(Editorial by Dida Halake for Gambia’s Daily Observer, October 31st 2002)

At the Roots Homecoming Festival’s Opening Ceremony in June this year (2002), I was delightfully surprised to hear announced the name of an old friend from the streets of Notting Hill: "The International Speaker this year is Leo Muhammad from London", boomed the MC. I knew Brother Muhammad as a "militant" Nation of Islam leader in London, and we both attended the British Government’s Inquiry into the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence. During this time I was a "militant" teacher agitating about the poor education of black boys in London, and Bro. Leo’s organisation was successfully moulding many "ex-criminal" and "socially dangerous" young black men into responsible fathers and committed members of the black community. Years later in 2002, our concern for the welfare of our people and our commitment to the homeland had brought us both, unbeknown to each other, to Gambia’s Homecoming Festival.
 
Bro. Muhammad’s speech at the Roots Festival was all about his pride and pleasure in being back in the homeland four hundred years after being roughly ripped out of the belly of the motherland. Tenderly holding his little boy whom he had brought on the "pilgrimage", he spoke of the welcome he and his group of "home-comers" had received in The Gambia.

He thanked Gambia’s leader for the invitation and went on to speak of the experiences that people of African descent living in Europe and the Americas have undergone these past four hundred years; he spoke of how much Diaspora Africans have to learn from Africa and he spoke of how much they can contribute to Africa’s future. "It is up to Africa", Bro. Muhammad said, "to welcome and make Africa’s long lost children feel at home". He ended by saying that he and his group had really been made welcome in Gambia, had really enjoyed there time he, and they would be back ("inshallah").

Much of what Bro. Muhammad said is familiar to those of us who have been coming to The Gambia regularly (in my case for ten years now).This country is an Oasis of Peace in a continent that is being torn apart by senseless conflict. Gambia is so enticing to Europeans and Diaspora Africans because it is a haven of peace. We join Gambians in their endless prayers so that the peace may continue.

Then we need to look at how a peaceful and welcoming Gambia can attract more and more Diaspora Africans to its shores. Diaspora Africans are not tourists, even though they may dress and talk as such. In their heart of hearts they are looking to connect on a deep spiritual level with Africa. They come with love in their hearts; money in their pockets; experience in their heads – and commitment to Africa. I was talking to an "ex-Rhodesian" British boat-owner earning up to £300 a day in Gambia taking tourists on river excursions and he said to me that he went into the boat business because, I quote, "should Gambia go the way of Zimbabwe, I simply speed out across the Atlantic". Africans, Diaspora or continental, don’t have this attitude.
 
Most Africans who come to settle in The Gambia are committed to the country (look at Igbo Town or Ghana Town). They build homes here, inter-marry with Gambians and bring up children here. They even die here and get buried here. I only need mention two great names that should be familiar to all of us: WEB Du Bois and Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael) both of whom fought for Black Liberation in USA and then packed their bags for Africa to continue the struggle – WEB to Ghana and Kwame Toure to Guinea – where they married, lived and died.

African-Americans spend one billion dollars a year traveling – mainly to cold, desolate and decadent European cities such as London, Paris, Berlin and Moscow. But I bet most of these brothers and sisters would rather follow in the footsteps of WEB Du Bois, Kwame Toure, Alex Haley, Leo Muhammad and humbly yours truly in spending their hard-earned cash in the Motherland.

The Gambia must, like other countries such as Ghana and South Africa, become much more proactive in reaching out to brothers and sisters in the Diaspora. For example, do we have representatives selling The Gambia directly to students and lecturers on those numerous Black University Campuses in the States? Do our Ambassadors or High Commissioners go on speaking engagements there? What programmes have we got in Atlanta to promote The Gambia? For example, have we a link with the Martin Luther King Centre? In Washington, in New York, in LA – do we sell The Gambia in all these places? In London are we linking up with the large African-Caribbean Community? I have personally brought a few of them here from London and it has been a positive life-changing experience for them.

From Birmingham two African-Caribbean councillors who I met have come and enjoyed it so much that they bought a plot in Bijilo. Just as the Jewish Diaspora sustains financially the state of Israel, the African Diaspora can become a great contributor to the development of our continent. The Gambia should go out there energetically and grab the opportunity.