The Power of Digital Media Bridging the Gap Between Africa the Diaspora
[Music]
digital media has put the power in our
hands to unite
it’s created an opportunity for africans
and the african diaspora
to connect share and build a bridge
between us now let me backtrack a bit
to 1984 when a group of popular british
artists
came together to create a song that has
forever been embedded
in the minds of people around the world
it’s created
a song that cemented the idea that
everyone
on the continent of africa is starving
to death
the song is called do they know it’s
christmas and every year we hear it
now from 1983 to 1985 ethiopia was
experiencing a severe famine
and it’s estimated that over 1.2 million
people did die
from this famine and images of starving
children
with flies in their eyes and so skinny
and emaciated
that they looked like living skeletons
became the poster child
of africa i was born in ghana
but i spent the majority of my life
living in canada
i grew up in the niagara region in the
city of st catharines
that city was not very diverse so i
usually was the only black kid in my
class
and everyone also knew that i was
originally from ghana
so any issues or conversations that came
up
about africa or about black people
everyone would just turn their head
and look at me as if i had all the
answers
for all black people around the world so
now i became the poster child
for answering to africa with all these
images of poverty
conflict war disease
all we saw was this as a narrative of
africa
and it was a time when media had
complete control over this narrative
and it’s what everybody believed and i
also ended up believing the same thing
too about africa and
they were in complete control the
control of the media had
transferred into images we saw with
non-profit organizations
charities churches people who took
missions trips
to save africans these images were
always
poverty war disease conflict now i don’t
deny that those things exist on the
continent because they do
and they exist in other places too but
it’s important to note
that this is not reflective of
everything
on the continent of africa as it was
we really had no control over our story
when the powerful media giants
were the only ones who were telling the
story
now over the last 15 years we’ve seen a
change with digital media
it’s been a force to allow us to take
control
over the narrative of africa now i want
to share a quick story with you
in 1998 my first time coming to ghana as
an adult without my parents
it was a trip that would change my
perception of ghana forever
i had experiences that i never
experienced before that became
lifetime memories now the flight i took
to ghana
stopped in amsterdam and then in lagos
so when we arrived in lagos i’ll never
forget when the the plane landed it was
like
and we were just my back was bouncing
and bouncing and bouncing i could feel
the pain
in my back and the lady beside me
was so excited she was like yes now
i know we are in africa
and she like she was just overjoyed that
we had landed
in africa and i thought to myself if
this is what the landing is like in
legos what’s it going to be like
in ghana thankfully a couple of hours
later when we got to ghana
it was a smoother landing of course
everybody clapped their hands again
for the pilot for getting us there
safely
now as i got my things from carry on got
to the staircase that goes down to the
tarmac
and i looked down and it was just like
this feeling of
just this gust of thick
hazy hot air
like an oven it was that gonna heat
that heat of ghana was my welcome to
ghana
akwa now i share this story because it’s
one that i remember quite vividly
one that i shared through storytelling
and at a time when there was no facebook
there was no twitter there was no
there was no youtube there was none of
that there were no cameras taking
pictures documenting the experience
getting off the plane
and almost nobody had a cell phone and
even if they did the cell phones didn’t
have cameras back then so there was no
documenting this experience to the world
it was just me telling my story to my
circle of friends
and family this was a time
when what we saw of africa was decided
by the media in newspapers magazines
television
and movies they shaped what we
saw on the continent and we really had
no control over
over it and the opinions that were
shared and what was being sold to us as
our narrative
it was easy to have a cultural divide
easy for africans on the continent to be
in their own world
not knowing what the world thought of
them
and easy for people in the diaspora to
be also living in their own world
in america canada the uk europe
australia wherever they are
to think africans were poor starving on
the brink of death
fighting disease because we only saw
what the media told us
as a result so many black people had
absolutely no interest to travel to an
african country
it wasn’t even seen as a place to go for
vacation or holiday
unless you were talking about going to
egypt to see the pyramids
or to south africa or kenya to go and
see the
animal safaris despite the fact that
ghana has long been known as a place
where they were into pan-africanism and
wanted to connect
our brothers and sisters in the diaspora
with the continent
since the days of president kwame
nkrumah it still wasn’t a top place for
a destination
wasn’t a place where black people were
saying you know what let me spend my
spring break going to ghana for vacation
no unless they were going for a family
visit
or they were going to do some research
or a small group of pan-africans
it just wasn’t the thing
now with digital media it’s put the
power
of telling us our story of uniting us
it’s put that power in our hands through
the sites that i mentioned earlier
facebook twitter instagram youtube
africans and people of african descent
in the diaspora
have put their voices into the
conversations and they’ve begun to
effect change in their communities and
around the world
last year during the height of the
global pandemic racial uprising
because of the killings of african
americans by law enforcement
became the catalyst to a global movement
where black people
around the world in the u.s to canada to
australia
germany the uk france and across the
continent of africa
stood together shared their stories
experiences and mobilized protests to
push for a change
against systemic racist policies
this movement was evidence of how
digital media
social media has the power to unite us
all
as one people bridging the gap between
africans
and people of african descent all over
the world
now that we have the power to change
people’s perceptions of africa
forge relationships with our brothers
and sisters around the world
and mobilize and affect in our
communities how can we continue
to do this well we can do this by being
strategic
with how we use our digital platforms
ghana zero return campaign
in 2019 is one of the biggest examples
of how
africans use social media as a tool to
connect
with the global diaspora promote tourism
and show a side of africa that people
never
imagined for those who don’t know
ghana’s year return 2019 campaign marked
the 400 year anniversary of the first
documented ship of enslaved africans to
arrive in what is now
virginia usa on august 20th 1619.
