THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD SPEECH BY

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Security Council, distinguished ladies and gentlemen and fellow young Africans. I am honored to stand here today. Indeed, more than honored, I am humbled. The task of talking to this marvelous group of educated and well informed people of the United Nations family is an enormous responsibility, a challenge I eagerly, but solemnly, embrace today.
In meeting the responsibility of speech entrusted to me this morning, I pledge to draw on my career as young educator, my experience as a former secret service agent, my skills as a writer and my uncompromising commitment as an African/American without color to the highest standards of excellence and integrity, to the standards embraced by all members of the human family, but best exemplified by our remarkable and beloved grandfather, and colleague His Excellency former president Nelson Mandela of South Africa.

This day was the day hundreds of African children were brutally murdered by inhuman characters apartheid police and soldiers in South Africa for no other reason than the color of their skin. This event truly is an event unsurpassed in my conscious life as a young African/American educator, the most significant since I arrived on this little planet earth as a freshman almost 26 years ago. Today also marks an historic occasion for my future as a young African/American writer and provides a forum unlike any other. A historical speech and occasion like this, affords a rare opportunity for an experience young man to offer advice regarding one's own experience, life in general, or a range of world affairs -- to reflect on all manner of vital issues that seek urgent and possible solution.
Taking into account the sensitivity of the history that characterized this day’s event, I would like us to stand and observe a minuet of silence in memory of the victims. ----May their young ambitious minds and precious soul rest in perfect peace of eternity.
Mr. Chairman, members of the Security Council, distinguished ladies and gentlemen and fellow young Africans. I would like to take this historic opportunity to arrest your attentions for attentive listening for the rest of the time I stand here this morning. Several years ago, having seen the situation with young and old people of Africa and around the globe, I cried. I cried that one day the God of no color will grant me the privilege of talking to these world minority educated and policy makers about the situation in Africa. Ladies and gentlemen, today is one day. With no intention to deviate from the theme of today’s event, I will examine few issues that are very important in African development, globalization as well as peace and stability for the rest of our world.
But, before going any further Mr. Chairman, I would like to comment on the word peace. Peace is the greatest goal of humanity. A goal on whose meaning there is no agreement. Indeed, any talk of peace raises the problem of its opposite, war. Peace is said to be hard to define without reference to war, but war can be define without reference to peace. The General Assembly of the United Nations two and a half decades ago adopted “Declaration on the right of the people to peace” (UN 1984). It is anyway beyond doubt that genuine peace must be based on the primacy of human being and therefore on truth, liberty, safety and justice. I do not simply view peace as the absence of war, but rather as a “dynamic process of cooperation between all states and peoples; cooperation founded on freedom, independence, national sovereignty, equality, respect for human rights, as well as a fair and equitable distribution of recourses to meet the needs of the people. Ladies and gentlemen, I strongly believed that this should be taking into consideration in every efforts of maintaining peace and stability in the continent of Africa in particular and the rest of the world in general.
And, in these contentious times, there is no shortage of vital issues to examine here this morning, ranging from the role of government and the methods we use to address social and economic challenges -- to global conflict and extreme poverty in Africa -- from grave concerns about the United Nations’ readiness to compete in an increasingly technological, international arena -- to the often emotional issue of affirmative action. Today, we face a disturbing rate of crime, a tragic level of teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, poverty more persistent than we could have imagined for the world a few decades ago, a rising intolerance that threatens to polarize us as human society -- and, meanwhile, the plight of African is painted in grim statistics almost daily on the evening news of Europe and North America.

Talking about impact of conflict in children of Sub Sahara-Africa, history has proved that the horrors of war fall most heavily on we the young. In the last three-decades Africa has witnessed many cross border and internal brutal conflicts, each of which has added to the sum of human miseries and destruction of properties. The worse victims of these miseries are women and children. Over three hundred and fifty thousand children are been used as force combatants in either recently ended or on going armed conflicts including those in Angola, Burundi, Columbia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Rwanda, DRC, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone and Sudan. There are little or no information known about the background and potentials of these children, because majority of them has no formal education before they recruited various fighting forces. Over six million children around the globe are deprived of the fundamental rights of the child as result of conflict. Surely, armed conflict, political inefficiency, corruption and physical mismanagement of natural and human resources are the reasons why over three hundred and fifty millions people, nearly half of the population of Africa are living below the line of poverty.
