art is a desire to bridge the past with the future by reimagining historical African monuments and civilizations. He projects his ideas of how these architectural wonders will look in the future. Also, he presents a picture of how they would have developed without vices such as enslavement and colonialism. More importantly, he uses his imagination to deliver a vision of hope of a better future for the African people.

Ekow Nimako is dedicated to preserving African History and culture. For example, one of his most famous works is the ‘’Kumbi Salah 3020’’ which sits at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. Historically, it is believed that Kumbi Salah was the capital of the Ghana Empire. The sculpture is that of a magnificent futuristic city and it covers an area of 2.7 square meters. Created with 100,000 pieces of Lego, it is not only massive but also awe-inspiring.A unique characteristic of this artist is that he produces monochromatic creations. Nimako sculpts fantasy pieces out of black Lego. 

“There is something that is appealing about black because it mutes the Lego-ness if that makes sense. It takes away the aspect of Lego as this colorful toy and presents it more like a sculptural medium. I also find it a great way for me to depict the ethnicity of my sculptures.”

Nimako’s parents are both from Ghana. However, he grew up in London, Ontario. He remembers experiencing racism there, even as a very young child. However, he discovered Lego, and his interest in creating the figures that he saw in comic books kept him busy and content.

Nimako later joined York University with the goal of pursuing an artistic field. At first, he was not certain what field he would end up in until the release of the movie “Transformers” in 2007. This science-fiction movie about robots made such a deep impression on him that it reignited his interest in using Lego to create.Children of all ages continue to immerse themselves in Lego sculptures. Driven by a desire to share his skills with others. In 2017, Nimako produced a book entitled “Beast from Bricks”. It is designed for lovers of Lego and contains instructions on how to build wild animals with Lego bricks.

Black artists have a dynamic role. They have the opportunity to incorporate culture, uphold values and add meaning to their work. They also aspire to leave a legacy that will inspire pride in the future generation. One of Eko Nimako’s most poignant works is the sculpture “Flower Girl”. It stands for the memory of young girls carried into slavery. Sadly, this robbed them of their innocence and denied them the opportunity to be flower girls like their peers. Thanks to Eko Nimako, however, they will be remembered.

How to control third world countries. The Profitable Business Of Enslaving Third World Countries. This is from John Perkins, who wrote the book Confessions of an Economic Hitman.Perkins claims that the NSA arranged for him to be hired by the firm, and that he was subsequently seduced and trained as an "economic hitman" by a mysterious businesswoman named Claudine. Perkins writes that his primary role at Chas T. Main was to convince leaders of underdeveloped countries to accept substantial development loans for large construction and engineering projects, thus trapping them in a system of American influence and control.The book provides Perkins' account of his career with engineering consulting firm Chas. T. Main in Boston.

Perkins claims the involvement of the National Security Agency (NSA), with whom he had interviewed for a job prior to joining Main. According to the author, this interview effectively constituted an independent screening that led to his subsequent hiring as an 'economic hit man' by Einar Greve,vice president of the firm (and alleged NSA liaison). Perkins claims that he was seduced and trained as an "economic hitman" by a mysterious businesswoman named Claudine, who used his NSA personality profile to manipulate and control him. According to Perkins, his job at the firm was to convince leaders of underdeveloped countries to accept substantial development loans for large construction and engineering projects. Ensuring that these projects were contracted to U.S. companies, such loans provided political influence for the US and access to natural resources for American companies.Thus primarily helping local elites and wealthy families, rather than the poor.

The book heavily criticizes U.S. foreign policy and the notion that "all economic growth benefits humankind, and that the greater the growth, the more widespread the benefits. Perkins suggests that, in many cases, only a small portion of the population benefits at the expense of the rest, pointing to, as an example, an increase in income inequality, whereby large U.S. corporations exploit cheap labor, and oil companies destroy local environments.

Perkins describes what he calls a system of corporatocracy and greed as the driving forces behind establishing the United States as a global empire, in which he took a role as an "economic hit man" to expand its influence. In this capacity, Perkins recounts his meetings with some prominent individuals, including Graham Greene and Omar Torrijos. Perkins describes the role of an economic hit man as follows: Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.

