Victimisation by white racism and police brutality are areas of solidarity. And yet many African-Americans feel that Africans generally are not concerned with race enough. This is the case because of vastly different historical experiences.

Among African-Americans many give race 60 per cent relevance to their lives while Africans give it only 35 per cent relevance. This difference in racial preoccupation can be a cause of stress.

The majority of Africans (or American-Africans) and African-Americans are in support of affirmative action. This is an area of solidarity. But who precisely gets the jobs or the educational opportunities created by affirmative action?

In reality the greatest beneficiaries are probably white women, but there is sometimes rivalry between African-Americans and American-Africans over jobs, business opportunities, and other scarce resources. This area of professional and occupational competition can be a source of stress. Intellectual jobs are prone to this kind of rivalry.

Until recently the great majority of Africans in the United States were college graduates or intelligentsia in the process of acquiring college degrees. Many Africans in the USA came for educational purposes or got their visas and green cards on the basis of special qualifications.

The majority of African-Americans, on the other hand, did not have college degrees. This introduced a partial class factor between the two. It was like a divide between a Black intelligentsia and a Black proletariat.

This class factor is now eroding for two reasons. There are more Africans in the United States without a college degree and are not seeking one. Secondly, there are now many more African-Americans who are exceptionally well trained and educated. Thus the educational difference is evening out between African-Americans and American-Africans.

Many African-American heroes are also African heroes. This includes the late Martin Luther King, Jr., the boxer Muhammad Ali, the basketball player Michael Jordan, the novelist Toni Morrison, and many African-American singers. This is an area of solidarity. Even the controversial Louis Farrakhan has millions of African admirers.

On the other hand, African heroes are seldom well-known in black America, apart from Nelson Mandela. Only the staunchest Pan-Africanists among African-Americans have ever heard of Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Touré, Julius Nyerere, Jomo Kenyatta or Wole Soyinka.

African global celebrities are disproportionate intellectuals. African-American lack of familiarity with African heroes is not really a cause of stress. It just represents a missed opportunity for further solidarity.

Expanding globalisation may restore the balance. In any case African-American heroes get much more global publicity because they are citizens of a super-power. It has therefore been easier for Africans in Africa to know about them than for African- Americans in the United States to hear of Julius Nyerere or Milton Obote.

Globalisation has also witnessed the rise of Africans to positions of leadership in global organisations. But here it may be worth distinguishing between Africans of the soil and Africans of the blood. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the first African Secretary General of the United Nations, was an African of the soil.

Kofi Annan, United Nation’s second African Secretary General is an African of the blood. North Africans like Ghali belong to the African continent (the soil) but not to the Black race (the blood).

On the other hand, African-Americans are Africans of the blood (the Black race) but not of the soil (the African continent.) Sub-Saharan Africans like Annan are both Africans of the soil (the continent) and of the blood (the race).

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