Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Why One Organization Dubbed the U.S.-Africa Summit the ‘Meeting of Uncle Tom and Uncle Sam’
Julie Varughese
04 Jan 2023
Why One Organization Dubbed the U.S.-Africa Summit the ‘Meeting of Uncle Tom and Uncle Sam’
U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit held Dec. 12-16 in Washington, D.C. Secretary of State Blinken, President Biden and Senegalese President and African Union Chairperson Macky Sall (Photo: The White House)

The U.S. Africa Leaders Summit held in Washington in December demonstrated the depth of U.S. disregard for African nations. The photo opportunity extravaganza proved only that the U.S. commitment to imperialist hegemony is alive and well.

Article was originally published in Toward Freedom.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—It was a meeting of Uncle Tom and Uncle Sam.

At least, that’s how African-led anti-imperialist organization Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) referred to the Biden administration’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit during a Dec. 16 press conference.

“Uncle Tom” is a euphemism for a person of African descent whose loyalty appears to be with their European-descended master. “Uncle Sam” is a nickname for the United States.

“Some people think that was somewhat harsh,” said BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka, moderating the press conference at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies. “We believe it reflects the character of that relationship. African leaders claim that they want to have respect, but it’s difficult to get respect when you allow yourself to be put in a position where you are summoned to the center of empire with a stick and a carrot.”

‘100 Million Electric Vehicles’

Some perceived a major deal that took place at the summit as an example of the subservient relationship many African countries have with the United States. On Dec. 13, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the U.S. government and the governments of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that would employ U.S. agencies’ technical assistance and financing support to mine for copper and cobalt. The goal is to help Zambia and the DRC develop an “electric vehicle value chain,” according to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The terms of the deal remain unclear.

He added the DRC possesses 70 percent of the world’s known cobalt reserves, though other sources estimate it at about 50 percent. Meanwhile, Zambia is the world’s seventh-largest copper producer, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration.

After the deal was announced, media outlets reported a Bill Gates-backed startup, KoBold, bought a $150 million stake to use artificial intelligence to search for copper in a Mingomba-based deposit owned by the Lumambe Copper Mine in Zambia.

“Converted to copper contained in electric vehicles, it’s like 100 million electric vehicles,” KoBold President Josh Goldman told the Wall Street Journal.

Blinken touted the deal as a way to combat the global climate crisis. However, the thirst for minerals to produce gadgets and electric cars has been linked to the 2019 coup of Bolivian President Evo Morales and 5.6 million Congolese dying in a war. That led the International Court of Justice to order Uganda to pay $325 million in reparations to the DRC.

As Toward Freedom reported in August:

“Non-governmental organization Global Witness reported in April that 90 percent of minerals coming out of one DRC mining area were shown to have come from mines that did not meet security and human-rights standards. Companies relying on minerals from such mines include U.S.-based Apple, Intel and Tesla.”

‘Uncle Tom Part and Parcel of U.S. Plunder of Africa’

To counter the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, various organizations pulled together events to raise public awareness. The African Peoples’ Forum held Dec. 11 in Washington, D.C., attracted a couple of hundred African-descended people for three panel discussions, two of which Toward Freedom published here and here. The Global Pan-African Congress held a “people’s intervention” on Dec. 10, while BAP organized a week of actions Dec. 12-16.

“The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit was clearly set up to obscure the real U.S. role in Africa and give legitimacy to the continuing U.S. plunder of African resources, exploitation of African people and military domination of the African continent,” said BAP Mid-Atlantic member Khari Gzifa, as he read aloud an organizational statement at the Dec. 16 press conference.

BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley defended the use of terms like “Uncle Tom” and “Uncle Sam.”

“Do not rejoice just because African leaders gather in Washington,” she said. “The U.S. cannot cover up its many crimes […] the overthrow and murder of [first Congolese Prime Minister] Patrice Lumumba, coups against [first African-born Ghanian Prime Minister] Kwame Nkrumah, the destruction of Libya, the murder of its president. You cannot cover all of that up with a few days of receptions and photo opportunities.”

Rafiki Morris, who represents the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party on BAP’s Coordinating Committee, said the summit wasn’t simply a meeting, but an indication of a partnership.

“Uncle Tom isn’t colluding with U.S. imperialism,” Morris said. “Uncle Tom is part and parcel of the U.S. plunder of Africa.”

