GPPR Podcast Editor Mike Saunders (MPM’ 24) spoke with Melvin Foote, the Founder and President of the Constituency For Africa (CFA), about The United States’ policy towards Africa. In this podcast, Mr Foote highlights the dynamics behind shaping foreign policy and the importance of the youth for building a brighter future.
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[Intro]
Mike Saunders:
So today we’ve got Mr Melvin Foote with us. He’s the president of the constituency for Africa. I first met Mr. Foote when he gave a wonderful discussion at the, uh, Africa Policy Students Association. And I remember when I reached out to you to sort of schedule this interview, you mentioned that you were going on a very, or you had just returned from rather, a very, very intense trip to Ghana. Would you mind telling me a little bit about that?
Melvin Foote:
Yeah, that was a trip to, uh, to Mali, to Bamako, and, uh, I just got back about two weeks ago. It was a trade mission, and of course, uh, Mali is one of the countries in the Sahel that have experienced a coup d’etat in recent years, and, uh, the U. S. has a tense relationship with the Sahel. Part of it was, uh, these countries in the Sahel were colonized by France, and, uh, they were brutally colonized. And even to this day, France has been ripping these countries off, you know, taking their natural resources, giving them very little, very little development in the country. And so these countries, Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, now Gabon, these countries have got fed up with the French. And they basically said the young people are saying no more. So the U. S. response seemed to be more in line with supporting their French ally as opposed to supporting the people of the Sahel. And so that’s really where we are. So the U. S. has taken a hard line. Whenever they do these things, they come up with a policy directive. Basically, we’re going to withdraw all US aid. We’re going to withdraw US military support. We’re going to do this. We’re going to do that. And it comes across as lecturing and that kind of thing. And these countries are no longer responding to that either. So when this trip came up, I was asked to go, I have a Malian friend who runs a diaspora or association of Malians up in Philadelphia. She’s based in Philadelphia. She’s been coming to CFA activities for the last several years. She’d come to some of our meetings here in Washington. She said, look, I want to put together a trade mission to Mali. Uh, all that the US government is saying about Mali is wrong. Um, it’s not, uh, you know, it’s not insecure and terrorists are not taking over everything. Sure. They got a Russian presence and, you know, they kicked out the French and accepted the Russians security in the North. There’s a lot of issues, but the Malian people by and large don’t hate America. They love America. And they want America to be engaged, but they want us to be engaged in a pragmatic and realistic fashion. So that’s really the situation that I went to Mali on, you know, I got there. I didn’t know really what the, it was a delegation of about 12 people and I was heading the delegation. And so I didn’t know fully. I’ve been to Mali once before, about maybe 12, 15 years ago. Uh, you know, I enjoyed it back then, you know, Malian people are very nice. You know, the first thing that hits you is that they’re very nice people. They’re very culturally, uh, dynamic. Their music is great, you know. There’s nothing not to like about Bamako. Now, the security challenges are in the north. And, uh, part of that is because when the U. S. pulled out of, uh, was fighting, uh, the war on terror, In the Middle East, we actually took out Muammar Gaddafi.Everybody knows it. And we took him out, but we did not secure the weapons. He had a major military force, and those weapons fell in the hands of terrorists. And the terrorists were not going to attack the U. S. in Baghdad or Syria. They weren’t going to fight the U. S. there, but they ended up taking those weapons south across the Sahara and wreaked hell upon the, you know, these countries.
