In this Special Edition of the Unite, we conclude the speech of Peter Njang, Esq., and begin the Founder's Address.

9. Immigration: When you arrive the United States as a visitor and would want to extend your stay, make sure you apply for extension early enough. Do not allow you visa to expire before you apply. And mind you that you stay in the U.S. depends on you I-94 given at the port of entry by immigration officers and not the date stamped on your visa by embassy staff abroad. For example, if the Consul gives you one year stay in the U.S. and at the port of entry the INS gives you six months on your I-94, the six months controls. If the Consul gives you six months visa and at the port of entry, the INS gives you one year on your I-94, the one-year controls.

Change of status vs. adjustment of status: Change of status is the process by which a non-immigrant becomes a lawful permanent resident within the United States.

There are legal implications of entering a guilty plea or being found guilty of a crime (serious felony) if you are not a U.S. citizen: Your action could result in your deportation, exclusion from admission into the United States, or denial of naturalization, even if you are a U.S. permanent resident.

10.Contracts: Always read and understand any document before signing it. Preferably, have a lawyer read it. You may be a penny wise and a pound foolish by signing the contract without having a lawyer read and go over it with you. Do not put your signature on any document you do not agree with all or part of it or do not feel comfortable with any clause in the document.

It is very important that you keep records and receipts of important transactions you make for as long as perhaps five years or more. If possible, buy a saving box in a bank to store your very important documents in case of fire or burglary.

11. Commercial: Be careful with your checks/checkbook, because you may be liable for any negligence on your part that helps somebody to forge your check and defraud the bank. It is foolish buying insurance for credit cards against fraud. You are liable for only fifty dollars payment to the credit card if you notify them within twenty-four hours of your credit card having been stolen.

12. Civil Case: Never ignore a notice to come to court for a proceeding. In a civil case, it could result in a default judgment against you, and in a criminal case a warrant could be issued for your arrest, even if the underlying charge is not a very serious offense.

13. Wills and the Family: It is important that parents have life insurance. It is also very important that each family has a properly executed will. Use much restraint when disciplining the children. No wife abuse is acceptable in a civilized society. There are legal ramifications.

When there is a problem in the family, try and resolve it within the family or engage your pastor and church elders or very close relatives. However, avoid as much as possible having to take your problems beyond your door steps.

If you invite the police, the matter becomes that of the state and the other spouse and you become a witness only. You may not be able to stop the case any further.

14.Criminal: Talk as little as possible when you come in contact with law enforcement agents. Never give them consent to search your person, property or dwelling without a search warrant even if you have nothing to hide. And if they come to search your person, never step from where you are sitting or standing because their search will be limited only to where you are but if you step to go and take your hat from the room, you are indirectly inviting them to come and search your room or wherever you go to. I hope you find these tids and bits useful. Thank you very much.

His Excellencies, Professor Mazrui, Professor Ivan Van Sertima, Professor Sulayman Nyang, my honorable audience, fellow Africans, I greet and salute all of you in our ancestors name. I heartily welcome you here today, and to this conference, "Building Solidarity through Friendship, Dialogue, and Service" being hosted by the Africa Solidarity Council, Inc. as we use this occasion to commemorate the anniversary of the founding of the Pan-Africanism Movement some 100 years ago today and to reaffirm the call for unity, solidarity, and cooperation among peoples of the African race. Therefore, let us today resolve to begin the re-birth of a new pan-Africanism movement for the achievement of social modernization of African society and the realization of African unity on a continental scale.

Indeed, I am very flattered and I find it a great privilege and honor to share this platform with Professor Mazrui and Professor Ivan Van Sertima. I deeply respect and honor both of you and I cannot thank you both enough for honoring our invitation. I am very delighted at seeing members of the African diplomatic community join us today, Your Excellencies, Professor Jubril Aminu of the Embassy of Nigeria, Mr. Mamadou Seck of the Embassy of Senegal, and Mr. Amalcar Lobas of the Embassy of Caper Verde.

And Mr. Sekyi, the Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Ghana. And everyone else from our diplomatic community, thank you for your presence here today (we have information that they will be joining us).

What a conference do we propose to have without you, our audience, and we are particularly pleased that you decided to join us. I will be particularly remiss if I fail to express my deep appreciation to members of the Conference Planning Committee. These individuals, Dr. Peter Njang, Mr. Jean-Paul Volou, Ms. Juliana Udemba, Mr. Yahya Serry, Mr. Robinson Nwosu, Mr. Kessey Kanabi, Mr. Homoyo Hamza, Mr. John Nyarku, and Mr. Efemba Ndongo of the Embassy of Cameroon, worked tirelessly and diligently to stage this conference and for that I am deeply grateful. There are others who also joined in organizing this effort but for one reason or the other could not continue to devote their undivided attention to it. These individuals include Dr. Adeniyi Ibikunle, Mrs. Elizabeth Bateky, Mr. Simplice Guibila of the Embassy of Burkina Faso, and Mr. George Banks. We thank you for the quality time you devoted to this effort during the period you were able to do so. And to many of you across this nation who sent in their support, in cash and in kind and those others who sent in letters of support and encouragement, we are thankful and grateful. It is fair to say that without those letters of support and encouragement, perhaps, we won't be here today. So you deserve the credit.

