By Jayne Augoye
Nigerian afro-fusion artiste, Damini Ogulu, popularly known as Burna Boy, has won the 2019 BET best international act award. The talented singer floored Teni Makanaki and Mr Eazi to win the coveted category in the award.
Continue reading “Burna Boy wins 2019 BET Best International Act Award”
By Kate Taylor
Through the winter, the families streamed into Portland, bringing stories of violence and persecution in their home countries in central Africa. Portland’s shelter for homeless families soon filled to capacity, so the city put mats on the floor of a Salvation Army gym for 80 more people. Then that, too, wasn’t enough. This month, 250 migrants from Africa arrived in this northeastern city of roughly 67,000 residents in the span of just a week, overflowing the overflow space and forcing Portland to hastily convert a basketball arena into an emergency shelter. Continue reading “Maine Needed New, Young Residents. African Migrants Began Arriving by the Dozens”
The 36th edition of The Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America (ESFNA) Annual Sports & Cultural Event will take place in Atlanta, Georgia.
Continue reading “ESFNA 2019 edition launching in Atlanta, Georgia”
By Kevin Cokley
The irony of Juneteenth is that while African-Americans celebrate a holiday on June 19 that commemorates the abolition of the last remaining enslaved Africans in Texas, many African-Americans have been socialized to distance themselves from Africa and Africans. Ghanaian president, Nana Akufo-Addo designated 2019 “The Year of Return” to commemorate 400 years since the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Jamestown, Va.
Continue reading “Juneteenth should be a time for African-Americans to connect with Africa”
By Rob Curran and Andrew Nelson
The last time we saw Eritrean asylum seeker Kidane Okubay, we were in a little port town on the border of Colombia and Panama and he was heading off into the night on a motorboat with 10 of his compatriots. We received emails from him on the road to the U.S., but they abruptly stopped in late August. What happened to him?
Continue reading “He traveled from Africa to Houston via Central America on plane, boat, bus and foot. There is no happy ending”
The U.S. Department of State and IREX are pleased to welcome the 2019 cohort of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders to the United States. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and administered in partnership with IREX, a non-profit organization. The Mandela Washington Fellowship creates stronger ties between Sub-Saharan Africa and the United States with the goal of strengthening democratic institutions, spurring economic growth, and enhancing peace and security on the continent.
Continue reading “Young African leaders arrive in United States, fostering connections with Americans”
By Nii Ntreh
Americans of African descent are open to knowing where in Africa they would have been had history not taken them to the US. Most of those in this category are celebrities. Here are some of America’s most famous black people who have known from DNA and background searches, the African countries they originated from.
Continue reading “Here are the African roots of some African-American stars including Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey”
When LGBTQ activist Edafe Okporo arrived at JFK airport, he didn’t know anyone in the US. Now he runs RDJ Refugee Shelter, providing homeless asylum seekers with temporary housing. And on World Refugee Day he’s telling his story.
Continue reading “I fled Nigeria to come to America as a refugee. Now I welcome other LGBTQ asylum seekers.”
By Omar Kallon
Growing up as the son of a Sierra Leonean refugee in Egypt during the 1990s wasn’t easy. My father couldn’t return to his homeland because of a brutal civil war, and although my mother was an Egyptian citizen, Egypt’s patrilineal citizenship laws meant my father and my sister and I were never considered Egyptian.
Continue reading “Refugees and the spirit of America –”
By Cora Jackson-Fossett
The government of Ethiopia is rolling out the welcome mat to African Americans to explore the business opportunities and tourist destinations throughout the historic nation.
By Aline Barros
Sylvester Owino is a small business owner in San Diego, California. His family owns Rafikiz Foodz — an authentic African food vendor offering “Kenyan food for your soul,” using fresh ingredients from the local farmers market. Those who encounter Owino’s welcoming personality are not aware what happens once he is done working for the day. A convicted felon who robbed a shop, Owino is fighting to stay in the United States through an asylum case that has lasted nearly a decade.
Continue reading “Kenyan Immigrant Spends a Decade Fighting Deportation”
The 17th annual African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) will run from June 21 to 27 at Chicago’s Facets Cinematheque (1517 W. Fullerton Ave.) Established in 1993, the ADIFF is a minority-led, not-for profit international gala that presents, interprets and educates about films that explore the human experience of people of color all over the world. Along the way, it inspires imaginations, disrupt stereotypes, and help transform attitudes that perpetuate injustice.
Continue reading “The African Diaspora International Film Festival plays at Facets Chicago June 21 – 27”
Norah Chelagat Borus, a Kenyan-born computer science student at Stanford University has been found dead at her residence at the university under unclear circumstances.
Continue reading “Kenyan-born Stanford University student found dead at her university residence”
By Nick Schroeder
PORTLAND (BDN) — As of Friday afternoon, a total of 177 migrants have arrived in Portland. Thursday night, 157 stayed at the Portland Expo, and 20 more arrived on buses from San Antonio Friday morning. Since arriving on Sunday, 41 have also left, according to the city of Portland, possibly headed for Canada.
