Oakland is too "close" to Africa for my tastes.
The Africa and Africans I knew was nothing like American ghetto culture at all. Most Africans I knew had nothing but contempt for American Urban Black culture.
Wherever I went in Ghana I had an offer of a free meal and a roof over my head, no strings attached. People living in abject poverty even by Ghanaian standards would offer to share what they had.
For three years I wandered without fear, from big cities to roadless bush, including all through the coup.
Of course Africa is a big place, like 3x the size of the Lower 48, so there’s Africa and then again there’s Africa. I was in Ghana, two countries over OTOH was Nigeria……
