One of the most important stories of the 21st century is the collapse of Afghanistan in 2021. After almost 20 years of U.S./NATO military involvement in Afghanistan, the Taliban has quickly conquered Afghanistan. By the summer of 2021, the Taliban quickly conquered territories in the nation. This is not new. For decades, many people have controlled Afghanistan from more progressive leaders to the extremist, reactionary Taliban. In the past, Americans used military bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The Bundeswehr used the base in Termez, Uzbekistan, for years. The Taliban are enemies of freedom. It is clear to point that fact out. The Taliban have members who have raped and murdered innocent people including women. They believe in a theocratic, authoritarian state where basic human rights are heavily suppressed. They believe in total control over the lives of the people they have conquered. Likewise, Western imperialism doesn't work either. The reason is that imperialism seeks to impose another way of life by force without respect to the cultural diversity of people in another nation. Imperialism doesn't mean that we accept isolationism, but it does mean that international cooperation is better than war mongering. The Afghanistan government in Kabul failed by many reasons like lack of support among the ethnic groups of Afghanistan, its military was not powerful enough to repel the Taliban advance, and it was very fragile to begin with. Defense officials have said that Bagram Air base and Parwan prison have been conquered by the Taliban. About 5,000 American troops are quickly getting rid of Americans including American diplomatic people from Afghanistan. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has escaped from Afghanistan in order to save his life literally. The Talbian has conquered Zaranj. Right now, the Afghan government as we know it is gone, and the Taliban is running the nation during the future. There are videos of Taliban sick people snatching girls from their mothers. The Taliban folks are evil. There is no other way to put it. The Taliban have conquered Sheberghan, a heavily Uzbek-influenced area, and took no time to spread images of fighters in stolen garb posing in front of the now-occupied Dostum Palace. The Taliban now control the Iran/Afghanistan border. Many human rights activists, lawyers, and others who want human rights for women, girls, and anybody in general are certainly concerned about the future of Afghanistan. There is still a risk of a civil war in Afghanistan if power sharing plans fail. The Taliban has entered to Kabul. President Biden was briefed on these events in Kabul and the rest of Afghanistan. The Kabul airport is taking fire. The President of Afghanistan has fled the country. This situation is not caused by the Afghanistan people. It's caused by the Taliban and bad Western policies. As Kimberly Motley has said, there should be right of migration policies to allow men, women, and children to leave Afghanistan for safety. A lot of Americans and Afhgans lost their lives during this conflict.
The opening ceremony of the 2020 Olympics Games was historic on July 23, 2021. It was formally opened by Emperor Naruhito. The Olympic Charter mandated that the proceedings had to have formal and ceremonial opening including welcoming speeches, the hoisting of the flags, the parade of athletes, and the mention of the host nation's culture including its history. The vast majority of the event was pre-recorded. There were some live segments expressed on television too. This ceremony is the 125th anniversary of the 1896 Summer Olympics at Athens, Greece (which was the inaugural edition of the modern Olympic Games). The theme of the Olympic Ceremonies is Moving Forward, referencing the global COVID-19 pandemic, with the opening ceremony theme being the Tokyo 2020 slogan United by Emotion, which the organizers intend to "reaffirm the role of sport and the value of the Olympic Games." To this day, we are still fighting the pandemic virus which has caused many innocent human beings to lose their lives. Before the event started, there was a flight made by the Blue Impulse. This was the aerobatics squadron of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force. It marked the 57th anniversary of the 1964 Games in Tokyo. Later, droves were flown. There was video montage of the journey to allow the 2020 Games to come to Tokyo.
The first performance of the ceremony, designed "[showcase] Japan’s forte in digital art and projection mapping technology," featured a digital graphics projection on the stadium floor, at the center of which nurse and boxer Arisa Tsubata, who won a national championship only two years after taking the sport, however was unable to participate as an athlete after a qualifying match was cancelled, jogged on a treadmill, then was joined by performers on an exercise cycle, rowing maching, running in place, while performers abstract danced and colored ball of light were projected, "symbolizing the athletes’ plight in training during the pandemic for this event." The ceremony opened with dancers wearing white outfits connected by red strings, meant to "portray the inner workings of the body and heart." Many Japanese people honored the Japanese national flag. The Olympics rings were revealed. They represents the continents (being Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania) of the world involved in the Olympics. Greatness, athleticism, and courage aren't limited by a single continent. You always find a remnant of heroes in all of the continents of the world literally. Then, the Parade of Nations existed where team delegations from every nation involved existed. The Refugee Olympic Team, composed of refugees from several countries, was the second nation to enter, after Greece. For the first time ever in the opening ceremony, the countries that will host the next two Olympic Games, France (in 2024) and the United States (in 2028), marched immediately before the host nation Japan entered. A countdown from '21' referencing the postponement of games played, showing athletes overcoming the challenges of the past year. At 0, 694 fireworks then are then set off.
