Global Women of Substance honored at Yoruba Festival
Global Women of Substance Recognized For Their Impact on World Community
Women who have made an impact in Ministry, Health, Public Service, the Media, Education, Science, Technology, and Business were recognized in a special Awards ceremony at Malcolm X College in Chicago Saturday September , 2024. This is the 15th Annual Festival and Awards Presentation presented by FIrs Eye Concept, an organization headed by Amb. Wole Duro-Ladipo of Nigeria. Awardees were joined by dignitaries who assisted in the awards presentation. Awardees are (not in this order in the photo) Professora Vania Soares, Edna Aparecida Oliveira Santos, Georgia Johnson-Banks, Amb. Mary L. Swopes, Naimah Latif, Princess Zindaba Nyirenda, Bishop Carmelia Shipp, Dr. Jackie Sharp, Elder Willia Jean Thomas, Bishop Juliette Holmes-Campbell, Dr. Delmar Dominique Peterson, Rev. Etta Ellis and (not pictured) Professor Mojisola Adenike Oyarekua. Photo by Lloyd DeJohnette/ON AIR Daily News.
First Eye Concept Presents Annual Yoruba Festival Gala and Awards
Chicago became a melting pot of culture and connection from September 1st through September 6th, as First Eye Concept presented the 15th Annual Yoruba Cultural Exchange Festival, which culminated in the Gala and Awards Saturday September 7th at the Malcolm X Auditorium at 1900 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago, honoring women who have had a positive global impact, inspiring the best in humanity. Dignitaries from across the country were in attendance, as well as special guests who flew in from Nigeria, West Africa and Brazil, South America. Ambassador Wole Akanni Duro-Ladipo, head of First Eye Concept, explained on The Female Solution Global radio TV Show, that his goal is to expand global awareness of the positive actions of others. https://www.youtube.com/live/_tXlFybEJxQ?si=uBNHM4gEkDzeLkHo&t=3845
ON AIR Daily News Managing Editor Naimah Latif Internationally Honored
Named one of the 2024 Global Women of Substance, ON AIR Daily News Managing Editor Naimah Latif was among a distinguished group of honorees recognized for having a global impact on culture through their various enterprises. Naimah Latif is Executive Producer of The Female Solution Global Radio TV Show, now in its 12th year, heard around the world on Blogtalk Radio and now seen and heard on multiple live streaming platforms including Facebook and Youtube, and soon to be launched on the ON AIR Television Network. Co-author of the bestselling book Slavery: The African American Psychic Trauma along with her late husband Sultan Abdul Latif, she is an author, book publisher, educator, playwright, model, actress and television producer.
"Our Mission: To Change the World From the Way it is to the Way it Should Be."
As President and CEO of the Online Network of Associated Internet Radiohosts (ON AIR) Naimah Latif reiterated that she works with higher conscious content creators who use Internet platforms to share information that transforms thought, with the goal to inform, inspire, enlighten, and make the world a better place.
African Kings and Queens Crowned At Annual Ceremony
HRM Togbi Nyaho Tamakloe VI of Ghana Conducts Crowning Ceremony
Outstanding men and women of the diaspora were officially crowned as African Kings and Queens in a ceremonial presentation held at 5628 West Washington Blvd. in Chicago on Saturday June 22, 2024. This was the fourth annual Exchange Ceremony, acknowledging the great achievements of men and women outside of Africa whose stature is worthy of royal recognition and honor. The ceremony was conducted by His Royal Magesty Togbi Nyaho Tamakloe VI of the Anlo Kingdom, Volta Region in Ghana, West Africa. The audience enjoyed cultural food and African dance along with an exquisite fashion presentation featuring original creations by internationally renowned designer Chief Dr. Quinton Tamba Taylor de'Alexander. Photo by Naimah Latif, ON AIR Daily News
Creator of Exchange Ceremony Tells Why Royal Recognition is Important
Four years ago Sena Alinco of Ghana had the inspiration to create a special recognition of African people in the diaspora. His goal was to elevate those who are making a major difference in their communities to the status of royalty, as they would have been recognized on the African continent.
Sena Alinco is Producer of The Progressive Minds Show, now in its seventh year on YouTube, a program created to bring people together in the spirit of unity by sharing progressive ways to resolve life's challenges.
"I know how much Africans love African Americans. I live in Ghana, we always jibe with the music. But when I got here to America, I saw there was a disconnect," he observed. "We don't talk to each other. So whatever has been sold to us has been stuck in our brains. We're still suffering from the trauma of slavery and colonialism. We have a lot of media stereotypes on both sides."
In the year 2021 Sena created the Exchange Ceremony, flying in dignitaries from Ghana to participate in a majestic evening of pageantry and ceremony, culminating in the crowning of prominent African Americans as Kings and Queens of Africa in the Diaspora.
For the past several years, His Royal Majesty Togbi Nyaho Tamakloe VI of the Anlo Kingdom, Volta Region - Ghana, has performed the crowning ceremony for the event. Some of those honored in past ceremonies include Congressman Danny K. Davis (Illinois 7th District) and Educator Carol Adams, founding director of Chicago's Museums and Public Schools program and former Executive Director of the DuSable Black History Museum.
"When we bring our collective cultures together, perhaps we can send a message to ourselves subliminally that we are connected." Sena said.
African Leader Apologizes To Blacks For Ghana's Role In American Slavery
In a 2022 interview with His Royal Magesty Togbi Nyaho Tamakloe VI of the Anlo Kingdom, Volta Region - Ghana, the painful history of slavery was addressed openly, with HRM Togbi Nyaho Tamakloe VI acknowledging Ghana's role in the slave trade.
Fighting among the various family groups for power and control led to the brutal practice of selling prisoners of war to the invading Europeans, who turned local squabbles among warring factions into a thriving international business that lasted for centuries. It could not have succeeded without the help of African government leaders who participated in the capture, imprisonment and shipping off of millions of African citizens.
King Tamakloe VI issued an apology during the ceremonial presentation of Rev. Jesse L.Jackson as an African King in the Diaspora. In October 1997, President Bill Clinton named Rev. Jackson, known globally as an advocate for peace, justice and equality, as his special envoy for democracy and human rights in Africa. During several trips to Kenya, Zambia, Liberia, Guinea, Sierre Leone, Ghana and Nigeria in that role, Rev. Jackson worked to bolster the democratic process, promote good governance and resolve conflicts.
Bridging the communication gap between Africans born on the continent and Africans in the diaspora who descend from the enslavement experience remains a challenge. There is a great deal of anger and regret among those who have had their ancestral ties, and perhaps ties to family inheritances of wealth, cut off as a result of the transport of their ancestors off the continent. Somehow, those wrongs must be made right, King Tamakloe VI concluded.
"When you are wrong you right the wrong. When you make a mistake you say I'm sorry," he said.