The Black, African, Atlantic and Indian Ocean Islander immigrants in USA can tap into the resources of the accomplished, more experienced elders. I call this the vintage platform or lobby.
In doing this, I want to showcase the power of immigrant socializing forces on formation and development of a whole person. There are values, goals and institutions within the immigrant community that we have missed tapping into for long. We can turn our situations or circumstances to work to our advantage. We have strengths(S), needs(N), opportunities(O) and wherewithal to tap into what works(W): SNOW Analysis. We have well educated immigrants who have super inventional, creational, adaptive, restorative, critical and analytical skills in many areas of life. We have many more who have the capacity to be trainable. We are in a country that documents experiences. We can research deeper into case studies that relate to our situations of need and appropriate interventions. We can use the comparison as opportunities for redress. The US has case studies and data on what has worked to make immigrants and refugees the best placed resource from which to recruit the present day and future rocket scientists, philosophers, architects and persons able to fit in any level of accomplishment. African immigrants have the next Barack Obamas or Henry Kissingers or Albert Einsteins. The list of what African immigrants can become is so extensive. we cannot fit all the aspirations and inspirations here otherwise there may not be space enough left to write anything else.
In doing this, I want to showcase the power of immigrant socializing forces on formation and development of a whole person. There are values, goals and institutions within the immigrant community that we have missed tapping into for long. We can turn our situations or circumstances to work to our advantage. We have strengths(S), needs(N), opportunities(O) and wherewithal to tap into what works(W): SNOW Analysis. We have well educated immigrants who have super inventional, creational, adaptive, restorative, critical and analytical skills in many areas of life. We have many more who have the capacity to be trainable. We are in a country that documents experiences. We can research deeper into case studies that relate to our situations of need and appropriate interventions. We can use the comparison as opportunities for redress. The US has case studies and data on what has worked to make immigrants and refugees the best placed resource from which to recruit the present day and future rocket scientists, philosophers, architects and persons able to fit in any level of accomplishment. African immigrants have the next Barack Obamas or Henry Kissingers or Albert Einsteins. The list of what African immigrants can become is so extensive. we cannot fit all the aspirations and inspirations here otherwise there may not be space enough left to write anything else.
This platform is an opportunity to learn, share and hear from accomplished immigrants from Africa who are living in USA as well as hear from their friends. The platform or lobby is an event where we share knowledge as a continuation for formation into a better US resident or eventual citizen.
The guests or elders will be persons who have stayed in USA for some time and have the wherewithal to provide guidance or can give tips on how to be productive in USA. Thematic topics will be presented by the elders before groups or audiences. We are compiling a list of over 10,000 personalities to choose from.
The themes will be chosen from the five key areas (determinants) in which immigrants contribute to their communities including:
Economic Stability
Education
Social and Community Context
Health and Health Care
Neighborhood and Built Environment
Each of these five determinant areas reflects a number of critical components/key issues that make up the underlying factors in the arena of determinants;
Economic Stability:
Poverty
Employment
Food Security
Housing Stability
Education:
High School Graduation
Enrollment in Higher Education
Language and Literacy
Early Childhood Education and Development
Business & Management
Creative Arts & Media
Health & Psychology
History
Languages & Cultures
Law
Literature
Nature & Environment
Online & Digital
Politics & the Modern World
Science, Maths & Technology
Sport & Leisure
Teaching & Studying
Business and Vocational Studies
Social and Community Context:
Social Cohesion
Civic Participation
Discrimination
Incarceration
Health and Health Care:
Access to Health Care
Access to Primary Care
Health Literacy
Neighborhood and Built Environment:
Access to Healthy Foods
Quality of Housing
Crime and Violence
Environmental Conditions
We shall come up with a book on these personalities. For this blog, I am writing about two persons:
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| Dr. Omalu Bennet with his lovely wife and children. Source: Olivia Truffaut-Wong |
Dr. Bennet Omalu, the doctor who discovered Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in NFL players, takes center stage in the new movie, Concussion. The film tells the story of Dr. Omalu, as played by Will Smith, as he stumbles upon the first case of CTE, discovered during the autopsy of former Pittsburgh Steelers player Mike Webster, and then struggled to get his research taken seriously by the medical community and the NFL. He discovered and named Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy [CTE] in American football players and American professional wrestlers, in 2002 and 2007 (http://www.bustle.com/articles/132754-where-is-bennet-omalus-wife-now-prema-mutiso-keeps-out-of-the-spotlight). KQED Radio’s City Arts & Lectures runs a one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. On 2/4/16 and again on 3/20/2016 is when I heard Dr. Bennet Omalu talk (http://www.cityarts.net/radio-broadcasts/). He is the Chief Medical Examiner of San Joaquin County and has 33 abstracts, presentations and publications to his name so far as well as 7 internet, newspaper and newsletter articles and publications. He has given 232 criminal court and 57 civil court case testimonies. This is from court cases recorded from 2009. He had given testimonies by 1999 but he did not record them in his resume. For more on his curriculum vitae: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/pathology/our_team/faculty/OmaluB/Omalu_Bennet_CV-Testimonies_March2016.pdf.
Dr. Omalu is a perennial educator and he is an ideal resource on promoting the love of education among immigrants. According to usastudyguide.com, there are many advantages of having American qualifications. The list of advantages is enormous and it includes: global focus, campus experience, attachment to supporting industries, supporting technologies and supporting research. American colleges and universities are world-recognized. They offer top-notch education programs with highly qualified teaching staff. The research at many of these universities is cutting-edge and often published in journals worldwide. Many of the professors at these schools are leading authorities in their field. The list of world-class learning institutions in the USA is endless and includes: Community colleges, State universities, universities such as: Stanford University, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, California Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania, MIT, John Hopkins, University of Pittsburgh, University of Texas, University of Chicago, Notre Dame, Northwestern University and UC-system of universities. Dr. Bennet Omalu is a professor at one the UC- Davis (part of the UC-system of universities).
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Prof. Omar A. Eno and Mr. Dan Van Lehman meeting with National Somali Bantu Workshops participants for its first day of the Kentucky, August 2008. Source: http://www.bantusupport.pdx.edu/
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Dr. Omar A. Eno’s PhD dissertation is: "Ethnicity, Slavery, Stigma, and Plantation Economy: The Case of the Heer-Goleed (people of the forest) Diaspora and the Indigenous Bantu/Jareer People in Southern Somalia (1840-2000)." He is deeply committed to bringing the attention of the international community to Bantu issues, and he regularly travels and works in East Africa. He is also one of the first Bantu to advocate in international fora for civil and human rights on behalf of the Bantu people in Somalia. He is a member of several international academic organizations such as: The African Studies Association, The Inter-riverine Studies Association, The Somali Studies International Association, and he is the co-founder of The Bantu Rehabilitation Trust in Nairobi-Kenya.
Immigrants in USA who come with psychological needs, can only get appropriate help if their story is well represented. The story in turn is broken down into social, psychological, mental needs. These needs are in turn presented before relevant service provision points. Somali-Bantu experienced anarchy that compelled millions of Somalis to seek refuge in parts of Somalia as well as in neighboring Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, and Yemen.The National Somali Bantu Project will help assist the Somali Bantu refugees to successfully integrate into American society. There is none other than Dr. Omar who is a director with the National Somali Bantu Project at Portland State University in Oregon to share this kind of story.
We hope you will like the vignettes on immigrants and the change agents among them. We call this activity the: "Influential African Immigrants(members) living in USA" (IAM-USA).
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