For the first time, each team had the option to allow two flag bearers, one male and one female, in an effort to promote gender equality. As Russia had been banned to partake in sporting events by the World Anti-Doping Agency, Russian athletes marched under the ROC designation and flag. The United States of America expressed their large delegation too. According to the U.S. Olympic and Parlympic Committee (USOPC), Team USA has 613 members this year of 2021. Of them, 193 are returning Olympians.
The cauldron was designed by Canadian-Japanese designer Oki Sato, who attended Waseda University, the same university as Yoshinori Sakai, the cauldron-lighter in 1964. The steps to reach the cauldron, symbolizing Mount Fuji, were "designed to evoke the image of a blooming flower." The music featured in the cauldron lighting included Boléro by Maurice Ravel, "Rise of the Planet 9" from Dr. Copellius, composed by Isao Tomita, followed by the fireworks featuring the music of Takashi Yoshimatsu's Symphony No. 2 "At terra".
The flame was brought into the stadium at the end of the torch relay by wrestler Saori Yoshida and judoka Tadahiro Nomura. It was carried by a trio of Japanese baseball greats (Shigeo Nagashima, Sadaharu Oh, and Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui), a doctor and a nurse, paralympian Wakako Tsuchida, and a group of students from Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures who were born shortly before the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Finally Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka carried it up the steps to light the Olympic cauldron. The flame was lit by Naomi Osaka. Naomi Osaka is one of the greatest tennis players of this generation who admitted her mental health issues courageously in public. She competed in the Olympics. Also, Naomi Osaka has pledged to give resources to the victims of the recent 2021 Haitian Earthquake at came about in August of 2021. Naomi Osaka is a great role model.
The last ceremonies of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo had many celebrations. They also made known that the next 2024 Olympics would be in Paris. It was a very historic Olympics. New events were introduced (during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics) like 3X3 basketball, freestyle BMX, and mixed gender team events like the return of madison cycling for men (and the introduction of the same event for women). New IOC policies also allowed the host organizing committee to add new sports to the Olympic program for just one Games. The disciplines added by the Japanese Olympic Committee were baseball and softball, karate, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding, the last four of which made their Olympic debuts. The United States of America topped the medal count by having the most total golds in 39 medals and the total medals being 113. America won 41 silver and 33 bronze. American athletes were very talented like other athletes in the world. China finished second by both respects (38 and 88).
Host nation Japan finished third, setting a record for the most gold medals and total medals ever won by their delegation at an Olympic Games with 27 and 58. Great Britain finished fourth, with a total of 22 gold and 65 medals, becoming the first nation at the Summer Olympics to increase or equal their total medals won in the two Games subsequent to hosting them. The Russian delegation competing as the ROC finished fifth with 20 gold medals and third in the overall medal count, with 71 medals. Bermuda, the Philippines, and Qatar won their first-ever Olympic gold medals. Burkina Faso, San Marino, and Turkmenistan won their first-ever Olympic medals.
There are tons of African cultures in Africa. The Yoruba people have a large amount of culture in Africa. They live in Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and other parts of Western Africa. 35 million of the Yoruba people live in Africa. Most Yoruba people spoke with a Niger-Congo language. They are known to be involved in the Empire of Oyo. They are known to create terracotta, stone, and copper alloy structures (for purposes of art, architecture, music, and for other methods). Oral tradition is a big part of their way of life. Today, most of the Yoruba are Christians or Muslims. They have a traditional religion that have songs, histories, and belief in Orisa. Orisa or Orisha to the traditional religion are about manifestations of God. Some are known as Ogun (a god of metal, war, and victory), Shango (a god of thunder), Esu Elegbara, etc. To the traditional religion, the supreme God's principal manifestation if Olorun. The two other principal forms of the supreme God are Olodumare—the supreme creator—and Olofin, who is the conduit between Òrunn (Heaven) and Ayé (Earth). Oshumare is a god that manifests in the form of a rainbow, also known as Òsùmàrè in Yoruba, while Obatala is the god of clarity and creativity. Christianity and Islam have a huge influence in the Yoruba people. Involving festivals, the Yoruba use percussion and other celebrations (they have ofada rice, amala, akara, and other foods eaten in their culture). The bata drum is found in the Yoruba people.