So the US, you know, refused to help and yet we created the problem in the first place, right? So that’s where we are today. So I went, I found the country was fantastic. It was a fantastic visit. Uh, we were hosted by the US ambassador there, uh, who’s a friend, you know, I’d known her for a long time since she got out there. We met with the prime minister of Mali, you know, we had dinner with the prime minister and we met with all kinds of entrepreneurs who want to do business in America. They want America to help in a lot of different areas, agriculture, tourism, you know, technology. Uh, they want all kinds of things that the U S could be doing business with. But we got this political directive coming from our state department that scares people off. You know, you don’t even want to go because you’re scared. How many people told me before going, Oh, be careful. Oh, there’s that and the other. I told them out there, the only security challenge I’ve seen was that they had these motorcycles all over the place, these motorbikes. That’s how you get around in, uh, in Mali. And, um, you know, they’re kind of like taxis and all that. Zillion of them going, zoop, zoop, zoop. That’s the only, only security challenge I’ve seen in the country. And so, uh, we did a report, I certainly, uh, got it to the State Department, the White House, all of the political apparatus, and we actually are changing the policy. We’re seeing signs, even though somebody told me today they looked at the website, and now they’re talking about people to people dialogue. That’s what we advocated. So I’m happy about that, but, uh, the U. S. must change its attitude toward Africa if we are to have a relationship with Africa that we all want.
Saunders:
You took this trip to Mali and I, and I wanted to really highlight something that, uh, I found really interesting. In, in the, uh, in the press release you’d put out some of the ministries that you had met with and, and interfaced with when you arrived. Uh, agriculture, trade and commerce. Youth, youth and sports, uh, education. Women, family, and children. Now, my immediate thought was, this was not an accident. These were very, very intentional sort of delegations that you wanted to meet with. So tell me a little bit about the rhyme and reason that um, that it was these ministries in particular.
Foote:
Well, the delegation were put together by two different sources. One is, her name is Mama Troiré, uh, and she’s like I said, based in Philadelphia, but she’s eight months pregnant, right? She’s eight months pregnant, so she couldn’t travel, actually. So she called me up. She wanted me to identify some people in my network who could go, you know. So I would say half of the people were people that she selected, uh, as she went about recruiting for the trade mission. And the other half were people that I provided. So it was quite interesting. It was 12 people. Uh, 11 of them were black. One was a white guy. Half of them were, uh, Malians, you know, in the diaspora. But there also was a Nigerian who came over from, uh, uh, Nigeria, who she had met in, you know, in another conference, and she invited him to come over. We had one black woman from London. You know, she runs an environmental sanitation project. Um, I invited a good friend of mine who’s a Ugandan who lives in Ottawa, Canada, and she heads up the Canadian Africa trade desk. She was great. So it was African American, African immigrant. We had the one white guy who, uh, you know, it was mama’s, uh, you know, he was very Skilled in Africa and trade and that kind of thing, but it was by and large an African diaspora, uh, delegation.
Interesting. Interesting. You know, sort of one thing that I’ve noticed that I also noticed when looking at the constituency for Africa website and, you know, and even listening to the talk that you were given. You place a very, very high emphasis on the youth. One theme that one could hear throughout your talks was that the youth need to step up on that. You know, you emphasize how young, um, how young a content that Africa is in general, and how much opportunity is present in this. Can you tell me a little bit about your stance on youth and sort of where you see things going? What sort of investment do you see?
Well, we have one young guy who the Liberian American, who works with the Africa Town Project in Philadelphia. It’s a multi million dollar effort that’s underway to establish Africa Town in Philadelphia. And he’s one of the officers working on it. Now, I would say he’s in his, uh, 20s, you know, maybe late 20s, hip hop, all that. But, uh, you know, the guy, uh, that’s my first time really meeting him. He, I had met him at some of the forums up in Philadelphia, but I never really sat down with him. And, you know, I spent time with him, but this guy was dynamic, you know, very dynamic, very, uh, next generation, uh, uh, everything he talked about was really, you know, it’s the future, not the past. And one night I was asked to come down. I had a package. Somebody has sent a package to me. So the front desk called me, said, you got a package here. So I went downstairs to get my package and I heard music coming out of the bar. So I stuck my head into the bar. He was up there on the stage rapping, you know, he was a rapper.