Mary Grueso Romero (1947) has a degree in Spanish and Afro-Colombian literature, graduated from the University of Quindío, specialist in Teaching Literature from the same university and in Recreational and recreation for social and cultural development of the Los Libertadores University Foundation, Colombian writer, poet and oral narrator. Born in Guapi, Cauca and based in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca. She has been honored with the title of almadre to female poetic excellence of the Rayo Museum.

At the age of 23, she married someone who could be considered the architect of Mary's subsequent artistic career, Moisés Zúñiga3 who, in what would be the beginning of her copious academic life, supports her to enter the Immaculate Conception National Normal School, from where she graduated as a high school teacher; then he entered the University of Quindío from which he received the title of Lic. in Spanish and Literature in 1999 and Specialist in teaching of literature in 2000.Zúñiga not only urged her to prepare academically, but she was also the one who led her to write, inspired by the love she felt for him and by the pain left by her death.

Thus, his second published book, The Sea and You is, in part, a reflection of that idyllic relationship.Between 2005 and 2007 she served as professor of literature at the Universidad del Valle, she has also taught at the Universidad Libre, the Universidad del Pacífico and in some Buenos Aires schools. She has been president and vice president of the Literature Council of Valle del Cauca.5 In 2011 she was appointed Technical Director of Culture of Buenaventura by Mayor José Félix Ocoro Minotta.

For her artistic and teaching work she has earned different honors among which the recognition as the First consecrated woman poet of the Cauca Pacific granted in 1997 by the National Normal of Guapi; the Woman of the Year Award in the Literary Aspect granted by the Santiago de Cali University and the Best Teacher Award granted by the Secretary of Education of Valle del Cauca in recognition of her ethno-educational project, both in 2007  year in which she is also decorated by the Rayo Museum with the title of almadre, awarded to women poets who have achieved excellence, which for this special edition is renamed almanegra because the three honorees of that year were Afro-Colombian poets.

Mary accompanied by María Teresa Ramírez and Elcina Valencia. In 2008, the television network Señal Colombia made two documentaries about his life and work, included in the program Vocation Master and Maroons. She was also included by the program Why believe in Colombia as one of the most recognized Colombians; Likewise, Yubarta Televisión, channel of the Universidad del Pacífico, has made three documentaries about her life in which her role as a poet, teacher and oral narrator stands out.

Crystal Warren was once a school teacher with only $1,000 in her bank account. Warren decided to start a side-hustle, so she purchased a vending machine for $650. This was in 2016. Today, her company, Vending Factory has profited more than $242,000. “I had $1,000 dollars and purchased my first vending machine for $650,” Warren said. 

“It was an AP, or an automatic-snack machine, and I placed it in a day-care center. When I bought it, I hadn’t realized that the machine was worth about $1,250, so I bought it at a really good price. At that day care, I made $450 in the first three weeks. I was not expecting that.” Warren didn’t quit her job as school as teacher until 2020, four years after purchasing her first vending machine. She didn’t spend any of her profits, either. She put all of her money back into her business. 

“I want people to understand that they don’t have to quit their jobs just to pursue something else. They can have a goal, make good money in that business first, and let that help them decide if they want to quit,” Warren said. She added: “I made sure to save up all of the money I was making in vending I did not spend it. I put all of the money back into my business. And I knew that even if something happened with my business, I still had all of that money saved up.”  After purchasing her fifth machine, and fifth location, Warren taught herself how to find vending machine locations for other people, eventually selling all of her machines and locations for nearly $5,000 each. 

“I would go on Craigslist and ask people if they were looking for vending-machine locations. Then I realized that people were looking for vending machines inside the locations. So, then I would buy a vending machine, place it in the location, and sell the location for $5,000 or more.” 

