Afro-Cuban Research Institute:
Mississippi Consortium For International Development
Alcorn State University; Jackson State University; Mississippi Valley State University; and Tougaloo College

In 2007, Dr. P. Bai Akridge of the Mississippi Consortium For International Development and others presented their findings on racism in Cuba at a Howard University conference hosted by none other than Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. This conference was designed to give academic cover to a USAID project, the Afro-Cuban Research Institute, located at Jackson State University and supported by the Mississippi Consortium For International Development. The project produced a series of reports, including "Development of Cooperatives," in which they were only a few years ahead of their time as this topic has become active in Cuba. The project then disappeared leaving very few traces, though crucial witnesses can still be contacted. As is sometimes the case with USAID projects, this one was rife with distortions and corruption.

"In the early 2000's the Cuban members of Congress funded projects located at HBCU's for scholars under to contract to produce articles on racism in Cuba. Scholars visited Cuba but did no original research and largely summarized the works of scholars like myself without any of the necessary context and caveats. We were then invited to a conference at Howard University hosted by Ileana Ross-Lehtinen so they could report their "findings" on racism in Cuba and have the validation of top scholars in the field. As the conservative Miami Cubans have struggled to connect with blacks on the island they have seen talking about racism on the island as a possible entrée to Afro-Cubans." - Beyonce and Jay Z Are Race Traitors for Going to Cuba !?!? 4/15/2013 Huffington Post: by Mark Sawyer, UCLA

We can note that Mark Sawyer was a signer of the Acting on Our Conscience letter in 2009, but still found the tactics used here unacceptable.

According to Havana's Granma, one of the participants in the project was none other than Ramon Colás, the founder of the Independent Libraries who had done a stint at CANF, the mainstream Plantocracy organization, where he managed USAID funds. He had to leave CANF when an audit revealed he had been embezzling funds. His good friend at USAID, Adolfo Franco, persisted in underwriting his efforts in Mississipi, where there are faint traces of his passage before he joined the Brookings Institution as Co-Director of the Center for the Understanding of Cubans of African Descent. This story illustrates some of how USAID, NED and other parts of the government have spent many millions since the early 90's to buy up the race issue in Cuba.

Here are some data on MCID:

Mississippi Consortium For International Development
Connecticut Ave Nw 1636 #300
20009-1043 Washington
Phone 202 6676243

The Mississippi Consortium for International Development (MCID), established in 1989 and headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi, represents a collaborative endeavor of four historically Black institutions of higher learning in Mississippi: Alcorn State University; Jackson State University; Mississippi Valley State University; and Tougaloo College. Since its inception, the Consortium has rapidly gained an outstanding reputation in the management and implementation of international exchange and development training projects. Consortium objectives have been carried out through academic and technical training, technical assistance, leadership development, collaborative research, and social and cultural exchanges.

Dr. P. Bai Akridge

Dr. P. Bai Akridge is Principal Consultant and CEO for WorldWise Services, Inc.(http://www.worldwiseservices.com/1101.html) His academic credentials include a Ph.D. in Political Science and a M.A. in Public Policy Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Certificate in Business Administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. from DePauw University in Indiana.

He has experience in higher education as a professor and post-doctoral researcher, and currently serves as Adjunct Professor and Visiting Associate Research Scholar in the International Center for Transcultural Education, in the College of Education at the University of Maryland- College Park,

Bai has over sixteen years of international business experience with the IBM Corporation in the areas of e-commerce policy, government and university relations, corporate philanthropy, executive education and marketing to higher educational institutions. He has over nine years of CEO experience as founder and leader of WorldWise Services, Inc., and as Interim Executive Director of Higher Education for Development--a USAID-funded international education agency. He has studied Japanese, Spanish and KiSwahili, and has over four years of experience living abroad--working, teaching, studying and traveling in Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Selected Clients/Engagements

Afro-Cuban Research Institute/U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). www.mcid.us Selected as member of USAID-funded, multi-institutional research project affiliated with the Mississippi Consortium for International Development. Research focused on economic and workforce status, opportunities, and prospects for Afro-Cubans.

-- http://www.worldwiseservices.com/1152.html

MCID figures in a story in Cuba's Granma:

“Fundador" autoproclamado de una fantasiosa red de bibliotecas "independientes" en Cuba, [Ramon] Colas dejó en la ciudad oriental cubana de Las Tunas el recuerdo de un playboy más aficionado a los cabarets que a la lectura. En diciembre del 2001, después de haber cumplido con numerosas tareas que le asignaba la Sección de Intereses norteamericanos en La Habana, el tunero abandonó la Isla para refugiarse en Miami. Colas se sumió en la FNCA donde ocupó varios puestos de confianza, administrando fondos otorgados por la USAID y la National Endowment for Democracy. Sin embargo, tuvo que abandonar sus funciones y alejarse de esa ciudad luego de una auditoria que reveló cómo el dinero federal pasaba a su uso personal en proporciones jugosas.

