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By:
HARRISON MAINA & ANDREW MWASE | |||||||||
| Posted:
Dec,28-2016 16:04:14
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BOSTON--Following an outcry of the apparent stagnation and marginalization of many African communities from the mainstream American system, a group of African immigrants across the USA have formed a united advocacy group with a mission to engage government and local policy makers, nonprofit organizations, businesses and religious organizations to be able to advance the development of African immigrants.
Members of various African communities here in the United States from countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Chad, Tanzania, Zimbambwe, Ghana and others, have been holding discussions the past couple of weeks through a whatsapp "Think-Tank" chat-group sponsored by the Ajabu Media. Among the issues intensely debated, have been, seeking to understand the challenges facing the large African Diaspora that have tended to portray the existence of lesser engagement with the mainstream American society compared to the other immigrant communities in the United States in regard to community advancement as well as social engagement.
The ongoing consultations by the Massachusetts lawmakers that comprise the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus is one of the areas the group is scheduled to meet and share ideas on the likely challenges within this community here in Massachusetts as well as initiating such engagements in the future. The group represented by Harrison Maina, Andrew Mwase and Rogers Muyanja willbe making submissions tonight at the Black & Latino Legislative Caucus organized Communities of Color Agenda Listening Tour scheduled to take place at the Lawrence Public Library from 6pm-8pm. The caucus tour has been organized by lawmakers representing minority communities in Massachusetts as a way to engage and understand the challenges within communities, and use the outcome from these discussions to inform the legislative agenda when the new administration under President Donald Trump takes effect in a few weeks time. The listening tour is being conducted by officials of the Black & Latino Legislative Caucus including: Representative Russel E. Holmes of the Suffolk 6th District (Chair), Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, 2nd Suffolk District (Vice Chair), Representative Frank Moran, 17th Essex District (Treasurer), and Representative Aaron Vega, 5th Hampden District( Clerk). Other legislators attending will be Rep. Byron Rushing of the 9th Suffolk District, Rep. Gloria L. Fox of the 7th Suffolk District, Rep. Benjamin Swan of the 11th Hampden District, Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez of the 15th Suffolk District, Rep.Marcos Devers of the 16h Essex District , Rep. Evando C. Cavalho of the 5th Suffolk District, Rep Jose F. Tosado of the 9th Hampden District and Rep. Carlos Gonzalez. Members of the proposed African immigrant advocacy group have urged the African immigrants in the region to show up and show moral support as they make an effort to articulate the social, economic, political and cultural needs of their rapidly growing population in the Commonwealth that require legislative action from the Massachusetts Assembly. On Wednesday night, three members of the who are scheduled to meet for tonight, held their first strategy and planning meeting at the Dunking Donuts on Washington Street in Woburn, MA a few miles north of Boston while they also prepared for the meeting with lawmakers this evening. The group hopes to bring African immigrants into the American mainstream society so as to utilize their massive skills and talents to achieve benefits associated with the American system and also take a leading role for the betterment of their Diaspora community and their motherland. It is important to note that Africans immigrants have always identified themselves as such and there are concerns that some policies intended to benefit the African American community have to a greater extent not been utilized by this community because of less engagement, from policy framers. They state that the dynamics within the two groups significantly vary, abd yet states do not seem to understand this identity and culture, which to many, has complicated the aspect of assimilation in schools and society. "We also tend to hold onto our identities fervently like the Indians, Jews, Italians, Irish and thus the viewing of black folks monolithically is a wrong narrative since these unique folks fall through the cracks when you de-conflate the black race and identify the African population as unique," one of the group's officials explained. They believe that a conversation like this is a good start to understanding the issues within that unique populace. THERE IS A HUGE CHASM BETWEEN AFRICAN AMERICANS AND AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS and yet unfortunately, the fact that it has bot been realized, the African immigrants have been shut out of opportunities for economic advancement because they are highly misunderstood. There has therefore been a consistent inability to tap and disseminate resources from organizations, State and federal programs that help immigrants to benefit this particular group of citizens and residents in the United States. They have therefore continuously not played an important and active role within the state's political and civic engagement which would otherwise be tools of empowerment to the community. Although highly educated, African immigrants have the lowest paying wages and highest unemployment of any foreign born group in the USA (Pew Research Center 2011). Although most Africans are documented, the few undocumented ones face a major huddle because they are not part of the recognized undocumented majority. There is therefore nothing set apart like scholarships and any other form of support aimed and empowering them to meet the intended human resource standards. Finding the right jobs: You find highly educated college level folks driving cabs because of the lack of direct transferability of education and skills, and yet most of the African Immigrant community civic organizations trying to help empower their members have been hamstrung by lack of funding to finance their operational expenses. At the meeting in Woburn, MA, members reiterated their commitment to engage the various government agencies and policy makers both local and federal in realizing the organization's mission; including but not limited to using resources that are available to enable the quick assimilation of African immigrants. The other concerns identified include the fact that, many folks believe everything their Pastors/preachers say and therefore their knowledge, awareness and understanding of their American system has always been limited to the knowledge of their pastors, leading to a lot of missed opportunities. Another member stated that: we believe that we can work together with our spiritual leaders in good faith to uplift our communities from the current stagnant situation through a pedestal of mutual understanding and discussion of pertinent issues, just like the African American pastors, led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. engaged with civic leaders in their community, helping fight to end the scourge of slavery during the civil rights era.
Area universities have African groups that are engaged with the State, the issues the folks discuss about and engage on are not maintained since on graduating, such studebt leaders of African Clubs at the Universities go along with their ideas. There has not been a commitment to ensure continuity - we can bridge that gap. A few years ago, Gov. Deval Patrick recognized the influence of the over 100,000 African Immigrant registered voters in Massachusetts, and included them on a special governor's council. The effect of this is he was re-elected as governor and African immigrants had started to get involved but when he left office, the ideas he had generated to benefit this community went with him. The caucus will use the data collected to bring to a house leader's summit in early February to discuss to form an agenda that caters for the needs of the communities of color in the State that would then be presented to the Massachusetts House to be considered for new laws. A similar Caucus meeting took place last week in Springfield and on Tuesday in Roxbury.
Address of the Lawrence Publi Library:51 Lawrence St Lawrence Time: 6-8PM
To join the group or offer supportive ideas, call/text:
Andrew Mwase: (781) 799-5949
Rogers Muyanja: (978) 728-8121 Harrison Maina: (781) 953-2490 Zippy Elikanah: (717) 380-0321 | |||||||||
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Source:
AJABU AFRICA NEWS
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