Philip I think that it is a blessing when we come together in mutual respect. I believe that the future of both "home based" Africans and the Africans of the Diaspora must be forged together. I fully believe that as an alloy we will be stronger than either "metal" will be on its own. I am saddened by the attitudes of some of our cousins on either side of the Atlantic.

But the truth is that the attitudes we bring to our interactions with each other are not shaped by us. These attitudes are shaped for the most part by the corporations who control our images. And those images are manipulated to present the least desirable aspects of our group identities to each other. When I was a child the only portrayal of Africans I was exposed to in films, magazines, and on television was in the context of tribal life in the bush. In America of the 1950s and 1960s; in which I grew up there was no urban life in Africa ever to be seen. Further, and even worse; was that portrayal of tribal African men (played by uncredited Black American and West Indian actors), showed them to be physically well developed, yet so inferior that a single white man in a loincloth armed only with a knife could defeat and entire tribe. Equally poisonous was the portrayal of them as ignorant superstitous savages who were all under the thrall of the "Witch Doctor." This man was also portrayed as superior to those in the tribe and clan but still inferior to the Missionary, White Hunter, or any other caucasian who contested with him for power.

Fortunately I lived in Nashville, Tennessee; the home of Meharry Medical College. Meharry was for many years the only Black Medical School in America. As part of the Nashville University Community; my family often hosted social event at which I was able to meet diverse Africans from many nations whom were training to be Doctors and Dentists. My early exposure to Nigerians, Kenyans, Congolese, Sierra Leonians, Ivory Coasters, Senegalese, and many others allowed me to see pictures of their homes; most of which were in cities in the same sort of neighborhood I lived in. They didn't have to learn to use indoor plumbing in America. LOL

In my contact with these brothers and many more later after my family relocated to NYC, and even more when I attended college at Morehouse in Atlanta; I was able to discourse with my African cousins and learn that they were exposed to an equally distorted portrayal of American Blacks. That portrayal of us as lazy, immature, emotionally unstable, alcoholic, drug abusing, criminal, etc. is maintained to this day. The perception among many Africans that we are the denizens portrayed in Hip Hop Videos and the popular cinema, is like the portrayal of Africans as tribal savages; intended to make us both feel differentiated from each other and therefore unwilling to come together for common purpose.

The billions of dollars of personal income of American Blacks, our corporate experience, and higher percentage of trained professionals (per capita) could be of incredible benefit to both of our groups in Africa. The refusal of the Colonial Powers to create infrastructure in Africa and their pattern of leaving the reins of government in the hands of the same minority groups that formed the cadre of their innermost circle of personal servants, has created the pattern of economic segregation and vertical integration prevelant in the economic system of many African states. If we can evolve an instrumentality to offset these conditions, aligned with guarantees of capital protection for investment in infrastructure building; we can create a 21st and 22nd century Africa that will serve as a magnet drawing Diasporic Africans home from all the corners of the globe. In such an environment, the issue of an American Green Card would not even exist. Of course we will have to make sure that an African Green Card does not evolve. I believe that just as the "Right of Return" has succeeded in building modern Israel, a right of return for Africans of the Diaspora is vital for the formation of an United States of Africa, and its eventual prominence in global affairs.