Fighting the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service to the Finish and Winning
When the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services charges a foreign national with committing marriage fraud – that is, marrying a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident for the primary purpose of circumventing the immigration laws – the foreign national must fight the charge and win on appeal to obtain any petition-based immigration benefits or to prevent removal from the United States.
Otherwise, the foreign national is forever barred from becoming a lawful permanent resident, regardless of whether he divorces and later wishes to apply for a green card based on marriage to another U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, or sponsorship by a U.S. employer. The strict language of section 204(c)(1) of the Immigration & Nationality Act prohibits CIS from approving any petition if it determines that the foreign national attempted or conspired to enter into a marriage for the purpose of evading the immigration laws.
There are two common instances for CIS to issue a marriage fraud finding. One is when a prior spouse, family member or other third party notifies the authorities that the parties’ marriage is fraudulent. The parties would then have to prove that the allegations are false. Another instance is when the U.S. citizen/lawful permanent resident and foreign national begin to live separately after they enter marriage. The parties would then have to prove that the separation is due to marital problems or other legitimate reasons, not because they did not intend to establish a life together at the inception of their marriage.
Igbanugo Partners Int’l Law Firm has in-depth experience with all types of marriage fraud cases and in many instances has fought CIS to the finish and won. In some instances, our clients had consulted with other immigration lawyers who predicted it would be impossible to overcome the CIS’s marriage fraud charge. Knowing the case would be an uphill battle, perhaps taking many years to the resolve, we accepted the challenge and have won on appeal.
In one case, CIS persistently denied a U.S. citizen’s Form I-130 marriage petitions for her foreign national spouse on grounds of marriage fraud. Despite all the documentary evidence showing that the parties shared a residence and commingled their assets and liabilities during their entire marriage, CIS insisted that their marriage was fraudulent based mostly on prior allegations from family members who had personal vendettas against the parties.
The parties filed three consecutive I-130 petitions with the CIS – in July 1995, August 1997 and August 2002. Each time, the CIS denied the petitions, claiming that the parties entered into marriage for the primary purpose of circumventing immigration laws.
Although all but one of the family members recanted their initial marriage fraud allegations, CIS discounted the recantations as not credible and kept denying the petitions. The parties appealed the decision on the first I-130 petition to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which upheld CIS’s decision. The parties next appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which found that while there is some evidence to suggest that the marriage was bona fide, the record also had ample evidence for the BIA to conclude that the parties failed to show that their marriage was not fraudulent.
One year after CIS denied the third I-130 petition we filed the parties’ first complaint against CIS with the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, requesting that a federal district judge review their case and declare that CIS’s decision was unlawful. While the complaint was pending, CIS conducted an unannounced visit (“bed check”) of the parties’ residence and found that they were indeed living together. By that time, the parties were married for almost 10 years. A few months later, Judge Ann Montgomery dismissed the complaint without prejudice and remanded the case to CIS to reassess the merits of the I-130 petitions. The judge directed the CIS to conduct a “fresh and searching determination” as to the validity of the petition, considering the ten-year length of the parties’ marriage and the recantations of relatives who had initially claimed that the marriage was fraudulent.
Despite the judge’s instructions, CIS denied the petition upon remand. A couple of months later, we filed the party’s second complaint with the federal district court. One year later, after hearing oral argument from both sides, the judge granted our motion for summary judgment and remanded the case to CIS to approve the I-130 petition. CIS filed an appeal with the Eighth Circuit Court, but subsequently withdrew it after we filed a very strong motion to dismiss the appeal.
In another instance, CIS denied an I-130 petition based largely on the negative characterization of the U.S. citizen petitioner’s personal demeanor at the marriage interview and inferences drawn from a home visit conducted over four years after the marriage took place. CIS adjudicators concluded that the marriage was fraudulent because the beneficiary is a good-looking Egyptian man and the U.S. citizen petitioner was a Native American with alcohol problems. We appealed from the CIS’s decision to the BIA, which found that CIS was unable to clearly establish marriage fraud and thus remanded the case to CIS for a new decision. The BIA strongly recommended that the case be assigned to a different District Adjudications Officer because her decision was “permeated with a personal and unprofessional tone and reflects inappropriate disregard of the relevant law…” A couple months later, CIS approved the I-130 petition.
We also sued CIS in federal court after it revoked the approval of a U.S. employer’s I-140 petition for the foreign national, which allowed an immigration judge to grant him lawful permanent resident status even while the I-130 petition was pending. CIS revoked the approval based on its marriage fraud finding, which no longer holds. The lawsuit is still pending partly because the CIS has yet to reinstate the approval of the I-140, as they must, which will resolve the case once and for all.
A marriage fraud finding is brutal because it forever prohibits a foreign national from obtaining any petition-based immigration benefits in the United States. Nevertheless, case law and regulations provide some relief for those facing a marriage fraud finding. Perhaps recognizing the draconian consequences of a marriage fraud finding, the BIA has held that the evidence of a fraudulent marriage “must be documented in the alien’s file and must be substantial and probative.” When CIS fails to follow the BIA’s guidance on this issue, it is possible to fight CIS to the finish and win on appeal, if you hire a dedicated, strong, knowledgeable and persistent immigration attorney.
Anatomy of Marriage Fraud Cases
Microsoft: Would you like your email with that coffee?
Microsoft, the software monster, has recently introduced its very first multi-touch technology: a coffee table-shaped computer known as “Surface”.
The word “multi-touch” is derived from the fact that data can be manipulated in several ways at the same time and by multiple users. This high-tech “tabletop” PC can be operated with the users fingers and is designed to interact with mobile phones. Apple’s iPhone also uses the same multi-touch concept.
