Now I live in the UK and if I have to watch ONE MORE telly ad asking for aid to African countries, I am gonna puke. It’s alway, “The poor Black children,” and “Do they know it’s Christmas time at all?” Half the aid does not get there or ends up back in the UK invested by corrupt officials. They are so paternalistic it makes me see red.

Truly, the Europeans have learned little from their colonial days and liberals fall for it hook, line and sinker!

That blame-the-other-guy philosophy has hurt the African-American agenda more than anything else than I can think of. Other minority groups who came to this country much later have succeeded in
melding into the American mainstream, while I can see African-Americans making only token advances.

Without taking more responsibilities, black Americans, as I see it, will only be left more and more behind everybody else. That ought not to happen – BUT only if we have more trustworthy black leaders who can set the example for the rest.

Items I found while perusing my blogroll

Not the usual stuff: What Blacks Owe Themselves. Hat tip to LaShawn Barber.

There is a huge difference between the way Africans view their circumstances as opposed to “African-Americans”. Africans will talk about colonialism and it’s destructive impact on African countries, but they can be just as critical of their own corrupt leaders. Rarely;y do you hear the average African lay blame on former colonial powers for their current personal troubles. The idea of government handouts (in the forms of welfare and affirmative action) is considered by many Africans to be a destructive Western habit. It is rare (although not impossible) to find among Africans the entitlement mentality that is so pervasive – and destructive – among the American-born black community. My wife is puzzled about why so few poor people take advantage of the incredible opportunities in the USA (educational and economic).

One other thought – it would shock many Westerners to learn just what many Africans really think of overseas aid. Not a few Africans view Western aid as a back door way of controlling African countries. As President Yoweri Museveni is supposed to have remarked, “A little benign neglect [by Western powers] for Africa would be a good thing.” He meant that Africans are better off in the long run with self-reliance rather than endless dependency on Western “generosity”. Perhaps the same would be true for America’s black community.