(Akiit.com) Shukura Sentwali is going home — to Ghana, West Africa.

Sentwali, a Wichitan and longtime community activist, said she’s moving to Africa next year because two Ghanaian chiefs are offering free land to descendants of slaves.

The gesture means to atone for Ghana’s participation in the African slave trade, but the land holds deeper meaning for Sentwali because it provides her a way to fulfill a lifelong mission to improve life for black people.

In Wichita, she coordinated the black infant mortality program. She advocated for neighborhood schools over busing for integration. She taught black children in community recreation centers about their history.

But lately, Sentwali said she has wondered what she accomplished in the past 30 years.

She now concludes that the wrongs against African-Americans can’t be corrected because the nation won’t fully acknowledge them — even as a black man moves closer than ever before to the White House.

So she’s heading home.

She acquired her land in 2006, after attending a conference in Philadelphia presented by Fihankra International, which is overseeing the development.

“We shouldn’t waste any more time, energy or resources trying to convince the United States government or white people of what is wrong, and what has been wrong,” she said, her voice in staccato. “We need to use all of our energy and resources on building our own economic, political and social base.”

A foothold in Ghana

The 52-year-old said she’ll miss her friends and family in the U.S. Some may join her later.

She plans a return trip to Ghana later this year to see the progress on her three-bedroom, 1,901-square-foot home.

The plan for the house, along with the title to the property, rests in a folder overflowing with other papers about Ghana. Her annual site fees — similar to property taxes — cost about $750.
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(Akiit.com) North Carolina was the only school among the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA men’s tournament to graduate at least 50 percent of its players.

A report released Monday found 86 percent of Tar Heels men’s players earned diplomas during a six-year period. The other top seeds were far worse: 45 percent at Kansas and 40 percent at UCLA and Memphis.

The study was conducted by Richard Lapchick, head of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. It evaluated four different freshman classes for a period beginning in 1997-98 and ending with 2000-01. Though the players evaluated are no longer on campus, the report intends to provide a snapshot of academic trends.

Lapchick’s primary concern was the disparity between black and white players. Thirty-three schools graduated at least 70 percent of their white men’s basketball players; only 19 graduated that many black players. At least 50 percent of white players earned degrees at 45 schools, but black athletes had that much success at only 36 schools.
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(Akiit.com) There are many things attached to the horror story of star NFL quarterback Michael Vick participating in the barbaric sport of watching two dogs trained to kill go about tearing each other apart. Though people like Geraldo Rivera have gone on the record assuming that the national black community will come behind Vick because of the attention, the weight and the charges to which he has pleaded guilty, I doubt it.

Like every other minority group of Americans - including Catholics - black people can sometimes be manipulated by the idea of group solidarity. But, also like everybody else, black people are usually too shrewd to be hustled by those who try to hide indefensible sins behind ethnicity.

However uncomfortable it might be to swallow, disappointment in human behavior is almost always faced in the long run. Apologies may throw people off for a short while, but they only go so far.

There are a number of things that stand out about Vick and separate him from most of the black Americans we see celebrated in the media.
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(Akiit.com) Over 50 years ago, Jackie Robinson’s recruitment into major league baseball marked the beginning of what might be called a Golden Era for African Americans in professional sports. Over the last decade, however, that era appears to be coming to an end.

Later, I’ll touch on why this seems to be the case, but first, here are a few observations on recent news stories that, primarily because of their wide and ongoing coverage — and the fact that African-Americans are so often stereotyped — the stories are somewhat symbolic of that decline.

Of course, the big news in baseball is Barry Bonds. Despite breaking Hank Aaron’s homerun record (and the beloved Babe Ruth’s in the bargain), Bonds’ home plate bombs may not count for much in the annals of the sport. In fact, due to his alleged steroid use, many fans and sports officials question whether or not he should ever be admitted into baseball’s Hall of Fame.

In the larger picture, however, African-Americans are slowly disappearing from major league baseball. In 1975, the numbers of African-American players on major league rosters reached a highpoint of 175. Their numbers have been steadily declining since. Today, there are only 90 African-Americans in the major leagues, while the number of Hispanics and other people of color more than doubles that.

In pro football, Atlanta Falcons’ star quarterback, Michael Vick, has dug a pit he may never be able to climb out of. As most know, Vick has confessed to financing vicious dog fighting matches and, in so doing, has all but guaranteed that his next uniform will be a striped one.
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(Akiit.com) Dear young, black men:

Today, many of you are angry. You are angry at a society that has swiftly and vigilantly punished a superstar quarterback for dogfighting, but often looks the other way as a grotesque number of black men die in the streets. You are angry at the NFL, which has punishments some of you feel unfairly targets those who look like you. You are angry at Michael Vick’s buddies and criminal cohorts for “snitching” on Vick, noting that trainer Greg Anderson, a white man, sits in federal prison with his lips sealed, protecting Barry Bonds and refusing to cooperate with authorities.

Michael Vick heightened the stereotypes of black men instead of eroding them.
You are feeling a lot of things — some possessing merit — but I caution you not to make Vick a martyr. Do not applaud him for taking his comeuppance like some modern-day gangster. Do not blame others for Vick’s predicament when he alone should be held accountable for his actions.

Let this historic unraveling be a wake-up call for the young, black men caught up in the same lifestyle that claimed Vick. Let his prison sentence send the message that a continued allegiance to street culture successfully keeps young, black men frighteningly behind in American society.

As the Vick case shows, millions of dollars are little protection if a certain mentality remains. Until now, Vick was considered one of the lucky ones. He rose out of poverty to become one of the most mesmerizing athletes of our time. He went from nothing to millions. He wasn’t the American dream, but the American reality. He had the support of a city, of a people and he struck a chord with many young, black men because they saw themselves in him — rebellious, strong and heroic.
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