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Did the Pan-African Dream Die With Apartheid?
Not long ago, I wrote an article for the Paris-based magazine, Africa Report, about the broken ties between African Americans and Africans. I described how the two groups had worked in harmony to end apartheid in South Africa some two decades ago, which raised hopes for a pan-African future. But, I wrote, “The momentum was…
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Mugabeflation and the $2.5 Million Loaf of Bread
Usually when I get an sms (text message) from a young journalist needing to see me, it’s about career advice. But when I get one from a young journalist from Zimbabwe, I know it’s because that young journalist needs bread—and not of the cash kind. Robert Mugabe’s government has clamped down on the independent media…
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Addressing and Undressing the Race Problem
As a journalist, I do not publicly endorse candidates. So, as the black South Africans who had never been allowed to vote in their lives said when the finally could in 1994: My vote is my secret. But as I listened to all the commentary before, and after Sen. Barack Obama’s speech on race, among…
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History Lived, Lessons Learned
Most of us are dead. But five of us are not. We are among the 20 African American women chosen by a group of educators and black history experts to be featured in a traveling exhibition called “Freedom’s Sisters.” And on a Friday night in mid-March at the Cincinnati Museum Center, the five of us…
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Zimbabwe Assesses Mugabe's 28 Years
It’s D-Day in Zimbabwe, and so far there’s been huge turnout from among the 5.6 million registered voters who have been lining up since the still-dark early morning hours. The D could stand either for Democracy or Disaster. Democracy would mean that for the first time in a long time—more than a decade—Zimbabwe would have…
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Another Independence Day for Zimbabwe?
Historic change is in the air with tension and uncertainty mounting as Robert Mugabe’s government suffers its first major defeat since he came to power almost three decades ago. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has won the lower house of Parliament and is set to force a runoff for the presidency. This is the…
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Zimbabwe: If This is Not A Crisis, What Is?
The question I posed in this space before the Zimbabwe election on March 19th was whether the election would bring Democracy or Disaster? What comes to mind now, with no results announced after almost three weeks, is that old saying: ‘It’s always darkest just before it gets pitch black.’ Despite the pronouncements of friendly observers…
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Charlayne Hunter-Gault's Reporter's Notebook
I am out of Africa and into Singapore—a country mostly off my radar screen—except when I am visiting Francis Daniels, the father of my godson, Themba. To Francis, Singapore’s former Prime Minister, Lee Kwan Yew is a kind of icon who invariably comes up in conversations about what Africa needs to do to get out…
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Running for President or Running for His Life?
Zimbabwe will hold a run-off election on June 27. Presidential contender Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, insists that he and his party have already won. But Robert Mugabe, the wily leader of the ruling ZANU-PF party refused to accept the results and in time—an unprecedented long time—the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission…
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Waiting for Sunset
The polls are set to open on Friday in Zimbabwe, despite calls from the world community to postpone the elections because of political, social and economic unrest in the country. Nelson Mandela is among the most recent leaders to condemn Mugabe and the violence there. Charlayne Hunter-Gault, a writer for The Root, is like many…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
