Spike Lee and his wife appointed Benin Ambassadors for Afro-Americans in the US

Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee will bridge gaps between West Africa and the US after they have been appointed Afro-Americans in the US.

The Academy Award-winning filmmaker and his producer and author have been a woman appointed By Benin’s president as ‘thematic’ ambassadors in the US, charged with strengthening the ties between Benin and the AFRO scendant Diaspora, Business Insider Africa Reports. The Hollywood Power pair closed the role during their visit to Cotonou, part of Benin’s push to make contact again with descendants of Africans struck by the transatlantic slave trade.

The appointment of the Lee follows the visit to Tonya 2024 to Benin and her application via the new AFRO-DSCENDANT Initiative of the country, with which descendants of Africans made a slave can apply. She was one of the hundreds who applied and received a positive response as part of Benin’s Outreach to his global diaspora.

Their new ambassador roles will help “people of African descent around the world reconnect with their historical, cultural and spiritual roots”, the government stated. They also see it as a means to promote cultural tourism in Benin.

Spike Lee has traced the roots of his father into a Cameroon and his mother as Sierra Leone, while the origin of Tonya Lewis Lee remains private. Both, married since 1993, have spent decades with civil rights and social justice through their work. Lee’s films are often focused on African-American experience, tackling race, identity and justice, while Lewis Lee recently produced the most recently She runs the worldA documentary about the fight of Olympian Allyson Felix for Mother Protection in Sport.

“Because of their long -term dedication to justice, their exceptional creativity and their global reach,” both “in -depth the contemporary story of the African diaspora have formed,” said Benin’s government.

Benin’s initiative reflects efforts such as Ghana’s 2019 “Year of Return”, which invited the African diaspora to re -connection with their roots. But Benin’s program is even deeper connected to history, because the Western African country was once an important hub of the transatlantic slave trade. Millions of Africans were captured, imprisoned by his infamous port of Ouiidah and shipped to America through the centuries.

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