The Xhosa people are found in southern Africa. They live in South Africa, Zimbabwe, etc. They number in over 8 million people. Xhosa-speaking peoples (the amaXhosa, amaMpondo, abaThembu and amaMpondomise) inhabited South Africa and were well-established in the region prior to Dutch colonization. Their traditional homelands included large portions of eastern South Africa from the Gamtoos River to the region south of the modern-day city of Durban. Xhosa is an agglutinative tonal language of the Bantu family. While the Xhosas call their language "isiXhosa", it is usually referred to as "Xhosa" in English. Historically, the Xhosa follow oral traditions, praise of ancestral heroes, and use of herbalists. Rites of passage are always found in Xhosa culture. For example, the Xhosa community allows boys and girls to go through stages in figuring his or her role in society. Boys do rituals to transition from a boy to a man. The Xhosa settled on mountain slopes of the Amatola and the Winterberg Mountains. Many streams drain into great rivers of this Xhosa territory, including the Kei and Fish Rivers. Rich soils and plentiful rainfall make the river basins good for farming and grazing making cattle important and the basis of wealth. Traditional foods include beef (Inyama yenkomo), mutton (Inyama yegusha), and goat meat (Inyama yebhokwe), sorghum, milk (often fermented, called "amasi"), pumpkins (amathanga), Mielie-meal (maize meal), samp (umngqusho), beans (iimbotyi), vegetables, like "rhabe", wild spinach reminiscent of sorrel, "imvomvo", the sweet sap of an aloe, or "ikhowa", a mushroom that grows after summer rains. Today, we know of famous Xhosa people like John Knox Bokwe, Desmond Tutu, Phyllis Ntantala-Jordan, Nelson Mandela, Zenani Mandela, Ndaba Mandela, and other people.
The Luo people are found in East Africa. They are related to Nilotic ethnic groups. They live in Kenya, Sudan, southern Sudan, and other locations as far as Tanzania. The Luo are part of the Nilotic group of people. The Nilotes had separated from the other members of the East Sudanic family by about the 3rd millennium BC. Within Nilotic, Luo forms part of the Western group. Some live in Ethiopia too. The Luo in Kenya, who call themselves Joluo (aka Jaluo, "people of Luo"), are the fourth largest community in Kenya after the Kikuyu, Luhya and Kalenjin. In 2017 their population was estimated to be 6.1 million. In Tanzania they numbered (in 2010) an estimated 1,980,000. Famous Luo people today are Professor Henry Odera Oruka, Lupita Nyong'o, John Akii-Bua, Grace Ogot, James Orengo, and other human beings.
The San people live in Southern Africa. They are among the most ancient people of human history. They live in Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and other nations. The San people number about 105,000 people. They created some of the oldest cultures on Earth whose ancestors were hunter gatherers. Today, many of them are farming. Scholars involved in genetics and anthropology found out many facts about them. One broad study of African genetic diversity completed in 2009 found that San people were among the five populations with the highest measured levels of genetic diversity among the 121 distinct African populations sampled. Certain San groups are one of 14 known extant "ancestral population clusters"; that is, "groups of populations with common genetic ancestry, who share ethnicity and similarities in both their culture and the properties of their languages." Culturally, the San people act as a community. Children play and have leisure. The San people have music, dances, and women are given a high status in San society. Their society is egalitarian. Various Y chromosome studies show that the San carry some of the most divergent (oldest) human Y-chromosome haplogroups. These haplogroups are specific sub-groups of haplogroups A and B, the two earliest branches on the human Y-chromosome tree. Mitochondrial DNA studies also provide evidence that the San carry high frequencies of the earliest haplogroup branches in the human mitochondrial DNA tree. This DNA is inherited only from one's mother. The most divergent (oldest) mitochondrial haplogroup, L0d, has been identified at its highest frequencies in the southern African San groups. Rock paintings are done by the San people too.
