This journal was started in 1999 at the dawn of the 21st Century It was aimed at providing leading edge thinking on Africa and the diaspora issues at a time when a stale orthodoxy ruled the Black academy. At the time I had a full time role as partner in a City firm and the journeying around the world consequent on the launch of the first issue made a second issue impossible! However the need for an independent and…
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We spoke about Bim recently (https://african-century.org/bim-afolami-a-great-disappointment/ ) but overlooked a small matter. We were desperately trying to be as charitable as possible. We attributed some foolish comments to Club table talk. But there were some statements in that interview which cannot be excused so easily. In defence of Cecil Rhodes’ statue he said that it should be remembered that several Black Africans have become recipients of the Rhodes scholarship! Cecil Rhodes, a staunch believer in white supremacy and that…
I had such high hopes of Bim. He is bright , personable and engaging. Quite an ambassador. Today, 23 June 2020, on the BBC he revealed a rather shallow side of his nature. Asked about the tearing down of statues he commented that if we tore down statues of all racist imperialist politicians there would be none left in UK. He smiled and thought he had made a witty point, not a huge gaff. Let me show where this…
Cornel West was once considered part of a triptych including Skip Gates, and Anthony Appiah, representing the Black Academy. This triptych can be viewed as either the leading edge of the Black Academy or a rogue’s gallery. Let us put this in context so as to understand the connection with Trump. We need to understand the historical dynamics that generated this context. For several decades ‘the conservative moment’ involved suppressing dissent of both left and right by denying it…
We wrote of the prejudice and mistreatment of Africans by Turkish airlines. I wrote at that time to the senior directors to complain. I recently travelled again on Turkish Airlines (the only flight available at the time). I am pleased to state that the treatment of Africans was punctilious and fair. I could not see any difference in treatment of African travellers from non-African. I thought my communications had been ignored as no acknowledgement was received. But better than…
After the widespread diffusion of the video of the assault on George Floyd rioting broke out in US cities calling for the arrest and charging of the police officers involved. There was considerable expressed surprise that when the demands were met the riots escalated. ‘The turmoil was on display a short distance from the White House, where President Trump had called earlier in the day for his supporters to rally. Instead, hundreds of protesters mobilized on the streets of…
We are not among those who take a default position that President Trump is racist. We take him at his word until we cannot . In this case Trump has said on Twitter on 29 May 2020: “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you.” Clearly these statements are made with a concern for safety and the rule of law. We have all seen the images of violence and looting…
At the present time the world dominance of US culture seems uncontestable. However closer scrutiny would show that the world is a far more complex place and the apparent dominance can be less than it seems. First, we can begin with the humorous. I remember listening to an American in the 1980’s describe the coming world dominance of US culture as inevitable and universal and as a proof and precursor he pointed to the ubiquity of the ‘Walkman’. It…
There is a popular video travelling around the internet of Umar Johnson . ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVhBOcUv4QY ) He is advocating anti Chinese views and race hatred against other races in the name of Black nationalism. He even goes so far as to advocate ending inter racial marriage. First thing: this is full of outright lies. So let us identify the outright lies: he states that Mandarin is an official language of South Africa – untrue, and that Xhosa and Zulu…
This is important and we need to parse Dr Fauci’s statements carefully. Quote A: ‘Jacqueline Policastro: New data shows African Americans are dying of coronavirus at higher rates. What can you tell us? Dr Fauci: Yeah, unfortunately that’s not surprising and the reason is there is a health disparity as we call it, that African Americans disproportionately suffer from diseases diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and even some cancers like prostate cancer in African American men. One of the problems…