And to many others who have been following our thought process through our

Newsletter, the Unite, and share with the philosophy we are trying to espouse but are

yet to take the time to let us know how you feel, we are grateful that, at least, you find time to read what we write. And to those of you who are skeptical or outright dismissive of our position or approach to finding solutions to the challenges facing our continent, we respect your position while accepting it as a challenge you have thrown to us, to convince you of our commitment to this cause, that we are different and that we mean business. We resolve to work diligently and hard to win your trust, and the continued trust of all of you, those of you whose benefit of doubt we seem to enjoy.

One hundred years ago, in July 1900, our forebears gathered in a room in London, England and conceived of the idea and brought forth a new Movement - Pan-Africanism - dedicated to the proposition that all peoples of the African race must be relieved of colonial domination. Now we have gathered, one hundred years later, to commemorate and celebrate that momentous beginning of the Pan-Africanism Movement and we are now engaged in an age that is challenging the spirit of that humble beginning and testing the descendants of those illustrious sons and daughters of Africa to see if the resolve they made can endure. So, today, we have come to remember and honor them, to dedicate this day as theirs, and to rededicate ourselves to the ideals they struggled and died for and to take it to a new level, the goal of attaining social modernization of African society and the realization of African unity on a continental scale. It is altogether fitting and quite proper that we, as sons and daughters of Africa, the living heirs of these men and women, should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate this day or devote solemnly to

their ideals of pan-Africanism, or revere this day in respect and honor to them for their

ideals. These courageous men and women, some probably living, most are dead now, who struggled, beginning one hundred years ago, have hallowed this day beyond our feeble power to add or detract. But why even bother to try when the world will little note or even remember for any length of time what we say here today, but I submit to you that the world will never forget what these men and women started one hundred years ago today. Therefore, let us, instead, dedicate this day to us, to ourselves, the living, and to the unfinished work they so nobly and courageously started and advanced. It is for us here gathered to be dedicated to the unfinished task of creating a mechanism for realizing our goals, dreams, and aspirations on the continent of Africa and not away from her. It is for us here gathered to be dedicated to the unfinished task of achieving social modernization of African society and the realization of African unity on a continental scale and to highly resolve that these African men and women did not give their full measure of devotion to this effort in vain, that in the next hundred years, the African, at home or abroad, or in the Diaspora, can see an Africa that he or she can call home and proudly say to all and the world, this is my home, my continent, my Africa.

One hundred years later, the people of the African race now find themselves under a different kind of domination, a kind so different, so crippling and far worse than the situation that gave rise to the pan-Africanism movement. This is the surrender of one's mind, by one's own volition, to the domination, control, and manipulation by another of a different race. As a people free and in liberty, we are met on the great stage of the universe testing whether we can long endure. And if we endure, as Destiny has decreed, do we endure as progenitors of a race so dedicated to the service of its people and mankind or do we endure, us and our posterity, as charlatans, pretending to know how to free us from our mental slavery, while working so diligently to make us remain so enslaved, living in perpetual servitude in far away places?

Often the image portrayed of Africa is a continent that is underdeveloped, in spite of its abundant natural and human resources, a continent in perpetual chaos, where its people are made refugees by senseless and cruel conflicts or living as refugees, even in their own country. Unfortunately, this tainted image has become the only image offered to us and to the rest of the world. As Africans, we need to reach out to each other and to younger generation with reason for hope for Africa and its people. With this conference/workshop, we hope to launch the beginning of a new thought process that permits us to see and call Africa home and begin to love her, to take care of her, and to develop her for our children’s sake and for the sake of our posterity. With this belief and hard work we will remove the frustration that His Excellency, Dr. Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa, expressed in a speech in this same auditorium, on May 23, 2000, when he said "…Africa produces hides and leather, even though the majority of Africans are bare-footed. Africa produces cocoa, yet African children do not eat chocolate. Africa produces some of the world's most expensive diamonds and other precious stones, yet it is the poorest continent on earth. Africa's natural wealth in gold, platinum and other strategic minerals is legendary, yet millions of Africans starve."

There is a situation equally grim and disturbing as the conditions mentioned by President

Mbeki. A new report by the World Bank called "Can Africa Claim The Twenty-first Century" says that many African countries are worse off now than they were at independence in the early sixties and seventies. The report goes on to say that just to maintain current levels of poverty, African economies will have to grow by 5%. But get this, the report further states that Africa has "enormous untapped potential and hidden growth reserves, if it can mobilize its human resources and improve its political systems."

