February 3, 2008 at 2:55 pm (My Africa, Sports)
Tags: Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Soccer, Sports
Even though most Americans are all about the Pats and Giants today…
the rest of the world …at least the soccer world, the African world has had its eyes on Ghana for the Africa Cup of Nations. The ACN is essentially a bi-annual soccer tournament of 16 teams in Africa. (Now of course there are more than 16 countries in Africa… so they have a long drawn out process for determining which teams/countries qualify for the tournament) Anyway, this year’s tournament has been hosted by Ghana – which has meant high expectations for Ghana’s team – the Black Stars.
Today, in their quarter-final match, the Black Stars faced their arch-rivals the Super Eagles of Nigeria. I can’t even begin to tell you about the animosity between these two teams, and these 2 countries. (Me myself, I have no problem with super eagles, but I do understand why they irritate my countrymen).
The Super Eagles are very proud mandingo men who definitely believe that they are the best at EVERYTHING. ERRRRRTHING!!! They have no respect for the Black Stars and came out to thrash them. Man, it did look like Nigeria was going to dominate the game, but Ghana came back to tie the game and then with about 10 minutes left in the game, Ghana scored again. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! 2-1. Black Stars win! There is going to be a big party in Ghana tonight!!
Man. I love this. I absolutely love when Ghana wins anything. I love it even more when the win comes at the expense of Nigeria. Now, Ghana will face Cameroon or Tunisia in the semi-finals. The Cameroonians scare me, but don’t sleep on Ghana they have won this tournament 4 times in the past!
No matter who wins the superbowl today, I am already very satisfied with the results of the day.
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February 1, 2008 at 6:36 pm (My Africa, Political Junkie, TV, Movies, Music)
Tags: Africa, Barack, CSPAN, Election, Ghana, Nigeria, Obama
Every morning I catch about 15 minutes of a show on CSPAN called Washington Journal, where people call in to share their opinion of the political news of the day. I love the show even though I have issues with some of the callers. (Yes, I have tried to call in, I have never gotten through though).
… Over the last 3 weeks I’ve heard many more calls from Africans (mostly men) calling in to tell us what they think (mostly about Barack). How do I know they’re Africans? Com’on now.. I know my peoples… LOL…and the accents are a dead give away. 
So they call, they talk and talk and talk and inevitably what comes out of their mouth is ‘I like Barack O-BA-MA, but I don’t think he can win because blah blah blah‘. Oh my word! I am getting so tired of this.
… so my African people…
I am going to say to you what I’ve said to my Ghanaian cousin and Nigerian ex-boyfriend – both fairly smart African men. Stop it with the disbelief! Stop it. Have you been so conditioned to doubt that the mere possibility of a President Obama is unfathomable? Why? I really wonder why. Will his ability to become president somehow signify that we have overcome? Will it require that YOU become more? Why are you paralyzed by fear and rationalizing it with doubt?
In her speeches Michelle Obama often says …
You know, there’s always that doubt in the back of the minds of people of color. People who’ve been oppressed and haven’t been given real opportunities. That you never really believe. That you believe that somehow, someone is better than you. You know, deep down inside, you doubt whether you can do it, because that’s all you’ve been told, is “no, wait.” That’s all you hear, and you hear it from people who love you. Not because they don’t care about you, but bcause they’re afraid. They’re afraid that something might happen.
I think on many levels that is true. Its some kind of subconscious self-doubt.
Haven’t you ever been passed for a job or whatever because someone wasn’t ready to give your black bleep a chance? Why are we expecting Barack to work so much harder for our vote than we required of Bill? He just said ‘I’m down’ and we said ‘welcome to the club Brotha Bill’. And yet we doubt Barack. How is it that we think we can vote for the same old establishment candidate and get different results? (And as much as I want a woman president, Hilary is establishment). The time for change -real change-is now.
… and so my African people …
to those of you who aren’t just talking talk, but who are citizens of this fine country who can actually vote (yes, I put THAT out there…) vote for Barack.
And if not .. leave me your comments on why you have gone with your candidate.
BTW – Barack isn’t just selling false hope as some would have you believe. You can read all about his positions here:
http://obamabulletin.com/
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-dem3feb02,0,3530861.story
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