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The World African Diaspora Union (WADU) President Leonard Kweku Jeffries declared “African people are in a state of war.” The solution to our problem he said begins with reading and studying the work of our great scholars because our “children need to know the story” of our greatness as a people. The President was in Chicago on October 13, 2012 as part of the WADU 5th Pan African Congress anniversary tribute and to promote the union of the Diaspora with Africa.

The crowded audience in Chicago consisting of African youth and adults who came to learn from the Pan African master teacher were spellbound for about three hours as Dr. Jeffries addressed topics ranging from the African personality, heritage and history, youth empowerment, African politics, leadership and colonialism, and also on the recent global scramble for African resources in the 21st century. He concluded his address stating the significance of “the AU accepting the role of the African Diaspora in Africa’s advancement” and that “we should step into our Africaness and empower ourselves.”

Other speakers during the WADU forums were Nana Yaa Farika Berhane, Ms. Cecile ‘Efua’ Johnson and Mr. Alie Kabba. Nana Farika Berhane spoke of the importance of Africans in Illinois and across the world promoting the AU Diaspora Legacy Projects to strengthen economic trade and business relationships with Africa. Farika, a Commissioner for WADU, also represented the Rastafari and Maroons’ communities during the historic African Union South African Global African Diaspora (SAGAD) Summit in May 2012. Sister Efua Johnson, the key organizer for the WADU meetings in Chicago stated that “the experience was life changing.”

The President’s visit to Chicago coincided with the National Black Education “Save our Children” conference from October 11-13, 2012. The conference promoting the education of Black children in the was organized and convened by those like Dr. Sam Anderson, Dr, Joyce King, Dr. Wade Nobles, Ms. Susan Taylor, Dr. Conrad Worrill, Dr, Iva Caruthers, and Black educators and activists representing African communities across the USA. Some conference action plan workshops included African curriculum development, building African centered schools, the prison industrial complex, cultural education, national parent union, and mobilizing resources to positively affect the education of Black children.

Before becoming the President of WADU, Dr. Kweku Jeffries served with stalwarts of the Pan African Movement. Thus, Jeffries leadership in WADU is the continuation of the work of those like Dr. WEB Dubois, the Hon. Marcus Garvey, Dr. Cheik Anta Diop and Ambassador Dudley Thompson. As one of the founders of WADU, Dr. Jeffries inspiration to serve as a WADU leader is especially driven by his decades of work with the late Dr. John Henrik Clarke, who called for an African world community.

In 2007, he and other Pan Africanists partnered with the Pan African legend Dr. Dudley Thompson to establish WADU. The Panamanian born Jamaican leader played an important role in the liberation of both the African Diaspora and Africa, including pushing firmly for the full rights of Zimbabwe, Angola, Cuba, and South Africa. His Excellency was also a champion of the reparations movement and worked with the late President-elect MK Abiola of Nigeria, leading to the 1993 Abuja Declaration on reparations. Baba Dudley Thompson’s primary instruction to WADU leaders was to ensure that WADU establish itself with other Pan Africanists worthy of representing the African Diaspora as the sixth region of Africa. Dr. Jeffries Presidency comes after serving as the vice president since 2007. More importantly, he has been serving as a pioneering peoples’ scholar-activist on African history, culture, and heritage.

The World African Diaspora Union (WADU) is urging all Africans to promote the AU Legacy Projects during Kwanzaa by registering those of African descent to work with WADU in the rebuilding of African global communities.