never mind that the continent is vast, and has a range of ideas, dialects, spiritual practises, and so on.... for pratt to narrow down the few (if any) africans he knows to be representitive of the whole continent is not only ignorant, but irresponsible. there's already an unnecesary perceived division between those in the continent and those outside of it (in the states), so his comments are adding fuel to the fire.

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my commentaries on religion are not an attack on religion itself; people do need to acknowledge the history of which they follow though, regardless of the spiritual practice. there are people i have tremendous respect and love for, who are both christian and muslim.

far too many black people in the states distance themselves from the continent, because they've 'never been to africa'; however, quite a bit of what we do is a part of genetic memory. now is NOT the time for division... we need each other.

for pratt to observe those from the continent as essencially being docile is incredibly insulting to the legacies of people such as patrice lumumba and steve biko; as well as the more current activism of, say, those who were strikers at the mines...

to look only at one country in a large continent as a shining example of 'happy africans' ignores the sociopolitical inequities which exist in that country and others (due to colonialism). for instance, pratt never bothers to examine for himself why zimbabwe's economy in recent years has tanked; nor does he look at the weakened state of the ANC.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/04/gun-lobbyist-larry-pratt-u-s-blacks-need-attitude-lessons-from-happy-africans/