Reconociendo aparentemente su talento para desviar los billetes, sus socios de la USAID le encontraron de inmediato una nueva tarea. Colas reapareció rápidamente como… funcionario del MCID, en Mississippi, bien lejos de la Florida del Sur pero bien cerca de los millones del gobierno federal. Esta vez, el polifacético estafador ostenta el título de “investigador”.

Entre los socios de Colas en Washington se encuentra nada menos que Adolfo Franco, director para América Latina y el Caribe de esa agencia federal....
-- Un peón más en el gran fraude de la USAID 12/25/2005 Granma

Adolfo Franco was Ileana Ros Lehtinen's personnel chief and later USAID's director. As AfroCubaWeb shows on Ros Lehtinen's page with several year's worth of her staff pictures, she does not seem to have any black people on her staff or as interns.

Having served its budgetary purposes, the Afro-Cuban Research Institute has disappeared with almost no traces left behind, save for the obscure archive we highlight below. Should it disappear, let AfroCubaWeb know, we have saved a copy for the record.

- Claude Betancourt, May 2015

Afro-Cuban Research Institute/U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Afro-Cuban Research Institute
Ground In Cuba Workshops Reports The Lived Experiences of Afro Cuban s in Photography Multimedia The Music of Inclusion What s New Calender of Events Photo Gallery Lived Experience of
http://www.jsums.edu/acri/gallery.html (2012-11-27)
Afro-Cuban Research Institute
s in Photography Multimedia The Music of Inclusion What s New Calender of Events Multimedia Cuban Voices Human Rights Cuban Voices Interview Series 1 Cuban Voices Family Interview Part 1 Cuban Voices Family Interview Part 1 Cuban Voices Family Interview
http://www.jsums.edu/acri/acri_media.html (2012-11-27)
Afro-Cuban Research Institute
of ACRI Staff On The Ground In Cuba Workshops Reports The Lived Experiences of Afro Cuban s in Photography Multimedia The Music of Inclusion What s New Calender of Events
http://www.jsums.edu/acri/acri_whatsnew.html (2012-11-27)
Afro-Cuban Research Institute
In Cuba Workshops Reports The Lived Experiences of Afro Cuban s in Photography Multimedia The Music of Inclusion What s New Calender of Events Links in espanol Links Center for
http://www.jsums.edu/acri/acri_links.html (2012-11-27)
Afro-Cuban Research Institute
completas de la ciudadanía y que niegan la mayoría de los cubanos oportunidades de ejercitar su potencial completo de la ciudadanía El gobierno cubano es así un gobierno injusto vacilando en el borde del dispossession del Afro Cubano y del bondage inhumano Las recepciones de ACRI investigan contribuciones y analizan constante y contrario en entero o en parte con las opiniónes la investigación y los boletines de noticias ocasionales producidos
http://www.jsums.edu/acri/espanol/ (2012-11-27)

The mission of ACRI is to generate original research and analyses, in English and Spanish, that fill a vacuum in U.S. understanding of Cuba and especially the plight of the Afro-Cuban majority. ACRI's view is that the Afro-Cuban majority lacks full citizenship opportunities and that most Cubans are denied opportunities to exercise their full citizenship potential.

The Cuban government is thus an unjust government, teetering on the brink of Afro-Cuban dispossession and inhuman bondage. ACRI welcomes research contributions and analyses consistent and inconsistent, in whole or in part, with the views, research, and occasional newsletters produced.

The goal of ACRI is thus to educate the U.S. and world public regarding the dysfunctional practices and policies of the Cuban government and its perniciously unjust and violent actions against the Afro-Cuban majority.

Activities for the next year include monthly newsletters, publications of articles, books, and student essays from Cuba along with thoughtfully produced co-sponsorship of focus groups with exiled Cuban communities throughout the world.

P. Bai Akridge

P. Bai Akridge P. Bai Akridge
Visit Sr Res Schl

Education Policy Studies

Expertise Key Words:
Building capacity of education systems in developing countries, especially Africa. Developing education partnership programs between the State of Maryland and Liberia, West Africa. Developing international education programs, including study abroad, for underrepresented populations in U.S.

