Black Outside of America

By Natalie Nichols ~ Serena Williams, Oprah, and many other stars have started charities and foundations focused on strengthening Africa. For this, many African-Americans have spit sharp criticism that major celebs would donate their funds to organizations outside of America when there are so many needy children within our nation’s borders. The most common notion is Africa is the richest continent with the poorest people. Nothing could be more true. Most African nations, especially those who fought for liberation from European countries who imposed centuries of colonization, have very unstable governments. Instead of Europeans reaping the benefits of Africa’s mineral rich lands, national governments are capitalizing and refusing to reinvest the profits in education, infrastructure and other modern means of creating safety and economic empowerment for citizens. Darfur is a prime example as the entire conflict began with the support of the Sudanese government, whom to this day continue to support tribal groups purporting attacks on ethnic farmers. It is no secret that women in Darfur are being raped, sometimes having their legs broken so they cannot escape; that this happens to women younger than twelve. In quite a few African societies, women experience many forms of cultural, legal, political, economic, religious and social discrimination. These women have no path toward legal recourse they can exercise; many of them take such secrets to their grave as they risk being disowned by their husbands if the crime is ever made public. According to popline.org, 22% of Kenyan women aged 15-19 years are HIV positive and only six percent of young boys are infected in the same age group. These women are blamed for their disease as a result of sexual promiscuity even though it has been widely established that more than 50 percent of women contract HIV/AIDS from husbands or their only boyfriends. Kenyan women do not have insurance, free clinics, AIDS or HIV education, medication, or basic information on how to manage their disease. Meanwhile this disease eats them alive, as they die alone since most are ostracized from their communities once they become infected.CONTINUE READING...