1.Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated this day in 1968. The day before his murder, he made a speech for the ages.
[blockquote source=”MLK Jr.”]Well, I don’t know what will happen now; we’ve got some difficult days ahead. (Amen) But it really doesn’t matter to with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. (Yeah) [Applause] And I don’t mind. [Applause continues] Like anybody, I would like to live a long life–longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. (Yeah) And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. (Go ahead) And I’ve looked over (Yes sir), and I’ve seen the Promised Land. (Go ahead) I may not get there with you. (Go ahead) But I want you to know tonight (Yes), that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. [Applause] (Go ahead, Go ahead) And so I’m happy tonight; I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. [Applause][/blockquote]
2. Journalist, Dayo Olapade posits that corruption as understood by the West is simply what holds often ungovernable regions together.
3. Before Lupita introduced the world to black black beauty, we loved Alek Wek.
[blockquote source=”Alek Wek”]We had an extremely simple life. No running water, no electricity. We walked to a well for drinking water, and the loo was a hole in the ground. My mother ran the house, but if we complained about anything, we’d be told to clean it,” she laughs. “It was a tiny town, where everyone knew everyone. We had no idea how poor we were, because we were so rich in our culture, our education. I loved going to school, walking home via the mango trees for a snack.[/blockquote]
5. Dutch Historian-Journalist David Van Reybrouck’s Congo opus finally has an English translation. Not sure what to make of the publishers’ breathless ‘heart of darkness’ blurb. Puhleeese.
[blockquote source=””] David van Reybrouck’s rich and gripping epic, in the tradition of Robert Hughes’ The Fatal Shore, tells the extraordinary story of one of the world’s most devastated countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo. Epic in scope yet eminently readable, penetrating and deeply moving, David van Reybrouck’s Congo: The Epic History of a People traces the fate of one of the world’s most critical, failed nation-states, second only to war-torn Somalia: the Democratic Republic of Congo.Van Reybrouck takes us through several hundred years of history, bringing some of the most dramatic episodes in Congolese history. Here are the people and events that have impinged the Congo’s development—from the slave trade to the ivory and rubber booms; from the arrival of Henry Morton Stanley to the tragic regime of King Leopold II; from global indignation to Belgian colonialism; from the struggle for independence to Mobutu’s brutal rule; and from the world famous Rumble in the Jungle to the civil war over natural resources that began in 1996 and still rages today.[/blockquote]
6. American tourists shocked…shocked to find roads in “Africa”.
7. MTV Africa Awards return after 3 year break
8. Second generation Ghanaian immigrant, Kwesi Enin got accepted at Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania and Brown University for the class of 2018.
9. A photographer catches up with her portrait subjects 20 years later in Rwanda.
10. Euro-star Belgian-Congolese musician, Stromae launches a new capsule clothing line. Kind of Wes Anderson, n’est pas?
11. Does anyone care if Mugabe boycotts the EU/AU summit?
12. Uganda is set to join Kenya and Nigeria in derivatives trading as plans are approved for another bourse in East Africa’s third-biggest economy
13. The World’s POOREST leader sure as hell ain’t in Africa.
Africa Redux Founder Chi Kaitano.
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