Black Houstonians’ views on global issues and their impact on the city

There are two schools of thought regarding African Americans’ concerns about international issues.

One is that Black people are too focused on “domestic” issues to pay attention to events around the globe. Two, Black people in the U.S. today, like past giants (W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and others), are more aware of global issues than some social scientists think, and recognize how those issues impact their lives in America.

But what do Black people in Houston have to say on the matter?

U.S. focus

Texas Southern University professor Dr. Michael O. Adams argues Black people in the U.S. are laser-focused on their challenges at home.

Dr. Michael O. Adams. Courtesy TSU.

“Black communities in Houston and across the country are overwhelmingly focused on ‘kitchen table issues’: Access to affordable housing, quality education, job opportunities, healthcare, criminal justice reform and public safety,” said Adams, a political scientist who studies the intersections of race, policy and civic engagement. “These issues dominate our neighborhoods, shape electoral behavior and drive civic action.”

Adams, focusing mainly on the disconnect between African Americans and issues in African nations, says international humanitarian crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and other African countries “remain virtually invisible in mainstream Black political discourse.”

The connection is clear for Adams, who takes annual TSU study abroad program trips to West Africa.

“The injustices we witness in Senegal, Ghana or Nigeria are not far removed from what we face in Houston or across the United States,” Adams told the Defender. “The struggle for dignity, justice and full humanity is transnational, yet we often treat it as isolated and domestic.”

International issues, impact

Many Houstonians, like Adams, see their local reality affected by global matters.

Tariffs

“When the price of food goes up or the price of clothing goes up or any of the raw materials necessary for the things that we aspire to have, like homes and cars and appliances, then that’s going to certainly impact people of color, especially if their salaries are remaining stagnant,” said Head of the Houston Urban League Judson Robinson III, who contends anything POTUS does that impacts Wall Street and the globe impacts Houstonians.

One local photographer/filmmaker feels this firsthand.

Courtesy Judson Robinson III.

“The impact of the tariffs right now has been so much that we aren’t able to purchase materials and equipment that we usually get at a much cheaper rate from overseas [China],” said the business owner who wishes to remain anonymous.

As a native of Nigeria, the photographer/filmmaker’s Green Card status is still in flux even though he’s worked across the U.S. for over a decade. He doesn’t want opinions he shares to jeopardize his current and future ability to make a living in the U.S., particularly in Houston.

“We have to buy materials here… This impacts my cost of production. So, my customers also get the hiking prices, and the cycle continues.”

Immigration

A Houston-based STEM professional who did not want “their” name used, fearing “their” immigrant status would make “them” a deportation target, added a different take on the impact the international immigration issue will have on Houston

“Not only will the President’s disrespect of African, Caribbean and Latin American countries halt immigration to the U.S., it will greatly decrease the number of professionals who come here and fill high-demand, much-needed positions in engineering, healthcare and others,” said “Anonymous.”

Courtesy Nneka Achapu.

Nneka Achapu, CEO of Asha Strategies and the founder of the African Public Affairs Committee, sees a direct impact on Black Houstonians from U.S. immigration policies.

“When we talk about immigration specifically, we are mainly talking about Latinos, but folks don’t realize that places like Houston have a large African diaspora community,” said Achapu. “When folks talk about interactions with law enforcement and immigration authority, they automatically assume those impacted are Latinos, but we have a lot of members who are Black, who are also exposed to the dragnet of what’s happening with this current administration.”

Healthcare

Houston City Councilmember Tiffany Thomas represents the city’s most international district (District F), home to the largest West African population outside of the African continent. Thomas views U.S. global health policies as a sign of things to come locally.

Houston City Councilmember Tiffany Thomas. Credit: Aswad Walker/Defender.

“When we think of the USAID and the investment, particularly on the African continent, food education, maternal health, malaria, HIV, we have seen smaller instances of that happening right here in the US,” said Thomas. “So, if they’re willing to cut off aid with our African partners in those countries, we are clear what they’re willing to do in some of our urban and rural communities that have large populations of Black folks.”

Global conflicts

Prairie View A&M University political science professor Dr. Wale Engedayehu cites global conflicts as an issue with impacts reverberating in Houston.

“One of Kenya’s main exports is coffee. If there is a conflict in that region, we will see price increase here in Houston,” said Engedayehu, the interim dean of PVAMU’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Possibilities and action steps

Robinson recommends staying politically informed and active to minimize the negative impacts global issues might bring.

“People have to at least listen to what’s happening globally, and therefore be in a position to form an educated opinion, and then act on it when the opportunity comes to make decisions about who represents us in office,” said Judson, who strongly recommends watching both local and national newscasts.

Dr. Wale Engedayehu. Courtesy PVAMU.

Engedayehu calls African Americans to “stay open to the benefits of globalization.

“Many in the U.S. are highly educated and possess skills. Several countries in Africa are in need of development. If African Americans are willing to think globally, there are countless opportunities in places where individuals have found they can live far better due to the cheaper cost of living,” shared Engedayehu.

Adams believes that Black people need a paradigm shift to be open to such international opportunities.

“We need deliberate investment in Pan-African consciousness, the cultivation of foreign policy expertise among Black professionals and the creation of platforms that connect the fates of Black people globally—from Houston’s Third Ward to the streets of Kinshasa and Khartoum,” Adams said.

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