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Cheryl Wills

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African-American Mayors Meet With Global Leaders for Historic Summit

Posted: 12/20/2011 8:49 pm

African-American mayors from across the United States left their tight-knit communities, some with as few as 855 citizens, and traveled across the Atlantic Ocean for a historic dialogue in Dakar, Senegal. The 2011 World Summit of Mayors Leadership Conference was held just days before Christmas and also featured mayors and ambassadors from across Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean along with scholars and a number of other activists.

The goal: to build alliances with local leaders from across the planet and exchange a world of ideas and information that they hope will impact communities both on a local, national and international level. "All politics really is local..." insists Omar Neal who is mayor of Tuskegee, Alabama -- a notable city that boasts a population of about 11,000. And that was the general consensus of the delegation which convened in the glitzy Hotel Meridien President Conference Hall faintly resembles the United Nations, save for its rich wooden structures and distinct architecture which pays homage to the African continent.

The event held special meaning for its chief organizer, the distinguished Dr. Djibril Diallo, who is the coordinator of the U.S. African Renaissance and Diaspora Network and Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of UNAIDS. A native of Senegal, Dr. Diallo passionately explained to nearly one-thousand attendees that that his goal was to improve the welfare of all citizens in urban areas around the world. Dakar is certainly one of those neighborhoods -- where the government is desperately trying to eradicate abject poverty and create affordable housing but it's no easy task. There are numerous unfinished developments where construction has been halted apparently due to a lack of funding. It's a problem that is a blight all over the world as the global economy continues its sluggish pace.

The president of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade was eager share his country's successes with the audience -- it's one of the most stable countries in West Africa and has one of the lowest HIV infection rates on the continent. The president, who warmly greeted politicians from countries near and far, encouraged leaders to use his nation as a template for building infrastructures and welcomed new ideas about how to move Senegal forward. The U.S. Ambassador to Senegal, Lewis Lukens, reminded the American press that Senegal is a very democratic country and his office's primary concern is to keep the country peaceful as national elections begin in early 2012. It's widely believed that 85-year-old President Wade, who assumed office in 2000, is going to seek another term.

A thirty-something-year-old stunning African-American woman from Atlanta was the unifying force behind the American delegation. As executive director of the National Conference of Black Mayors, she says she's committed to giving small-town mayors a global perspective that can help them think outside of the box. And some, like Mayor Heather McTeer of Greenville, Mississippi (population 42,000) and Mayor Antonio Blue of Dobbin Heights, North Carolina (population under 1,000) have immediate plans to run for Congress -- and they believe they have an advantage, in part, because of their international travels and their strategic meetings with foreign dignitaries.

Some mayors of larger northern American cities like Robert Bowser who runs East Orange, New Jersey (population 64,000) believe the impact of the world summit will be felt almost immediately because mayors are eager to report back to their constituents and get busy implementing new policies and strategies. "Now is the time to improve the lives of our people ... with an urgency to make things happen..." Bowser said to a thunderous applause during the Summit. And the politicians gathered agreed that "Now" is a word that needs no translation when the world is in the throes of a global recession.

 

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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Lifeskills
May you be wise and alert in all your responsibili
06:07 PM on 12/23/2011
Well, since it's Blacks you can be assured that it's about peace and making things better in the world, and not war. These Black leaders think they need to get a greater perspective of, if, and what, as African American's and other Blacks we can do to make contributions to help make this a better world. I think this shows that the other Blacks what change too. They are tired of people who think like, 'location' has something to do with the quality of ideas produced. They have not been able to communicate well with White Americans so they what African Americans to bring it to them.
Somebody posted about that 10% of Whites. The best way for the 10% of the globe Whites to preserve themselves is to stop cutting their number, Oppressing, Assimilating, Warring, Conquering, and Enslaving, the rest of the globe.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
thebearclaw007
Is your conscience functioning properly?
01:49 PM on 12/23/2011
Good luck to all of their efforts.
03:19 PM on 12/22/2011
Are they going to talk about the destruction of Rhodesia or South Africa or the ongoing Genocide against the White population? Or are they going to talk about how to get more free stuuf from the man?

Seriously, can Whites now have meetings so in Sweden or Switzerland? Can White mayors go about the world talking about the mere 10% of the World that is White and how to preserve White homlands and Culture?
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Count of Anjou
Fiscal Conservative & Taoist
01:52 PM on 12/21/2011
What a monumental waste of taxpayer dollars! Dr. Djibril Diallo, the event organizer, could have setup an Internet forum at virtually no cost and achieved a far greater benefit. I can not fathom what brilliant ideas can be learned in Senegal, a third world nation, about governing a modern city in America. Any mayor that attended this worthless junket has shown their constituents just how important it is that they are NOT re-elected.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Cheryl Wills
Cheryl Wills is a television journalist and the au
11:02 PM on 12/21/2011
No taxpayers dollars were spent. Not one penny.
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Count of Anjou
Fiscal Conservative & Taoist
07:33 AM on 12/22/2011
That was an important detail that was not included in your article. Does that mean that none of these people will be writing off this trip as an unreimbursed business expense on their tax returns? If they do, they would, in fact, be using taxpayer dollars to at least subsidize the cost of the trip.
08:30 AM on 12/21/2011
Amazing!
11:45 PM on 12/20/2011
Do we have a National Conference of White Mayors or is it just for the Blacks and how come they are Black Mayors and not African American Mayors .
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MyNameIsJames
What should a person say in their micro-bio
08:01 AM on 12/21/2011
These questions are irrelevant to the event. If you want the answers crack open a history book. First question that you should ask and answer is the question, How many years have Black people had "democracy" in United States and how is that right protected.
11:17 AM on 12/21/2011
Now it is black people what happen to African American make up you mind please because I don't want to offend anyone, but that is hard not to do because you keep changing what you want to be called.