Muhammed Ali said, "I'm glad my granddaddy got on that slave boat..." after visiting Africa.
Maybe the class ought to take a field trip to some of these African nations to get an idea of what they are missing. Maybe some of them will get to Somalia and the Sudan and see that slavery is still alive and thriving.
"Michael Jackson cut short a tour of Africa back in 1992 as it quickly began turning into a public relations nightmare.
Jackson's visit to Abidjan went off without incident and he was crowned an honorary king by a tribe near the Ghanian border, but in both the Ivory Coast and Tanzania, police brutally beat thousands of fans greeting the singer's arrival.
A spokesperson for the Ivory Coast government, which had urged fans to give Jackson a warm welcome, explained that perhaps the police were a bit brutal but not with the intention on doing any harm.
There was also some unpleasant comment about Jackson's holding his nose when dashing from his plane to his limousine. As one Ivory Coast newspaper editorialized, "This voluntary mutant, neither black nor white, neither man nor woman, took it upon himself to remind us that we are impure."
Jackson's press people quickly explained his nose touching thing was simply a nervous habit.
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