The guy was good. Uh, so it was kind of like a mind boggling, but when you looked at the composition of it, you really saw the whole spectrum. Uh, and you know, he clearly had things to say in the conference. But he was respectful of his elders and all that, but he had, you know, there’s several times I, you know, I paused to ask him a question or to get his perspective. Uh, the thing that really strikes me, uh, in fact, uh, uh, a couple of days ago, I was over at Howard University. I had a, uh, a graduate class, international affair and African affairs. And Ambassador Johnny Carson was the featured speaker. I spoke over there last month. I was a featured speaker. So I went back and it was great. You know, now these are all graduate students and they were happy that I came. After after giving my speech, and they knew I went to Mali. So there was a lot of excitement about that. But at the same time, you clearly see that we’re talking now. They see me as a mentor or someone who they can really ask question. Many of them wanted to set up a time. That I could really either meet with them separately or to talk about the things that they want to do and just to get my opinion about stuff.
And I’m, you know, I feel good about that. I think that’s really where I need to spend more of my time. Uh, as I start to wind down my career, I need to spend more of my time with those who are stepping up, you know.
Saunders:
I definitely agree with that. I definitely agree. And I can definitely, I definitely understand your perspective on that. Now, one other thing that I find very interesting about you, about your organization, you used the word earlier, “pragmatic”. Uh, you’re not somebody who I perceived as taking an inherently hostile posture as in terms of interacting or interfacing with the U. S. in general, but you are somebody who’s, you’re not really, you’re not afraid to, to call out what you see as, as bad actions, as bad policy. You’re not afraid to point out when something, um, when, when the natures of certain relationships are unproductive. Tell me a little bit about, um, you know, sort of what drives that pragmatic, Stamps into, uh, into, into attracting, investment in, you know, sort of improving the condition in Africa. And especially tell me about, the Ronald H. Brown African affairs series. I believe that happens with the congressional black caucus. Again, just another example of interfacing with official channels and doing these in a straightforward and matter of fact.
Foote:
Yeah, well, the reality is, uh, I’ve been working on Africa for over 50 years now, you know, and, um. You’ll be hard pressed to find somebody else who could tell you that, you know, um, you know, so I started out as a 22 year old Peace Corps volunteer, and I’ve been working on Africa every since, right? Um, and so, uh, and I’ve worked at various, uh, levels. In Africa, Peace Corps at the community level, I worked with AFRICARE for many years, directing their constituency development program, which evolved into CFA. So, one way or another, I’ve been working on Africa all these years. I worked with all kinds of administrations. I worked with George W. Bush. I worked with Bill Clinton. Barack Obama. Uh, I tried to work with Trump even, you know, they asked me for some things and they didn’t fulfill them, but I tried. I mean, I’m not partisan. It ain’t like I’m trying to pick sides or whatever. Both sides need to do better. I’ve also, uh, you know, my work it self evolved. When I came to Washington in 84, uh, there were several black organizations that were major. That we’re working on Africa, Africa was the big, uh, with a big kahuna. The organization I work with that does rural development in Africa. They build wealth. Most of the Africa staff were former Peace Corps volunteers. If they didn’t know practically how to improve the quality of life in Africa. Um, but there was also trans Africa, which Randall Robinson, trans-Africa was the lobby organization that got Nelson Mandela free from prison. They were very much working on U. S. policy. They were more left sort of leaning than right leaning, but their whole mission was to get the Congressional Black Caucus and others to press for political change U. S. policy toward Africa. Leon Sullivan. You know, the who came up with the Solomon principles as a way for Americans to engage in South Africa.Um, uh, Sullivan was, uh, uh, absolutely dynamic force. He was a pastor. He was a corporate person. He had a tremendous charisma and very dynamic. Now, none of these types of people exist today. None of these types of organizations exist today. So all of the black organizations, you had the National Council of Negro Women, where Dorothy Height You had Africa Action, you had Washington Office on Africa, all of these groups, uh, none of these groups exist today. The only one remaining is CFA. And, um, so you ask yourself why? Now, these organizations were multimillion dollar in stature. Africare had an annual budget of 70 million dollars. Uh, you know, Sullivan, you know, uh, big resources. TransAfrica wasn’t that big financially, not as big as AFRICARE, because AFRICARE was doing development assistance, and it got money from USAID and other sources. But, um, CFA has always been small, uh, underfunded, totally underfunded for what we do. And I think, uh, it remains the only one of these organizations that remains. I think it was intentional to, uh, eliminate these black organizations that worked on Africa, because they felt that our, our, Uh, our, uh, our voices were outsized.In other words, we could shape U. S. policy toward Africa, and they thought that would hurt U. S. trade with Africa and some other stuff. So, at the end of the day, they made sure these organizations did not sustain themselves beyond the leader. You know, some of that we should have thought through it and forced ourselves to make sure we have transitioned.