The Malagsy ethnic group of Madagascar in Africa is made up of a combination of continental African Bantu-speaking peoples who migrated from the Eastern coast of mainland Africa, and the Southeast Asian migrants of Austronesian heritage, who migrated from Borneo and other islands of Indonesia of Maritime Southeast Asia. So, the Malagsy people have a mixture of African and Asian ancestry. But the proportion of ancestral genes differs. Coastal Malagasy populations, including the Temoro, Vezo, and Mikea, etc. have approx. 70% African ancestry and 30% Asian ancestry, while highlander tribes tend to have lower African ancestry at around 45%.In a recent island-wide survey the male-only Y chromosomes of African origin are more common than those of East Asian origin but it varies depending on the study (70.7 vs. 20.7 or 51% vs 34%). However the mtDNA lineages, passed down from mother to child, are the opposite (42.4% African origin vs. 50.1% East Asian origin). The Malagasy diaspora in the United States includes those descended from people who, slave or free, came during the 18th and 19th centuries. Other Americans of Malagasy descent are recent immigrants from Madagascar. Some notable Americans of Malagasy descent include Andy Razaf, Katherine Dunham, Regina M. Anderson, William H. Hastie, George Schuyler and Philippa Schuyler, Robert Reed Church and Mary Church Terrell, Frederick D. Gregory, Thomas P. Mahammitt, Paschal Beverly Randolph, Maya Rudolph, Claude McKay, Jess Tom, Ben Jealous, and Keenan Ivory Wayans. The first recorded African slave in Canada, Olivier Le Jeune, was taken from Madagascar to New France in 1628.
Afro-Australians exist in Australia. There are many black people in Australis in places like Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and other places. There was trade between Africa and Australia as early as the 12th century. There were coins minted by the Tanzanian medieval kingdom of Kilwa Sultanate have been found on the Wessel Islands. Other people descended from African emigrants later arrived indirectly via the First Fleet and 19th century multicultural maritime industry. Notable examples are Billy Blue, John Caesar, and Black Jack Anderson. In 2005–06, permanent settler arrivals to Australia included 4,000 South Africans and 3,800 Sudanese, constituting the sixth and seventh largest sources of migrants, respectively. Most black people in Australia come from southern and eastern Africa. Many famous Afro-Australians are Gabriel Akon, Faustina Agolley, Tkay Maidza, Waleed Aly, Janice Petersen, N'fa, and other people. I can't mention Australia without mentioning Australian Aboriginals. There are many Pan-African people who consider Aboriginals as black people? What is the truth? The truth is complicated. The Aboriginal people deserve respect, equality, justice, and equality. As a black American, they know what it is like to be oppressed just like me. In that sense, we black people expressed solidarity with them always. Also, it is important to note that Aboriginals are not black Africans. They are descendants of black Africans from thousands of years ago. They are people of color.
There are many modern day African heroes and leaders. Kumi Naidoo of South Africa has fought for change for decades. He was appointed secretary general of Amnesty International by August 2018. He was a youth activist during apartheid South Africa. He was the first African head of Greenpeace. Naidoo opposes environmental crimes and human rights abuses. He helps out political prisoners and desires safety given to refugees. He wants children to reunite with their parents, to have soap including toothbrushes, and asylum. Denis Mukwege is a surgeon who have helped victims of sexual assault in the DRC. He has publicly spoke out in favor of justice, care, and compassion for survivors of sexual assault in Africa. Winnie Byanyima has promoted equality in Uganda among the sexes. Graça Machel was born on October 17, 1945) is a Mozambican politician and humanitarian. She is the widow of former President of Mozambique Samora Machel (1975–1986) and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela (1998–2013). Zindziswa "Zindzi" Mandela (23 December 1960 – 13 July 2020), also known as Zindzi Mandela-Hlongwane, was a South African diplomat and poet, and the daughter of anti-apartheid activists and politicians Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Zindzi was the youngest and third of Nelson Mandela's three daughters, including sister Zenani Mandela.
Now, I am almost 40 years old. I have learned so much about the Motherland of Africa. As you get older, we learn the truth that Africa is never monolithic. There are massive technological advancements, urban centers, and strong economies transpiring in Africa indeed. Africa is a diverse nation with Igbo people, Berbers, Xhosa people, and other human beings with different cultures, religions, and nations. Yet, there is still one African continent. Africa is the Mother of Humanity, and no one can love humanity without loving Africa. Africa has taught me so much about my black African heritage, about the beauty of music, and about the glory of human excellence. There is great beauty in Africa from the long rivers, the plant life, the animals, and the concepts of living that exists in the souls of humanity. For all of the days of my life and beyond, I will always appreciate the glory of Africa. Nothing will change that. It is important to reiterate the fact that we must oppose imperialism. There is no freedom for anyone without rejection of imperialism, economic inequality, sexism, xenophobia, racism, and other evils that still plague our globe. These evils have nothing to do with true spirituality or true morality. These evils have to do with violating human dignity and believing in anti-human doctrines. We are clear that justice for all is part of our sacrosanct credo. Africa has inspired the whole world in enumerable ways from art to STEM fields. I was born in America, but I am of black African descent. I am African. No human on this Earth will make me deny my black African heritage. No human on this Earth will make me deny my black African Bantu roots. God Bless Africa Forever.
By Timothy
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