now in commemorating that the government
of ghana invited african americans
and people of the african diaspora
around the world to come to ghana come
and visit the country
experience the country’s culture the
heritage
traditions and learn its history
the campaign included events festivals
business conferences and tours and so
much more
it was kicked off in september 2018 when
the president of ghana
nanaku for made a formal announcement in
washington dc
now what exactly did the year return
teach us
about using digital media to unite the
diaspora
and change the narratives of africa
number one
aligning with high profile people
aligning with people like celebrities
business people activists athletes and
political figures
can instantly boost your content
resulting in an increased reach
to your potential audience for example
when the video about steve harvey coming
to ghana
was posted on the year of return page
instantly within a few hours it had
thousands of views
and initiated conversation from
ghanaians
to people in other parts of africa and
in the united states
wondering what’s steve harvey doing in
ghana i had people sending me messages
who’d never even thought about coming to
ghana asking me what’s going on over
there
when boris kojo and bosma saint john
brought over 100 of their friends
and celebrity friends um to ghana
that also brought up huge conversations
when people were seeing celebrities
posting about being in ghana
on social media number two
creating events and activities that
would attract people
with a common goal or vision the year
return did this very well by having
events that were endorsed and then
promoting those events
and the diaspora community was enticed
to come to ghana when they saw these
things that were going on
one of the top types of events was
afrocella which was a
cultural festival with music
performances
arts it was very creative and celebrated
african culture
and many people booked their flights
based on when
afrochella was happening number three
capturing images that are against the
norm
of traditional mainstream media now i
remember
friends in canada and in the us whenever
i would post things on facebook or on
and they would say things like your
pictures that doesn’t look like you’re
in africa
it looks like you’re you’re you’re just
hanging out here and i’m like well
what’s africa supposed to
look like then they said well not like
your pictures
and that’s because their minds have been
pre-programmed
as to what africa is supposed to look
like
so when we post images that are against
the norm
we help to change their perceptions
number four
showing aspirational stories of
inspirational people
there are a number of youtube content
creators and a lot of
travel influencers who’ve been posting a
lot of things about
people in ghana and other parts of
africa and the things they’re doing and
it’s very inspiring
and it actually gets people excited and
think wow if that person can do that in
africa i can do the same thing so when
we post these stories
and we share these things on our social
media and it attracts people in diaspora
they’re like wow
that’s in africa then the conversation
starts
so doing things like that also helps to
change the perception and start
conversation to get
us connected some of the biggest content
creators also
have shown us that these can be places
for holidays
showing holiday destinations places they
can do business
so it’s a really important thing to post
stories about inspirational
people i personally have had people
who’ve come to me and tell me that they
moved to ghana because of the content i
shared
on my social media platforms so there is
power for change through what we share
online
number five be open to create dialogue
and to listen now the year of return had
so many people making contact with their
team from around the world
who wanted to learn about ghana they
wanted to learn about the experiences
people from the us from jamaica barbados
the uk
australia canada italy suriname
the netherlands so many places around
the world
contacting ghanaian officials ghanaian
influencers wanting to know more about
ghana and so being open to these
conversations
is the first step in connecting and
creating a united force
to be reckoned with amongst all of our
people
now how can we continue to use digital
media towards a common goal knowing
these things
well it’s important to continue to
create dialogues continue
sharing your ideas creating platforms
where we can learn and exchange
ideas with each other continuing to
create content that
challenges the traditional stereotypes
of the african continent
some people will argue that it’s not
realistic to post some of those things
but is it realistic to only post the
negative that’s already been shared
for decades and decades and decades
collaborating with our brothers and
sisters around the world is very
important and we must recognize the
value
in doing this the same way that
companies do
companies are now recognizing black
digital creators
in a quest to share our stories we see
youtube black
youtube africa netflix africa
all jumping on board now if they can see
the value
in the stories we’re sharing in
collaborating
why isn’t it the time for us to see it
ourselves
don’t forget that you as an african
or as a person in the diaspora african
diaspora
a descendant of africa have the power
in your hands you have the power to
unite
and it’s as simple as using the tool you
use
every single day your phone
to make a difference because
it starts with you and it’s about
building
a legacy and legacy is built
when we can unite as one force
thank you i’m ivy prosper and i’m a
content creator
and i believe that we all have the power
to do this together