I'm a native born Black American woman. And I believe that every creature, man and animal who resides on planet earth originated on the rich soil of Africa. My belief derives from my faith, and reading and teachings of God's Words in the Holy Bible.

This 'awesome' article will no doubt impel the 'soul' of any reader with an exraordinary spirituality - connection to God via the 'Holy Ghost Spirit.'

The issues discussed in this article concerning the harsh treatment of Kenyan natives by other kenyan natives is happening right here in America and other parts of the world. There are black families fighting among themselves due to jealousy and envy. And the bickering is stagnating their growth economically and educationally. Every ethnic group in this country is far better off than the majority of Blacks. Because we're too busy holding each other back instead of helping and supporting one another.

I sense the hurt and anguish of the writer of this article, the smae way I hurt when I see how my people treat one another, and then try to place blame on our white counterpart or some other factor.

Our state of being boils down to one main thing: and that is 'ignorance.' Ignorance breeds chaos and confusion. And the ability of one to think rationally and fair is diminished in confusion, causing people to become self absorbed and forget about external issues.

When Barack Obama first joined the presidential race and I listened to what he 'boldly, but intelligently' had to say to 'all' human beings my 'spirit' was jolted, and I've been supportive of him ever since. I believe because of his birthrights and biological make-up he was 'appointed by God' in this 'appointed time and season,' to help save the world from condemnation.

The dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not die with him in 1968, it is evident in Obama's nomination. Many of us black folk never thought we'd see Dr. King's dream come to fruition in our lifetime.

If we just keep the faith, keep praying and hoping in unison, and keep believing in 'miraculous changes' they will happen! Because God's Words are not void. I said that to say this to the writer of this article: Let your heart be not troubled, and don't ever lose hope. Keep encouraging souls through your writings and one day, just one day, you will see the fruit of your labor. If you don't, your offsprings will, even in Kenya.

Thanks again for the heartwrenching article. It deeply touched my soul, while reminding me that I have to keep on persevering through my individual efforts to bring about positive and productive changes at home and abroad. One day I will visit your country.

well said my sister, there's a saying that goes a hero is never honored at home maybe, when he or she is dead. Kenya and the rest of black Africa suffers from the indignity of inferiority complex that has ravaged as to been a desperate race that is cursed. remember the so called elders are always seen to have answers to problems arising even it be the most stupid of solutions. you don't have to look far than Zimbabwe where old dog mugabe continues to hold on to power in the expense of his dying people. the young be they with bright ideas are always seen as "children", who got no say where elders are. this is a continued inheritance of a system that has refused to have an open dialogue with itself and continues to kill it's advancement with changing times. when we came overseas it opended us to how the great people think by disagreeing to agree mentality. why is it then, even when we get to learn this virtue and go back home, we refuse to work on it and continue to drag ourselves to the mentality of a slave master. a culture that refuses to grow is doomed and Kenya and Africa is unfortunate to bear this mistake over and over.

Umedinya point (infact, several points!!) and your eloquence in conveying those points is on par with BHO's eloquent speech on race that he felt compelled to give amidst the furore surrounding the paraphrasing of the "chickens coming home to roost".

I left Kenya to fulfill my dreams because I felt that I wasn't taken seriously and now one of Kenya's neighbours is reaping the benefits of my not inconsiderable talents.

When BHO, becomes the 44th president of the US of A, he will tell the leaders of Kenya in no uncertain terms to stop messing about. How is it possible that Kenya with a population of 36 million can have FORTY TWO ministries while Nigeria, with a population of 150 million has 20 ministries? It will cost Kenya $500 million to run that bloated excuse for a cabinet for 2 months and despite what the perpetrators of Goldenberg wanted the world to believe, Kenya does not have significant gold deposits!!

Raila Odinga while attending the World Economic Forum condemned African leaders in no uncertain terms on the for their silence on the shambles that passed for elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe. It remains to be seen whether he will be as forthright in tackling Kenya's myriad problems

What an incredibly well-written and thoughtful essay! As I read it from my American-African context, I read so much that I could have easily seen in Detroit or Chicago or Atlanta: reports of black people pulling each other down and stories of a level of in-fighting that only prevents each of us from realizing our dreams.

We have a saying here that black Americans treat one another like crabs in a barrel and we will pull down our brothers and sisters to prevent them from escaping. I cannot count the number of conversations my friends and I have held on how if we worked together more and fought against one another less, we could achieve so much more.

But that was then.

