I want to be crystal clear, right from the start, I am NOT saying "Go Back to Africa."
But I remember Caucasian Celebrities as varied as Madonna (Great Britain), Michael Flatley, (Ireland), and Johnny Depp (France) leaving America once they became multi-millionaires to flee the policies of George Bush. (Depp probably wished he stayed in France.)
I can't help but think "why don't disillusioned Black celebrities invest in Kenya?"
Now first of all, why Kenya? When I think of rich African nations, I think of Kenya. I think of Kenya when it comes to the beauty of the African Continent and I think of Kenya when it comes to rich athletic tradition. Kenya just won 10 medals at last year's Summer games in Tokyo, the most of any African nation.
Just to see if my perceptions were right, I googled Richest African Nations:
#1 Nigeria - Ouch, too many problems there.
#2 Egypt - I think of Egypt as the Middle East.
#3 South Africa - Let's use the term problematic.
#4 Algeria - Okay, that's kind of a surprise.
#5 Morocco - Hmm. Really?
#6 Kenya - Alright I was close.
We should have close ties with Kenya, right? Obama's Dad is from Kenya. Did you know the fictional country of Wakanda is said to be on the Kenya/Ethiopia border?
That's a stupid analogy, you say? In 2020, R & B singer Akon had a vision of a Real-Life Wakanda and was gifted 2,000 acres in Senegal. He was trying to raise 6 Billion dollars to create the state- of-the-art Akon City. Unfortunately, Akon based the funding of his vision on cryptocurrency and that project stalled.
But instead of Akon, what if a collection of woke Black Billionaires, like Jay-Z, LeBron, and Oprah, spearheaded a campaign to create a Dubai-level project around the island of Mombasa? A Black Vegas along the Port Reitz Inlet. Mombasa is right on the shores of the Indian Ocean, far from the violence along the Northern Kenyan border with Somalia.
A generation ago, South Africa had built one of the most successful casino resorts on the African Continent under the Sun City Resorts banner.
But LeBron and his other investors wouldn't want to invest in South Africa. Seriously, the Kenyan government would love to create a Black Mecca to lure successful Blacks from around the world to their doorstep.
And not just a casino, but a technological and artistic playground, an African Années folles, if you will.
Play basketball 9 months a year, mix and mingle in the Motherland in your down time. C'mon LeBron, using a Field of Dreams analogy, if you use some of your corporate synergy and international networking, they will come.
What on Earth motivated me to write such an article? Earlier this week, James dropped this opinion about Russian Hostage Brittney Griner: "Now, how can she feel like America has her back?" James said, in the 30-second trailer released Tuesday. "I would be feeling like, 'Do I even want to go back to America?'"
James was forced to walk back those comments after taking some damage to his brand.
Listen, the story below about LeBron is the one that should stick with him for the rest of his career. In the Summer of 2010, a laundry list of Cleveland celebrities did a "Please Stay LeBron" song parody of "We Are the World." Local alternative weekly Scene reminded Clevelanders of their cringeworthy shame. Not that they loved LeBron, but because he didn't love them back.
He loves L.A.
If you go through a thousand sound bites, LeBron never says he loves Cleveland, he always says he loved Akron.
Comments