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Top news stories from Chicago and the African continent

Upcoming Events

Advice Box: Temporary Vistor’s Driver’s License

Banga Soup Recipe from Nigeria

Africans in Chicago interview and music from Chibbz

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Intro:

Happy New Year and welcome to African Voices, episode 16! In this episode, we highlight local news as well as news from the African Continent, upcoming events, Advice on Driver’s Licenses for ALL immigrants, a Nigerian soup recipe, and an African in Chicago interview with musician Chibbz, a new talent originally from Nigeria.

Local News:

Driver’s Licenses for All Immigrants passes out of Illinois House

The Illinois House voted 65-46 on January 8th 2013 in favor of a bill to give driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, after advocates argued that the legislation could make the roads safer and prevent people from driving without insurance.

The bill will now go to the desk of Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who plans to sign it. The state Senate already approved the measure, also with bipartisan support.

“I want to commend members of the Illinois House for their bipartisan passage of legislation that will help ensure every Illinois motorist is properly licensed and empower more immigrants to become stronger contributors to our economy,” Quinn said in a statement after the vote. “Not only will Senate Bill 957 save lives, it will save Illinois motorists $46 million a year in insurance premiums by making sure every driver is properly insured.”

During debate preceding the vote, opponents of the bill argued it should include fingerprinting to deter fraud. Others said the bill could be violating the Constitution by granting a form of “amnesty” to undocumented immigrants.

But others within the Republican party were swayed by arguments about public safety, which proponents said would be improved by ensuring more drivers have insurance and have passed driving tests.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/08/undocumented-drivers-licenses-illinois_n_2434246.html

African Immigrant Community featured in Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune reporter Antonio Olivo featured Chicago’s fastest growing immigrant population: Africans. In his article, Olivo touches on African migration patterns within the Chicagoland area:

Since 1990, the number of African immigrants in the Chicago area has quadrupled to an estimated 42,300, now the country’s fifth-largest African population behind New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Minneapolis, U.S. census figures show.

“For decades, African immigrants have been concentrated in North Side neighborhoods such as Uptown and Edgewater, where refugees from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia moved to be close to the many social service agencies based there.

While those communities continue to grow, Africans from Senegal, Nigeria, Mali and Ghana have been moving to the South Side, where rents and home prices are cheaper, community leaders say. Others have been moving to the southwest suburbs.”

The Senegalese shop owners on 79th Street want to reinvigorate their Chatham neighborhood business district and give it a distinct identity.

The African Vision:

Keba Mbungue, 58, who moved to Chatham in 2007, said he envisions an African version of Chinatown or Little Village’s 26th Street shopping district around his shop, which sells both West African and American fashions.

“When you go to a Chinese neighborhood, they got it. When you go to a Spanish neighborhood, they got it,” Mbungue said, his deep voice competing with the sound of a French news anchor on a radio in his shop. “Why not African people?”

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-african-immigration-20130114,0,4005838.s[...]