The highly anticipated Africa in April Cultural Awareness Festival (AIA) 2022 has in store some spectacular sights and sounds, according to directors, David and Yvonne Acey.

“This is our 35th year,” said David Acey, executive director. “We can hardly believe it has been 35 years. The time has flown by. We hit a snag in 2020 COVID-19 pandemic restrictions shut everything down.

“But all that is behind us now. This is our year of rebirth and renewal. It will be a more colorful, more joyful experience because everything is open again.”

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David Acey and Yvonne Acey have shepherded the Africa in April International Cultural Awareness Festival for 35 years, serving as ambassadors throughout the year at multiple events. (TSD Archives)

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The Aceys wanted to create a festival that would celebrate an African country each year. Not only an educational experience, but the event was designed to teach African Americans about their “countries of origin.”

The couple envisioned strengthening the bond between “us and our homeland.

“We are so thrilled about what the festival has become,” said David Acey. “People call from all over the country, and they come to Memphis from other countries — Germany, Switzerland, England. Pandemic restrictions have lifted, and this 35th festival is our renaissance, a year of renewal.”

Slated from Wednesday through Sunday, April 20-25, 2022, the 35th Africa in April Cultural Awareness Festival will honor the Republic of Malawi.

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Located in southeastern Africa, Malawi’d capital is Lilongwe, which is located Malawi’s on the Lilongwe River of the landlocked nation.

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Malawi is a country of nearly 46,000 sq. mi., with about 19.5 million in population. It has been dubbed “The Warm Heart of Africa” because of the friendliness of its people. English is the official language, although other Africa dialects are used in various regions.

Malawi is bordered by Zambia on the west, Tanzania on the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest.

“This year, we wanted to honor a country we had never honored before and one that is little known to most of us,” said Yvonne Acey, associate executive director.

“Malawi is largely under-developed, rural country that depends largely on agriculture. But the culture is rich in dance and mask-making. We hope that bringing attention to Malawi this year will help open up more economic opportunities for its people.”

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The flag of Malaŵi. Officially the Republic of Malawi, the African nation was formerly known as Nyasaland. It has an estimated population of 19,431,566 (as of January 2021). The name Malawi comes from the Maravi, an old name for the Chewa people who inhabit the area. The country is nicknamed “The Warm Heart of Africa” because of the friendliness of its people.

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David Acey said presenting the festival this year in its rightfully designated month of April is “thrilling.” Last year, COVID-19 restrictions prompted the festival’s move to August.

“Last year, we were Africa in April in August,” said David Acey. “We honored the Republic of Botswana. We decided to have the festival in 2021 because I just couldn’t cancel the festival two years in a row.

“This year, 2022, the pandemic is finally past, and everything is open again. Definitely, this is our renaissance after a very long and dark night.”

On Wednesday afternoon, the festival will kick off with the traditional International Entrepreneur’s Luncheon at the Holiday Inn-University of Memphis, 3700 Central Ave., 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Friday is “Children and Seniors Day & Parade,” which begins at 10 a.m. The parade will come down world-famous Beale Street and wind its way to the historic Robert R. Church Park at 4th and Beale Streets. Vendors and activities will be staged and situated throughout the park from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m., with emphasis on children and seniors.

Saturday in Church Park, vendors and activities will be set up from 8 a.m. until 12 midnight. Saturday is Health, Wellness & Community Day.

Sunday is International Music Day in Church Park, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. A day-long schedule of music groups and spectacles will celebrate a wide variety of music, from gospel to jazz, and everything in between. 

“As always, we invite people of every race and culture to come out and enjoy the festival,” said David Acey.

“Each year, there are unique experiences in store for those who attend. We expect this 35th festival to be extra special. All are welcome.”

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• About 4.6 million, or one in 10, Black people living in American are immigrants, according to a January report from Pew Research Center.
• Although they are only 7% of the non-citizen population, Black immigrants make up 20% of deportations on criminal grounds, according to a 2018 Black Alliance for Just Immigration report.

When the Lyoya family arrived in the United States in 2014 after facing years of war and persecution in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the refugees thought they had finally made it.

They were living in Malawi when they won asylum to live in the U.S., part of a growing number of refugees from Congo in Michigan.

“They told us that in America, there’s peace, there’s safety, you’re not going to see killing anymore, that it was basically a safe haven,” Dorcas Lyoya said in Congolese during an interview with the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, through a translator. 

