The New York Times has a depressing story about the tense relationship between Muslim immigrants from West Africa and African-American in a poor section of the Bronx. Resentment, mistrust, post-9/11 Islamophobia and just plain ignorance, are some of the factors at the heart of the animosity between them. In some cases, the tensions have turned violent. The story is accompanied by a photo slideshow.

A new report by academics from the University of Cape Town–surprise, surprise–concludes that my hometown, “… is seen to be hostile to black people, while white people are still being appointed and promoted at rates suggesting ‘positive discrimination’.” The link is to a news story in one of the Cape Town newspapers, that includes sample statements of what respondents told the researchers.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting news piece on the growing migration by Portuguese workers to Angola. With 9.2% unemployment (that’s considered a crisis in Europe; it should also be in the third world, but it is not) back in Portugal, the domestic economy expected to shrink by 3.7% this year, and “… temporary and seasonal construction work in other European Union countries – a mainstay for Portuguese laborers – … drying up,” resulting in many workers returning home and struggling to find work, many move back to Portugal’s former colony. Why? Angola has “… emerged in recent years as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies” bolstered by oil and mining (its gross domestic product grew well over 10% annually since 2004, and topped 20% in 2007). Here’s the story: Angolan Riches Lure New Workers.

Great beats and flow from French-Senegalese rapper Abass featuring Shade.(via: Nomadic Wax)

I like the documentary film programming put out by The National Black Programming Consortium here in the US. They’re also got with programming that explore life on the continent. Some new films posted on their site worth checking out: “Burning in the Sun [Remix]” on efforts of a young Malian to bring electricity to the rural parts of his country; “Mandisa,” is a 4 minute film that follows a young, strong-willed poet from one of the black shantytowns (there are no whites in South African shantytowns unless they’re there by choice) outside Durban; and the third, “None on Record, Nick,” is a audio documentary following the transition from male to female of a young Tanzanian, who is now a student in New York City. The rest of the films can be viewed online here.

Tyler Perry, whose films is as popular with the African diaspora as Nollywood, was the focus of a contentious 60 Minutes profile. Here’s a clip.

“Rape used as a weapon in DR Congo war” (per Al Jazeera English)

This is for real: “Chadian authorities summarily expelled a Cameroonian-born journalist from the country on Wednesday, a day after he wrote an op-ed in response to a government official’s suggestion that the Nobel Peace Prize should have been awarded to Chad President Idriss Deby [whose forces are implicated in a civil war and the war in Darfur].” Source.

The documentary film, “Wole Soyinka: Child of the Forest,” directed by Akin Omotoso, will finally show here in New York City. On Friday, November 27, at 8pm. Logistics. Akin, a South African director, is the son of Kole Omotoso, the Nigerian novelist, academic and Soyinka contemporary. I remember talking to him when he was in New York City two years ago (?) filming interviews with a range of people–other Nigerian writers as well as close friends of Soyinka. [Akin, by the way, directed the underrated South African film “God is African,” a fictional tale revolving around the murder of Ken Saro Wiwa, released in 2003]

This has little to do with Africa: I don’t necessarily like everything Brooklyn group, Dirty Projectors, brings out, but I definitely feel this song, “Stillness is the Move,” (released earlier this year) as well as the video shot in Vermont. What’s with the llamas?