Expertise Credentials:

Dr. P. Bai Akridge serves as director of the Global Diversity Leadership Institute, which oversees the Prince George's County-funded International Ambassadors Study Abroad Scholarship Program at the University of Maryland; this program provides financial support to study abroad for graduates of Prince George's County Public High Schools with demonstrated need. Dr. Akridge has been engaged in building a relationship between the College of Education and higher education institutions in Liberia, West Africa. The State of Maryland has a Sister State relationship with Liberia and Bai serves on the program's Executive Committee and as Co-Chair of its Education Sub-Committee. Since 2001 Bai has served as President of WorldWise Services, Inc., a consultancy focusing on program development and strategic planning in international education, development and policy. Clients include the U.S. State Department, American Council on Education, U.S. Agency for International Development, Inter-American Development Bank, Afro-Cuban Research Institute/Mississippi Consortium for International Development, United Negro College Fund, the School Districts of Philadelphia and Prince George's County. Prior to WorldWise, during a 17-year career Bai held several management positions with the IBM Corporation as a lobbyist in Washington, marketing planner for the higher education segment, and manager f corporate philanthropy in the Asia-Pacific region, based in Tokyo

International Program Affiliation(s):
International Center for Transcultural Education (ICTE) http://www.education.umd.edu/institutesandcenters/icte/
International Education Policy Program http://www.education.umd.edu/EDPA/areas/inted.html

Contact Information:

Email: pbai@worldwiseservices.com
Telephone (U.S.A.): 301-442-6732
Fax (U.S.A.): 301-336-1020

Mail: 930 Lake Front Drive
Mitchellville, Maryland
20721-2951
U.S.A.

301 442 6732
pbai@worldwiseservices.com

Address:
3112G Benjamin Building
College Park, MD 20742

Degrees:
Ph.D., Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1979)
M.A.P.P.A., Public Policy and Administration, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1978)
B.A., Psychology/Sociology/History, DePauw University (1974)

Publication(s):
U.S.-Africa Higher Education Partnerships: A Decade of Experience
A New Strategy for Increasing Diversity in Educatioin Abroad

international.umd.edu/directory/experts.cfm?type=cat&category_id=105&expert_id_all=107105844

MCID Personnel who worked on or in Cuba

Ramon Humberto Colás Castillo

Ms Patricia Ann Jernigan
Asst Dean/Div Interntl Studies, Dean, International Studies

Office Address:
P.O. Box 17103
Jackson, MS 39217

Office Telephone:
601 9792085
601 9792085601 9793796

E-mail:
patricia.a.jernigan@jsums.edu (Preferred)
patricia.a.jernigan@students.jsums.edu

Dr. Carrine H. Bishop (Carrine)
Associate Professor, Educational Leadership

Office Address:
P.O. Box 17175
Jackson, MS 39217

Office Telephone:
601 9792351

E-mail:
carrine.h.bishop@jsums.edu (Preferred)

Ally Mack
Executive Director
www.corpdetails.com/us-companies/Mississippi/87772-educational-services/mcid-us

James Samuel Maddirala, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President For Academic Affairs and Student Life
Jackson State University
Executive Director, Global-World HIV/AIDS Alliance (GHAA)

Links/Enlaces

Beyonce and Jay Z Are Race Traitors for Going to Cuba !?!? 4/15/2013 Huffington Post: by Mark Sawyer, UCLA - "In the early 2000's the Cuban members of Congress funded projects located at HBCU's for scholars under to contract to produce articles on racism in Cuba. Scholars visited Cuba but did no original research and largely summarized the works of scholars like myself without any of the necessary context and caveats. We were then invited to a conference at Howard University hosted by Ileana Ross-Lehtinen so they could report their "findings" on racism in Cuba and have the validation of top scholars in the field. As the conservative Miami Cubans have struggled to connect with blacks on the island they have seen talking about racism on the island as a possible entrée to Afro-Cubans."

For Her People, Jackson Free Press, 74/12

In 1968, Walker founded the Institute for the Study of the History, Life and Culture of Black People at JSU, now named the Margaret Walker Center. It is housed in Ayer Hall, the oldest building on Jackson State's campus. Dedicated to the preservation, interpretation and dissemination of African American history, the Margaret Walker Center seeks to honor her literary legacy and commitment to black studies with archival manuscripts and oral-history collections... The center engages the community through literacy projects and educational workshops and works with other JSU departments, including its partners: The Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy, The Afro-Cuban Research Institute and The Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement.

Un peón más en el gran fraude de la USAID 12/25/2005 Granma

Textbook and Learning Materials Program, Grant No.: RLA-A-00-05-0007: Quarterly Report, Zambia, 1/1/06 - 3/31/06

Contacting AfroCubaWeb

Electronic mail
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Afro-Cuban Research Institute: Mississippi Consortium For International Development Alcorn State University; Jackson State University; Mississippi Valley State University; and Tougaloo College