Microsoft says that it will primarily sell its smart table-shaped PC to corporate clients including hotels, restaurants, public entertainment centers and phones stores such as T-Mobile. Initial deployment in these areas will take place in November. Currently, a 30 inch screen costs between $5,000 and $30,000. Cheaper versions will be manufactured for consumers within the next three to five years. Microsoft has plans to release it commercially by the end of the year.
This futuristic surface PC is a true definition of human computer interaction. The user can interact effortlessly with the multi-touch table PC through natural gestures. There is no need for the use of a conventional mouse and keyboard which are becoming obsolete as technology advances. It does not have external USB ports or cables, so the user does not have to worry about tripping over cables or even overloading.
You move things using hands or fingers through the PC’s tabletop. If you want to see an image on the screen get bigger, simply spread your fingers. When you place your Wi-Fi enabled digital camera on the PC’s surface, it pours out the images onto the table for you to edit, print, or do whatever you please with them.
In addition, it uses five infrared scanners to identify real objects placed on the surface and react to them instantaneously. It also has a projector and a wireless modem.
Smart Multi-touch Features:
CPU: A core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, a 2GB graphics card. It uses a modified version of Windows Vista as its Operating System.
Projector: Surface uses a 1024 * 768 pixel light screen
Infrared sensors: It picks up multiple infrared devices such as cameras with a 1280 * 960 resolution.
Multi-touch screen: Recognizes objects by their shapes and capable of processing multiple inputs from multiple users.
Microsoft is confident that Surface will change your experience with technology: “Surface breaks down the traditional barriers between people and technology, providing effortless interaction with digital content.”
Visit the Microsoft website at http://www.microsoft.com/surface/ to sample the interactive features of the Surface.
Tax Issues for Small Businesses
Mwenye Pesa is a relatively well-to do Kenyan-American who has been moderately successful in selling tourist packages to his home country. Before immigrating to the United States in 2000, he operated an equally successful hospitality outfit from the basement of Hotel Hilton in downtown Nairobi. To help with starting capital, Pesa had “sold” 20 percent of the business to Mwenye Akili in 2003. Annual sales from his Esabari Travels and Tours, LLC average around $450,000.
From the outset, Pesa must be warned that the subject of business taxes is complex and expansive. Understandably, many business owners loathe dealing with it. However, taxes can be a costly nightmare if not handled well and in a timely manner.
Therefore, this article can only point out the more salient features that may form part of a conversation with a competent tax professional, usually a tax attorney or CPA.
Choice of Entity
Tax treatment of a business is dependent to a large measure, on how the business was set up. The most common forms of business organization in the United States are Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Corporation, S-Corporation and Limited Liability Company (LLC).
Sole Proprietorship: this is the simplest form of business organization with minimal registration requirements. Contrary to what many believe, sole proprietors who hire employees bear the same tax obligations for their employees, as would a corporation, partnership or LLC.Because they are unincorporated, sole proprietors file Form 1040 and report business activity on Schedule C or C-EZ.
Partnership: this is a relationship between two or more people for the purpose of carrying on a trade or business. In other words, they must intend to make a profit, not merely engage in a hobby or sport. Setting up a partnership – be it a general or limited one – is relatively simple. Partnerships are not taxable entities. Instead, items of income, deductions, gain or loss are passed through to the partners to report on their Form 1040.
Corporation & S-Corporation: a corporation is a separate legal entity owned by shareholders. Corporations’ profits are taxed to the entity when earned, and again taxed to the shareholders when distributed as dividends, resulting in double taxation. C-Corporations file Form 1120. S-Corporations are special corporations that have sought and obtained approval by the IRS to be treated as partnership for tax purposes. S-corporations file Form 1120S only as an informational return, but no tax is payable.
Limited Liability Company (LLC)
LLCs are a recent invention. They combine the limited liability of the corporation with the favorable tax treatment of the partnership. Owners of an LLC (called members) enjoy limited personal liability for the debts and obligations of the entity. Many states (including Minnesota) allow single-member LLCs. Like S-Corporations, LLCs have no tax at the entity level but are not subject to the restrictions of the former. Two-member LLCs can elect to be taxed either as corporations or partnerships. Generally, income and deductions are reported on Form 1065, an informational return. If it were a single-member LLC, Esabari Tours would be disregarded as an entity and Mwenye Pesa can file Form 1040 and report his income and expenses on Schedule C. However, since Mr. Akili owns 20%, the company will file a Form 1065 and each member gets a Schedule K reporting his income from the entity.
Business Taxes
Many small business owners are shocked to learn that in addition to individual taxes, they are subject to a slew of business taxes. The most common are:
Income Tax: All businesses except partnerships are subject to this tax. The required filing depends on the form of business organization.
Estimated Tax: All sole proprietors, partners, S-Corporation shareholders and members of LLCs are required to make estimated payments if their income taxes exceed a set threshold for a particular tax year. For computation, seek the help of a professional.
Employment Taxes: Small businesses are also subject to the following:
Social Security and Medicare taxes under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA), Federal Unemployment tax (FUTA), Federal Income tax withholding and Self-Employment tax. Other lesser known taxes confronting small businesses include excise tax, state sales and use (where applicable), gas tax.
Deductible Business Expenses
According to the Tax Code, a business owner may deduct any ordinary and necessary expenses related to the operation of his business. While the law attempts to list such expenses, the IRS may find reason why an expense may no be deductible. This conclusion has far-reaching implications on the business under consideration.
Due to the prevalence of audits attributable to business deductions, we will address this in a future column.
It cannot be overemphasized that business taxation is a very complicated subject. Small business owners should be wary of facing the IRS or state taxing authorities without professional help.