Saunders:
Speaking of shaping U. S. policy, you do have two major pieces of policy or legislative victory here. If you talk a little bit about the African, the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
Foote:
When I came to Washington in 84, the U. S. policy toward Africa was largely food relief, you know, starving people in Biafra, so we dropped food out of planes. When you talk about how U. S. was engaged in Africa, it was largely as, oh, feed the hungry. That was it. So several of the African ambassadors and others kind of came and said, we want a different policy toward Africa. We want a policy based on trade and not aid, you know, uh, the primary purpose of the policy should be doing business. Uh, there was a, a guy who was a, a black guy who was chief of staff for Congressman Jim McDermott named Mike Williams. Uh, and then there was a, uh, I don’t know if you know Rosa Whitaker, Rosa from Washington, and, uh, Rosa now lived in Ghana. But, uh, Rosa was then working for Congressman Charlie Wrangle. And Mike was with Jim McDermott, and they wrote a piece that they wrote the legislation to Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. And they came to me because they wanted to get grassroot support for it. In other words, if we’re going to change how the US is looking at Africa, we got to do, we got to get grassroot support. So I immediately embraced it. Uh, several of the African ambassadors then, uh, took the lead. Ambassador Senegal and Ambassador Uganda were the heads among the African Corps.
I ended up designing and structuring. Something like 50 town meetings on Africa around the United States, and I would use African ambassadors and speakers and experts on trade like Mike and Rosa and others, but I did them in places like we did it in Little Rock, Arkansas, where Hillary Clinton was in Uganda, you know, and so we had a town meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas. Well, you know, the whole media, everybody was Was focused on that, because, you know, Americans by and large are uneducated, undereducated, and miseducated about Africa. So here we go, holding this meeting at a local, you know, a local level. And, uh, you know, the first ladies in Africa, you know, so that had a tremendous impact. People wrote letters. They called their member of the Congress, we went to all of the districts, uh, where congressional black caucus members were. And we got those members to host a meeting that, you know, they were happy to do it. But we brought Africa to the people and encouraged them to support the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act.
Uh, so that’s kind of how a AGOA got passed. It was a grassroots effort as CFA played a critical role because we got, uh, you know, the grassroots to respond right there. Remember the Congress and say, we want support for the African growth and opportunity act. Amazing stuff. That was really when I first started learning how to lobby, you know, and the power of lobby now with, uh, uh, and Andy Young ambassador Andrew Young was my chairman. He was my first chairman of my board. And Andy was a, you know One of the biggest black people you had in the country at the time, uh, you know, he was coming, he was in the process of heading up the Olympics and, uh, the Olympics and, uh, when he agreed to become the chairman of CFA and, uh, and he was a superhuman being, uh, he was followed by, uh, uh, David Dinkins, who was then the former mayor of New York and David, uh, uh, Dinkins was great. And he also, uh, Pushed, uh, for the Africa growth and opportunity act. And, um, you know, he went with me around the country and, uh, uses went to South Africa, did all kinds of things, a promotion of AGOA. Then my third chair was a congressman, Ron Dellums out of California. And Ron was a absolutely dynamic human being.
