Andrew Laurence

Much is made of how Africans in the Diaspora can’t seem to get along with each other. The cultural and language difference, suspicions about eligibility of education and employment affirmative action programs, and plain ignorance of each other has led to alienation and sometimes violence. I find that most of what we know about each other comes from what we learn from school books and the media. Unfortunately, they often have portrayed a very distorted and false view leading to unfortunate stereotypes about each other. However, we now have our own scholars publishing research on our own history and relations with others. We also have far more travel and personal interaction with each other to rely on.

Like the historian J.A. Rogers publication, The Real Facts about Ethiopia, I would like to share a few examples of information I have researched about Ethiopian and African American relations. In 1808, Ethiopian merchants in New York City convinced African American worshipers to start their own non-segregated church now called Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. A’ Leila Walker, the daughter of the great hair care entrepreneur Madame C.J. Walker traveled to Ethiopia in 1922 and was entertained by Empress Zauditu. Dosho Shifferaw, an Ethiopian is the inventor and founder of the Bowflex exercise machine company. Comedian and activist Dick Gregory created a nutritional food formula that effectively saved thousand of lives during the 1984 famine in Ethiopia.

Did you know that Duke Ellington traveled with his orchestra to Ethiopia and played with the Mulatu Astake Ethiopian jazz band and was awarded Ethiopia’s Medal of Honor by Emperor Haile Selassie? Or did you know that Tuskegee College trained African American pilot John C. Robinson commanded the Ethiopian Air Force against the Italian invasion of 1935 and was awarded the rank of colonel and full citizenship? Did you know that Howard University in Washington, DC has graduated more Ethiopian students than any college outside of Ethiopia? How about the fact that Beyonce, Akon, Rhianna, Ludacris and the Black Eyed Peas have all performed in Ethiopia in the last year, or that there have been two African American US ambassadors to Ethiopia.

I could go on and on about relations between other African peoples but I think you get the point. The more we know about each other and our past relationships the more we will understand each other and get along. We can’t let others divide and conquer us. We need to communicate our differences and work on resolving issues within the community. There is so much we can share and teach each other. This goes for all of the African Diaspora. Did you know there are twice as many African Americans in Brazil than the US? We need to nurture these natural bonds not only because of the interconnectedness of the global world we now live in, but because African people have something unique to offer the world. But we need to do our homework and take action. Not only about our true history and relations, but where the products we consume are made and under what labor and environmental conditions they are produced. It will take another African inspired civil rights type movement for fair trade in order to bring justice and peace in the world. It is not only an economic question but a moral responsibility.

From an African centered perspective, I think there is much that Africans can teach the world. As western science has discovered the abstract linear model is being challenged by the nonlinear rules of nature that Africans have always lived by. The same for natural medicines used for centuries in Africa. I try to explain to friends that the syncopated beat in jazz gives the music a real feeling since it is between the one and the two beat of artificial man made time. In between the one and the two beat exists universal time, where you can access your ancestors past, present and future. They have now discovered that the African corn row hair designs are cutting edge fractal geometry that can increase computer speeds.

The world policy makers are running headlong toward an unsustainable future in terms of energy resources, population explosion, nuclear proliferation, pollution, etc. I think Africans have shown the world how to live a more sustainable community orientated life. It is time for us to take a more active role in leading the way with our own knowledge systems and experiences. At least we need to realize what strengths we have and share them with each other, and then the world. First you have to learn about Africa and its peoples, then you need to visit there, and then you have to figure out how in your own way you can make a change for the better.

Andrew Laurence is the son of a visiting Ethiopian student and white American mother. He was given up for adoption but grew up in African American foster homes. Educated at Columbia University he was able to find his father’s family in Ethiopia and has set up a fair trade textile business there with them. For more info on him or Ethiopian and African American Relations you can contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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