The author is a tax and business lawyer and consultant at ABC GROUP, LLC of Minneapolis and H.M. ONGERI & ASSOCIATES, an international law firm with offices in the United States and Africa. He is the immediate past president of the Pan African Business Alliance (PABA). For a more detailed tax treatment of the various forms of business organizations, visit the ABC GROUP website here. He can be reached at [email protected], or [email protected] or 952-544- 1039.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for informational purposes only. It does not, nor is it intended to, constitute legal or tax advice. Readers who need help with any specific matter are strongly advised to consult a competent professional.
How Will Africa Remember Tony Blair?
Unfulfilled promises, a questionable business deal, not a saint, says Mshale’s Swallehe Msuya.
His full name is Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, popularly know as Tony Blair. The former British prime minister is handsome, youthful (born in 1953), charismatic and a skillful communicator. Blair is a tough debater on issues, not much of a team-guy, nonetheless capable of winning crowds to his cause by persuasive reasoning.
As the leader of his party for ten years, Blair set a new record for his country as the Labor Party’s longest-serving prime minister, emerging victorious in three consecutive general elections: 1997, 2001 and 2005. During his reign, Blair was able to remodel his “New Labor Party” toward the center of British politics, away from “collective policies” to “pro-market policies”.
His greatest achievement in office was the Good Friday Northern Ireland Peace Agreement that ended 30 years of hostility between Irish Catholics and English Protestants (Anglican Church, the official religion of England). The Irish Republican Army under Jerry Adams had been “a thorn in the flesh” of British politics for three decades, and Blair stopped short of calling this army a terrorist group!
Tony Blair in addressing domestic policies of Britain is credited to have implemented redistributive income policies, introduced a minimum wage, significant constitutional reforms, and signed treaties integrating Britain more closely to the European Union. He was also tough on crime and introduced anti-terrorism and identity card legislation.
His critics at home blamed him for “his tendency to spin information” to achieve his personal agenda of self-actualization, and eroding civil liberties through increased police powers of arrest and DNA recording as he sought to appear uncompromising on crime perpetrators.
Gay communities in Britain will remember him for promoting their civil liberties through the enactment of the Civil Partnership Act of 2004.
Africa will remember Blair for – perhaps symbolically only – bringing to the attention of the G8, the continent’s plight of poverty and the struggle to defeat epidemics of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. The group consisting of the world’s highly industrialized nations pledged to give to Africa 0.07 percent of their Gross National Product annually, but Blair left office before that promise was fulfilled.
Africa’s long cry for a leveled playing field in agricultural exports with its Western trading partners fell on Blair’s deaf ears. African farmers could hardly compete with heavily subsidized farmers from the industrialized countries including Britain. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni once accused Britain of exploiting his country’s coffee farmers who received less than a dollar for a kilo of coffee while that same kilo fetched three dollars in Britain!
As a former colonial power in Africa, Britain under Blair did not honor pledges his predecessors gave at the Lancaster Conference that ended Ian Smith’s plunder of Zimbabwe and left the controversial “land question” unattended. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was unhappy about this inaction from the sympathizers of rebel Ian Smith. By Britain’s refusal to contribute to the compensation fund for settler farmers, it led to the chaos that exists in Zimbabwe today.
Mugabe had no choice but take the bull by its horns through land redistribution to the indigenous people, thus angering Tony Blair and his Western allies. Their devilish attempt to strangle Zimbabwe economically is now in force.
Blair’s orchestrated need for regime change in Zimbabwe raised more questions than answers. The collective economic blockade that Zimbabwe is suffering is actually punishing the poor – not the intended Mugabe!
Blair, upon departing from No.10 Downing Street, had another job offer waiting for him – Middle East Envoy by the Quartet powers of the United Nations, European Union, U.S.A and Russia. People have been wondering if he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth!
Is Blair capable of delivering in his new role in the Middle East, given his past history? His past record of near-blind loyalty to President George W. Bush on the Iraq war is questionable.
More importantly, his tacit approval of Bush’s use in Iraq of soldiers of fortune, mercenaries euphemistically known as “private contractors” and who are not answerable to anyone, casts a doubt on his own moral standing. With his position of being pro-Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict and during the entire six decade saga of the Israel-Palestine conflict, he will have to be Superman to succeed.
Serious political observers of the Middle-East quagmire see Blair’s new job as a long rope with which he is likely to hang himself. He is bound to disappear into the deep dungeons of political dust to appease the gods as a sacrificial lamb from the beneficiaries of the deadly war.
Africa’s political icon, Nelson Mandela, is on record to have described Blair as “the U.S. Foreign Minister.” Some in the Western press have described him as “Bush’s poodle.”
Perhaps the most befitting description of Blair is that given by Kendall Myers, a senior analyst at the State Department who is quoted as having said that he felt a little ashamed of Bush’s treatment of Blair. Myers added that Blair’s attempts to influence U.S. foreign policy were typically ignored by the Bush administration.
“It was a done deal from the beginning, it was a one-sided relationship that was entered into with open eyes….There was nothing, no pay back, no sense of reciprocity.”
All told, it is hard for one to decide whether Blair is a man to love or hate. I think it is fair to conclude that he had both admirers and people who held a low opinion of him especially during his last few years in office.
Those who did not like him said he posed as if he were “President” paying little attention to the views of his Cabinet or the House of Commons while listening too much to George W. Bush.
Tanzanian taxpayers will remember Blair as the British Prime Minister who in 2001 colluded with Barclays Bank and BAE Systems, a British defense contractor, to sell Tanzania a useless air traffic control system worth £28 million. Clare Short, the British secretary for international development, accused Blair for engaging in a “scandalous squalid deal” despite expert advice from “most informed, respected and qualified observers and a divided British Cabinet, to license this ugly transaction” Short described the deal as “a move that was hostile to the interests of Tanzania.”