But after he left Congress, he went to South Africa, just in the middle of the AIDS pandemic. He got briefed on it and whatnot. He came back and his term for taking over the chairmanship of CFA was that we shift our focus from AGOA to HIV AIDS and, uh, uh, you know, and do something about the AIDS pandemic. And George Bush was the president then. So we did a whole lot of things to lobby George Bush. To support a global response to the HIV AIDS pandemic, you know, I don’t know how old you are, but back then, uh, that was just the most horrifying story. We thought it was going to kill all of us, you know, and, uh, because all kinds of people were dying from AIDS, uh, the gays. Uh, you know, uh, just all kinds of people were were, you know, affected and dying from it. And the numbers in Africa were just overwhelming, but we know we didn’t even know. Again, we don’t know what’s going on in Africa, but we know a lot of people were dying. And some of these people were happy about that, you know, let them die. And then we can go and take the minerals, you know, that’s what they were thinking. So we were pressing George Bush to, uh, to launch a U. S. response. And we were pushing for 3 billion. For, uh, the AIDS pandemic, uh, Bush just before the microphone at the state of the union and where he’s laying out his priorities.
And he said 19 Billion dollars for HIV AIDS in Africa 19 Billion. It blew us away, you know, because we thought we were asking for something with the 3Billion. Now, today is World AIDS Day, and um, you know, a lot of people forgot the role the CFA played, you know, and I don’t have really the capacity or the resources to, to keep people focused, because a lot of people who were around then, Ron Dellums is dead, you know, Barbara Lee, who took over for Ron, uh, his seat in, in, in Oakland, California, but now she is kind of, you know, she’s running for Senate, but everything comes out of her mouth, you think she did it.
And she was just a bag carrier back then. She was nowhere. Ron Dellums drove that, uh, but that’s how we are. Everybody grabs what they want. Uh, so we took on, uh, the AIDS pandemic and we got them to, uh, to do it. And
we pressed, uh, you know, we supported them and we pressed for them to do more things to adjust the pandemic. Also, uh, Obama, when Obama came to power, you know, Republicans have messed up the economy when Obama came to the White House, just like they do, you know, how they do. Well, uh, you know, they have messed up the bank start crashing. Um, General Motors was about to crash. You know, uh, the economy was in doomsday, uh, mode. And they wanted to welcome to the White House Mr. Black Man. And so Obama sent, uh, one of his envoys over to see me. And he said, uh, Obama wants to help Africa, his father is a Kenyan, he wants to help Africa, but he can’t do it right now because of the U. S. economy. What do you think he can do in the first year or two to show that he cares about Africa, but don’t have him to spend a lot of money?
You know, we ain’t talking about the three billion that Bush, you know, the three billion, the 19 billion that Bush. Uh, committed. Bush also, uh, committed support 5 billion for the Millennium Challenge account, which was an innovative way to provide financing for African countries. So I wrote a paper for Obama, and I’m looking at it now. I told him, um, one, he should plan a White House conference on Africa, and that became the U. S. Africa Summit. That, uh, took place last December. Um, but, uh, you know, we were thinking something more modest at the White House where he would invite all the African leaders to the White House, and we would have a discussion on Africa. I also asked him to make a trip to Africa, which he did. Um, I asked him to, uh, uh, to engage the next generation of leaders in Africa. I told him, don’t spend his time with Mugabe. And Bia and Bashir and those old guys, uh, work on the young next generation coming up in Africa. They loved it. And that become, that became YALI, the Young African Leaders Initiative. Uh, I also asked him to set up an, uh, an African diaspora office in the White House. Well, he gave that to Hillary, uh, Clinton, who was the vice president. He gave that to Hillary. Hillary ended up, uh, didn’t understand it. So she anybody who had a diaspora, she put them in one basket. So if you’re from Sri Lanka, you’re part of the diaspora. If you put from Jamaica, you’re part of the diaspora. She didn’t even understand it. And so she ended up creating a mess. Then nothing
