The Foreign Service Journal, May 2008

F O C U S 40 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 8 the 1970s, the first influx of Ethiopians reached the U.S. as refugees from the brutal dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam. Nixon the politician would have appre- ciated the fact that Ethiopian-Americans now constitute a sophisticated, well-organized ethnic community, fol- lowing in the pattern of Armenian, Polish and other powerful ethnic lobbies. Somalis, Eritreans, Kenyans, Cameroonians and Nigerians have all settled in the U.S. in large numbers, and are wielding influence in the for- eign policy debate. Another legacy of the civil rights movement is the gen- erational change in attitude toward Africa on this side of the Atlantic. Bunche would have been proud to behold the engagement that Americans are conducting with Africans and vice versa. The Peace Corps has remained active since 1961, with thousands of alumni maintaining a lifelong com- mitment to Africa. And churches around America learn about Africans through their missions and routinely wel- come them to our shores in this age of instant communica- tion and travel measured in hours instead of weeks. Celebrities ranging from Bono and Danny Glover to Mia Farrow have carried the banner for African causes and, most important, drawn the attention of young peo- ple to the continent. A series of commercially and criti- cally successful Hollywood films such as “Blood Diamond” and “Hotel Rwanda” have featured serious African themes, starred African actors and been made in Africa. U.S. business is beginning to pay closer attention to Africa, as well, with the Corporate Council on Africa and Business Council for International Understanding serving as voices of the private sector. Over the past half-century, the U.S.-Africa relation- ship has grown as deep as it has become wide. African- Americans not only make up a significant part of the population, but have spent four centuries building America and defining socially, culturally and morally what it really is. As Bunche implicitly assumed, Africa is a part of who we are as Americans. Nixon’s realistic acknowledgment was simpler: Africa matters geopoliti- cally. America ignores that fact at its own peril.