(FinalCall.com) – The news reports on TV, in print and on the internet, about President Barack Obama’s planned June 4 trip are calling it his first to Egypt (which is in northeast Africa)–instead of his first trip as President to Africa. Most people would say that’s quite elementary.
However, for years Egypt has been projected as being in the Middle East and Africa has always been left out of the equation. As they say in Egypt, “Egypt is Africa and Africa is Egypt.” This term was made popular during the time of the late President Gamal Nasser. He made Egypt the central point of the African Liberation Struggle. After the forming of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) their first meeting took place in Cairo, Egypt.
There has always been an attempt by Western Nations in particular, and the American educational system, to project Egypt separate from Africa because of its tremendous contribution to civilization and its rich history.
›When it was announced that Barack would travel to Ghana in July 2009, it was said that this would be his first trip to “Black Africa” as President. In fact he will be visiting Egypt before his trip to Ghana. Ghana will be Barack’s second trip to Africa as President. Egypt has a large Black population and this population is at the root of ancient civilizations in Egypt. What progressive Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora want is a United States of Africa. Not an Africa divided between north, south, east and west.
Barack’s visit to Egypt (Africa) is part of his outreach to the Muslim World. During his campaign for President of the United States, he said he would make a major speech from a Muslim Capital. He started this process on his trip to Turkey, where he said that America is not an enemy of Islam nor at war with Islam. He also stated in his speech that Muslims have contributed to America and many Americans have Muslims in their families. His trip and speech in Cairo will continue his outreach to the Muslim world.
As we are witnessing, he is taking courageous steps to repair the damage to America’s reputation in the Muslim world–his latest position on torture, closing down secret prisons in other countries and ensuring that Muslims held as suspected terrorists get speedy and fair trials.
Africa is a continent with over 900 million people and half of this population is Muslim.
His speech from Cairo will affect the entire African continent and will be a message sent to 1.6 billion Muslims in the world that Washington is ending its anti-Islam campaign that was engineered by the Bush administration.
Related link:
The Birth of the African UnionThe Birth of the African Union (Minister Farrakhan/FCN, 02-24-2009)
