Virginia Senate approves bill to establish African Diaspora board

Sen. Jennifer McClellan’s bill that would establish the Virginia African Diaspora Advisory Board passed the Senate 40-0  and now awaits a House vote.

According to the bill, SB491, the board would advise the governor on ways to improve cultural and economic links between Virginia and African countries.

“It focuses mainly on commerce and trade, agriculture, art and education and government,” McClellan, D-Henrico, said in a Jan. 26 meeting with the General Laws and Technology Committee.

The board would be made up of 21 members, 18 of which are Virginian, non-legislative members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the General Assembly. At least 15 of the appointees would identify as part of the African diaspora.

“The African Diaspora is the voluntary and involuntary movement of Africans and their descendants to various parts of the world during the modern and pre-modern periods,” according to the DePaul University Center for Black Diaspora website.

The Secretaries of Agriculture and Forestry, Commerce and Trade, and Education, or their designees would also serve as ex officio members.

Each non-legislative member would serve four-year terms, although they would not be able to serve more than two consecutively. The secretaries or their designees would serve terms concurrent with their terms of office.

The board would be able to carry out studies, sponsor symposiums, conduct research and gather information and data about the issues of concern and importance to the African diaspora community in Virginia.

There are 115,000 members of the African diaspora that live in Virginia, not including their children or grandchildren who would also benefit from the bill’s passing, Chinyere Ukoh, the daughter of Nigerian immigrants and a small business owner, said to the General Laws and Technology committee over Zoom.

“When you look at a lot of the opportunities between the continent of Africa and the Commonwealth of Virginia for shared development and growth and additions to the Virginia economy, I think that there’s a lot of interesting and impactful opportunities there,” Ukoh said at the committee meeting.

Bo Machayo, the son of two African immigrants, and Kingsley Obaji, the co-founder of a small business and president of the US Africa Economic Alliance, both expressed their support for the bill to the committee over Zoom.

“The African immigrants and their families that are essential to Virginia, whether it is through small business, international trade or working as professionals in the Commonwealth of Virginia, they contribute immensely to the economic development and growth of Virginia,” Obaji said. “This bill is a step forward [to] recognizing the diaspora as an influential, educated and vibrant community that will continue to help make Virginia the best state to do business.”

The bill was sent to the House Committee on Appropriations.