Thanks for the kind words, folks.
bman0429, I am sorry you found my post arrogant, I was intending to portray the actual situation as I see and experience it now. (As you may have gathered, from a white man's perspective).
You say that the white man has exploited Africa and Africans. I can see how blacks feel that way - they were living in a place rich in natural resources and the white man came and developed these resources. The white man, with his superior military technology, undeniable technical and organisational superiority and his policies also subjugated the black man, and repressed them.
There is however another perspective to this -
1. Exploitation of Resources - the blacks living in Africa before the white man arrived were not even aware of the existence of most of these resources and were completely unaware of their potential applications. The development of these resources and their associated improvements contributed to the betterment of society as a whole with advancements in engineering, medicine, agriculture, commerce, communications, transport infrastructure, etc. Without the 'exploitation' (which most would call 'development') of these natural resources, advantages such as higher life expectancies, better healthcare, and education would not have come about, and the natives would still be handicapped with high infant mortality rates, little or no healthcare, short life expectancies, subsistence agriculture, and very low standards of education, communication and transport.
2. Subjugation of the Natives - As I mentioned in my previous post, the way of life of the African tribes at the time of the white men's arrival was very warlike. African men were not firemen or bakers or artists, they were warriors. They were brought up to fight and kill the enemy, the other tribes. Little wonder that when the white men arrived, they were attacked by the native Africans. Unhappily for the Africans, their military prowess & technology was behind the state of the art at the time by several hundred centuries. So, yes, they were beaten, and subjugated. It could be argued that the victors were benevolent by not only sparing the vanquished's lives, but by incorporating them into society, and albeit in a limited way, affording them the advantages of developing circumstances.
So, to summarise the Black perspective - the white man came <and the black man attacked him, the white man won> and took the resources, and enslaved the black man.
The European perspective is that humankind lived in a time of exploration and development of the entire globe. In one part of the world (Europe) there existed the most advanced societies on the planet at the time, whose advanced development of their levels of agriculture, commerce, engineering and science led them to expand their frontiers.
Had they discovered more advanced societies in other lands, whose level of development exceeded theirs, in line with the development of all mankind certainly they would have learned from these societies and used their teachings to further European civilisation.
This was not the case. They encountered warlike peoples living in resource-rich lands with levels of developments several millenia behind their own. Consequently, and in line with the insuppressible development of humankind, they annexed these lands and sought to improve them to their state-of-the-art.
It was not exploitation, it was the natural progression of advancement of mankind. For the benefit of all. Note the quantum development leap of the blacks from the pastoral warriors of 4 generations ago to the 21st century jet-captains of today. Such a progression took the europeans perhaps a thousand generations. This 'exploitation' has been an undoubted super-boost to the black race, comparable to us meeting a more advanced extra-terrestrial race today.
On the subject of alternatives to AA, my view is that as much money as possible be spent on providing a free education of the highest quality, to tertiary level or beyond to the previously disadvantaged. This way we get highly qualified, competent individuals who can fulfil their own goals and satisfy the demands of society. Employing incompetents because of their skin colour is not the way forward.