Statistics from South Africa’s longest-standing plastics producer responsibility organisation indicate that the country’s PET plastic recycling rates are recovering after the lockdown regulations resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. According to figures released at the PET Recycling Company’s (PETCO) annual general meeting in June, 2.1 billion PET bottles were diverted from landfill last year thanks to the various recycling efforts in which it was involved. On the back of waste management experts warning that parts of South Africa could soon run out of landfill space, CEO Cheri Scholtz said PETCO’s efforts had saved an area equivalent to 560 495 cubic metres and prevented potential associated carbon emissions of 135 604 tonnes in 2021.

Despite a challenging year for the paper and packaging sector, PETCO, which represents producers of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging, grew its collection of post-consumer PET bottles for recycling by 14% – from 79 078 tonnes in 2020 to 90 402 tonnes in 2021. With mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations laying down Year 1 targets for PET of 60% for beverage bottles, 7% for oil bottles, 9% for thermoforms and 60% for single-use products, she said the current collection rate places PETCO in good stead to meet these targets. “Although these targets are applicable for year one of mandatory EPR, comparatively speaking, these figures would indicate that we are well placed to be compliant on behalf of our members.

“In 2021, we started to expand our reporting methodology in order to be able to track progress against all the identified products that our members place on the market for which we offer an EPR scheme. Using information provided by our members on exactly what they place on the market, in combination with assumptions provided by our recycling partners of the make-up of a typical bale that they purchase, we were able to measure collection of identified products such as beverage bottles, oil bottles, home and personal care bottles and non-PET elements such as labels and closures.

“In 2022, we will be doing full bale characterisation studies which will allow us to report with further granularity, not only meeting the requirements of the regulations but showing our diverse membership how we are tracking their particular products,” said Scholtz.She said PETCO’s key objective was to keep members’ packaging out of the environment, where it does not belong, and increasingly get it recycled to be re-used in packaging.“In other words, we aim for a cradle-to-cradle solution for post-consumer PET to promote a circular economy for PET plastic.”The PET recycling economy created real value, said Scholtz, generating a total of R1.2 billion for the South African economy through the placement of end-use products on local and international markets in the year under review.

The PETCO model supported sustainable collection and recycling by working with the whole PET value chain – from resin producers through to converters, bottlers, brand owners, retailers, consumers, waste pickers, buy-back centres, formal collection and waste management companies, and contracted recycling partners, she said.The organisation’s work is funded by the mandatory EPR fee paid by its members – those PET producers, made up of brand owners, retailers and importers, who place more than 10 tonnes of identified products per annum on the South African market. Such producers are now legally mandated to establish or join an EPR scheme for each of their identified products, and were required to be compliant with the regulations by November 5 last year.

PETCO chair Tshidi Ramogase, who is also the director of public affairs, communications and sustainability for Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, said PETCO’s robust EPR model was predicated on international best practice, and had been vindicated by the results.“Our sound reputation in the sector and longstanding relationships with the key players in the collection and recycling value chain ensures that we are ideally placed to successfully deliver on the legislated targets on behalf of our members,” Ramogase said.Aside from taking responsibility for the entire life cycle of their packaging products, producer members are now also required to include and report on the percentages of recycled content in their packaging, with demand for recycled PET (rPET) expected to increase exponentially.

According to Scholtz, the food-grade and bottle-to-bottle sector represented the most circular use of PET and accounted for one third of all collected tonnage in the PET recycling economy last year. “As PETCO, we are focusing on supporting the value chain to ensure the availability of rPET for our members, who are also required by law to include a certain percentage of recycled PET content in their packaging. With PETCO’s support, provision of rPET increased by 17% in comparison to 2020.” “To assist in addressing the current shortage of rPET and ensuring the sustainability of the recycling economy, our focus is now on designing packaging for circularity and the bottle-to-bottle markets.”

Scholtz added that the new regulatory requirements for producers of PET packaging and components had not demanded a massive shift for the organisation, as it had been operating as one of the few voluntary national EPR bodies working to targets for the past 17 years. “PETCO remains the PRO of choice for the majority of PET bottle producers, as we assist our members to comply with the new regulations. As a voluntary PRO we had always set internal targets for key performance indicators such as collection, and we are now aligning with the regulated targets under the EPR legislation. However, our trusted approach within the PET collection and recycling value chain remains largely the same,” said Scholtz.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s state auditor has requested an additional $17 billion in investments from a 2008 infrastructure-for-minerals agreement with Chinese investors, which is presently being renegotiated. The Chinese embassy in Congo stated on Friday that the state auditor’s report was “full of bias” and did not match reality. The current administration of the DRC has revisited the deal struck by his predecessor, Joseph Kabila, in which Sinohydro Corp (SINOH.UL) and China Railway Group Limited agreed to build roads and hospitals in exchange for a 68% stake in Sicomines, a cobalt and copper joint venture with Congo’s state mining company Gecamines.

