Over Land, Sea, and Alps.

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I flew over the Roman Alps today and thought about my father. The Alps were the recurring theme in his writings and speeches for as long as I can remember. Never having seen these before, I pictured two or three large mountains, with valley on either side. In truth, the Alps are enormous — a tract of the largest and most imposing mountains I have ever seen, capped in bright white snow. The Alps go on as far as you can see, even in an aircraft. As we flew over the Alps, all I could hear was the echoing voice of my father, I picture his arms raised in the air, I could almost hear his voice booming, chanting the words of Hannibal as he and his army came upon the imposing Alps on their way to storm the gates of Rome, “FORWARD MARCH! WE SEE NO ALPS!” And suddenly, the phrase that represented my father’s landmark African-African American Summits took on a whole new meaning for me.

I realized that for my father, Hannibal’s storming the gates of Rome through the mighty mountainous Alps represented the penultimate example of victory against all odds, of proving your doubters wrong, of the triumph of faith and will, of the awesome power of God.

I get it now.

From his poverty-stricken childhood in Charleston, West Virginia, Leon Sullivan was a study in flawed delivery of low expectations. Born in a dirt alley, to a 15 year old single mother, growing to a staggering 6 feet at the age of twelve, finally leveling off to 6 feet, 6 and 3/4 inches at the tender age of 14, Sullivan was cruelly nicknamed “Geese” by neighborhood kids — a name that caused him to bristle even as an adult. He was raised by two strong women — his mother, Helen, and his illiterate Grandmother, Caroline. His Grandmother derived tremendous strength from her religious faith and ensured that such faith was also central in the life of her only Grandson. Leon was a child who found purpose and direction from within himself. He had a powerful ability to leverage low expectations to set his sights on achieving great and seemingly impossible tasks — like crossing the mighty Alps on foot.

As a grown man, Sullivan brought unfiltered courage and passion to his work.

As a child, Leon Sullivan could have let the conditions of his birth shape his self perception in a negative way, similarly, there are so many children living in less than ideal circumstances who might believe they have less to offer the world than someone else. Sullivan believed that Americans of African descent - the progeny of the slave trade and the horrific hell-like ocean journeys representing the Triangular Trade and the Middle Passage — represent a class of people who after generations of misinformation about their heritage and mis-education about their history, may suffer from an epidemic of arrested confidence as a race.

Sullivan believed that it is precisely this distorted image of Africa shaped by the American and European societies that ultimately shaped the way her descendents viewed themselves. This situation in turn shaped:

• our communities, and then
• our family structures, and so
• the way our men and our women relate to each other and
• the choices we make relating to the food we choose to eat and the decisions we make as it relates to our health and ultimately – the way in which we take care of each other, or, don’t…

And so, one by one, at the Africa Policy Forum we are going to address and tackle those issues. The first ever Africa Policy Forum will be held from September 22 - 25, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia.

We know that we are living in a time when technology and the dissemination of information are developing at lightning speed. The Africa Policy Forum will gather leaders of nations, students from Universities, Africanists, celebrities, mothers, fathers, daughters and sons, in the city where the civil rights movement took hold of a nation’s consciousness and conscience.

It is in this setting where we will set out to provide a Think Tank for the growing African Diaspora, collecting and disseminating powerful and uplifting truths of a scattered people, of a Continent full of promise and yet beset by broken promises. Africa is truly the last frontier, after being the first, with a future whose possibilities are incalculable…

And so as I fly over the mighty Alps, my eagerness and excitement in planning the first Africa Policy Forum seem to ebb a little bit… because I vividly remember the days, weeks, months, and years of watching my father beat a path in the dark through heavy and thorny brushes of bias and ignorance… I often wondered why he chose such a complicated life. It was not until the end (of his days with us) when I truly understood that the life he led was not by choice, it was by calling. Now, so many years later, not only do I know where the path my beloved father put us all on will lead, I finally have seen where it all began. And more and more, I understand why my father kept returning again and again to the vision of Hannibal crossing the mighty Alps to victory and freedom. It was for him, the allegory of his people – the triumph of the will and of God’s enduring Grace.

Join us in Atlanta for the Africa Policy Forum as we continue on the road to build the bridge Leon Sullivan began, across land, sea, and mountain.