Although I won’t miss Tony Blair’s policies toward Africa, I shall forever miss the witty verbal heavyweight bullfighter whose debates generated great drama and excitement in the House of Commons.
Swallehe Msuya’s journalism career spans more than 30 years, working in various print and electronic media in his home country of Tanzania. He also worked for Tanzania Ministry of Industry and Trade as Principal Industrial Economist. He currently resides in the United States.
Before The Williams Sisters, There Was Althea Gibson
On the court, Althea Gibson was smooth and her game effortless, but off the court she battled many obstacles to become the first African-American to break tennis’ color barrier, 50 years ago.
Fifty years ago, in the late summer of 1957, Althea Gibson made history as she captured the U.S. National Championships title on the grass courts of Forest Hills. With that win, the 30-year-old Gibson became the first African-American¬ – male or female ¬to win that most prestigious Grand Slam tennis tournament crown.
Just three years after the great Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier in baseball, Gibson broke tennis’ color barrier when she played in the 1950 U.S. Championships. Until then, tennis had been a segregated sport, with blacks playing on their own tour – similar to the Negro Baseball Leagues – under the auspices of the American Tennis Association. Her participation at Forest Hills that year was facilitated, in part, by Alice Marble, one of the top players of that era, who wrote an editorial in a national magazine calling for the sport to allow her to compete.
That she did. Tall and lean, Gibson’s look and her game resembled that of the elder Williams sister. “Very graceful, very smooth,” says former tennis star, now U.S. Fed Cup captain Zina Garrison, who befriended Gibson in the legend’s later years and became a confidante. “She glided around the court. When you look at Venus [Williams], Althea was very much like her.”
Six years after her Grand Slam debut, well before the tide of civil rights began to rise throughout America, Gibson made history once again – this time in magnificent fashion by winning the 1956 French Open to become the first black to win a Grand Slam event. The next year, she won Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships, then successfully defended both titles the following year. Gibson teamed with Angela Buxton, a Jewish player from Briton, to win the 1956 doubles championships at the French and Wimbledon. Both women experienced discrimination by their fellow players, but after their triumph at the All-England tennis club, a British newspaper touted: “Minorities Win.”
All told, Gibson, the daughter of South Carolina sharecroppers, won five Grand Slam singles titles and six Grand Slam doubles crowns, but her impact on tennis ¬and society cannot be measured in mere trophy counts. She was a trailblazer of remarkable heart and courage, marking a path for those who would follow her, carrying herself with that special grace and dignity known only to true champions.
“Althea made tennis a better place, by opening doors and opening minds,” said USTA president and chairman Jane Brown Grimes. “For that, all of us owe Althea Gibson a debt of gratitude.”
In recognition of Gibson’s myriad contributions to the sport of tennis and to society at large, the U.S. Tennis Association this year hosted a very special tribute to the late champion, who passed away in 2003 following a long illness. On an extraordinary evening of history and emotion, African-American women who are pioneers in their own fields, and the elite from the world of tennis, gathered to honor and celebrate one of their own. Call her tennis’ own Jackie Robinson.
The event, entitled “Breaking Barriers,” was held on the opening night of the 2007 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, N.Y. It commemorated the 50th anniversary of Gibson’s pioneering triumph at the 1957 U.S. National Championships (now known as the U.S. Open), and also provided a stage for Gibson’s induction into the prestigious U.S. Open Court of Champions. But the evening proved to be so much more – an acknowledgement of the oversight of having never before recognized Gibson as a barrier-breaking pioneer, and a unique first-time celebration of the historic firsts achieved by other prominent African-American women.
Nearly two dozen black women pioneers attended the tribute, including Olympians Jackie Joyner-Kersee (first black to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the Heptathlon) and Dr. Debi Thomas (first black Winter Olympics medal winner), astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison (the first black female astronaut), gospel singer Yolanda Adams (first black female to win the Contemporary/Inspirational Artist award at American Music Awards) and Ambassador Carol Moseley-Braun (first black female U.S. Senator).
Billie Jean King, whose own pioneering efforts on behalf of female athletes were celebrated at this venue last year, was part of the tribute, as was New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Rachel Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s widow. Aretha Franklin, the first black woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, performed at the tribute.
Other trailblazing black women attending were former poet laureate Nikki Giovanni (the first black woman to receive the Rosa Parks Woman of Courage award), former Washington D.C. mayor Sharon Pratt (first to be elected major of a major U.S. city), actress Phylicia Rashad (first to win a Tony for best performance in a play), Essence chairwoman Susan L. Taylor (first recipient of the Henry Johnson Fisher award), and businesswoman Sheila Crump Johnson (first to have a stake in three professional sports franchises).
“Althea Gibson dreamed the impossible and made it possible,” said Johnson, who was a BET founder. “She was one of the first African-American women in sports to say, ‘Why not me?’ She empowered generations [of black women] to believe in themselves, emboldened us to achieve and attain the unattainable. Her drive, spirit and passion continue to set an example for us today.”
“I will always be grateful to her for having the strength and the courage to triumph in extreme adversity,” said Venus Williams, a six-time Grand Slam singles champion, who also participated in the tribute. “Her accomplishments set the stage for my success, and through players like me, Serena and many others to come, her legacy will live on.”
Andy Palacio: The Garifuna Cultural Ambassador
A Belizean musician is in a quest to save and preserve a minority culture with roots in West Africa.
Andy Palacio is on a mission to save himself. Or rather, to save his Garifuna culture that is on the verge of extinction. Palacio’s preservation tool is his music, which he, along with the Garifuna Collective, performed for a capacity audience of 360 people inside the Walker Art Center on August 20th.
