INTERNATIONAL

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Chicago will become a melting pot of culture and connection from September 1st through September 6th, as First Eye Concept presents the 15th Annual Yoruba Cultural Exchange Festival, culminating in the Gala and Awards Saturday September 7th at the  Malcolm X Auditorium at 1900 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago. en who have had a positive global impact, inspiring the best in humanity. Dignitaries from across the country will be in attendance, as well as special guests flying in from Nigeria, West Africa.  Ambassador Wole Akanni Duro-Ladipo, head of First Eye Concept, explained on The Female Solution Global radio TV Show, that he his goal is to expand global awareness of the positive actions of others. https://www.youtube.com/live/_tXlFybEJxQ?si=uBNHM4gEkDzeLkHo&t=3845

Named one of the 2024 Global Women of Substance, ON AIR Daily News Managing Editor Naimah Latif will be 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.

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 Exchnge 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 Magesty 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 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.

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 acklowleging 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 Leoone, Ghan and Nigeria in that role, Rev. Jackson worked to bolster the democratic process, promote good governance and resolve conflicts.

Bridging communication gap between Africans born on the continent and African in the diaspora who decend 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 land and 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.