Continue reading “Here’s a look at the process of seeking asylum and why it’s different this time”
By Valerie Russ
After the Odunde Festival, Philadelphia hosted the Peace in the East festival to celebrate young East African Americans who were born or raised in the United States with parents from Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan.
Continue reading “Peace in the East Festival aims to unify millennials whose parents emigrated from East Africa”
By Brandon Stahl
Cabduqaadir Mayow fled Somalia in 2014 and asked the United States for asylum, saying the terrorist group al-Shabab was threatening to kill him. A judge, finding no credible evidence to support the claim, ordered him deported. But with no functioning government in Somalia, the Department of Homeland Security let Mayow go.
He moved to Minnesota, married a U.S. citizen in 2015 and hoped they could start a life in the country. During a check-in on June 10, 2017, ICE arrested him and told him he would be deported to Somalia. For nearly two years he sat in jail, despite never being charged with a crime.
Continue reading “As length of immigrant detentions grows in Minnesota, so do petitions for relief”
By Adeel Hassan
One of our best-read stories this month followed the journey of a white college dropout who was drawn to the alt-right after watching thousands of videos of far-right YouTube personalities.
Continue reading “A Vivid Tale of Father and Son”
By Judith Mbuya
Continue reading “African Catholics celebrate their heritage of saints in Maryland”
Black & Abroad, an online travel and lifestyle platform, encourages African Americans to visit such ancestral countries as Senegal through a new project called “Go Back to Africa.”
By Andrea Sachs
Eric Martin and Kent Johnson found inspiration in the offensive. Four years ago, the pair launched Black & Abroad, an online travel and lifestyle platform for African Americans.
Continue reading “Black & Abroad founders encourage African Americans to visit their ancestral continent”
The Egyptian movie “Between Two Seas” directed by Anas Tolba won the prize for the best narrative film and the Mariam Naoum Art Achievement Award at the end of the 22nd edition of the Brooklyn Film Festival, which ran from May 31 to June 9 in United States of America.
Continue reading “Egyptian movie wins 2 awards at Brooklyn Film Festival”
Always Another Country,” by Sisonke Msimang (World Editions/World Editions)
Msimang’s stories teach readers about race and racism, how one’s political ideology shifts, and about contemporary South African political history
Continue reading “This gripping memoir tells the story of a girl — and South Africa — coming of age”
By Chris Bengel
The Toronto Raptors are fresh off of winning their first NBA title in franchise history after defeating the Golden State Warriors. However, with that type of success, a team’s assets are coveted by the rest of the league.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Washington Wizards are “preparing” a massive $10 million per year offer for Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri and are expected to seek permission from Toronto to speak with him about their vacancy in the coming days.
Continue reading “Wizards to dangle $10M Per-Year Contract Offer to Lure Raptors’ Masai Ujiri to Washington”
There has been wild celebrations all over Canada as Toronto Raptors became the first team from the country to win the NBA finals. Three Africans were pivotal in helping Raptors beat Golden State Warriors in Game 6 to to win the championship for the first time in their history.
Raptors President, Masai Ujiri from Nigeria, Pascal Siakem from Cameroon and Serge Ibaka from Congo DR are among the African contingent that have brought joy to Canada.
If the United States imports its low-value goods from Africa, rather than producing them domestically, then the U.S. economy can focus on what it best produces: high-value specialized goods and services.
By Alexander C. R. Hammond
Africa is about to lend a hand to the United States. Last week, Africa implemented the world’s largest free-trade area, and that’s great news for American foreign policy.
Continue reading “Africa’s New Free-Trade Area is Great News for America”
By John Wanjohi
Ethiopian Airlines has launched three weekly flights to New York’s John F Kennedy (JFK) International Airport. The airline said the new flights to New York will make stopovers in Abidjan, Ivory Coast (West Africa).
Ethiopian currently operates four other weekly flights to Newark, via Lome (Togo).
Continue reading “Ethiopian Airlines Launches Three Weekly Flights to New York’s JFK Airport”
Professor Niara Sudarkasa, first female president of Lincoln University of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and one of the foremost scholars of Yoruba culture and language has died at the age of 80 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Continue reading “Niara Sudarkasa, renowned anthropologist and Yoruba scholar takes a bow”By Nick Westcott
Does President Donald Trump have a policy on Africa, and if so what? The answer to this question is both interesting and revealing.
President Trump does not seem to pay much attention to Africa. Apart from his well-publicised comments to a group of senators in January 2018 dismissing the whole of Africa as “shithole countries,” he has not said much about the continent.
Continue reading “The Trump administration’s Africa policy”
By Liane Faulder
A local home cook with a flair for Nigerian street food has created a pop-up, summer dinner series called Travelling Dishes From Aunty Dupe’s Buka.
It’s a veritable travelling street food show, specializing in snacks and dishes that the creator, Dupe Adedeji, used to eat as a child when on a road trip with her family.
Continue reading “Aunty Dupe’s Buka shares Nigerian street food in pop-up dining series”