“I wish we were outside,” lamented Palacio to his audience.
But poor local weather forced his band with its danceable groove indoors. Palacio began the hour-long show with a brief silence for those in the path of danger due to Hurricane Dean that was, at that time, approaching his Central American homeland of Belize.
Much of the music Palacio plays is dance music. Staff from the Walker urged people to remain seated during the performance to avoid blocking the view of those behind them. It was hard for people to sit still. The band, as well, seemed to be uneasy from the lack of synergistic energy from a dancing audience. In fact, during one number, Palacio coaxed fans out of their chairs, “just for this one time.”
Most people needed little encouragement. People moved to a set of maracas, four guitars, a musician on a single drum and an irrepressible drummer. Palacio played guitar and sang lead vocals, but nearly everyone in the band added his voice to the mix. Melody dominated the music, replete with phrases and riffs that echoed in the listener’s mind. The dancing groove was dictated by the conga drums. Watching their drummer, with his intensity and rhythmic power as he pounded on his four drums with his hands or used his fingers to whack one of two cymbals, was captivating.
The descendants of the Garifuna culture make up about 6 percent of Belize’s 300,000 people. Their African ties began in 1635 when a pair of ships were caught in a storm and ran ashore while transporting captured West African slaves. The Garifuna resisted domination by both the French and English and were banished from their home in the Caribbean to British Honduras. Eventually they settled into the Caribbean coasts of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and the southern part of present-day Belize.
In Palacio’s youth, by chance, he traveled to Nicaragua. He came across a fellow Garifuna and learned of a continuous erosion of traditional culture in that country. When he realized that the same could happen in his own country of Belize, that there was a potential loss of his culture and its history, he felt compelled to intervene.
“I decided to follow my passion and focus more on performing Garifuna music as a way to keep the traditions alive long into the future,” Palacio is reported to have told Rock, Paper, Scissors, a world music website.
In his performance at the Walker, Palacio exposed his audience to the multigenerational aspect of his music when he brought Garifuna music legend, Paul Nabor, on stage. Nabor is dressed smartly in a pin stripe grey suit coat and pants, but also, underneath, he wears a thick fleece jacket, fleece gloves, a knitted cap and a Honduran hat. His hand trembles as he holds the microphone, but his voice is powerful and true. A woman rises from her seat to pay him homage by dancing on stage before him. This septuagenarian elicits a strong response in the audience.
The piece of living history was the highlight of the show. While Palacio’s music stands alone as dynamic and worthy, his quest to continue the traditions of his people and carry on the culture of the Garifuna pushes him past the flashy pop musicians of today. The value of history cannot be understated. Thank goodness for people like Palacio and his band who recognize this and seek to retain tradition with such an enjoyable approach.
Lucky Dube Closes Afrifest in Style
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn — On an oversized screen, bigger than a pair of king-sized beds, a “Tom & Jerry” cartoon plays. The crowd is waiting for the opening bands to start their sets. As usual Tom is chasing Jerry and Jerry’s sidekick, Tuffy. The two mice are scrounging for food. The camera pans to a dinner table laden with a feast, entering on the left side of the scene, comes a maid. In cartoon fashion, she’s dressed as a stereotypical Blackie, billowy bosom, ruffled apron, massive paws instead of hands and dark as the inker can make her. Of course she has no face.
The concert venue, First Avenue, in Minneapolis on August 20th waiting along with over 1,000 people, the majority of them of African descent, for Reggae sensation, Lucky Dube. As I stare at the violence in the cartoon, I wonder who else might be considering it disrespectful to Lucky, who sings about peace.
When Lucky finally takes the stage an hour later I see a big man with a big smile. I hear him deliver a powerful message. “We can disagree on a lot of things, but as long as we have respect, it is good,” he tells the audience. Something tells me this man has a big heart that’s willing to forgive the arrogant ignorance portrayed in a 1940s cartoon.
Born in South Africa in 1964 to a single mother, living in poverty under Apartheid, restrained by Group Area Acts and Pass Laws of the day, Lucky faced many obstacles. At the age of 18, though not yet graduated from high school or fluent in English, he ventured into the world of professional music. In the beginning, Lucky’s music followed traditional Zulu music known as Mbaqanga. This influential genre of music blends up-tempo rhythms with social commentary, making it a likely lead into the reggae that Lucky eventually embraced.
Reggae song lyrics, as is true of most music, explore topics such as faith, love, relationships, poverty, and injustice. According to Lucky’s website, his songs emphasize three main tenets “political, social and personal issues.” Reggae music provided a natural platform for Lucky to espouse his views, based on his tumultuous childhood as well as his optimistic vision for the future.
Lucky’s appearance at First Avenue was the grand finale of Afrifest, a weekend-long African showcase of music, craft, food, and culture. Rachel Lee Joyce, a member of Afrifest Executive Committee, describes the First Avenue show as “the crown jewel of Afrifest.”
“He is the top-selling artist in South Africa and it is rare for a first-year festival to attract that level of talent,” Joyce says.
On the dance floor, we are crowded together like rush-hour subway passengers. The center of the mass undulates as one with the effect lessening as one moves to the edges of the circle. Despite the lack of personal space, everyone seems happy.
Lucky sings number after number, his trio of dancers, who look as though they were pulled straight out of the Soweto Gospel Choir’s line-up, are shaking their hips and chorusing his words. His band of two guitarists and two sets of keyboards and an expansive drum set backs him. The ecstatic crowd stands, several rows deep, with their illuminated cell phones waving like beacons. Flashing cameras punctuate the darkness in the audience.