But last week, her first-born son, Patrick Lyoya, was fatally shot in the back of the head by a police officer after a struggle, an incident that has outraged civil rights advocates and led to protests in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

WHAT WE KNOW:Patrick Lyoya killed after struggle with officer during Grand Rapids traffic stop

Lyoya’s death and others like it can rattle the sense of security of Black immigrants and refugees who came to the U.S. to escape violence only to find themselves vulnerable to the same brutality and racism African Americans encounter from police as well as the additional specter of federal immigration authorities, immigration advocates told USA TODAY.

“It’s shocking to Black migrants who have this vision of the United States as the land of the free and the home of the brave,” said Nana Gyamfi, executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. “There’s a notion that police here are going to be different.”

Patrick Lyoya’s death brings fear in growing Black immigrant community

About 4.6 million, or one in 10, Black people living in American are immigrants and that number is projected to double by 2060, according to a January report from Pew Research Center. The Black immigrant population is racially and ethnically diverse, but in the last decade Africans have become one of the fastest growing segments through refugee admissions and the diversity visa lottery program, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

Although refugee admissions hit a record low in 2021, over the past two fiscal years people from the Congo became the the largest group of refugees to settle in Michigan, according to data from the U.S. State Department. 

Grand Rapids is home to the largest Congolese refugee population in the state thanks to employment opportunities as well as family and social connections like churches, said Chris Cavanaugh, director of Samaritas’ New American Resettlement program in West Michigan.

‘OUR COMMUNITY DESERVES ANSWERS’:Michigan police release video of fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya after traffic stop in Grand Rapids

Samaritas helps refugees meet many of their immediate needs and offers a cultural orientation on what it means to live life in America, he said. But they didn’t talk much about the racial implications of being Black in America until George Floyd’s murder sparked a nationwide racial justice protest movement in 2020, which Cavanaugh said a number of Congolese refugees joined.

In the wake of Lyoya’s death, Cavanaugh said Samaritas is hoping to support refugee communities by providing resources to help them access services in their native language including during interactions with law enforcement.

“Certainly the Congolese community is feeling some fear, kind of scared over what happened and I would say rightfully so,” Cavanaugh said. “Those maybe who have much less English skills are just more apprehensive about getting pulled over or how they’re supposed to respond in certain situations.”

A history of violence, from Amadou Diallo in 1999 to Botham Jean in 2018

Many Black immigrants and refugees are surprised when they encounter violence from both police and immigration officials, said Gyamfi.

“We have to deal with the violence that police inflict on us because we’re Black,” Gyamfi said. “And then the additional violence that then often is inflicted on us by ICE in this immigration enforcement system because of our migrant status.”

But Black migrants have long been subjected to the same racism and brutality that disproportionately affects Black Americans.

‘I’M LEAVING, AND I’M JUST NOT COMING BACK’:Fed up with racism, Black Americans head overseas

Protests broke out for several weeks in 1999 after Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo was killed by four white police officers in New York City who said they thought his wallet was a gun. All four officers were acquitted of second-degree murder charges. That same year Patrick Dorismond, a 26-year-old Haitian American, was killed by police sparking another wave of protests in New York. 

In 2016, prosecutors declined to charge a suburban San Diego police officer for fatally shooting 38-year-old Alfred Olango, who arrived in the United States as a refugee from Uganda in 1991. Then, Amber Guyger, a former Dallas police officer, was convicted of murder for the 2018 killing of Botham Jean, a native of the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. 

‘Double-barreled racism’ embedded in immigration laws, law enforcement

Black immigrants are also disproportionately detained and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Bill Ong Hing, a law and migration studies professor at the University of San Francisco.

“Embedded in the immigration laws are these anti-Black aspects beginning with the visa system,” Hing said. “They face this double-barreled racism when it comes to law enforcement.”

Although they are only 7% of the non-citizen population, Black immigrants make up 20% of those deported on criminal grounds, according to a 2018 report from the Black Alliance for Just Immigration.

Even minor offenses can trigger deportation proceedings, which can make common interactions with police like traffic stops more tense. Black drivers in Michigan are more likely to be pulled over, searched and arrested by troopers, a study of 2020 traffic stops found.

OPINION:Police should stop making minor traffic stops that too often turn into major tragedies

“The way that most Black migrants end up getting deported is through contact with the police,” Gyamfi said. “There is an awareness that this can happen and there is a lot of anxiety around any type of police contact.”

Hing, founder of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said more immigration advocacy organizations began paying attention to this issue in the wake of Floyd’s death. Personal experiences of racism and high-profile cases like Lyoya’s have also started to shift the way Black migrants view themselves.

“They may start out seeing themselves as different from African Americans, but realize that the mainstream, including the police, treat them like any other Black person which is not good,” he said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Contact Breaking News Reporter N’dea Yancey-Bragg at nyanceybra@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @NdeaYanceyBragg

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