‘I have a Dream’, What Martin Luther King’s speech means to African Immigrants

Standard Sunday, September 1, 2013 · 

By Chris Wamalwa

On Wednesday, August 28, I was invited at the Independence Hall in Philadelphia to talk about what the ‘I have a Dream’ Speech by Dr Martin Luther King meant to latter day African Immigrants to the US as part of on-going conversation about race and racial discrimination and disparity in America. Below is an excerpt from my speech.

As we reflect on what Dr Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a Dream’ Speech mean to us latter-day African immigrants to the US, it is important to understand that our migration here to the US as Africans and indeed other parts of the North is part of a much older story of African global migrations that date back in to the tragic days of the European slave trade.

As you all know, this is the period when millions of shackled African men and women were shipped to the Americas, a painful event in a moment and a poignant metaphor that established the subsequent tapestry of African-European-American relations. Most of you in this congregation who are African Americans belong to that history because you are direct descendants of that Trans Atlantic Slave journey.

African Americans and even Africans like me who are not directly related to that journey are usually filled with emotional turmoil and bitterness when we remember this because, as my history Professor, Dr Tiyambe Zeleza always says, “it is a cruel reminder that for the victims and combatants of western barbarity, globalisation – the dispersal of individuals, ideas, ideologies, and institutions – did not start yesterday with the Internet”.

It is that Western barbarity that Dr King spoke about 50 years ago today in his enduring ‘I Have a Dream’ and it’s the outcome of that same barbarity that stokes African Americans here and Africans back on the African continent.

Dr King’s efforts within the civil rights movement opened the doors for many Africans to migrate to the US to seek not only higher education but also economic opportunities to better their lives. So, most of us here owe our presence to the civil rights movement spearheaded by the likes of Dr Martin Luther King.

As a backdrop to help you better understand how some of us Africans who are not descendants of slavery came to be here, it’s imperative to bear in mind that contemporary patterns of African overseas migration of which I’m apart of now, are woven in intricate and complex ways in the older processes- slave trade, colonialism and neo-colonialism. Some call it waves. Waves that have fed on each other successively creating new layers of memories and meanings, new braided histories of Africa and its Diaspora.

Most of us latter day African immigrants/ Diaspora came here to advance our studies even though the number of those migrating under the Diversity Visa programme commonly know as the Green Card has steadily grown since its inception in 1990. Of course there are also those who came here on different visa statuses like visitors, business, work related, refugee and asylum.

For majority of us, our search for the American Dream has its genesis in the wish to give a wide berth to the many problems and challenges facing our countries of origin. It is important to note that most of the challenges African countries face now as in the past since independence are as a direct result of the slave trade movement and colonisation of the African continent by European nations.

Just like African Americans and other minority communities in the US, African immigrants suffer the indignities of racism, loneliness, and a sense of being ‘different’. African immigrants suffer from discriminations and other inequalities such as unemployment and underemployment because of their skin colour and perceived language barriers.

However, this is not to say that there aren’t also many stories of African immigrants flourishing and prospering in their countries of sojourn. Many succeed in prospering and enjoying the comforts of their new citizenship.