Morris added no amount of attempting to appeal to U.S. Congressional Black Caucus members’ or African leaders’ conscience could work to transform their actions or, as he said, bring them over to “our side of the fence.”

“We now realize Uncle Tom helped build the fence.”

Julie Varughese is editor of Toward Freedom.

US Africa Summit
African Union

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Africa in Review 2022, III: Mounting Challenges Require Long Term Solutions
Abayomi Azikiwe
Africa in Review 2022, III: Mounting Challenges Require Long Term Solutions
18 January 2023
Peace accord in Ethiopia, COP27 at Sharm-el-Sheikh and the second continental public health summit portend much for the coming years.
The Imperialist Aggressiveness and the Birth of the West African Peoples Organization (WAPO)
West African Peoples Organization
The Imperialist Aggressiveness and the Birth of the West African Peoples Organization (WAPO)
04 January 2023
Anti-imperialist unity has long been sought by African people but has been thwarted by outside forces.
Africa in Review 2022: Regional Dynamics and Continental Security
Abayomi Azikiwe
Africa in Review 2022: Regional Dynamics and Continental Security
04 January 2023
The first in a three-part series analyzing African politics in 2022.
U.S.-Based Africans Organize Events to Counter Biden Administration’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit
Julie Varughese
U.S.-Based Africans Organize Events to Counter Biden Administration’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit
14 December 2022
The African diaspora gathered for events in Washington DC to counter the claims of U.S. concern for African nations before the U.S.
Invitations for a Seat at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Table Should Not Only Be Rejected, the Table Needs Turning Over!
Black Alliance For Peace
Invitations for a Seat at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Table Should Not Only Be Rejected, the Table Needs Turning Over!
14 December 2022
The 2022 U.S.
In Brussels, Pan-Africanism Faces Eurafrica
Amzat Boukhari-Yabara
In Brussels, Pan-Africanism Faces Eurafrica
24 August 2022
This article was written on the occasion of the sixth summit between the European Union and the African Union which was held in Brussels on 17
Only 4 of 55 African Leaders Attend Zelensky Call, Showing Neutrality on Ukraine and Russia
Benjamin Norton
Only 4 of 55 African Leaders Attend Zelensky Call, Showing Neutrality on Ukraine and Russia
29 June 2022
France and Germany pressured African Union leaders for months to join a brief Zoom call with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
African Union Ignores Foundational Values By Upholding Apartheid Israel’s Observer Status
Pan African Palestine Solidarity Network
African Union Ignores Foundational Values By Upholding Apartheid Israel’s Observer Status
16 February 2022
The African Union reversed its decision to suspend Israel's observer status.
The African Union, Israel and the Futility of Appeasement
Marwan Bishara
The African Union, Israel and the Futility of Appeasement
08 September 2021
The AU should be leading the fight against racism, not cozying up to racist regimes.

More Stories


  • The US Continues Escalating in Ukraine
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The US Continues Escalating in Ukraine
    01 Feb 2023
    The U.S. got more than it bargained for after instigating the Ukrainian conflict. The Biden foreign policy team grows more desperate and their plans become more dangerous as they reckon with the…
  • EXCERPT: Howard University: Every Black Thing and Its Opposite, Kwame Ture
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    EXCERPT: Howard University: Every Black Thing and Its Opposite, Kwame Ture
    01 Feb 2023
    Kwame Ture reminds us that the Black university is a place of contradictions – and a potential site of struggle.
  • Ilhan Omar Is Not Mama Africa
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Ilhan Omar Is Not Mama Africa
    01 Feb 2023
    The new Speaker of the House announced he will remove Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee. The attack from republicans has given her image a boost, but her record shows the…
  • Tennessee’s Tonton Macoute? Or, rotten Orchard called Capitalist State Machine?
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Tennessee’s Tonton Macoute? Or, rotten Orchard called Capitalist State Machine?
    01 Feb 2023
                                                                                                         Tennessee’s Tonton Macoute? Or, rotten 
  •  BAR Book Forum: J.T. Roane’s Book, “Dark Agoras”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: J.T. Roane’s Book, “Dark Agoras”
    01 Feb 2023
    This week’s featured author is J.T. Roane. His book is Dark Agoras: Insurgent Black Social Life and the Politics of Place.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us