In 2008, America elected Barack Obama as its first Black president, which at the time was a paradigm shift of epic proportions. The American people earned compliments from all over the world for making what appeared to be progress in race relations by voting in the son of a Kenyan immigrant to be president of the United States.
However, in the years following Obama’s election, needless debates about his place of birth, his American citizenship, and his legitimacy as president soon arose. Promoted by the so-called “Birther Movement,” the conspiracy theory about whether or not Obama was born in the United States showed that America had not left behind its dark racial past, fraught with segregation, violence, and racism.
Obama went on to win his re-election bid in 2012, but it was obvious that Americans were not united in marching forward with open-mindedness and equanimity. Now, as the curtain slowly falls on the Obama-era, Face2Face Africa examines Africa’s own experience with leaders who had immigrant roots.
