Hip Hop Corner
Ebola won’t block my return to the motherland
By Jineea Butler NNPA Columnist
Is it me or does it seem like the powers that be are trying to have a Ebola virus scare in the United States? With all our technology, body scans at the airport, top-flight doctors etc. how did someone get in the country by lying on his questionnaire and then accidentally released from the hospital while still carrying this deadly virus?
The CDC is monitoring 100 people in Dallas who may have come in contact with the Liberian national Thomas Eric Dun-can. I thought I lived in the greatest country in the world. How could this happen? I hate to think that anyone would want to spread this virus, but living in America, I’ve learned to scratch the surface to see what is really underneath.
I’ve allowed myself to believe the age-old myth that doing business with Africa was not possible because the African leaders were constantly at war with one another and had no desire to do business with African Americans. But for the past few years, I have been seeing an effort from the African presidents and officials to visit America more frequently. Dripped in their infamous 18 karat yellow gold and fancy garbs with their entourages talking import and export business with African American leaders such as Jesse Jackson.
I haven’t quite been able to figure out how I can begin doing business with Africa, but I am definitely intrigued by the opportunity. It’s got me thinking about visiting and figuring out what type of exchange the Hip Hop Union will be able to do with the continent. And just as I begin to think about possibilities in doing business with Africa and finally going to my home, the Ebola virus dominates the news.
What does the Ebola outbreak do to us mentally? It makes us naturally fear what can hurt us. The objective becomes not to come in contact with anyone who may have this virus. That should be easy the virus has only been found in Africa. What we must remember is there are many Africans that have populated and are beginning to do big business within the United States.
In New York, there are approximately 73,000 Africans, many of whom travel back and forth to West Africa. In Washington, there are at least 80,000 Africans and as of 2007 there are about 20,000 Africans in Dallas. Until this Ebola virus is contained, we will all live in fear and do everything possible not to come in contact with someone who is infected. But who is most likely to be infected? Right.
Dr. David Nabaro, tells RT News Ebola poses a worse threat to humanity than HIV or SARS.
“I can remember in Africa early on in HIV thinking, ‘This is an unspeakably awful situation, but it will not decimate the population’…though we still lost millions. I watch this and I think it is much nastier than HIV. I remember working on SARS and being scared, but this is much worse than SARS. It is just spreading faster and faster and faster,” he told the paper.
So now my African brother goes under scrutiny because he has come into America and cracked the code to the American Dream. They are driving cabs, they own nice restaurants, they do the tours in Times Square, they are building their own little Africas throughout the country. An outbreak in America will ruin trade relations and direct business.
At the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 44th Annual Legislative Conference, Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) hosted a session on “How America and Africa can Create a Virtual Pipeline for Job Creation.”
This is what we want right? The governor of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria Chief Godwill Akpabio presented a 17 x 22, 43-page full color magazine detailing all the opportunities in his country that have opened in the last seven years. Jesse Jackson pointed out the planes that fly the same distance from America to Europe are doubled the price when traveling America to Africa.
Why these hurdles in the way of me going home? Why not just provide the aid and wipe out the Ebola virus like we are doing ISIS? It’s because Africa is the land that is filled with milk and honey. It’s time to reconnect. We finally can use what we are learned to advance the infrastructure in our homeland. One of Cheif God-will’s entourage said, “It is time to come home.” “I agree.”