The evening is a long one. Two warm up bands take stage before Lucky begins at 10:30p.m. A lone woman serves up plates of jerk chicken, BBQ ribs, jollof rice, and other ethnic treats.
When Lucky sings one of his hits, “Respect,” he tells the story of how the song was snatched up by pirates and hocked over the internet before he had a chance to release his album. But instead of pirates, Lucky called them slave drivers. “One does the work, the other reaps the profits,” Lucky explains. But he’s not bitter about this. The lyrics of the song inform the audience of the true nature of Lucky’s heart. “Give love to those who give me war, I love those who hate me, I bless even those who curse me,” he sings.
“Lucky’s commitment to justice, liberation, and unity amongst all world citizens has inspired people around the globe while uplifting the spirits of his countrymen,” says Afrifest organizer, Joyce. “The joy that radiates from his spirit when he performs is exactly what we wanted to share through Afrifest.”
Breast Cancer: What you need to Know
Breast cancer is cancer in the breast. The disease occurs mostly in women, but some men have also been diagnosed with breast cancer. Every year, about 178,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and about 40,363 of these women in the United States will die. Today, there are over 2 million women living who have been treated for breast cancer.
Statistics from the Minnesota Department of Health indicate the number of newly diagnosed breast cancer cases in 2004 in Minnesota were 3,280 women and 33 men. The number of deaths for that year included 655 females and 1 male. Over 80% of females 40 and older received a mammogram in 2004.
We do not know the causes of breast cancer but we do know what increases a person’s chances of getting breast cancer. These risk factors include being female, getting older, having someone in the family diagnosed with breast cancer, and race.
While white women have more cancer of the breast, Asian and African women are more likely to die from the disease due to less access to preventative health services and other factors.
The earlier breast cancer is found, the more successful the treatment will be.
The American Cancer Society recommends that women 30 and older should perform breast self-examinations monthly. They also recommend that women between the ages of 20 and 39 should have a physical examination of the breast every 3 years performed by a health care professional. Finally, women over 40 should have this exam every year and should also have a mammogram (x-ray of the breast) annually.
Breast exams at home are very important for detecting or feeling your breasts for lumps and pain. The most common sign of breast cancer is a new lump. Other signs of breast cancer include the following: swelling of the breast, skin irritation, nipple discharge, redness, and a lump in the underarm/armpit areas.
If you have any of these symptoms, please contact a medical doctor immediately. The doctor may suggest a mammogram to verify whether further testing is necessary. If a mammogram looks like there are cancerous cells, the doctor may recommend a biopsy – a procedure where a long, thin needle is inserted into your breast and a sample of tissue deep in the breast is taken for evaluation. All of these procedures might hurt a little, but they are very important in detecting breast cancer.
To schedule an appointment for your yearly physical where your doctor checks to see if you are healthy or if you would like to schedule an appointment for your mammogram, you can call your clinic. If you do not have health insurance, there are programs out there that will help cover the cost for this very important appointment.
For more information about these free programs or questions about breast and cervical cancer screening, call the MDH Sage Program at 651-556-0687 or visit the National Cancer Institute website.
Hurricane Katrina Anniversary
Two years after the costliest and one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the United States, New Orleans’ pain is still fresh.
NEW ORLEANS – Nearly two hundred New Orleans residents and their supporters assembled on a Saturday morning along the Monticello Canal to do something their government had refused to do: build a levee.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a community-based coalition fighting for the rights of low and moderate income families, organized the demonstration forming a “Human Levee for Human Rights” demanding residents’ right to equitable flood protection.
A reinforced levee and floodwall protects Jefferson Parish, a wealthier neighbor of Orleans Parish, from the Monticello Canal. Despite defenses reaching twelve feet above the ground on one side, the predominantly African-American working class neighborhood of Carrollton-Hollygrove bordering the Orleans Parish side, the canal stands unprotected. This disparity provides a shocking view into environmental injustices faced by numerous African American neighborhoods in New Orleans.
“This neighborhood has always flooded during heavy rains,” Joe Sherman, a longtime resident and ACORN neighborhood chair, told protesters as rain clouds loomed ominously over head. “Our community is left vulnerable while the state, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Water and Sewerage Board keep pointing fingers.”
Two years after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc in New Orleans, the city’s most-affected resident feel that whatever rebuilding progress they have made is in danger because the government has done very little to protect them. Residents fear that should another disaster of Katrina’s magnitude happen, it would be more damaging. Katrina left at least 1,836 dead across the Gulf Coast, with 75 percent of those deaths occurring in New Orleans. A third of the city’s population, nearly 150,000 people, still hasn’t returned to the city.
Sherman, who worked for twenty years in the engineering department of the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, explained how he and his neighbors have been fighting for years – even before Hurricane Katrina – for flood protection, but had been told their community was not a priority. During the New Orleans recovery planning process, residents set flood protection as a top priority, but planners determined it would not be addressed for five years or more in Carrollton-Hollygrove.
Since the Army Corps of Engineers took over New Orleans’ flood control system in 1965, residents said Carrollton-Hollygrove flooded eight different times. Floodwaters reached eight feet high in some homes after Hurricane Katrina. Making matters even worse, the current city drainage system pumps more water into the Monticello Canal than is pumped out, frequently forcing floodwaters over into this neighborhood during most major rain events.
“The risks increase for these residents because there is protection on one side, and no protection on the other,” said Stephen Bradberry, Louisiana ACORN head organizer and 2005 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award winner. “How can you say the community not at risk when you have protected one half of the community and not the other?”
Leftovers from the age of slavery”
Dr. Robert Bea, lead investigator on the National Science Foundation’s inquiry into New Orleans’ flood protection system, confirmed that placing a levee and floodwall on one side along the Monticello Canal but not the other had no grounding in science.