happened with it, you know, and so that’s what, uh, Biden picked up on, and, uh, he, uh, he launched his own committee about a month ago, uh, that was my idea, in fact, uh, I was one of the few people who were invited to the swearing in, I’m, I’m not happy with the implementation of it, Ambassador Carson doesn’t give me full credit for it happening, but you can’t tell them how to do it, you could tell them what to do, that they should do this, but then when it comes, then when they decide they’re going to do it, That’s on them, and so they end up choosing, in my mind, they chose the wrong people. I should have been on it, for sure, but I think what they wanted was people who, one, were connected to money, you know, and most of them were connected to corporations and that kind of thing, and then they wanted people who were going to be compliant, you know, who were going to say what they want to say. Um, there was a reception, uh, two nights ago for, uh, Denise Laurent, who’s a friend of mine, who they made, uh, the Executive Director of the, the Advisory Committee, the Diaspora Advisory Committee, and she’s eight months pregnant, so she’s due to give birth next month, so they rushed to have this reception for her. I couldn’t go because I was with Ambassador Carson over at Howard, but, uh, none of the, none of the 12 members were there. How could that be? You know, you show 12 people to be on this advisory committee and not one of some of them are from the Washington area. If not, you could have flew a couple of them in, you know, just to offer support. But they didn’t do it. So I can tell you how weak it is. And, uh, Biden was supposed to go to Africa this year. He promised as part of the U. S. summit, but because of the war with, uh, Israel and Hamas, he can’t travel. You know, he was going to go to the, uh, Uh, the the environmental summit in Doha, and then he was gonna go to Africa. And so that’s been postponed for this year. It is not going to happen next year because of the elections. So he’s not going. So where the diaspora committee, they both be out there screaming, you know. Mr. President, either you get to spend 10 minutes, you know, stop off and you’re going to somewhere or stop off in Senegal or something for a half hour to fulfill your promise that you went to Africa.
Saunders:
Mr. Foote, as we sort of wind down here, I have two more questions. Uh, the first one is number one, hearing that, you know, you guys requested 3
billion and ended up getting, you know, over six times that amount. How do you, how do you go about organizing a policy victory on that level? And we’ll, and we can close out there.
Foote:
Well, the how question. Uh, I made it up as I went along. You know, it’s not a book out there to tell you how to do this stuff, but I figured it out. It’s almost like playing chess. And what I figured out was in order to have a voice, you got to put it in writing. You got to put good ideas down there in writing. I’ve always operated more of a facilitator and a coordinator as opposed to being the expert. I have no real claim to be the expert or anything, but I got access to all the experts. So what I’m able to do was bring, uh, the thinkers from the diaspora together. And what we did with this policy paper that we that we gave to Biden, we had a meeting of 40 people. Some of them were on trade, some of them were on health care, some of them were on next generation, and so forth. And we ended up having to break it out in committees and actually came up with the recommendations. What we put into a very strong policy paper from CFA. And then the question become um, how do you, how do you get it implemented? And what we did, the vice president had a director for Africa, who was my good friend. In fact, her and her husband, they met in my office. That’s how they met, they got five sons. She’s now the U. S. Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire. Right? So, uh, you know, we met, uh, this was during the COVID years, and she invited me over to their house for dinner, and we talked about this paper. She said the policy is, you know, we’re going to change the policy. The Biden administration is going to have an Africa policy. Give me your recommendations. She gave me a deadline. I pulled my 40 people together, and we crafted that paper with the strong recommendations. And sure enough, uh, yeah, well, well written. I had a friend of mine out in L. A. who used to work in city government. He was a Peace Corps volunteer, too, who actually led the writing of it. Excellent job. We use technology. You know, you didn’t have to be in one room to do it. Some of us were over here. Some of us were over there, but the paper got well written. It was well received. And then when they, uh, announced the Biden announced his Africa policy before the summit, you know, you look at that and compare that to our paper. It’s almost like 80%, you know, you know, tit for tat. So I learned