September 8, 2026
Anthony "Amp" Elmore President & Founder, The African Cultural Embassy
Founder, African Cultural Diplomat Exchange Network
1035 Semmes Street, Orange Mound
Memphis, Tennessee 38111
His Excellency, Prof. Peter Anyang' Nyong'o
Governor, County Government of Kisumu
Prosperity House Kisumu, Kenya
Principal Tina Smith, Cherokee Elementary School, Memphis, Tennessee
Mr. Erick Were, Lead Cultural Diplomat Educator, Arya Primary School, Kisumu, Kenya
The Office of Congressman Steve Cohen, 9th Congressional District of Tennessee
SUBJECT: OFFICIAL CALL FOR A SHARED PARTNERSHIP: COMMEMORATING UNITED NATIONS WEEK (OCTOBER 18-24, 2026) AND LAUNCHING THE TOM MBOYA LEGACY DISTRICT VIA A HISTORIC "CHARTER OF KINSHIP
Dear Governor Nyong'o:
Warmest fraternal greetings to you, your family, and the citizens of Kisumu County from your family in the historic African-American community of Orange Mound, Memphis, Tennessee.
I write to you not merely as an esteemed political leader, but as the world-renowned scholar, political scientist, and educator whom we revere as Professor Nyong'o. When you made your historic visit to Memphis in October and November 2019, you chose not to begin your mission behind the closed doors of municipal bureaucracy. Instead, your very first stop in Memphis was at our home at 1035 Semmes Street in Orange Mound. We ate Kenyan Ugali and Sukuma wiki traditional Kenyan cuisine, embraced in fellowship surrounded by sacred African art and hand-carved heritage, and together laid the groundwork for an enduring alliance. In doing so, you became the highest-ranking African official in history to enter Orange Mound and integrate your sovereign statecraft directly into our community.
When you graciously invited me to Kisumu in August 2024 as your special guest for FESTAC, our relationship deepened from brotherhood to an active international classroom exchange. You promised that you would return to Memphis and bring your family-including your wife, First Lady Dorothy Nyong'o, and your daughter, Academy Award-winning star Lupita Nyong'o. As you know, Lupita's cultural impact on global cinema through Black Panther directly echoes the independent path of African cinematic empowerment.
Today, a profound, urgent international opportunity stands before us. We write to formally invite you, as the Governor of Kisumu County, to officially partner with Orange Mound to celebrate United Nations Week (October 18-24, 2026) and jointly inaugurate The Tom Mboya Legacy District at the African Cultural Embassy on United Nations Day, October 24, 2026.
I. The Vision: Kisumu Leading the African Continent in Cultural Diplomacy
While conventional diplomacy remains confined to the U.S. State Department, multinational boardrooms, or ceremonial visits, we are practicing a revolutionary global protocol: the Charter of Kinship. Under this charter, Africans and African Americans do not meet as strangers or mere trading partners; we meet as kin. Click here to learn about an innovative new diplomacy called the "Charter of Kinship." Governor have Kisumu lead the nation via an innovative diplomacy.
By joining hands with Orange Mound for United Nations Week, Kisumu County will lead the entire African continent in demonstrating that authentic cultural diplomacy begins at the grassroots level. This initiative costs Kisumu County nothing in municipal funding, yet it positions Kisumu on the global stage as a vanguard of education, Pan-African solidarity, and international reconciliation.
We ask that you issue an official County Executive Proclamation designating October 18-24, 2026, as "United Nations Cultural Diplomacy Week" across all schools in Kisumu County, culminating on October 24 with the launch of the Tom Mboya Legacy District in Memphis.
II. The Educational Mandate: Connecting Kisumu Schools to the JFK and Obama Libraries
As a scholar and educator, you recognize that our children must know their true history. For United Nations Week, we ask that you encourage every school across Kisumu County to study the documented record preserved at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library:
Our children must learn the untold truth of modern history:
1.The 1959-1960 Airlift to America: Tom Mboya, at just 28 years of age, bypassed British colonial roadblocks by traveling to America to secure university scholarships for East African students.
2. The Civil Rights Foundation: Mboya did not do this alone; he built an alliance with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the SCLC, Jackie Robinson, Harry Belafonte, and Sidney Poitier. On May 13, 1959, Dr. King hosted an African Freedom Dinner for Mboya, declaring that our struggles are caught in an *"inescapable network of mutuality"*.
3. The Kennedy Intervention: In 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy Foundation provided the critical funds to charter the planes for the African students.
4. The Birth of President Barack Obama: Among the young scholars brought to America on that airlift was Barack Obama Sr.. Without Tom Mboya's vision, Dr. King's backing, and JFK's intervention, Barack Obama Sr. never reaches the United States, and America's first African-American president, **Barack Obama Jr.**, is never born.
