Our work in support of the African world is not done 

"Black Americans are making connections that have never been made. The new discussions around Afro-descendants in Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Mexico broadens our children's awareness of our broader identity, history and struggle in this hemisphere," writes TransAfrica Forum's Executive Director  Nicole C. Lee in a recent Op-Ed. "The effects of economic policies that benefit the few rather than the many pervade our local economies. African- Americans must understand that the war on terror is a global war and it destroys international civil liberties and threatens advancement in the African World.

"The best human rights movement wisdom tells us that we must continue listen to and learn from each other's struggles across the globe. We have to make the connections between our own oppressions and those felt around the world by the children of Africa. It isn't about charity. It is really about justice; justice in a world where Africa and her Diaspora has been consistently exploited for over 400 years, prohibiting any possibility of a level global playing field."

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Memphis, Tennessee Commercial Appeal has been publishing articles that recall that fateful April 4th day and the events that led up to it. 

"To those previously unaware, it is a situation that seems unfathomable: There is no pension for the Memphis sanitation workers," notes a Sunday, February 17, 2008 article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

"Those same men -- whose groundbreaking strike in 1968 lasted 65 days, brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to town and who are now accorded with honor and esteem at everything from NBA games to academic conferences -- those same men, when they retire, get nothing more from the City of Memphis.

"It is a fundamental reason that 30 men who were working 40 years ago remain on the job, rather than having drifted into retirement after 25 years, like other city workers. It is also why many who have retired find themselves in difficult financial circumstances."