As a young man originated from that deprived continent with limited opportunities for young people to actualize their potentials, I’m acutely aware that United Nations is often at the center of the debate, buffeted by controversy over issues ranging from the courses of events to radical indoctrination of political ideas. There is no dearth of challenging issues on our horizon. Indeed, I am reminded of the old Chinese saying: "May we all live in interesting times." Well, these are interesting times.
Yet, when I consider this daunting array of issues in the context of the heritage and rich traditions of education, another Chinese saying comes to mind, a proverb familiar to many members of this educated family of the United Nations:
It is better to light a candle in the dark than to curse the darkness.
African men, women, and children -- an entire people denied for centuries the most fundamental elements of human dignity (education). Education is a medium in which a group of people are prepare for the creation of their civilization and the development of their nation. Therefore, if the people are illiterates and ignorance that is the direct judgments passed on them by those who are critical about their future. Through the remainder of the 21 century, I hope this candle borne brightly, to prepare young African men and women to learn and then share their learning with others -- to lead, serve, and sustain their people -- to use education as a foundation stone to build a healthy community life for all Africans and the rest of human race.
Higher education today remains an "organ of that fine adjustment." On the other hand, "the real life" that Dr. DuBois once mentioned is now the global metropolis in which we live, while our "growing knowledge of life" is fueled by the burgeoning modern technology that is shrinking our world. If, then, the mission of the United Nations remains relatively constant, our task is simply to determine how to fulfill that mission as we meet today's challenges. They are many, but I will address only three today.
One of the challenges is cultural. My girlfriend always says “you know Ivan, this is North American thing”. I love you Beth, but the world is no longer just about North America. We live in a world where technology and global communications are shattering traditional, geographic barriers -- blurring divisions among cultures, religions, and races -- and rendering the term "minority" less and less meaningful. In some parts of the world already, "minority" is no longer a useful description of any group. Africa, where I lived before coming to United States, frequently describes itself now as a combination of various minorities’ tribes throughout the continent. Although that continent may offer an extreme example, it is not unique. Many urban areas throughout our world are experiencing similar trends. I strongly believed that people of all race and nations should be educated about this issue, because this was one of the issues, which originated the apartheid struggle that brought about this event in South Africa. I strongly believed beyond all reasonable doubt that the color of a man is not the way he thinks.
In a global context, the term "minority" is virtually irrelevant. Many anthropologists argue that there are one hundred or more racial groups. Clearly, racial distinctions, which have never enjoyed much biological validity, do not lend themselves readily to simple classifications such as black, white, red, yellow, or brown. In today's world, who are the real minorities if I may ask ladies and gentlemen? Today, a black person, who is called a "minority" in St. Louis, can be in Lagos in a few hours and part of the "majority." A Chinese-American, who is considered a "minority" in Atlanta, can be in China within hours and a member of the world's largest ethnic group.
What kind of education is needed in a world where our careers, family structures, and intellectual and social development often require us to work and socialize with individuals from various cultures throughout our international community? Such questions, which are important to every institution of higher education, are of particular relevance to young African like me.
Another challenge we face, as we adjust to the new realities of the 21st century, is moral and ethical education. Within the international tapestry is a rich diversity of race, religion, culture, and language -- a metropolis of neighborhoods with varied traditions and values. Advances in communications technology, in physical and electronic travel, give us the opportunity and obligation to understand, more than ever before, each other's cultures.
Indeed, higher education must instill in us a set of values appropriate to our international community. We must cultivate character, character built on a moral and spiritual awareness of, and appreciation for, others -- a capacity for love and respect for all people of all backgrounds. As Martin Luther King Jr. pointed out: "We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character -- that is the goal of true education." The United Nations should develop intelligence and character in young men and women of the global community for generations -- with great efforts that will show extraordinary results in human relationship. There is perhaps no better testimony to the success in that arena than the United Nations’ remarkable tradition of service to others, a tradition imbedded in the original mission to create a global peace and understandings, which have evidenced today in many ways.
Still another challenge in the new global society is intellectual, a challenge introduced by the same technological advances that are facilitating our appreciation of other cultures. One aspect of this challenge -- and it bears directly on our competitiveness as writers in the new global marketplace -- is our need to produce more information, especially among the world less opportune, who are grossly underrepresented in scientific and technical fields in relation to their numbers in the general population.
As writers, we must do a better job of cultivating the interests and aptitudes of our readers in reality information and objectivity earlier in the pipeline, from kindergarten through secondary school, as well as at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Indeed, given the current global environment, every institution of higher education must better prepare its students to face a host of cultural, moral and ethical, intellectual and other challenges as we strive to adapt to the new realities of our world.
