Of course, it’s a good distance from the usual sort:
R&B singer Akon may have been born in the United States, but he wants to go back to his roots — which, to him, means constructing a city in his family’s ancestral home of Senegal, which he describes as a “real-life Wakanda.”
[…]
[N]othing short of megadoses of LSD could possibly have produced the delusions described by the singer in his promotional push on “Akon City,” in which he promised “every single African American would be a millionaire without even thinking twice” if they relocated to Africa and that America would be paralyzed “overnight” if its estimated 41.6 million black population up and left.
According to a report in AfroTech on Friday, the proposed city in the troubled West African nation of Senegal — which Akon says can be built for the low, low investment price of $6 billion — is intended “to be a safe space for Black Americans and others facing racial injustices.”
“The system back home treats them unfairly in so many different ways that you can never imagine. And they only go through it because they feel that there is no other way,” Akon said in 2020, according to The Associated Press, adding that the proposed African city would be a “home back home.”
The removal of America’s Negro population to some distant place – doesn’t have to be Senegal, but that particular African hellhole would do just fine – would relieve the U.S. of so many burdens that it would ultimately prove a net social, political, and economic gain — a large one. And it would relieve your humble Curmudgeon of this nightmare, in the bargain. So go for it, Akon! Gather ye racial brethren into one happy mass in Senegal! Just don’t expect Americans to pay for your dream-city fantasy.
Of course it’s not going to happen. American Negroes are the best off of all their race. In no other nation do Negroes command the degree of prosperity they have here. In no other Western nation are they treated, legally and politically, with such unctuous deference. Why here, they can commit murder, arson, rape, assault and battery, lootings, and what have you in the name of “the voiceless” or “the spirit of Martin Luther King,” and the law will handle the offender with kid gloves. Try that anywhere else.
So the mass relocation of black Americans to Senegal, or anywhere else, is a non-starter. Indeed, the mere announcement of a plan to make it happen would probably incite the government of Senegal – it does have a government, doesn’t it? – to declare war on the United States. (Cf. The Mouse That Roared.) Given the current state of our military, the outcome would be unpredictable…but given the current state of our politics, we’d probably surrender before battle is joined.
Ah well. One must have a dream to which to aspire, mustn’t one? If only this dream weren’t some idiot entertainer’s absurd imagining.
5 comments
Skip to comment form
I thought Liberia was created so that negroes could emigrate to a country built just for them. Old Abe was thinking ahead.
Evil Franklin
The Smithsonian magazine published an article, last year, how the original document for the “Constitution” of Senegal had been lost and has now been found. After our civil war the power to be said if you want to go home we will send you there to a country made for you and give you an initial amount of dollars. Per population I don’t think many signed up at that time. Worked with a man early 2000’s who had already bought land over there and took vacations there and was planning to retire there.
“America would be paralyzed “overnight” if its estimated 41.6 million black population up and left.”
Try please. I’d even encourage my Reps and Senators to support funding the one way tickets.
EF You are absolutely correct it was Liberia not Senegal. The original signed charter, constitution was lost for decades until someone went sleuthing. Finally found and don’t remember if it was actually returned to Liberia. I’ll have to get out the Smithsonian magazines and see if I can find the article.
“the largest mass lynching in U.S. history took place in New Orleans in 1891 — and it wasn’t African-Americans who were lynched, as many of us might assume. It was Italian-Americans.
After nine Italians were tried and found not guilty of murdering New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy, a mob dragged them from the jail, along with two other Italians being held on unrelated charges, and lynched them all. The lynchings were followed by mass arrests of Italian immigrants throughout New Orleans, and waves of attacks against Italians nationwide.
What was the reaction of our country’s leaders to the lynchings? Teddy Roosevelt, not yet president, famously said they were “a rather good thing.””
https://splinternews.com/on-columbus-day-let-s-remember-that-italians-weren-t-a-1793851764