By Nate Abraham Jr.
EDITORIAL
Over the weekend, this nation celebrated its 250th birthday. Everyone should be proud of what this nation has accomplished since its founding in 1776. We have much to be proud of. Even though there are many things that this country has gotten wrong since its founding, it is far outweighed by the things America has gotten right.
These days, it is considered fashionable and enlightened to trash America. If you listen to the political class (and college professors), America is the worse nation on this planet – a cesspool of racism, hatred, division and a lack of opportunity for advancement. But if that was the case, why have millions of people around the world risked life and limb to come here? Nobody risks their lives to break into Mexico or Cuba.
Recently, a political commentator called for Black Americans to “divest” themselves from this country and move back to Africa. We needed to take our talent and resources to the Motherland to punish this country. America would fall apart economically, he said, without the presence of Black America.
Good luck with that. That level of arrogance and delusion is off the charts.
What makes anyone think that 50 million Black Americans flooding Africa would be welcomed with open arms? Currently in South Africa, millions of Black South Africans are marching in the streets protesting the presence of illegal immigrants from other African nations, especially people from Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
In other African counties — especially east African nations such as Kenya, Angola, Uganda and Zambia — there have been huge riots of people upset over the presence of Chinese people and businesses. Rioters have burned Chinese-owned businesses and neighborhoods in an effort to force Chinese immigrants to go back to China.
In West Africa, nations that were former French colonies are aggressively trying to dismantle “Francafrique”, targeting French companies, people and institutions. Less than two weeks ago, Burkina Faso severed ALL diplomatic ties with France. That country also joined with Niger and Mali to replace their French-backed currency with their own sovereign currency. Other African nations are kicking out French military units and closing French military bases. Some are even removing French as their official language.
In this environment, how could you possibly think that millions of arrogant Black Americans suddenly showing up on the continent of Africa would be welcomed? We wouldn’t be viewed as lost heroes coming home. We would be viewed the same way as many Americans view illegal immigrants coming to this country – as a threat and a problem. Africans would tell us the same thing most Americans tell illegal immigrants: go home and fix your own country.
And that would be the right thing to tell us. Despite everything that has happened to Black Americans over the past four centuries, this is still the best place to be.
Too many of us focus exclusively on our difficulties without taking time to appreciate how far we have come. There are people whose grandparents were slaves who had grandchildren who voted to elected the first Black president. A couple of months ago, a Black American piloted a spaceship further into space than any space mission in history. Despite the fact that we are only 13 percent of the US population, 22 percent of the people on the Supreme Court are African-Americans. Black Americans have built billion-dollar companies, served with distinction in EVERY level of government, run cities and states, commanded the US military and represented this country all over the world. There is practically nothing we haven’t done – or can’t do.
America is my home. I am not going to abandon it. My ancestors fought for centuries to make America a better place for me and other Black Americans. My maternal grandfather fought for this country in World War I. My father and his brothers fought for this country in Korea and Vietnam. Despite the racism and discrimination that they faced, they shed their blood and tears for this country.
I don’t dismiss the hardships that we face, but I also don’t take the opportunities that we do have in this country for granted. America is my home. Everybody and everything that I love is here. I believe that this is still the greatest place on Earth to be – and I will continue my ancestors’ efforts to make America even better.
God Bless America.