Barack Hussein Obama is the synthesis of the leadership qualities that the world needs in the 21st century in general and an exemplar of African leadership too. He is a model for us as African people as well as for what we as citizens of the world need to be to address the issues that face us. Now is not the time for looking back on the troubles we have seen; now is the time to look forward at the opportunities in front of us, to dream of how to realize them and then to work to make those dreams come true.

Change we can believe in, indeed.

I am a 52 yr old white female living in the state of Arizona in America.

I do not understand Kenya's focus on America's election.

This article reinforced my perception of the countries in Africa; it appears to be countries lead by men who kill the people for greed and power.

I read an article the other day of a wife of an opposition leader who had her feet and hands cut off and was burned to death in her home.

I have watch the movies Rowanda, The Last King of Scotland, Ida Amin and War Dance. I have read the book about a boy sholdier in Sierre Leon (sp?).

I feel so for the people of Africa. The world is in turmoil, and Africa seems to suffer more than most of the other continents.

I do not understand. If seems if women became the leaders of all the areas it would be a better place to live on this Earth.

Every Kenyan and African in world diaspora is proud about the presumptive United States' Democratic Party presidential candidate nominee. He is truly an enigma full of life, humor and exceptional oratorical prowess. Born of a Kenyan father who found his way to the States to further his studies and a white lady from Kansas, we should not trivialize Obama's US Presidential bid by altering biological, genetical and historical facts that he has nothing to do with Kenya.

Ironically, it is only in his father's country that Mr. Obama is not feted at all. Nigerians, Ghanaians, Jamaicans, Asians, Americans, Europeans, Ugandans amongst others are very proud of this enthusing African American of Kenyan ancestry who is only heart beat away from the "Washington Lawns".

Kenya is a nation state born out illogical negativism that moulded chauvinistic and latent tribal disparities orchestrated by the British colonial cabals. Such presumptuous ill inferiority complexes were as a result of political and economic negative competition.

Sadly enough, our independence luminaries failed to espouse a modern state freed from the tendrils of primitive cultural schizophrenia that has pervaded the country till today.

From a galaxy of articles I get to read on our local dailies, Obama's White House bid has been grossly trivialized. Keenly, writers from particular communities who feel are superior to Luos-Obama's father ethnic group, always insist on their articles that the adorable and charismatic Illinois Senator has nothing to do with Kenya. For over 15 years Barack Obama has been visiting Kenya and has acknowledged his other siblings who share the same surname, so who are we to deny him his ancestry? He is proud of his own blood relatives. He is proud of his late father who was ostracized. He carries the image and the name of his father whom some Kenyans doubt any linkages with this country.

The late John Fitzgerald Kennedy is one of the greatest American presidents of the 20th Century. Oftentimes he was referred to as an "Irish American President". Never at one time did the Irish people seized to be proud of him. Barack Obama is Kenyan-African-American Democratic Presidential nominee.

Beautifully written and very sad. I'm an Irish citizen, and, without wanting to question the painful specificity of the recent Kenyan experience, I can imagine something in the same spirit being said here about President Kennedy's success back in the 1960's, a success that wouldn't have been possible had his family stayed in the inward-looking, post civil war Ireland of the time. Resenting and regretting your diaspora as well as being proud of them is something that is hard to acknowledge. Great article.

I might add that a lot has changed in Ireland since the 60's - I'm not sure how much President Kennedy directly helped in that, though seeing ourselves on a world stage was amazing at the time, only 40 years or so after independence from Britain. American political interest and political pressure definitely did help to end the violence in Northern Ireland in the 1990's, however - if a President Obama is willing to take an interest and spend political capital on Kenya, American help can genuinely change things, if there's political will on a local level too.

This is one of the best articles I have read in a long time. I am moved.

The interesting about the article is that while it relates to Kenya, it goes beyond Kenya to all of Africa. The destruction of one and other is not akin to Kenya. It is everything that is wrong with Africa.

While we sincerely pray for Obama, we also pray that Africa would learn something positive from America and Obama.

This is one of the best and thought provoking piece of writing that I have recently stumbled over that the succinctly summarizes the woes of the African people by making a splendid comparison to one of theirs who has shown a tendency of remarkable charismatic leadership.

He echoed my own thoughts of how even the dictators and embezzlers in Africa are rejoicing over Obama's incisiveness and greatness of my mind. Yet they these very leaders have failed to see that the very ideology Obama stands for is what they have fervently rejected and in so doing have created the woe of the black man.

I read with great despair another article from an American or European journal where the question was clearly put whether Obama is only a one in a life time wonder from the black race. It might have sounded benign but that clearly tells us that the black person has been relegated to back bench where mediocrity, illiteracy, intellectual decadence and stupidity wallow in the same quagmire.