III. An Unbroken Lineage: 1972, 1988, 1990, and Today
Our initiative is not an academic abstraction. It is the continuation of an unbroken, 54-year historical journey:
1. **The 1972 Civil Rights & Garvey Roots:**
At 19 years old, as a student activist, Anthony "Amp" Elmore stood side-by-side at LeMoyne College in Memphis with **Queen Mother Audley Moore** (a pioneer of Marcus Garvey's 1920s UNIA) and **Rev. James Bevel** (the chief strategist for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and architect of the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade and 1965 Selma March). This cemented my lifelong commitment to Pan-African liberation.
2. **The 1988 Landmark Independent Film:**
In 1988, I wrote, produced, directed, and starred in *The Contemporary Gladiator*-the **first kickboxing feature film in world cinema history** and the **first Buddhist biopic**, predating major Hollywood releases. In that film, we captured the real-life teachings of Rev. James Bevel, the ancestral significance of African diet and greens, and our unwavering connection to Mother Africa.
3. **The 1989/1990 Historic Kenyan Trade Deal:**
In 1989, my Kenyan brother **Tom Mwangi** lived with me in Orange Mound. Together, we got our 35mm movie The Contemporary Gladiator played Kenya. In August 1990, as documented in the national press (*Coastweek* newspaper), the film premiered at the Lotus Cinema in Mombasa and in Nairobi. This historic release stood as the **first recorded industrial trade deal between an African sovereign government and an independent African-American-owned enterprise**.
4. **The Generational Multi-Media Bond:**
That brotherhood did not end in 1990. Tom Mwangi son Simba who we met as young child in Nairobi in 1994-have grown into prominent Kenyan cultural star: Yoram Mwangi (**DJ Protégé**) and he is uncle to his brother **Scott the Violinist**. Today, our story has expanded into the **African Cultural Embassy** and the **African Cultural Diplomat Exchange Network**, connecting our shared past to modern Kenyan culture.
IV. The Classroom Corridor: Cherokee Elementary and Arya Primary
During the Anthony "Amp" Elmore's visit to Kisumu in August 2024, the students of Arya Primary School embraced this vision of cultural diplomacy. Working alongside dedicated educator **Mr. Erick Were**, Elmore was asked they the name their class in honor of him Elmore asked the student honor Memphis Congressman that lead to the birth of the **Steve Cohen Center for Cultural Diplomacy** at Arya Primary.
Today, under the leadership of **Principal Tina Smith** at Cherokee Elementary School in Memphis and Mr. Erick Were in Kisumu, our classrooms are actively communicating. Our elementary students are no longer passive recipients of history; they are certified **Cultural Diplomats** leading real-time international dialogue via modern technology. This website is an example of how we are connecting Cherokee Elementary in Memphis with Arya Primary in Kenya whereas there is communication and efforts to share culture and history.
V. Our Invitation and Call to Action for October 24, 2026
Orange Mound was founded in 1879 as the premier neighborhood in the United States built by and for African Americans. On October 18-24, 2026 is (United Nations Week) and on October 24, 2026 on United Nations day we will permanently dedicate **The Tom Mboya Legacy District** in Orange Mound, cementing Tom Mboya's historic connection to Dr. King and Black America.
Governor Nyong'o, we formally request that you:
1. **Officially Endorse the Charter of Kinship:** Join with the African Cultural Embassy in a shared bilateral declaration uniting Kisumu County and Orange Mound during United Nations Week.
2. **Engage Kisumu County Classrooms:** Direct Kisumu schools to study the JFK Library student airlift archives and view the Tom Mboya documentary during UN Week, sharing joint student messages with Cherokee Elementary in Memphis.
3. **Fulfill the Promise of Return:** Confirm your intention to return to Memphis alongside First Lady Dorothy Nyong'o and Lupita Nyong'o, gracing both Cherokee Elementary School and the African Cultural Embassy with your presence. Governor the point that we are communicating is a win and the Students at Cherokee would love to hear from "Professor Nyong'o. Please write a greetings letter to the school that we publish on our website, whereas we are honored to communicate with our family and Africa and happy to know that you visited Orange Mound in 2019.
Governor Nyong'o, you sat at our table in 2019; we walked your soil in Kisumu in 2024. Let us now complete the circle. Together, let us show the United Nations, Kenya, and the United States what true, sovereign cultural diplomacy looks like when powered by education, culture, and family. Let America know about a positive story about Africa. Most Americans believe that African is Jungle with savage people.
We eagerly await your favorable response and look forward to coordinating our joint announcement.
Yours in kinship, truth, and cultural diplomacy,
**Anthony "Amp" Elmore**
President & Founder, The African Cultural Embassy,Founder, African Cultural Diplomat Exchange Network, ,five-Time World Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion Memphis, Tennessee