The Chinese investors committed to spending $3 billion on infrastructure projects under the Sicomines deal, but the state auditor – Inspection Generale des Finances (IGF) – demanded that commitment be increased to $20 billion to reflect the value of the mining concessions contributed by Gecamines to the deal. According to the IGF report, Sicomines has so far invested $822 million on infrastructure projects. The auditor also demanded an “urgent” $1 billion investment from Sicomines, as well as a promise to hiring Congolese for 50% of infrastructure projects.”

The IGF asked for the “renegotiation of the Convention to modify and balance the obligations and benefits of both parties and bring them into line with the value of their respective contributions” among a list of 16 requests. In addition, the auditor asked that Gecamines be granted a larger interest in Sicomines. It presently owns 32% of the company.

Ethiopia is the largest exporter of African coffee production. The country is responsible for harvesting and distributing 3% of the world’s overall coffee bean supply. Hence, the 2022 output was about four million bags of coffee beans. Uganda is the next leading exporter of coffee beans with almost $595 million in sales annually. Let’s analyze the overall outlook of African coffee production to see where it is going for 2023. The demand for coffee beans in Africa and worldwide is expected to increase over the coming decade. African coffee beans undergo dry processing, which is the most ancient way of harvesting and packaging coffee beans for shipment. 

This natural processing method involves cleaning the coffee beans by hand and drying them under the sun.Harvesters turn the beans over every so often to ward off mildew growth. Sometimes it can take about a month for coffee beans to be fully ready for shipment.This age-old harvesting method will keep up with domestic demand and a continual strong standing when marketing the coffee beans to international buyers.Overall, African coffee production makes up 12% of the overall worldwide production of coffee beans. Ethiopia (39%) and Uganda (23%) account for 62% of coffee bean distribution. Cote d’Ivoire comes in third place, producing 13% of coffee beans in the nation. 

Tanzania accounts for 6% of African coffee production. Kenya contributes another 5% of the workload. Plus, the rare peaberry coffee bean hails from these areas in Africa. Rather than two seeds in one coffee bean, peaberry coffee beans have one, which only happens in up to 10% of coffee cherries harvested worldwide. Most coffee farms, especially in East Africa, are much smaller than others based in Asia and even Latin America. This could be the reason why African coffee production only accounts for 12% of overall worldwide.Transportation costs are high to transfer coffee beans from local farms to interested buyers. Distance from the farm to buyer destinations is extremely long and there can be many torrential downpours along the way.  

African coffee production continues to be what earns the nation high export funds. Since their prices are low, yet reasonable, investing in the African coffee industry supports local farmers’ livelihood. Unfortunately, while selling and growing coffee beans are lucrative for domestic and international buyers, it is not as successful for East African farmers. They usually earn under one dollar per day for their hard work. Some growth opportunities would be higher pay for African farmers who work tirelessly to produce a delicious coffee bean crop daily. Coffee growth in West Africa will soon face challenges as impending climate changes reported in September 2022 will eventually affect the coffee bean crop. The study from early 2022 stated that the climate may not be able to sustain the coffee bean crops by the time it is 2050. 

Another study from 2019 revealed that three-fifths of the coffee bean species are subject to extinction in the coming years because of deforestation, upcoming climate changes, and diseased crops. Of the 75 coffee species analyzed, scientists found that 22 are vulnerable to climate change without as much threat as the 13 highly endangered species. Amongst the highly endangered species of coffee beans is coffee arabica. The remaining 40 species in the study were classed on normal-level endangerment.

