Siya Khumalo | A tale of two elections: Trump Is still president of the United States of Africa

Since "a prophet is never without honour except at home", Trumpism lost in the US but won in Africa.  Uganda’s LGBTI people paid for America’s democracy with their lives, writes Siya Khumalo.

The world caught its breath when the US Capitol was stormed. It exhaled in relief at the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Uganda and its election aftermath became a global footnote. But measured in black LGBTI bodies, the 12 000km separating Kampala and Washington DC is no distance at all.

2008 taught us that when Wall Street sneezes, it’s world markets that catch the flu. Van Jones noted on CNN how #BlackLivesMatter protesters at the Lincoln Memorial had been treated by police compared to white Capitol protesters — which was a state-sponsored "up yours" to the president assassinated for emancipating black slaves towards the end of the American Civil War. But it isn’t just that African-Americans are viewed as second-class citizens; it’s that the fight for America’s soul rages on African soil.