¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤It is indeed sad news to annouce the sudden death of my cousin Fabary Touray at RVH this morning and the funeral service will be taking place in Brufut at 5pm. Mr Fabakary Touray is the young brother of Kutubo Manneh and Abass Manneh. He was leaving in Saudi Arabia giving the daily support and care to Kutubo Manneh who is virtually disable and confirmed to a wheel chair after accident in the Gambia that led to the sudden death of his wife Aminata Ceesay and some UDP MP's in 2000. Both Kutubo and Fabakary returned back to Gambia two months ago. I am deeply sad to learned about the sudden death of Bakary whom I spoke to two days ago. You have be a brother mentor and advice and May Allah grant you Jannah!
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To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2013 10:14:08 -0600
Subject: [>-<] This Date In African History / U.S. President Obama wins re-election for 2nd term
This Date In African History / U.S. President Obama wins re-election for 2nd term
NOVEMBER 6th, 2012 .......On this date, President Barack Obama; the son of an African from Kenya and serving his first term in office; was re-elected to a second term to end in 2016.Below is a review by Alkebulan on what and whether his role in the White House is nothing but symbolism for Africans at home and abroad in the diaspora."It all seemed very different four years ago when it was thought that an
Obama victory would at last usher in a post racial USA with a president that
understands the Afrikan experience at home and abroad. Galvanized by slogans like “yes we can” and
“change you can believe in,” he garnered 95% of the Afrikan vote. On his victory, Afrikans around the world
celebrated. Indeed, it seemed like the whole world celebrated. The USA was
reeling from its near pariah status, fomenting “dumb wars” abroad, kidnapping
foreign nationals (“renditions”), military abuses (Abu Ghraib) in addition to
economic meltdown at home. Barack Obama made the world love the USA again. Days
after his inauguration he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in anticipation of
the peace and stability it was believed he would bring to a troubled world.For many the symbolism was too irresistible – ‘a Black man in the White House’ - proof that with a level playing field Afrikans can achieve. And there are those who assert that he has achieved – against all the odds. Paul
Glastris, Ryan Cooper, and Siyu Hu of the Washington Monthly have listed “Obama’s Top 50 Accomplishments.” These include Passed Health Care Reform, Ended the War in Iraq, Recapitalized Banks, Repealed “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell”, Toppled Moammar Gaddafi, Improved America’s Image Abroad,
Helped South Sudan Declare Independence.On the other hand, save for a handful of activists and intellectuals who
from the outset queried his links to bodies like the Trilateral Commission and
the Council on Foreign Relations as well as the total absence of any specific
pronouncements (and actions) for the Afrikan community (unlike for other
interest groups – a trend that has ostensibly continued), the Afrikan world was
fulsome in its support – and it has largely remained that way.
Amid polls indicating that the country is more racially polarized now
than four years ago (anti-Afrikan sentiments up to 56% compared to 49% last
time – Associated Press), Obama is certain to attract over 90% of the Afrikan
vote while Romney’s support is 91% Caucasian, a higher proportion than any
candidate since Bush Sr in 1988. Yet somehow Afrikans in the USA remain optimistic.
In surveys by Pew Research center, The Washington Post, the Kaiser
Family Foundation and Harvard University Afrikans generally believe they’re
better off now than four years ago and that better times are on the way. However, the reality is that Afrikans in the USA are far worse off now than they were when Obama took office and the wealth
and income gap between Europeans and Afrikans has doubled under Obama's tenure.The overall rate of unemployment is close to where it was four years ago, but Afrikan
unemployment is up 11%. Yet in spite of Harry Belafonte, Cornel West and Tavis
Smiley and others, to lesser or greater degree, articulating the kinds of
concerns voiced by the likes of Bro. Ldr. Mbadaka, Mama Marimba Ani, Black
Agenda Report and the Black Is Black Coaltion years the president has remained
bullish. In an interview with Black Enterprise magazine he declared: “I’m not the president of black America. I’m
the president of the United States of America.”He later told the Congressional Black Caucus: "Take off your
bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. Stop complaining,
stop grumbling, stop crying." He clearly means it. As Gary Younge pointed out in his article ‘Barack Obama and
the paradox behind his African American support base’: “In his first two years
in office he talked about race less than any Democratic president since 1961.
In all of his state of the union speeches he mentioned poverty just three
times: last year's was the first since 1948 to not mention poverty or the poor
at all. When he did talk about it it was to preach better parenting, healthy
meals and greater discipline.”
It could be argued that Afrikans on the continent have fared even worse under Obama’s watch. Interventions in Libya and Côte d'Ivoire, patronizing Ghanaians in their own parliament as well as the expansion of Africom would have been met with cries of colonialism if it were not Obama. Freelance writer, political commentator and social entrepreneur Jamila Aisha Brown writing for Pambazuka.com offers a rationale that can be applied to Afrikans in the USA and the continent. However, bad things are under Obama, they will be worse under the Republicans: “The dialogue Romney and Ryan wish to have
with the African diaspora appears to be a one-sided conversation -- one in
which the United States talks and Black America, Latin America and the
Caribbean, and Africa acquiesces.” Some might say that the irony is that what Brown appears to have done is summarize the last four years under Obama."
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