Reports have shown that Kenya may experience a 10% decrease in coffee bean production for the 2022-2023 season. However, the country did increase its coffee bean output in 2022 to 51,538 metric tonnes compared to the 34,000 generated in 2021. 

At the time of Emancipation, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman declared that 400,000 acres formerly held by Confederates be given to African Americans. His order came to be known as the promise of “40 acres and a mule”. But the newly established Freedmen’s Bureau was never able to control enough land to fulfill this promise. In 1866, Congress passed the Southern Homestead Act, opening up 46 million acres of public land in southern states for Union supporters and freed slaves. The land was uncultivated forest and swamp, difficult for penniless former slaves to acquire or use. Southern bureaucrats made it difficult for blacks to access any land and southern whites used violence to prevent blacks from occupying land. Within 6 months, the land was opened to former rebels. In 1876, the law was repealed.

The much more extensive Homestead Act of 1862 granted 160 acres of government land in the West to any American who applied and worked the land for 5 years. Over the course of the next 60 years, 246 million acres of western land, the area of California plus Texas, was given to individuals for free. About 1.5 million families were given a crucial economic foundation. Only about 5000 African Americans benefitted.

Despite obstacles, many black families had acquired farmland by World War I. There were nearly 1 million black farms in 1920, about one-seventh of all American farms, mostly in the South. During the 20th century, nearly all of this land was taken or destroyed by whites. Sometimes this happened by violent mob action, as in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921, or the lesser known pogrom in Pierce City, Missouri, in 1901, when the entire black community of 300 was driven from town. Many of the hundreds of these incidents of white collective violence, concentrated in the South. Many of the thousands of lynchings were directed at black farmers in order to terrorize all blacks and make them leave.

Other methods had a more legal appearance. Over 75 years, the black community of Harris Neck, Georgia, developed a thriving economy from fishing, hunting and gathering oysters, on land deeded to a former slave by a plantation owner in 1865. In 1942, the federal government took gave residents two weeks notice to leave, their houses were destroyed, and an Air Force base was created. That site was chosen by the local white politicians. Black families were paid two-thirds of what white families got per acre. Now the former African American community is the Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge.

Vast amounts of black property were taken by unscrupulous individual use of legal trickery, because African Americans did not typically use the white-dominated legal system to pass property to their heirs. White developers and speculators took advantage of poorly documented ownership through so-called partition sales to acquire land that had been in black families for generations. 

Decades of discrimination by the federal government made it especially difficult for black farmers to retain their land as farming modernized. The Department of Agriculture denied loans, information, and access to the programs essential to survival in a capital-intensive farm structure, and hundreds of thousands of black farmers lost their land. Even under President Obama, discrimination against black farmers by the USDA continued.

Because land was taken by so many different methods across the US, and the takers were not interested in recording their thefts clearly, it is impossible to know how much black land was taken. The authors of the New Yorker article say bluntly, “Between 1910 and 1997, African Americans lost about 90% of their farmland.” That loss cost black families hundreds of billions of dollars. In 2012, less than 2 percent of farmers were black, according to the most recent Agricultural Census.

While rural blacks lost land, real estate holdings of urban blacks were wiped out by a combination of government discrimination and private exploitation. Because black families could not get regular mortgages due to redlining by banks, if they wanted to buy a house they had to resort to private land sale contracts, in which the price was inflated and no equity was earned until the entire contract was paid off. If the family moved or missed one payment, they lost everything. A recent study of this practice in Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s showed that black families lost up to $4 billion in today’s dollars.

For the first time in decades, reparations for African Americans who were victimized by the white federal and state governments are being discussed seriously. This story about whites taking black property shows how superficial, disingenuous and ahistorical are the arguments made by conservatives against reparations. When Sen. Mitch McConnell delivered his simplistic judgment last month, he was continuing the cover-up of modern white real estate theft: “I don't think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none of us currently living are responsible is a good idea.”

Surveys which demonstrate that the majority of white Americans are against reparations only demonstrate how ignorance of America’s modern history informs both public opinion and survey questions. Gallup asked, “Do you think the government should – or should not – make cash payments to black Americans who are descendants of slaves?” While blacks were in favor 73% to 25%, whites were opposed 81% to 16%. A different question might elicit a more useful response: Do you think the government should make cash payments to millions of black Americans whose property was stolen by whites and who were financially discriminated against by American government since World War II?

