I am Koshie Mills, a Ghanaian American Businesswoman and founder of The Diaspora Dialogues and I congratulate my African Sister Kamala Harris, a Daughter of the African Soil, on her historic rise to the second-highest seat in the land. A seat never held by a woman, let alone a Black woman.

Her Indian ancestry and Jamaican heritage give her a unique perspective and power to shape the global agenda of this administration in respect to Africa. It is my hope that she does not look at the Black experience as monolithic, severed from its African ancestry, but rather a mosaic of cultures and communities deeply rooted in ancient tradition. Traditions, that if heeded, can help us heal the spiritual wounds of our people. I want to invite her to come back home to Africa.

As a daughter of the African soil, my personal immigrant journey as a naturalized Ghanaian American Businesswoman and Media Executive has created major milestones in my life. America introduced me to my soulmate, Kwame Boakye, who I've been married to for three decades. America was the soil I birthed the three loves of my life, our young kings: Kwame Boateng, Kofi Siriboe and Kwesi Boakye. I love America and the fabric of its promised character which is interwoven into the threads that bind me to the African soil.

The first time we took our sons back home to Ghana, we witnessed a powerful transformation when they touched the African soil and draped the Kente cloth over their skin. When you connect to your roots, it awakens your inner strength and sense of belonging. This was the catalyst for me to create The Diaspora Dialogues movement to reconnect Africa with its descendants throughout the world.

On May 25, 2020, we witnessed our brother George Floyd take his last breath as he whispered, “I can’t breathe.” When our sister Breonna Taylor was killed, we held our breath waiting for a grand jury to convict her killers. Our inability to breathe is a metaphor for the collective tightness so many Black people have felt in their chest under a callous Trump administration. I must thank Donald Trump though, for revealing the toxic levels of racism in the underbelly of our country, a system designed to keep Black and brown people disenfranchised. A burden and anxiety carried by Black women who have cried warm tears because of a legacy of racial intolerance for their sons and daughters. As I witness the collective sigh of joy and relief that we have witnessed taking place within our Black community globally, with the election of soon-to-be President Joe Biden and Vice-President, Kamala Harris, I am reminded that freedom is the ability to live life without fear.

So I caution us to not be quieted by the catharsis of this historic win. As Stacey Abrams demonstrated in Georgia, an intention must be coupled with strategy and action to achieve real change. Let us not shy away from implementing policies to facilitate discussions of reparations and put an apology for the legacy of slavery on the record. Let us not forget our brothers and sisters in Africa, we must advocate to remove stifling trade policies and overwhelming colonial debt hindering the continent. My hope is that we begin the healing of ourselves as a priority, by participating in authentic cross-cultural conversations, like The Diaspora Dialogues platform, to bridge our cultural divide.

Hope is in the path Kamala Harris has blazed to the White House. Hope is a path that begins on the continent of Africa. As a Daughter Of the African Soil, you persisted and insisted there be a new narrative and I am so proud of you. My African sister, you are our collective voice, a beautiful tapestry of African, American, Asian, Latina, Caribbean Black women. The DNA that runs through your blood is the fulfillment of our freedom, and the realization of the dreams of countless women. Because of you, young women will now have the audacity to dream big, the audacity to shatter glass ceilings and the audacity to thrive. It doesn’t matter where the boat dropped our forefathers, we are the new ancestors and a force to be reckoned with!