Do Something for the descendants of African slaves dispersed outside Africa
About
Descendants of African slaves, Descendants for short, are dispersed throughout the world with the largest concentration living in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Descendants are among the poorest and most marginalized group, facing structural and institutional racism that limits their access to quality education, healthcare, jobs, and participation in government.
At Haga Algo, we believe that education is key to helping people of African descent change their status in society. Our mission is to provide educational resources and services to help people of the Descendants community to gain economic and social equality and participate in government to fight against racism and discriminatory practices.
This is necessary because the CASTE system is still alive and well and not just in India but all over the Americas. Government policies have been edited but old habits persist and thrive.
Caste system in Latin America
The Descendants are longing for and reaching out to Africa as best as they can. Africans should do more, respond positively, to reach out and embrace the Descendants.
The good news is that many parts of sub-saharan Africa have embraced the Right of RETURN (a principle in international law which guarantees everyone’s right of voluntary return to, or re-entry to, their country of origin or of citizenship. )
Historians like Henry Louis Gates in the USA, with the use of DNA research, have motivated Descendants to visit and even migrate back to Africa. The Black Lives Matter movement, which came out of the perennial injustice and police brutality experienced by black people in the USA, coincided with the Return and motivated people even more, making it hip to migrate to a place where one can be FREE while BLACK. Groups like ESSENCE Full Circle Festival (EFCF), The Pan African Historical Theatre Festval (PANAFEST), and others, have helped pique people’s interest. The recent rise in African music (especially Nigeria’s Afro beats), movies and fashion plus the movie Wakanda have also raised awareness in things African and helped make “African-ness” fashionable, cool.
In recent years countries like Ghana, Gambia, Rwanda, Kenya, Zambia, South Africa have experienced a surge in tourism and actual migration of Descendants especially from the USA. Nigeria is so abysmally absent in the Return agenda and this can be easily attributed to a colossal leadership vacuum that has added terrorism to the long list of woes endured by Nigerians such as lack of electricity, bad roads, armed robbery, financial scams, and identity theft.
Ghana, unlike Nigeria, took a plunge and passed a Right of Abode law welcoming all African Descendants to the west African country formerly known as the Gold Coast and biggest gateway into slavery.
The results are not yet out but we expect that sooner than later reviews will start pouring in regarding the experiences – how are the descendants accepted in the different countries, are they negatively or positively stereotyped, is there any jealousy/resentment, can the new immigrants/Returnees tolerate the cultural norms and idiosyncrasies in their new countries????
Each country is unique and different in many ways from the others. Languages, business environment, availability of resources (cell phone and internet access, water, electricity, transportation, etc, etc), legal system, public safety, etc, will all vary from country to country.
My advice is to register at the embassy (unless you’re on the run), keep a low profile (adopt local gear but don’t overdo it), loosen up a little bit (but if you’re already wild then you must get a hold of yourself), and lastly, TRUST BUT VERIFY.
Overall, the average African, while kind, generous and outgoing, is still consumed with his/her own trials and tribulations, some perpetual, like bad governance, corruption, tribalism, nepotism, illiteracy. All of which lead to the starvation and filth you see on television. The average African has the impression that everyone outside his national boundaries is white or, at least, fairing better than him or herself.
Part of our mission therefore will be to help enlighten Africans, some at least, on the subject of their relatives and their desire to be affiliated.
“Currently, there are around 200 million people in the Americas identifying themselves as of African descent, according to the United Nations. Millions more live in other parts of the world, outside of the African continent, and in most cases they experience racism and discrimination.”
About
At Haga Algo, we believe that education is key to helping people of African descent change their status in society. Our mission is to provide educational resources and services to help people of the Descendants community to gain economic and social equality and participate in government to fight against racism and discriminatory practices.
This is necessary because the CASTE system is still alive and well and not just in India but all over the Americas. Government policies have been edited but old habits persist and thrive.
The Descendants are longing for and reaching out to Africa as best as they can. Africans should do more, respond positively, to reach out and embrace the Descendants.
The good news is that many parts of sub-saharan Africa have embraced the Right of RETURN (a principle in international law which guarantees everyone’s right of voluntary return to, or re-entry to, their country of origin or of citizenship. )
Historians like Henry Louis Gates in the USA, with the use of DNA research, have motivated Descendants to visit and even migrate back to Africa. The Black Lives Matter movement, which came out of the perennial injustice and police brutality experienced by black people in the USA, coincided with the Return and motivated people even more, making it hip to migrate to a place where one can be FREE while BLACK. Groups like ESSENCE Full Circle Festival (EFCF), The Pan African Historical Theatre Festval (PANAFEST), and others, have helped pique people’s interest. The recent rise in African music (especially Nigeria’s Afro beats), movies and fashion plus the movie Wakanda have also raised awareness in things African and helped make “African-ness” fashionable, cool.
In recent years countries like Ghana, Gambia, Rwanda, Kenya, Zambia, South Africa have experienced a surge in tourism and actual migration of Descendants especially from the USA. Nigeria is so abysmally absent in the Return agenda and this can be easily attributed to a colossal leadership vacuum that has added terrorism to the long list of woes endured by Nigerians such as lack of electricity, bad roads, armed robbery, financial scams, and identity theft.
Ghana, unlike Nigeria, took a plunge and passed a Right of Abode law welcoming all African Descendants to the west African country formerly known as the Gold Coast and biggest gateway into slavery.
The results are not yet out but we expect that sooner than later reviews will start pouring in regarding the experiences – how are the descendants accepted in the different countries, are they negatively or positively stereotyped, is there any jealousy/resentment, can the new immigrants/Returnees tolerate the cultural norms and idiosyncrasies in their new countries????
Each country is unique and different in many ways from the others. Languages, business environment, availability of resources (cell phone and internet access, water, electricity, transportation, etc, etc), legal system, public safety, etc, will all vary from country to country.
My advice is to register at the embassy (unless you’re on the run), keep a low profile (adopt local gear but don’t overdo it), loosen up a little bit (but if you’re already wild then you must get a hold of yourself), and lastly, TRUST BUT VERIFY.
Overall, the average African, while kind, generous and outgoing, is still consumed with his/her own trials and tribulations, some perpetual, like bad governance, corruption, tribalism, nepotism, illiteracy. All of which lead to the starvation and filth you see on television. The average African has the impression that everyone outside his national boundaries is white or, at least, fairing better than him or herself.
Part of our mission therefore will be to help enlighten Africans, some at least, on the subject of their relatives and their desire to be affiliated.
“Currently, there are around 200 million people in the Americas identifying themselves as of African descent, according to the United Nations. Millions more live in other parts of the world, outside of the African continent, and in most cases they experience racism and discrimination.”
To promote the respect for and protection of their human rights, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 2015–2024 as the “The International Decade for the People of African Descent”, to be marked annually on 25 March.
The Executive Director of Haga Algo is Chike Aniukwu, MSc
He is guided by three Directors namely:
We currently have no paid officers or staff.