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Go Back to Africa
Posted on July 16, 2019 12:40
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When someone tells Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota to "go back to Africa," she just might take them up on it.
Amid the ongoing "Go Back" volleys in this week's news cycle, the phrase "Go Back to Africa" actually has a more contemporary meaning.
A travel and lifestyle company based in Atlanta has cleverly rebranded this idea of returning to Africa. As reported by Quartz, Black & Abroad has adopted "a new tourism campaign encouraging African-Americans to indeed go back to Africa" -- as travelers and vacationers.
Black & Abroad has teamed up with the technical expertise of FCB/SIX to allow black travelers "throughout the continent" to post real-time photos with the hashtag #gobacktoafrica. There's even a website.
Straight out of the self-help traditions of Marcus Garvey and, more recently, Dr. James David Manning of Harlem, people like Kent Johnson (co-founder of Black & Abroad) are seeking to increase Africa's economic empowerment through the use of travel and tourism, thereby supporting the continent's 9.3 million (as of 2017) directly-related travel jobs. Additionally, Johnson states that "part of our work is educating them [African-Americans] otherwise" with respect to some negative preconceived ideas of vacationing in Africa.
With an attention-getting meme, the folks at Black & Abroad have shown a very creative and constructive way to help Africans achieve a degree of economic independence.
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