The proposal calls for all African counties within the Union to use a single currency, passport, and army. Also, the most interesting notion: all 52 African countries would be under one government.

The idea of African unity was first thought of by Halie Selassie I of Ethiopia, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, and Jomo Kenatta of Kenya.

The idea was later brought to the forefront of the continent through the creation of the Organization of African Unity in 1963.

The forefathers of the OAU realized that in unity lies strength. The African Union  has two main agendas. The first is to ensure the decolonization, or political emancipation, of the African continent, and the second is to ensure the economic integration of the continent.

It is only with the achievement of both of these that one can confidently say that the dream of African unity has been realized.

The decolonization of the African continent has been achieved; what is yet to become a reality is economic integration.

But is it asking too much of all 52 countries to “get along”?  Edward Baffoe, an international student at Millersville University and Education Chairperson for the  Millersville University African Student Association, said, “Unity is inevitable.

However, unity should only happen when the relationship between African countries improve.

We have to build the structure from the ground up;  countries within Africa first must focus on domestic issues before attempting to unite the continent.

African unity is a dream worth pursuing, however, problems such as ethnicity, quest for power, amassing of wealth by corrupt leaders, diseases, ethnic conflict, manipulation of data on Africa by African leaders,  rivalry between ruling governments  and international trade conditions are likely to delay this dream. However, unite, we must!

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Hunting, by most, is known to simply be a search for food. A sport on the other hand, is a game or exercise where each participant or team competes within a set of rules to establish dominance. So, how does hunting fit in to the sport category?

The answer is that it doesn’t. Hunting is not a sport. Rather, it is a type of chase or quest or for food. There is nothing about hunting that implies any sense of the necessary competitiveness all sporting events share; nothing at all. Don’t get me wrong, hunting does require some skill.

For example, the know-how to wait for a perfect shot and endurance to brave the elements and to maintain a stealthy posture are both skills required for hunting.  However, when hunting, who is the hunter competing with? Bambi? That’s ridiculous. To imply that a human is competing with an animal is beyond funny. Animals are handicapped because of the technological advantages humans wield.

I mean which person can hunt without any tools? Even the playing field if it is sport. After all, animals don’t use any tools to escape when being chased.

Any human that prides himself/herself as being a sporty hunter while wielding a technologically advanced weapon is sad. If hunting were a sport, where then is the competitive aspect in hunting the handicapped?

Though the difficulty increases with the animal or game being hunted, humans, because of our infinite imagination and superior intellect, will always be able to adapt to any animal being hunted. This is why cavemen were able to hunt with bows, spears, and clubs. Not because the animals back then were dumber, but because humans naturally honed their hunting skills for a particular prey.

Long ago, cavemen used to wake up early in the morning to hunt. This hunting expedition would most often last for days or even longer, depending on how far they had to travel and the difficulty of game being hunted. Nowadays most hunters wake up early in the morning to drive to designated hunting grounds in hopes of nailing the ‘Big One’ just for the thrill of it.

These hunters hunt not just for food or clothing, but also for the adrenaline rush and bragging rights. Hunting these days has become a pastime. It has devolved from a survival necessity to a type of leisure activity for fathers to share with their children. Hunting will never be what it used to be.

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It was a collaborated effort among all races.

However, African-Americans, Hispanics, and all other minorities should thank white-Americans for voting a black man into office. Not as a debt paid off, but for overcoming the fear, uneasiness, and uncertainty some Caucasians faced when they contemplated voting for a minority.

Barack Obama could not have won the presidency had he not clinched the white votes. It is simple math; voters are 60 to 70 percent Caucasian and only 10 percent African American, 13 percent Hispanic, and about 12 percent of various minorities. This indicates that an evolution would have had to taken place in American society.

This evolution occurred within white Americans’ mindsets. Rarely does it occur anywhere in the world that a minority citizen is elected president by the majority vote, regardless of the system of government.

Therefore, a change must have occurred to cause Caucasians to vote overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, but not for past African Americans who ran for presidency.

Though Barack Obama did secure the most powerful job in the world, it doesn’t mean the end of racism. Obama’s win only began to turn the page. America is changing, growing up past the racism, sexism, and ageism that has crippled it for so long.

America is becoming a more inclusive society. An example of this inclusivity is in most American’s desire for the ‘American dream’.

A dream shared by every citizen and maintained as a right, by the government, for each to pursue. This dream would not have been possible without courage, defiance, and responsibility.

Though Obama’s victory does comfort people by providing a visual aid of how far America has come, it also signifies how long we have to go.

It will be a tough going because it is never an easy road. But let us all congratulate each other for making it thus far.

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