To the NCBL, to Mark P. Fancher (principal drafter of Africom threatens the sovereignty, Jeffrey L. Edison and Ajamu Sankofa, the editor, and to all those who comprehend what "interconnected" is all about:

First, thank you for this enlightening information in the form of your article. This is powerful stuff, and I am sorry to say, all too familiar to me. My knowledge of American history and of African history is rudimentary, but I certainly know enough to hear a familiar pattern revealed by your report.

We have long ago run out of pages on which to chronicle the litany of horrors committed against African peoples on and beyond the African continent. (This could be said for many parts of the world, but none more dramatically than the African continent and it’s peoples.) I mean, if we really are all connected, and if our fates ultimately lie in our own hands and in our ability to act on this connection, then it should be clear that the so-called spiritual high road is actually the fastest, cheapest and most effective way to create a truly sustainable world economy. And, if we believe the overwhelming majority consensus of science, aren't we all literally descendants of Africa?

This is tough for some people to embrace, but I never understand why. Our mis-guided, myopic, and divisive notions of nationality might be better focused on how we are all members of a greater, integrated, interdependent family, simply living in different parts of the world. And please, could we do this sometime BEFORE we create the NEXT world-wide crisis of our own making?

“Ain’t it time we look to ourselves to assess
if we are wisely using the powers we possess?
Ain’t it time we took our visions seriously
and embrace the common ground of our humanity?
Ain’t it time for our actions to add up and be
a wave of our wondrous diversity?
Ain’t it time to sleep with and make love to our dreams
Until our dreams become our reality?

Ain’t it time?”

So yes, I get your point.

That’s why I do what I do. Along with Senegalese nationaI, Mr. Massamba Diop, (tama drummer with Baaba Maal) I am the co-founder of the Senegal-America Project.

This project is about how the music can sound and how the world can look when we realize that we are actually all connected.

Maybe we have something in common here? I’m sure of this: The friends we make, up close and personal, doing our projects one-on-one are the medicine against the poison of ignorance and self-defeating greed. We do our work; music, education, health and social issues, art, all for our mutual, immediate and long- term benefit.

This may be pushy, but hey, we could use some help.

Oh we’re doing amazing things, it’s just that we are going slower than we are capable of going. It’s all grass roots, people-oriented work. Things like concerts and workshops in schools in America and in Africa, to get young students in the mid-set of realizing their issues are shared by others their age on the other side of the world…and that they can begin to create and work on projects that address these issues together. Things like money and resources to build and supply school buildings, mosquito nets to prevent malaria, arts exchange projects to show how something they do in their world can change the environment of a friend they’ve never met, who lives thousands of miles away.

This is the medicine against Africom, and we have it in vast supplies. Everyone wants to be part of this. We could use a little help to put it all together in an even more effective way.

Check out the Senegal-America Project at the site of our non-profit arts organization: http://www.arts-are-essential.org/senegal.about.php

You can also go to my web site and read my take on the Senegal-America Project. It's:http://www.tonyvacca.com/senegalamerica.