The Leon H. Sullivan Foundation Africa Policy Forum: a Vision for the 21st Century to be held in Atlanta in September, aims to help build a U.S.-Africa dialogue based on mutual respect and mutual benefit. It will encompass cultural discourse as well as talks on business and national security issues. Hope Masters, CEO of the Sullivan Foundation, spoke with Saratu Abiola and Carine Umuhumuza of allAfrica.com about what informed her approach to the conference, and what she would like to see in the future regarding U.S.-Africa relations.
How does the conference tie in to what the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation is trying to achieve?
Our overarching purpose is to build a bridge, to make the connection between African Americans, in particular, but really people of the African Diaspora in general, to connect us all back to the continent. Traditionally we have chartered planes and taken people to the continent. We believe now that the bridge goes both ways. We've been trying to get the bridge across to the continent but now with brilliant young people, there's so many people coming back and forth.
We want to have, for the first time, our dialogue here in the states. We picked Atlanta because it is, we believe, the hub of the civil rights movement. The historical energy in Atlanta, the fact that Ambassador [Andrew] Young, who is our chairman and a dear friend of my father, is so critical to Atlanta becoming such an international city. And also because Atlanta is where all these black schools are. It's important that we get the youth's perspective. We want to have a conference in Atlanta where we bring all these different African leaders to where we can talk about fusing everything we have towards the good of Africa.
Also, culturally, we're trying to enlighten and teach people here about what Africa really is. The media is always giving us distorted perspectives on the continent. We want to share real Africa with African Americans, in particular, [but also] the greater Diaspora.
In the schedule of events, you begin with the Diaspora and the media before you start talking about policy, conflict resolution and related events. It's an interesting pattern - was it deliberate?
It is deliberate. It's because I also believe that a lot of the time these conferences can get very heady and very academic and didactic and I don't want that. I want people to, first of all, start out broad, which is for African Americans: 'What interest would I have in the continent?' But for one thing if you determine that your DNA connects you there, you are going to have a spiritual, emotional connection, number one. Then when you realize that our roles as mothers, fathers, children and families are so connected to the same roles with our families overseas.
And then we hit the media with the fact that all these years you've been getting misinformation and mis-educated about the continent. Then again, you're like, 'Okay…' and at the end of the week you're like, 'Now I'm interested in how we can turn that around. What can we do from a policy perspective to use our resources here in the U.S. to support the nations and the people of Africa?' That's why the rhythm of the conference is like that.
I was interested in the way you introduce fact and fiction: the real Africa versus the media's Africa. I was wondering if you could speak about how that affects policy, the way that Africa policy is currently being shaped.
For one thing, Americans have a tendency to be very paternalistic towards the continent. That's what you feel like if you raise somebody up or help somebody. The whole aid argument … it's a paternalistic thing if you feel that you always have to help [Africans], give them a handout. The reality is the nations of Africa are an investable environment. Many of them are beyond where we are in certain areas. We're trying to encourage the U.S. to partner and say, "We don't need you to give us a handout." Talk to me like a man. Woman to woman. Man to man. Equals. Partners. We're trying to engage policy makers and opinion makers to treat Africa as a partner, not as somebody who is a basket case or needs your help in that way, which is how they treat Africa.
If you had a scorecard for the administration of President Barack Obama … We've had a year to see how its Africa policy has been playing out. Are you satisfied thus far?
I would love for the Africa Policy Forum in Atlanta to be an opportunity for the Obama administration, in particular President Obama, to tell us what the administration's Africa policy is. He has been busy on so many other things. I think that it needs to be clarified. I would like for him to use this opportunity to talk about U.S. policy towards Africa in front of the African leaders that we will have there.
Do you think that Obama's Africa policy is clear?
I think that there are so many different facets to it that your question is too broad.
A full day at the conference is going to be entirely on U.S. conflict relations; it spans from conflict resolution to upping the investment. There are a lot of non-governmental activists … [NGOs] have become really prominent lately and have done some great work.
We, through the summits and through our different programmatic extensions, are connected with the NGO community. This forum, in particular on Friday, is really going to talk about policy, but during the week we are engaging those organizations. Mo Ibrahim (of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation) is invited and other people to speak about what they're doing. I believe they are critically important because so many of them survive the different changes in government.
What about the importance of the African entrepreneurs? Do they also have a role to play here, or is it just on a public sector level?
They are there throughout it all. They are critically important. East [Africa] finally got it together with the trade protocol. [U.S. Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton is always talking about how Africa needs to trade with itself. I think what's important is infrastructure: transportation, rail. Africa can do so much among [its] countries but it's all about infrastructure and reversing the patterns of not being able to trade among themselves. It's insane. It could be so much simpler, but it takes so much money.
Again, I also think that goes back to how Africa and Africans have been portrayed over many, many years and so there's been that reluctance to make that investment. We've got to flip that. We were talking about it with Ambassador Young and somebody else a few weeks ago. We had a map out talking about a rail system…you could take it all the way through the continent. I think that is going to be critically important – also airlines – so trade can be made easier among African countries.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Some of that is beginning. You have Lonrho that is working on aviation. There is an infrastructure project to build a bridge linking Nigeria and Cameroon across the Munaya River. There are already buses that travel between Guinea and Cameroon. Generally, though, there seems to be a lot of attention to resources and investments and less on infrastructure. The Chinese, on the other hand, seem to be focusing more on infrastructure.
Yes, they are leaving something on the ground. There's definitely something to be said for that. The other thing, what we are trying to do, is there are so many engineers and [resources] like that here in the U.S. Take your skills back home and use everything that we've learned here. The governments are looking for people with that expertise. So, it's not up to the Germans and the Chinese and everybody else. The Diaspora is a constituency and if we pulled together like other constituencies it's amazing what we could do, the power that we could have.
I know that earlier we talked about Atlanta being a hub for youth. What role do youth play in the conference?
With a student ID you can get in free… Students don't have any money. I believe [students have] the greatest ideas, like an incubator in academic environments. And they don't get into the rooms where these people are, because they are shut out either by age, money to register or whatever. I'm throwing the door open for students. We're going to allow the students to come in and be a part of these discussions… There is so much potential among those kids and I want them to be able to share it… That to me is important.