The Africa Solidity Council shares in this frustration and is bewildered by the fact that a people so rich can be so poor, a people so gifted can be the world's beggars, and a people so industrious and productive can be so indolent and unwilling to work for themselves and for their posterity, to develop a system, original and all their own, but respected, admired, and accepted by others.

In the Africa Solidarity Council, Inc., we believe that Africa's condition today, vis-à-vis the rest of the world (political, economic, educational, and social) is pathetic. We believe in a strong leadership to turn things around for the better. We see at least three elements of a strong leadership that are necessary for achieving this. By strong leadership, we mean leadership that abhors greed, leadership that sets the interest of the people above its own and is always cognizant of Africa's place and position in the world, or lack thereof, leadership that must be understanding of her and her peoples' needs; By strong leadership, we mean leadership that sees and accepts dialogue as a potent instrument for reaching a consensus- essential ingredient for realizing a common goal and at the same time tuned in, at all times, to the aspirations and hopes of Africa and her people, By strong leadership, we mean leadership that understands the role of government in setting the pace, creating necessary environment for commerce and consumption, creating and building institutions and infrastructure for internal machinery that fosters development, peace, and security. And by strong leadership, we mean strong and confident leadership that sees a rejuvenated and self-reliant Africa of today and tomorrow as the big picture, as the goal, while seeing its role today as but a little part that must be played today toward realizing this goal, and as such this leadership considers it as its bounding duty to build today, or add to, today, where it already exists, or improve or cause to improve upon today, while on the stage today, the economic, social, and political mechanisms for smooth transition of government and new leadership and the improvement of the quality of life of its people. Thus, this strong leadership becomes unselfish, for Africa's sake, unafraid, unbought, in fact, this leadership is devoted to playing its part and playing it well today, so that one day, Africa will become a haven for herself and her people and cause to stop the exodus of her people escaping from persecution, internal strife, and hunger or even in search of the so-called better living - the comfortable nothingness.

The theme of the conference today is "Building Solidarity through Friendship, Dialogue, and Service"? What is significant about this theme and with whom do we desire to build this friendship and why is solidarity necessary?

Immigrant and non-immigrant Africans come from large, diverse, and complex continent. While on the continent, we knew very little of each other. We saw each other as mere strangers sojourning from one country to the other in search of life's bounties. Now, Providence has brought us together here in the U.S. and we still know very little of each other. In fact, we conduct our activities while here in this country still as sojourners and total strangers to one another. At a time when society is reminded of the time-honored African adage that says "it takes a village to raise a child", it seems the immigrant and non-immigrant African in the U.S. have adopted a new slogan: "each to his or her own and none for all." Consequently, we conspicuously shy away from engaging on matters of the day as they affect Africans and Africa. Or at best, we speak ineffectively with multiple voices on such matters. Unless we are suffering from collective amnesia, there is no denying of the fact that we find ourselves, day in and day out, immersed in gross inequities because of political and institutionalized indifference, lack of sensitivity, and certain mind sets.

But lets face it, a common thread runs through Africa and its people. If you do not believe this, I suggest you review our history and you will soon discover that the Mende people transcend the African countries of Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Liberia. You will also discover that the Yoruba people can be found in Nigeria, Togo, and Benin. And as you continue to thumb through the pages of history you will note that the Malinkes are all over Africa. Must we, therefore, allow mere nomenclature to dictate to, say, a Yoruba person from Nigeria to dissociate himself or herself from the brother or sister from Benin or Togo simply because they hail from different geographical entities? The spirit of pan-Africanism that has been demonstrated in the past forty years must be replicated here in the U.S. if the immigrant and non-immigrant African presence is to be registered politically and economically. Immigrant and non-immigrant Africans living in the U.S. are brought together by Destiny and we can only advance our interest (politically, economically, culturally, and socially) when we become organized and become active participants in all aspects of the life of the community in which we live. This has been the experience of other immigrants and non-immigrants from other parts of the world and the African immigrants and non-immigrants cannot afford to continue to do otherwise. TO BE CONTINUED

During this season of jolly and good cheer, the Africa Solidarity Council, Inc. wishes to extend good tidings of the season to all Africans, both at home and abroad and to all friends of Africa everywhere. Particularly, to all Africans here in the United States, to all our parents, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, and nephews and nieces back home in our Africa.

To those travelling home, may your deity guide you as we wish you a safe journey. May your stay at home remain joyous and merry. Have a safe return! And to those touched by grief and sadness, may comfort accompany you and may it find an abode in your heart and home. Please cheer up, we plead.

Please note, whether we feast or fast, let us do so fully and quickly today as we must begin by the end of today the task that we must begin as Africans, that of building friendships and coalitions to rebuild trust, both for political and economic empowerment, and for the eventual rebuilding of our beloved continent of Africa for the achievement of social modernization of African society and the realization of African unity on a continental scale. When we do this we will bequeath an Africa of tomorrow where her heirs will be glad to call home.

Mazi Chibuzo Christian Nwachukwu, Sr.

President & Interim Executive Director