Today’s economic gap between black and white began with slavery. Emancipation freed slaves, but left them with nothing. Hundreds of millions of acres of land were given away to white families. When blacks gradually managed to get some land, it was taken by violence and legal trickery during the 20th century. After World War II, blacks were denied access to another giant government economic program, the GI Bill, which helped millions of white veterans acquire houses. The collusion of federal, state and local governments, banks, and real estate professionals bilked African Americans of billions of dollars in real estate, with the subprime mortgage crisis only a decade ago as the latest chapter. What I have written here is only an outline of the racist narrative.

 Despite the ravages of slavery, the American story would have been very different if the ideas and practices behind Lincoln’s Emancipation had been put into effect. Instead, white supremacy reemerged in the South and throughout the US. The power that white supremacists exerted in 20th-century America is symbolized by James F. Byrnes, a South Carolina politician, who served in the House of Representatives 1911-1925, was one of the most influential Senators 1931-1941, was appointed to the Supreme Court by FDR, but then led the Office of Economic Stabilization and the Office of War Mobilization during World War II, became Secretary of State 1945-1947, and was Governor of South Carolina 1951-1955. In 1919, he offered his theory of American race relations: “This is a white man’s country, and will always remain a white man’s country.” He followed that motto throughout his career.

A dispute over the right to use a dirt road in rural Colorado has morphed into an emerging racial justice issue as sheriff deputies attempt to tamp down accusations they are allowing a Black farm couple to be racially terrorized by their white neighbors. Courtney and Nicole Mallery own a thousand-acre farm ranch in Yoder, Colorado. A rural community that has a population of around 1,400 people roughly 30 miles east of Colorado Springs, the area has a Black population of just 1 percent, and that’s where the Mallerys moved from Texas to establish their “Freedom Acres Ranch.”The Mallerys claim their white neighbors have been unwelcoming and have terrorized them since 2021. The Black farmers go on to claim the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office is enabling the racialized terrorism.“Local police enable what is happening here,” Nicole Mallery

The Mallerys claim their problems began with some of their livestock were stolen, physically harmed, poisoned and burned to death. They also claimed their fence was damaged, the electrical lines were cut and their well water was stolen. The farmers accuse their neighbors of the alleged acts. On Apr. 27, 2021, Nicole Mallery complained to deputies her neighbor was grazing animals on her property which furthered a series of complaints between the Mallerys and their neighbor. The property in question is a 60-foot-wide dirt road easement dividing the Mallery’s ranch from that of their neighbor Teresa Clark. Courtney Mallery said he believes his ranch was targeted because his neighbors want to “steal his land” he said.

While the Mallerys claimed they lived in fear for two years, their relationship with Clark continued to deteriorate to the point restraining orders were filed against each other. Deputies said they responded to numerous calls from the Mallerys and other residents for issues related to restraining order violations, criminal mischief and trespassing. The Mallerys have alleged a sergeant with the sheriff’s office has enabled the ongoing harassment against them. “This is not harassment, this is domestic terrorism, racial terrorism and deputy Emroy Gerhart is leading a modern day KKK assault with locals to steal my land,” the Mallerys told Atlanta Black Star. The sheriff’s office denies any enabling and further says they have taken all complaints seriously.

During a Feb. 14 news conference, Sheriff Joseph Roybal said, “No one would be more eager than I to rid my office of a deputy sheriff who’s racist and is treating members of the community unfairly based on race.” Roybal said the sheriff’s office responded to more than 170 calls between 2021 and 2022 because of the easement disputes. Twenty-four case reports were created because of the numerous calls for service and four custodial arrests were made.He went on to say the Mallerys have been reluctant to meet with deputies about their ongoing issues. El Paso County deputies then began to paint the Mallerys as “confrontational,” with emphasis on Nicole.

