Governance

Chika Onyeani
Board Member

According to a citation from Dean Burney J. Hollis of Morgan State University, awarding him the Distinguished Achievement Award in 2000, Dr. Chika Onyeani was described as “’A Man for All Seasons.’ An International diplomat, a pace-setting journalist, and a distinguished author, for over three decades he has been both pioneer and path-finder, beacon and trail-blazer, commander and mighty warrior. From his current post as Editor-in-Chief of the African Sun Times and his various stations in the world-wide Pan-African Movement, Dr. Onyeani has achieved singularity and honor as one of Africa’s foremost statesmen.

“...He has been a courageous and forthright advocate of excellence and achievement for peoples of African descent around the world, and he issued this year a stentorian call for Black people to rise above being dependent and complacent consumers and become independent, reformed producers - of culture, language, food, clothing, values and economies. In his landmark publication - ‘Capitalist Nigger: The Road to Success’ - he issues an angry, but compassionate, cry for Black people around the world ... to wake up to the reality of their own enormous potential and become economic warriors in the world. He has penned an historic and ground-breaking economic, political and cultural treatise ....that according to one critic, is the ‘definitive book on the Black race that every Black person would like to have written, but didn’t have the courage [to write.]’”

“This morning Morgan State University adds its name to those around the world who have recognized and praised the good work and the visionary leadership of this ‘ Man for All Seasons.’” - Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland, Bill of Rights/TransAfrica Convocation (Dr. Chika Onyeani was the Keynote Speaker), December 7, 2000.

The Organization of African Unity, now the African Union, described Dr. Onyeani “as a highly-regarded Pan-Africanist,” who has “certainly used the pages of the African Sun Times to advance and champion Africa’s agenda in the United States,” OAU, June 8, 2001.

Chika Onyeani is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Africa’s No.1 newspaper in America, the African Sun Times, which he started publishing in 1999. It is the only African newspaper on newsstands in the U.S., and which has been acclaimed by the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union) as “the champion of the African agenda in America.” He is the host of the only commercial radio program in English in America, “StraightTalk with Chika Onyeani on the AllAfricaRadio,” on WPAT 930 AM every Friday evening in New York, which is listened to by more than 60% of the over 600,000 Africans living in the tri-state area, as well as all around the world by millions of people with internet connections.

In 2005, Onyeani was one of only six experts invited by the African Union to Cairo, Egypt, to discuss the formation and launching of the Pan-African Television and Radio Channel. All expenses were paid for by the African Union. In 2002, Onyeani led the Black Press to the launching of the African Union in Durban, South Africa. In 2001, the then Organization of African Unity invited Onyeani to the Heads of State Summit in Abuja, Nigeria, which finally acknowledged the HIV/AIDs pandemic.

Onyeani, who has been interviewed on more than 200 radio stations across the country, has also appeared on NBC-TV, ABC-TV, WOR-TV, CNN, Radio France International, and numerous times on Voice of America and the BBC, is recognized as the Dean of the African media in America, and was named by the New York Times as a “Fellow of the New York Times Institute of Journalists” in 2005. He has been profiled in more than 100 newspapers and magazines, the last one being a full-page article and photograph of Onyeani in the New York Daily News of November 13, 2008. Just last Tuesday, April 7, 2009, Onyeani was interviewed for one hour on the Joey Reynolds Talk Radio on WOR 710 AM radio, which is one of the largest radio stations in the US, and syndicated throughout the country. Voice of America’s television Focus on Africa interviewed Onyeani on May 11, 2009 for its continental wide broadcast.

A former diplomat, Onyeani is the author of the explosive and internationally acclaimed No.1 bestselling book, “Capitalist Nigger: The Road to Success – A Spider Web Doctrine,” which stayed on the No.1 bestseller list for 7 months, as well as a blockbuster novel, “The Broederbond Conspiracy. The first of Onyeani’s African Folk Tales series, “Odum The Lion,” was published in March, 2009.

Onyeani has received more than 65 awards, including twice being appointed “Goodwill Ambassador” for the State of Tennessee, as well as being presented with the Key to the City of Nashville. One of the greatest honors accorded Onyeani was as a recipient of the February 22, 2004 Black Heritage Humanitarian Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), New York. In May 2008, during its 33rd Congress in Tanzania, Onyeani received Africa Travel Association’s “Outstanding Achievement in the Promotion of Responsible Tourism to the Continent” award.

Onyeani is on the board of directors of many African Diasporan organizations, including being the founder and chairman of the Celebrate Africa Foundation.

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