Slender in frame, with the sharp intellect of a sage and a heart of gold, Emira Woods rotates the justice wheel on its axis. A rabble-rouser, visionary, and change agent, Woods inspires people to move beyond complacency and stasis. And that’s all in a day’s work. She’s the embodiment of what African American intellectual Cornell West meant when he said “an activist is someone who is maladjusted to injustice.”

Woods has deservedly become a national expert on Liberia, the country of her birth. Her activism around Firestone, the U.S. rubber company that in 1926 signed an abominable lease agreement with the Liberian government, has infused a movement. She organized a diverse group of stakeholders and helped spearhead the Stop Firestone Campaign (http://www.stopfirestone.org/) to hold the rubber giant accountable for its alleged labor and human rights abuses.

What drives Woods’ activist verve is a belief in the awesome power of community. You can find her on international television programs, in her Washington, D.C. office leading the latest campaign against U.S. imperialism in Africa, at her children’s basketball games, or counseling a frustrated colleague oceans away. True activists like Woods exist in a series of concentric circles that touch the lives of many. They’re like those rare stones you find on a secluded beach after digging for countless hours: priceless.

In the midst of her whirlwind schedule, Woods agreed to answer some questions about her life’s mission in an exclusive Q & A with Coup.

RNP: What does “justice” mean to you?

EW: Dr. Martin Luther King said: “the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.” Justice for me is what Cornell West and others describe as the “embodiment of love” in our social existence. At its core, justice is respect and love for all who are part of our human family. It is the set of societal rules and norms to protect and advance human dignity.

RNP: W.E.B. Dubois, the late African American intellectual and scholar, identified race as the justice issue of the 20^th century. In our 21^st century world, what do you think is the justice issue that has transcended all other issues?

EW: Dubois’ framing is still very much in play for the 21^st century. The problem of the Twenty-First Century remains the problem of the color-line. At the global level, in institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization, wealthy white countries dominate decision-making systems. Access to healthcare, education, finance, and other essential services among and within countries are all determined in ways that seem inherently racist. At the local level, environmental exploitation, corporate greed, worker rights violations, all seem to be molded by the ever-present color line. Ultimately we as people of color, and women in particular, need to push through and create new constructs of power. Let's hope this happens before the 22nd century!

RNP: With boardrooms talks, international meetings, cabinet sessions, etc. dominated by white males, how can women of color, and particularly young black women, insert themselves into global debates that affect our lives?

EW: Women of color, particularly young women of color, have to find our voice and create a platform to amplify the issues that touch our hearts. It is by following our passions, finding key allies and aligning with those who have been marginalized, that we can affect change. Our issues are in fact global issues. Yet our stories, concerns, dreams, are all too often left out of the history books. The more we take it on ourselves to tell our stories – in poems, articles, films, art, etc. the more we and others like us are strengthened.

RNP: You’ve served as a mentor and inspiration to many, including me, who are interested in the convergence of activism, policy making, and academic research. How did you become involved in activism, and why is Africa your continent of interest?

EW: As an undergraduate student at Columbia University, I spent as much time on academics as I did on activism around the anti-apartheid movement. Activism, research, analysis, writing, and advocacy are all tools to influence public discourse, shape policy-making, and ultimately impact people’s lives. At the *Institute for Policy Studies, our motto is “ideas into action.” Public scholarship is vital to sharpen people’s thinking, but it takes people power, the power of activism, to make change happen.

After Graduate school, I spent seven years as Africa Program officer at Oxfam. I traveled to well over 30 countries on the continent and saw first hand the vision, dynamism, and resilience of Africa. I also realized that organizations delivering services are needed but the structural imbalances in our world (which create impoverishment and social exclusion) must be tackled at their source. I now do broader work on U.S. foreign policy but Africa remains at the core of my being.

RNP: Give us a historical lens into America’s strategic interests in Africa, especially since the decolonization movements and Cold War.

EW: For well over 500 years, the United States has been focused on building its empire. The Native Americans were the first point of contact in the start of many trails of tears and resistance. U.S. engagement with Africa started in earnest with the slave trade. Africa was a source of resources – human resources. It is the exploitation of black labor through a racist economic system that brought growth and development to the U.S. and other Western nations. Much of U.S. engagement with Africa remains today focused on the exploitation of resources – natural resources. The extractive industries – oil, gas, mining – remains central. Africa has recently taken over from the Middle East as the biggest source of oil for the U.S. (now 24%). Also, it is the coltane from Africa, that drives the push for new technologies in this 21^st century. Without coltane, cell phones, computers, and nano-technology would not be possible.

The U.S. has had a history of manipulating political processes to secure its strategic interests. From the now well-documented murder of Patrice Lumumba to the more recent removal of the Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia, the heavy hand of the U.S. in its thirst for resources has worked against basic values of democracy and human decency. The U.S. remains the largest arms exporter in the world. This has systematically destabilized the continent, more often than not with innocent civilians paying the highest price.

RNP: What, in your opinion, are the hot button topics today as it relates to U.S. engagement with Africa?

EW: The biggest issue today is America's addiction to oil and the expansion of U.S. military engagement in Africa, represented by the creation of the new U.S. Africa Command: http://www.resistafricom.org

RNP: Who/what inspires you?

EW: I am deeply awed by my mother, my late grandmother and my aunts. Their faith, determination, courage, and strength of character constantly remind me of the power of people to create a better world.

*The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) is America’s oldest multi-issue think tank. Woods is co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus, an affiliated project of IPS which connects the research and action of more than 600 scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the United States a more responsible global partner.

by Robtel Neajai Pailey