What is Africa to Me?

When President Carter appointed Andrew Young ambassador to the United Nations, a new era began. For the first time in this century, a key figure in the foreign-policy establishment was Afro-American, with his writ extending especially to African affairs. Young’s appointment enabled blacks, for the first time, to feel capable of tilting American power in behalf of Africa’s quest for development.

Though such policy leverage is new, the African-related concerns are not. They w...