Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Campaign Launched to Drop "Sub-Saharan-African-Phrase

   Nigerian-born  Chikia  Onyeani  who  chairs the Celebrate Africa Group
   says the phrase is demeaning to Africa and should be rejected

   James Butty | Washington, D.C. 20 September 2010

   A  new  campaign  has  been  launched  against  the  use of the phrase
   âsub-Saharan  Africaâ  that encompasses African countries south of the
   Sahara.

   Map of Africa

   The  Celebrate  Africa Foundation, which is leading the campaign, said
   the term is a euphemism to distinguish between the five Arab countries
   in northern Africa and the rest of the continent.

   Nigerian-born  Chika  Onyeani,  who  is  chairman  of Celebrate Africa
   Foundation,  told  VOA  the  group  has  written  to the African Union
   Commission, the United Nations, U.S. President Barack Obama and others
   urging a halt to the use of âsub-Saharan Africa.â

   Onyeani  said  the phrase is racist and used with the onset and spread
   of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa.

   âI  believe  that  it is demeaning to Africa because Africa was always
   Africa  during  the time of Nkrumah (Kwame). Nobody referred to Africa
   as âsub-Saharan Africa,â but it was due to the AIDS pandemic. That was
   when  this term started being used to refer to black Africa as against
   Arab Africa,â he said.

   Onyeani  said  he  and his group feel âsub-Saharan Africaâ is a racist
   term that should be rejected by all Africans.

   âWe  feel  that  itâs a racist term, and it is something that Africans
   should  not  accept.  Right  now, there is no other continent that you
   have  sub-anything.  You  have  Europe,  you  donât have sub-something
   Europe; you have America, you donât have anything sub about (America);
   you  have  Asia. But, itâs only the same people who have been referred
   to  as  sub-humans  that are being referred to as sub-Saharan Africa,â
   Onyeani said.

   He  said the campaign is aimed at collecting two-million signatures to
   present  to world leaders and major international organizations asking
   them to stop referring to Africa as âsub-Saharan Africaâ.

   âOur target is the United Nations, the Secretary-General of the United
   Nations. We are going to send this letter to the president (Obama), to
   the  Secretary  of State (Hillary Clinton) and to all African leaders.
   We  are  going  to  also  appeal  to  people like you (who) would make
   opinion,  who  are journalists of substance that you should not accept
   any  press  releases  or  any  statements  that  refer  to  Africa  as
   âsub-Saharan Africaâ,â he said.

   Onyeani  said,  since  no  one demarcated northern Africa and southern
   Africa,  the  continent  should  be referred to as simply âAfrica,â or
   mainland Africa, or it can also be referred to by regions.

   He  said  he  was  aware  that  there  are  more  serious issues to be
   concerned with in Africa than the term âsub-Saharan Africa.â

   But,  Onyeani said Africans must fight the little wars in order to win
   the bigger ones.

   âThere  is no doubt that we have problems of poverty, we have problems
   of  less  development,  we  have  problems  of  the  AIDS  pandemic or
   whatever,  we  have  problems of corruption. We can be fighting to win
   those wars on those other fronts, but, at the same time, we should not
   allow ourselves to be degraded anymore,â he said.

   Onyeani  appealed  to  individuals  to  go  to  the  Celebrate  Africa
   Foundation  website and fill out the petition, or to join the campaign
   by calling 917-279-4038.

.