Strange Universe

I ask this question because of the curiosity that fills me considering the on-going US presidential debate and the place of Africa within the US economy. For far too long Africa has been an undeniable player in the wealth creation of the West. However, it has been so well down played that the average americans idea of Africa remains a desolate place of pain and agony that lives in the pictures of the crises in Durfur, Sudan, Zimbabwe and the Somalia of yester-years.