Deputies showed bodycam video of a process server delivering a legal document on April 7, 2021. The video depicts the process server walking on the property knocking on doors to deliver the document. Nicole is heard yelling at the process server, “What the f—k are you doing on my property? Get the f—k off of my property!” Deputies did not indicate what the document being served was about. Nicole Mallery reportedly brandished a shotgun and, according to the process server, fired a shot although it’s unclear if a shot was fired on the shaky video amid his running off of the Mallerys’ property. Minutes later, deputies arrived and confronted Nicole Mallery about firing a gunshot at the process server. Nicole tells deputies she asked the man for his ID. She went on to say she was concerned for her property and animals noting they possessed cows, chickens, pigs, goats and dogs.

After the incident, deputies returned with a search warrant and an arrest warrant. It’s unclear the date of the arrest as no timestamp was present, but video shown by deputies show a frantic Nicole being arrested along with two other men. Nicole is heard repeatedly claiming her arm was broken because of the tightened handcuffs and demanded medical attention. Bodycam continues to show her being placed on a gurney and the beginnings of being processed into the jail as she continued to yell and be confrontational with mostly female deputies. The neighbor dispute continued throughout 2022 and into early 2023. Teresa Clark was arrested in September 2022 for violating a protection order by venturing onto the disputed easement. Courtney Mallery was arrested on this month on felony stalking charges in connection with a camera the couple had set up to monitor Clark’s property.

Deputies said a school bus stop had to be moved because Nicole Mallery would park her car at the bus stop location Teresa needed to be to pick up a child. An existing restraining order was in effect at the time. In September 2022, the Mallerys complained about their dog being poisoned. Later that month, Teresa Clark filed a complaint against the Mallerys accusing them of stalking her by setting up surveillance cameras to watch her property. Nicole and Courtney were later arrested for the surveillance after deputies confirmed it was happening with their search warrant. The Sheriff’s Office claimed Colorado law prohibits “recording an individual for a lengthy basis.” The Sheriff’s Office went on to say a judge agreed to issuing an arrest warrant for the Mallerys because of the constant surveillance and taunting Teresa Clark at the disputed easement. 

The sheriff’s office confirmed two active investigations are ongoing stemming from the Mallerys and Clark’s property dispute. As the years long dispute over property and race played out, the Mallerys’ case has drawn the attention of civil rights groups across the country. Portia Prescott, president of the Rocky Mountain NAACP, told KOAA the civil rights organization is helping the Mallerys find a defense attorney to help fight their criminal charges citing their racial harassment.

Almost every black person in America has experienced the sting of disrespect on the basis of being black. A large but undetermined number of black people feel acutely disrespected in their everyday lives, discrimination they see as both subtle and explicit. Black folk know everyday racism that becomes powerfully underscored by highly publicized racial incidents like the incident at Starbucks, the recent spate of police killings of black men, or the calling of police on a black female student while napping in a common area of a Yale dormitory.

In the face of these realities, black people everywhere take note and manage themselves in a largely white-dominated society, learning and sharing the peculiar rules of a white-dominated society in which expressions of white racism are becoming increasingly explicit. While American society purports to be open and egalitarian, or “equal opportunity”, such everyday outcomes leave black people deeply doubtful. Moreover, black people are generally convinced that they must work twice as hard to get half as far in life.

Among their own, black people affirm and reaffirm these central lessons and, out of a sense of duty, try to pass them along to others they care about, and especially to their children. For black people, experience holds a dear school, and the knowledge they acquire is based largely on the experience of living while black in a society that is dominated by white people.

Therefore, this cultural knowledge is most often inaccessible to white people, and when confronted with it, most white people are incredulous.When US supreme court chief justice Roger Taney declared in 1857 that black people had no rights that white people were bound to respect, he was observing the social reality of his day. Slavery effectively established black people at the bottom of the American racial order, a position that allowed every white person to feel superior to any black person.

After Emancipation, as black people migrated to cities in the north and south, their stigma both followed and preceded them. When black people settled in their new communities, their reception was decidedly mixed, but as their numbers grew, local white people worked to contain them. Over time, the lowly position of black people became institutionalized, and passed from racist generation to racist generation.

