It would be good if more Africans could come on this board and openly and honestly dialogue with some of y’all. Many of them in the motherland and here consider the USA as being next to heaven. You should hear some of them talk about how this is the greatest country in the world, though some do acknowledge that there are some problems. Compared to the way some of their governments treat them, most of them here that I mingle with do not see what’s happening in NO as being that bad because they see how this government, at least, is responding under pressure. Remember, in most African countries, freedom of the press doesn’t exist nearly at all, except on paper. There is next to no pressure put on the head honchos there because anyone who is too critical of the president or other big dogs is stomped down or stomped out one way or the other and FAST.
A lot of Africans do everything imaginable to get here and stay here. They constantly compare notes about what will work and what won't. Since I associate with a lot of them and I am an American, some of them are constantly trying to get me to help in this or that way (write a letter of sponsorship, help a man or woman to find an American to marry so they can get a green card here, send money to help out this or that one’s sick relatives, one guy even wanted me to fly to Africa and show my American face to expedite getting a relative here, etc.) In other words, many of them think AAs are so blessed to be here and say that AAs have all of these opportunities to get an education, start businesses, and don’t have to worry about being deported, which is their greatest fear here. They simply don't understand why some of us don't grab these opportunities.
Though the ones here know we are their people, there is a wide gulf in our experiences and theirs. The Africans here, of course, know about slavery, but they don’t understand its residual effects on AAs. Colonization was a terrible experience for them but it was very different from slavery in major ways.
And the fact is that the vast majority of Africans on the continent don’t even know AAs exist.