People of African heritage must to learn from Obama's example, his intelligence, his confidence and clarity of thought that the world sees us the way we portray ourselves to them and rightly, the world will pay us back exactly with our own coins!

Obama has shown that matching wit for wit is the best weapon for anyone of any race to gain a stand in the eye of the majority. It is only at that level where the lines of racial segregation become so fine that they can not even be distinguished even to the mind of the most antagonist.

This is one of the best and thought provoking piece of writing that I have recently stumbled over that succinctly summarizes the woes of the African people by making a splendid comparison to one of theirs who has shown a tendency of remarkable charismatic leadership.

He echoed my own thoughts of how even the dictators and embezzlers in Africa are rejoicing over Obama's incisiveness and greatness of my mind. Yet these very leaders have failed to see that the very ideology Obama stands for is what they have fervently rejected and in so doing have created the woe of the black man.

I read with great despair another article from an American or European journal where the question was clearly put whether Obama is a only a once in a life time wonder from the black race. It might have sounded benign but that clearly tells us that the black person has been relegated to the back bench where mediocrity, illiteracy, intellectual decadence and stupidity wallow in the same quagmire.

People of African heritage must learn from Obama's example; his intelligence, his confidence and clarity of thought that the world sees us the way we portray ourselves to them and rightly, the world pays us back exactly with our own coins!

Obama has shown that matching wit for wit is the best weapon for anyone of any race to gain a stand in the eye of the majority. It is only at that level where the lines of racial segregation become so fine that they can not even be distinguished even to the mind of the most antagonist.

You have written an elegant description of despair, my friend. While we in America are celebrating Barack Obama's rise to the top of our political world, we forget that so many shining lights have been extinguished in Africa. But keep in mind that America has killed its best and brightest, too. The Kennedy brothers and Dr. King come to mind, of course, but there are thousands and thousands of young African-American men who have been murdered by drugs, street violence, and gang warfare. How many future Baracks have been gunned down in America? We incarcerate them by the millions, deny them jobs, and do little to give them the education they need to pull themselves off the street corners and into stable lives as productive members of society. Yet hope remains. We see it in Barack's purposeful strides toward the Presidency just as Africa can see glimmers of progress in Ghana and Botswana, Senegal and Mali. It is a fragile thread, as the election riots in your country demonstrated, but we must not lose it, for history shows that good men come to the forefront to replace those who have fallen, right eventually wins over might, and the human heart is a vessel of hope. Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds, a novel of the Congo.

Why is it that we as african people on the continent and in the diospora beleive that change will come through government that was not set up in place for the betterment of our people?. since our first contact with allien race,such as: arabs and european, we have been taken away from our own reality (social structure), into a allien reality where we became inferiour and to be the steping stone for other races to be stronger. For us as an african race to be strong we have to wake up out of this allien reality and go back to our reality where we once built strong nations. all the governments that exist in africa and in the diaspora have been put in place by european to serve there interest. that is why africans all over the world is at the bottom of the food train and nations that are lack in resources are ahead of us.no black man put in these position on the beofe of allians can better us, you just need to take a look at all the black leaders in the world and you will see. Ontill we stop look towards the same people that try to destroy us and repect and go back to the way of our ancient ancestors we will forever doom.

Sometime back, PBS aired a documentary by notable African American scholar Henry Louis (Skip) Gates Jr. entitled "African American Lives" in which the lineage of notable African Americans was traced using genealogical resources and DNA testing. Gates learned, for instance, that he was descended from--among others--the Yoruba people of Nigeria. Oprah Winfrey learned that she was descended from the Kpelle people of Liberia; and Chris Tucker's ancestors were Angolan. As a Kenyan living in America, constantly vaunting and calling attention to Obama's supposed "Kenyanness" (oh, how often do I hear the phrase "you must be so proud of Barack" when I say I'm Kenyan) sounds as absurd and as naïve to me as the Kpelle jubilating over Oprah, the Yoruba's over Skip, and the Angolans over Chris Tucker. To be sure, Obama still (?) has a grandmother to claim in Kenya, half-brothers and sisters and aunties and uncles, and he has paid visits to his fatherland (just like many African Americans have done). But Obama is anything but Kenyan. Barack Obama Sr. was Kenyan. Barack Obama jr., possibly next president of the United States is an American who self-identifies as an African American. Incidentally, I find those who question his African-Americanness as essentialist and as reductive as the Kenyans who are too happy to claim him as one their "own." They share in common an utter lack of understanding of what constitutes identity and the interrelationship between space, place, culture, and identity