To my African people

With Obama winning, a lot of questions have been brought up by my African people. My mother for one, thought that as of January 20th all the illegal immigrants would automatically get papers. Even though I have told her that it does not work that way here in the USA, I think she still has hope. The truth is that President elect Obama is in a very tough spot. I doubt that the American public would take it lightly if he decides to do favors to Africans. The reality is that he is an American citizen first and his priority is and should be to solve the many issues that this country is going through. Still, I believe that president elect Obama has given us Africans the biggest gift we can possibly have. He has given the African continent a new and positive image; the rest however is in our hands.

I have been in this country for seven years and I have to say that I am not impressed
with my people's behavior and attitude. While some are doing some great and amazing things, others are lounging around. It's like we (Africans) do not like to endorse something or someone until it becomes successful. I have seen this time and time again. How many of us have an aunt that has a business here in the country and we do not even carry a flyer with us. How many have a cousin that has a talent and every day we are bringing him down? How many of us had endorse president elect Barack Obama at the very beginning, when it looked like he could not win. Better yet, when it even looked like he could win, how many of us sent money to his campaign? One last thing, how many of us are going to the inauguration in January? Also, why is it that the minute we become successful we decide to treat our own people like second class citizens. All of a sudden they are no longer good enough to work with. Well, it is time for us to take responsibility for our actions.

I used to get offended when people would say that all Africans are crooks. However, I now understand that we play a great part in perpetuating this stereotype. How many headlines have we seen with my people robbing a bank in this country or doing some shady business, or sending some funny e-mails. I am not mad about the people back home that are hustling and are suffering and resort to any means to make it. I can understand the situation back home being hopeless in many instances. But i am upset with my African brothers and sisters here who have taken this laid back attitude. We are known for parties but the minute someone is trying to ask for money for a project that would help our people all the excuses come out. " oooh, i don't have any money... "Or " please is someone paying my bills in this country" My favorite one is " yeah right, I know that guy, he is not going to send any money, he wants to use it to buy his new car..." I know those excuses too well because I have buried myself behind some of them.

However, it is time for us to stand up and stop the excuses. Stop pointing fingers at the white man as a justification to why we are where we are. I am not naive into thinking that they do not have a big part to play in where the continent is right now. Yet, the youth here in this country has no reasons not to do something productive. I am frustrated with all the young people that come here with no dreams. I am sick of some of my people wasting their lives doing ridiculous things. Like buying cars that they cannot afford or houses that are too big just to show of; or trying to fit in so hard that we lose ourselves. We need to go back to the basics. We need to change our thinking. We need to know that when one of us screws up it puts all of us in a tough spot. We need to know the sacrifices that our parents had to do to send us here. Trust me every parent that sent their child to this country has so much hope. For every child sent here they are thousands that are left behind wanting to be in that position. For each one of us here there is a whole family praying and hoping that you make it. I have yet to see us fighting for something that matters. The most I have seen us fight is about someone stepping on someone's shoes at a party, Or someone taking someone's girlfriend. But, there are wars going on in many of our countries. How many of us are actually doing something about it. Look at the Hispanic population fighting for their rights. Look at the gay and lesbians population raging hell for their rights. Look at how the African Americans rallied behind Obama. I am sick and tired to be invited to parties that have no purpose. If we can go pop champagnes at a club and make other people rich, then we can come together and do something productive for our people.

I too have a dream. I dream of the day that Africa would no longer be looked upon as a country but a s continent. I too dream of a day where my son would be proud to say I am African. I too dream of that day where my dear continent would be a force to be reckoned with. But it starts now, with each one of us taking responsibility for the image that we are portraying to the world. Here are little steps we can all take:
1. We start by supporting each other. What does it take to promote each other's businesses?
2. Stop thinking that someone else is going to come and change our countries for us. We are the future.
3. Start fighting for what we want instead of complaining.