Historically, Africa has focused its preparation of African primarily on building leaders for community and national roles. But today, we must expand our mission to produce leaders also for the global metropolis that the world will be in the next century. How do we accomplish this? One of the first things we can do is to appreciate and harness the diversity within our own communities. Africa is often described as an ethnic microcosm of the world. For that reason, campuses throughout African higher educational institutions should often reflect a substantial amount of diversity. We must draw on that diversity and reach beyond it to prepare young African for the vastly greater diversity of the global metropolis.

Of course, a basic prerequisite for appreciating diversity is appreciating one's self. I have found that there are common characteristics of individuals who have satisfying educational experiences that prepare them to live and thrive in an increasingly diverse world.
Among them are: 1) a high level of confidence in their own intellectual competence; and 2) a relaxed, natural sense of self-worth and self-identity as individuals and as members of a particular social or ethnic group. Such individuals are not apprehensive about who they are -- where they come from or their ability to face new and unanticipated challenges.
Creating an educational experience that cultivates these characteristics in our world is something higher education has done exceptionally well for more than a century in the Western world. And we should extend and continue that tradition as a strong, undergraduate, liberal arts institution with a focus on producing outstanding leadership for Africa as well.
But today, we must expand our mission to ensure that our people are prepared to assume leadership roles not only in a more diverse Africa -- but in the steadily shrinking world we share. We will prepare our children for the new global metropolis by drawing on the strengths of our past to cultivate within ourselves and our children an intellectual confidence and curiosity that will equip us for lifelong learning and growth.
To do so, we will use -- first and foremost -- our curriculum, the courses we teach, the literature we read, and the range of interactions and experiences we facilitate between African children and Western faculty. We also have to prepare our children for the new global metropolis by enabling them to share knowledge, companionship, support and, yes, friendship -- in the deepest sense of that word -- with individuals of all races, religions, and ethnic backgrounds.
To do so, we should employ extracurricular activities and study abroad experiences for students -- not just in other countries, but also off-campus and in other communities -- and through access to technologies that facilitate communication and distance-learning nationwide and worldwide. Above all, we will prepare our children by continuing to engage them in an intellectual, moral and ethical dialogue that underscores our recommitment to a culture of excellence, a dialogue that will take place not only in classrooms, but wherever we interact -- in hallways, dormitories and dining rooms, on athletic fields, and in offices and chapels. By this way, indeed, our goal is nothing less than excellence in every aspect of our life -- a level of excellence that will establish Africa as one of the best multi racial continent in the world.
To do so, we should dedicate ourselves to "affirming excellence at Africans" -- to a recommitment to excellence in scholarship, leadership and services. I am as supremely confident that Africa can meet this challenge as I am keenly aware that leading this remarkable continent in this time of unparalleled opportunity is an enormous challenge for all the leaders of Africa and the greatest of their careers.
It is a challenge to which I rise as a young educator, as an alumnus of Harvard, and, now, as founding member and Executive Director of African Hope International. Yet, obviously, it is a challenge I cannot meet alone. Therefore, let us join together as members of the African family, as friends and supporters of the continent, as representatives of higher educational community -- with the zeal that has sustained that continent in the past -- to embrace the challenge of propelling Africa into the future.
Let us ensure that the United Nation, as well as other institutions throughout this great land, always will be, as Dr. DuBois suggested, "the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which forms the secret of civilization" -- indeed, the human civilization for which we seek to light the way as "candles in the dark continent of Africa." ladies and gentlemen, Africa need a change and such changes requires young men of an insight, brilliant intellects and dashing courage to help that continent. The idea of writing my book was born out of this aspiration.
I talked about these priorities in the context of some of the challenges we face as African/Americans of higher aspiration for development: the cultural challenge to identify and embrace global opportunities, even as we maintain our unique traditions; the moral and ethical educational challenge to cultivate in all the members of this continent character built on a moral and spiritual awareness and appreciation of others; the intellectual challenge to prepare our young generations for cutting-edge disciplines and careers; and the leadership challenge to produce good citizens who will become leaders for the global metropolis of the 21st century.
This is our challenge. This is our goal. This is our commitment. May the God of no race bless the continent of Africa. I thank you all.
IVAN MELVIN ROGERS PhD (Harvard University)
COPYRHIGHTS RESERVED: SPEECH BY IVAN MELVIN ROGERS FRO THE DAY OF AFRICAN CHILD (JUNE 16, 2005)