how to do that. We did the same thing after the trip with Mali. Uh, you know, within, within three or four days, we had our, we had our own paper. We had our report with pictures and policy recommendations. We came up with about 10 recommendations for, uh, the U. S., you know, to engage. It needs to help countries and, uh, the biggest one was, uh, you know, support people to people initiatives. If you don’t get along with that country, sure, you got your thinking about coups and all this kind of thing, but your first order of business should be some Americans should go and talk to some people from that country and, uh, and some of those people should be like our delegation. We had Malians in the delegation, Malian Americans were part of the delegation. So we go there and we’re warmly received, you know, we’re warmly received. Sure, I asked them hard questions about some things. I got opinions, how they think about it. And we compiled it, put it in the report, added our recommendation, and added a bunch of pictures, including the U. S. Ambassador in Mali. She hosted us at her, at her home for a reception with Mali entrepreneurs. And, um, so that had a profound impact. I was talking to my colleague today. She said she would, she went to the U-S-A-I-D website and the State Department website, and she couldn’t believe how they’ve already changed their tone toward these held countries and talked about people-to-people diplomacy that came directly from our paper. So if you wanna know how to do it, the, the how question is, uh, you definitely need to be, have some advice. And I think I’m an excellent person to give that kind of advice, given the fact that we’ve done what we’ve done, but there’s other people out there, too. One kind of thing, a lot of times people are scared to deal with the government, you know, they think that if they say something the government don’t like, They’re going to get blackballed, or they’re going to have a problem. That is not the case. All of those people over in the government know me, you know. When Ambassador Carson saw me at the Howard the other day, he hugged me, you know. And, uh, he, you know, if you’re in the government, you gotta, you gotta walk the line. And one of the best things I did was decide not to go into government. That was a great decision for me because if I was in the government, I would have a hard time because I can’t hold my tongue. I don’t care if you dislike it or whatever. You got to go along with the policy period. Johnny is a skilled diplomat and he’s been in the process for 30 years, 40 years or more. So he knows how to keep his mouth shut. He knows how to walk the line. I don’t, you know, but that don’t mean we can’t be friends. That don’t mean I can’t give him my recommendations. And so sometimes, you know, you can get the recommendation. YALI. Even this African Diaspora Committee, that came directly from me. It’s in my paper. Directly from us. But they don’t give me credit for it. They make it sound like Biden came up with the idea. Okay, so if you, if you want to, if you want to achieve something, sometimes you just gotta let them take the credit, you know? I give Obama credit for YALI, right? But I’m the one who gave him the idea. You know, I don’t need the credit, you know, so that’s a very important thing because a lot of time we want to take credit for everything. I did it. I did it. And if you do that, you won’t get the. You won’t get the administration to take on your idea. They got to take on that deal and act like they came up with it. They need the political benefit. Not me. So, uh, from the outside standpoint, you got to be able to do that. You got to be able to allow them the space. All I want them to do is implement the idea. That’s all I want. I don’t care if they take credit. Let them take credit. Great.
Saunders:
Mr. Melvin Foote of the Africa constituency, thank you so much for taking the time today. Do you have any last thoughts that you’d like to leave our listeners with?
Foote:
Well, I look forward to hearing your, you know, the document and uh, anything I can do to help you. Don’t hesitate to contact me.
Saunders:
Yes, sir. Mr. Foote, thank you so much. Have a great rest of your day. I would love to do this again soon, and I’m definitely going to interface more with the organization. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Happy holidays. Happy holidays to you, sir.
Established in 1995, the Georgetown Public Policy Review is the McCourt School of Public Policy’s nonpartisan, graduate student-run publication. Our mission is to provide an outlet for innovative new thinkers and established policymakers to offer perspectives on the politics and policies that shape our nation and our world.