“It is perfect example of the disconnected incomplete nature of this flood protection system,” said Bea in a recent interview. “Much of what happened [there] during Katrina represents the leftovers from the age of slavery in the South.”
The Chicago Tribune in a revealed recent report that the $1.6 billion worth of work done by the Corps of Engineers since Hurricane Katrina has overwhelmingly benefited New Orleans’ wealthier white neighborhoods, continuing to leave African-American areas vulnerable.
Forming a human levee
To expose the inequity and garner attention to the dangers of inadequate protection that lower income residents face, demonstrators formed a human levee stretching over a third of a mile.
Participants included local residents, ACORN members from across the city, United Teachers of New Orleans and AFL-CIO members, as well as supporters from the Washington, DC-based RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights.
As protesters lined the Monticello Canal, Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, told the crowd how African slaves 200 years ago in New Orleans were stacked one on top of another, forming a “human levee”, to protect white property from oncoming floodwaters.
Kennedy equated this to the current discriminatory flood protection system where predominantly black neighborhoods remain vulnerable while white communities receive increased protection. Such inequality makes it harder for African American families to return home, in violation of international human rights law, she said.
While some residents have not been able to return, many homes are showing signs of coming back. Lifetime Hollygrove resident Nyra Humphries is almost finished repairing her home. Looking at the Monticello Canal everyday, she could not help but worry that her months of hard work would be in vain.
"It’s hard to put so much time and money into my home when there’s no work done to prevent more flooding," Humphries said.
Also in attendance was a church group from Milwaukee that had been repairing homes in the Ninth Ward with ACORN but took a break to support to the protest.
"We thought it was important to work on the problem from a different angle," Freesia McKee, a volunteer, told journalists.
After the rally Stephen Bradberry told the church group volunteers about the struggle faced by residents who have returned to the city and the hurdles placed by various levels of government.
"The people of New Orleans need you to go home and tell your friends, tell you federal representatives about what you’ve seen and heard," said Bradberry. "Our federal government needs to undergo a fundamental shift towards helping all its displaced citizens to realize their rights to return and rebuild their lives and communities."
While many of New Orleans’ displaced residents want to return, they fear the risks of inadequate flood protection in Carrollton-Hollygrove and other areas across the city. Kennedy note that continued government inaction to provide equitable flood protection violates international human rights laws on internal displacement.
During the rally, residents demanded a temporary floodwall be built immediately. New Orleans City councilwoman Shelley Midura, who represents the neighborhood, promised residents that a study to determine the cause of the flooding would begin soon and lead to action by the Sewerage and Water Board to build a flood wall. She remained hopeful that the Army Corps of Engineers could eventually be convinced to build a more permanent flood protection, she said.
Obama Urges More U.S. Involvement in Africa
Presidential hopeful promises change of policy toward Africa if elected
LAS VEGAS – Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, told a convention of black journalists in Las Vegas that the genocide in Darfur has continued for the worse because the United States has failed to intervene.
“That is a consequence of us not being consistently engaged in Africa,” Obama told a crowd of more that 3,000 black journalists, who had gathered there for the 32nd annual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Obama asked the U.S. government to take advantage of the unanimous vote to send 26,000 peacekeeping troops to Darfur, cast in July by the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council, to ensure the ongoing genocide comes to an end. One step the U.S. could take, Obama said, was enforce a no-fly zone, which he said should be “the bare minimum.”
Since 2003, when the conflict in Darfur began, the United Nations estimates that the Janjaweed, an Arab militia backed by the Sudanese government, has killed at least 450,000 black Africans. Members of the militia continue to set homes ablaze and have driven more that 2 million people out of the region. Most black Africans have sought refuge in neighboring Chad.
Obama said to avert future crises in Africa, the United States should be more involved in the continent during times of peace.
“We can’t wait until all hell breaks loose,” he said. “We can’t wait until genocide takes place.”
He suggested the United States participate in education and improving African people’s standard of living to avoid future violence in the continent. Continued neglect of Africa would make the continent a recruitment target for terrorist organizations, he warned.
Obama gave special recognition to ethnic media, which he said covered issues that the mainstream press gave very little attention. He challenged other black journalists to follow suit and tell stories that show how poor black Americans are suffering.
“Tell the stories that will lift up African Americans,” Obama said. “Show their difficulties and struggles.”
Rain or Shine, Minnesota’s Afrifest Carries On
Africans in the Twin Cities defied unexpected dull weather to launch the first-ever festival of the Diaspora in the state and Mshale followed closely for the entire four-day celebration.
Rain is considered a blessing in most of Africa, but when it pours down on the weekend of a highly anticipated, first-ever outdoor cultural summer festival like Afrifest, one is left scratching their head in search of the good fortune.
At the culmination of the festival during the Lucky Dube concert at First Avenue on the night of Monday, Aug. 20, Afrifest organizer Nathan S.White was relieved that the event he had taken months to plan was finally coming to an end.
“I really need a vacation, but I don’t think that will be possible because already there are so many inquiries about being included in next years plans,” White said.
With regards to the weather he said he would consider an indoor event next year. Nonetheless, the four-day festival was a showcase of great talent and was received well by those who attended.
“They did a good job putting it together for the first time,” Gorper Kweekeh, who moved to the Twin Cities from Detroit, said about Sunday’s event at Currie Park. “I am encouraged that since I can’t be at the Africa World Festival in Detroit I can attend this one.”
Kweekeh’s 3-year-old son, Elijah Moore, enthusiastically swayed to the music of Tanzanian musician Innocent and excitedly dashed towards the stage to reward the musician with a dollar bill.