Thus, black people usually were relegated to the least desirable sections of a city, often “across the tracks” from the white communities, or in the “black sections” of town, the precursor to the iconic black ghetto. As black people operate in these segregated spaces, they can “be themselves”, away from the direct control of white people. Yet, there is still a general sense that white people and their agents ultimately control the ghetto’s racial reality, notably the financial, legal and criminal-justice systems.

While American society is often ideologically characterized as privileging equal opportunity, the everyday reality of the masses of black people is that of being peculiarly subordinate in almost every way, but this is especially true when they venture into essentially white spaces. Abuse of Africans who have travelled Abroad Is Unacceptable. Continental Africans have not done a good job of revealing the realities of life overseas. These are some disturbing experience of what some Africans who have lived abroad have experienced

1. Israelis attack Africans, calling them cancer in their country and saying they will do anything in their power to deport them. Black African-owned businesses were destroyed and looted, women with their children humiliated

There was also the report about Ethiopian women being sterilized   in Israel.

2. An African chemical engineering Student was beaten into a coma in India   last April 21 and left for dead he ended up being on life support machine and police took no action for two months towards arresting assailants who came from powerful families.

3. Ethiopian Women are abused in the Middle East (UAE); one was beaten for years, burned and forced to perform a sex act with another maid by her boss who videotaped it.

4. A couple from Rwanda both trained doctors are stranded in rural Russia and became peasant farmers when their country collapsed in civil war. They tell their stories of depression, racism, disappointments and strong will and recovery.

5. African students share their experience of racism in Russia   and how the government ignores their cry.

6. Racism against African football –soccer– players in Europe is ongoing with some spectators even throwing bananas at Black players.  Read “Zoro suffers more racist abuse” and watch how racism is still a reality in European soccer.

7. Nigerian women are duped into prostitution lured by promises of a better life in Europe. Immigrants form Nigerian mafia and sometimes battle Italian mafia they murder innocent people, sponsor drug dealers and prostitution rings.

8. African immigrants in China tell of their experiences.

9. Somalis encouraged to abandon their African culture and are then blamed for crimes in Maine.

10. An outstanding one-of-its-kind program on Al Jazeera is called “Surprising Europe”  . It tells the stories of some Africans who dream of leaving the continent and how some of them take risks in order to make it to Europe.

Once they get there they often are stranded with no job, put in detention camps, and live in abject poverty; but they are afraid of going back home to Africa because of pressure from their family members that are dependent on them.

11. Racism against people of African descent in Ecuador; 92% of them are ignored by the government and don’t have access to basic services.

12. Sundown Town White populated towns Black people are not allowed after 6:00 PM. If they stay, they get killed by racist Whites; this practice still goes on in America.

(Work by James W.  Loewen  can also be ordered. You can also listen to Dr. Loewen’s talk on C-Span about the book).

13. 1,000 Nigerian Muslim women in Saudi Arabia maltreated on hajj/pilgrimage.

14. In Brazil racism against people of African descent is deeply rooted in the History of the country, making it difficult for Blacks to accomplish their goals.

Racism is disgusting. But to teach your kids to be racist is absolutely asinine. Watching this video turned my stomach. These privileged white girls have nothing better to do than paint their hair and faces black - making a fool of themselves. This is not funny. It’s not a joke. And I believe it’s a direct a reflection of what parents allow in their homes and the conversations they’re having at the country club, and apparently at church.

Racism is a sickness and if left untreated, it will spread and before long, these teenagers will become doctors who don’t listen when Black patients say how they’re feeling. They will become police officers who profile, harass, and arrest Black people for non criminal and minor offenses. They’ll become judges who will continue to disproportionately sentence Black people to prison when Black people are already 5 times more likely to go to prison than a white person.

In 1946, Albert Einstein traveled to the Lincoln University in Pennsylvania to teach at the first school in America to grant college degrees to black students. While teaching at the university, Einstein gave a powerful speech in which he described racism as “a disease of white people.” He added, “I do not intend to be quiet about it.” As a member of the Jewish community in 1940s, Einstein was familiar with the horrendous outcomes of racist attitudes.