It is an opportunity to talk to the rest of the world about Africa, and also to talk to Africa from here (Venice). The ability to be several things at once — traditional and modern, African and global, colonized and independent — is a strong thread running through the continent and the Diaspora. We’re used to having to think about resources, about switching on a light with no guarantee of electricity. We’re able to grapple with change. That capacity to overcome, to negotiate, to navigate ones’ surroundings is going to take center stage.

There are so many dissimilarities, so many unique points of difference between this one country in Africa and the rest of the world.

Because Africans and Americans share a belief in the values of liberty and dignity, we must share in the labor of advancing those values. In a time of growing commerce across the globe, we will ensure that the nations of Africa are full partners in the trade and prosperity of the world. Against the waste and violence of civil war, we will stand together for peace. Against the merciless terrorists who threaten every nation, we will wage an unrelenting campaign of justice. Confronted with desperate hunger, we will answer with human compassion and the tools of human technology. In the face of spreading disease, we will join with you in turning the tides against AIDS in Africa.

The African diaspora is growing; I think it's exciting. I want to see how we can continue to be relevant to various African diaspora whether they're from Haiti, Ghana, Kenya or Nigeria, wherever they’re from. We need to go back to the biblical days, where the early Churches weren’t all one culture. The Church of Corinth was a mixture of many cultures, and yet Paul was able to work with them and called them to work out what it means to be the body of Christ. We have to do the same today. The African diaspora is very rich, and if we could use the cultural gifts of everyone and allow those to embellish, enrich and enliven us, man, we could set the Church on fire!

I realised that African culture was more similar to the classical cultures, than even the western ones. Many classical creative works can fit in the context of many African cultures because of their similar sociological and mythological backgrounds.

The rejection of other Africans is a self-rejection, it is a self-hatred, it's because you don't know who you are. If you know who you are you will never reject people from DRC, you will never reject people from Nigeria, you will never reject people from Ghana, you will never reject people from Zimbabwe, because if you [ap]praise your history, your are actually Zimbabwean, if you [ap]praise your history, you are actually Nigerian. That is what makes us African. That is the beauty of Africa, we share history, we share culture, and all of that. Civilization started here.

Africa is interesting. We are unique. For the fact that we’re Africans, our stories are unique. It’s our time, I believe.

the defining story of the African diaspora in the Americas is not slavery, but our resistance to it, of people determined to be free in societies that did not believe they had a right to freedom.

Now first of all I would like to talk about the question of different ideologies and social systems. We have to admit that among our Asian and African countries, we do have different ideologies and different social systems. But this does not prevent us from seeking common ground and being united.

We talk so often about the differences between people, yet here in our country we find that, in spite of circumstances which create great differences, we have certain great similarities. Rich or poor, we want our children to be well educated. Rich or poor, we want them to do better than we have done. Rich or poor, we want the respect of our neighbors and perhaps their affection. Love and death come to us all, no matter what the circumstances of our lives. In the big things that matter, the similarities are far greater than the differences. If this is true at home it is true anywhere in the world. People want the same things. They strive for the same things. They suffer from the same things. The differences are important but often superficial. The basic things are similar.

My mission is about reminding us of how much we all have in common and that the experiences and history of people of african descent in this country is not ‘African American History,’ it’s American History. The experiences African Americans have had, for example in the Great Migration is similar to those that other people have had. It’s a way to bridge the gulf in how people see themselves compared to others – which is the source of all divisions – you don’t see yourself in someone else, you have no empathy for someone else whose experience is different from yours…

We have a wide divide between classes and we have a wide divide between cultures because we’re from different tribes, we have different religions. You don’t have to walk very far to see someone who has a really different life from you...I wouldn’t want to write a novel and people feel that I’m speaking to a Nigerian experience – I’m speaking to my experience, to the things I’m interested in, and that’s all I can do.

Our common destiny, as Africans, is defined by peace, security, development and prosperity; free from poverty, disease, underdevelopment and conflicts. We want a continent whose citizens occupy a pride of place among the people of the world. We want a continent that has reclaimed its pre-eminence as a centre of technological innovation, scientific excellence and cultural advancement.

Everyone has a different experience in their various African countries and every one of those experiences is real.