African “beauty and vitality” at its best
The weekend got off to an energetic start on Friday night at the Grand Opening event with a New York-style runway fashion show at Klub Afrika in Brooklyn Park. Africans, who are notorious for arriving at clubs after midnight, streamed through Klub Afrika’s doors early and by 10:45p.m a decent line had formed at the door, because the fashion show had generated quite a buzz.
Camera lights flashed from a hollering audience as models – clad in a cross of contemporary American fashion and African designs – strutted across the passageway. Dance group Diaspora showed off a couple of hip-hop moves in their choreographed dance.
“This is a taste of what’s in store for you for the rest of the weekend,” said the deejay who then proceeded to keep the revelers on their toes for the rest of the night with a sweet mix of African and American hip-hop tunes.
On Sunday the fashion show, which was saved for last, delivered as promised and was a favorite for many.
“This was my favorite part of the day,” said Nyakuan Daniel. “I thought it was perfect!”
Without the glitz and glamour of afore planned outdoor stage and lights, fashion show organizer, Victor Abalo, had to be creative about the setup, which was moved indoors due to the heavy rains. Perhaps the bright lights of the gymnasium were not a bad thing after all, for they enabled the crowd to get a better view of the elaborate designs of the clothes. Showcasing about 30 outfits – some made just for Afrifest – 19-year-old Sudanese designer, Nyamal Both, stunned the audience with her versatile collection. A dozen or so African models exhibited a range of magnificently-tailored Western gowns and contemporary African wear, and at times a creative blend of the two.
The casual segment was just as diverse in its range from swim suits, to camouflage combinations, to kikoi summer outfits. The expressions on the faces in the crowd said it all. There were claps, cheers, “ooohhhhs” and “aaaahhs.” One gentleman repeatedly said, “Oh my God” and, upon hearing of the designer’s age, loudly exclaimed “Walahi!” evoking laughter from those standing by him.
“Nyamal brought out beauty and vitality. She brought a smile to people’s faces despite the weather,” said Wade Bove of the designer.
At the conclusion of the display, a shy and humble Both came forward and thanked her sponsors and the crowd for their attendance.
“My fashion represents all of Africa,” she said, holding the microphone tightly close to her chest with both hands. “I hope you keep supporting me. I have more coming in the future.”
After the show there were many requests for Nyamal’s business cards. Someone even wanted her to showcase her craft for a wedding, but many were shocked to find out that she did not have a business card or store, but works from her apartment. Nyamal has never been to a tailoring class either. She has been sewing by hand since childhood and only recently did she teach herself how to use a sewing machine. She is taking some classes at Minneapolis Community Technical College and hopes to get into one of the larger fashion and design schools like New York’s Parsons School of Design.
The Afro-Latin connection
More, rain, rain, rain, on Saturday may have deterred many from going to the Gala event at the Cedar Cultural Center, but the energy from the performers was far from dull. Minneapolis-based Liberian songbird, Munnah Myers, wowed the audience with her powerful, passionate and soulful vocals in a way comparable to R&B artists like Mary J. Blige and Keisha Cole.
“I am blessed to be doing what I love most,” she proclaimed, as the audience applauded.
Some nodded their heads and other tapped their feet to the R&B beat of her music. But it was her song “West Africa” that brought the audience to its feet.
“Back home people don’t get to see musicians up close and personal,” Munnah said, as she introduced the song. “We only see them on the television. It is my goal to get musicians to go back home and have a big concert.”
Maria Isa, who is from Puerto Rico, also gave a riveting performance while reviving a sometimes forgotten Afro-Latino music connection.
“I hope you weren’t expecting a reggeaton show,” she said. “You are coming to a show of how rhythms come together through the element of the Bomba drum.”
Backed by the Bakers Band, Isa performed a mixture of song and spoken word, while at the same time beckoning the crowd to come forward and dance to the beat of the Bomba drum. Her efforts were rewarded as the crowd, which could no longer resist the drumbeat, made its way to the front during her performance of “Yo lo quiero” (I want it).
An African History lesson
Sunday, which had been predicted to be the better day of the weekend, saw a heavy downpour that seriously crippled the day’s schedule. Even though Mother Nature did not permit for the performances to be held outside, some people patiently waited as volunteers set up the music equipment in the Brian Coyle Center’s gymnasium.
In the lobby of the building Joseph Mbele, a professor at St. Olaf College, who hosted Afrifest’s education segment, was kept busy by many people who streamed by his table to inquire about his Pan-African historical material displayed on the walls.
Outside the hall, people – mostly children – took the opportunity to make a few brush strokes on the Afrifest community mural that was later to be displayed at the Brian Coyle Center. Children singing, “Rain, rain, go away,” kept themselves entertained with blow-up balls given to them by MoneyGram. Once set up, brothers DJs Hustla and Xpektt from Mezesha Entertainment spiced up the rainy day by playing popular contemporary African hits.
The chatter died down as Incognito, an African pop singer, took to the stage performing some of her songs from the previous night. Innocent, the local Tanzanian-born artist, thanked the crowd for staying despite the bad weather, noting that even some performers had left early. Due to time constraints, his performance was cut short, but was not lacking in variety. He played guitar and was accompanied by three percussionists playing drums and a xylophone. His cover of reggae legend Bob Marley’s “No Woman no Cry” and the popular Kiswahili love ballad “Malaika,” kept the festive mood alive.
All in all, the efforts of the organizers were recognized and appreciated and many said they were already looking forward to next year’s event.
“If you look on the bright side, next year can’t get any worse than this,” said George Ndege of Kilimanjaro Entertainment.
“I thought it was a good foundation to work on,” added Bove. “The rain provided a challenge which we can work upon and the event thus far has provided a glimpse of African talent.”
