09/02/2026
Statement to OZA General Assembly
After September 11, 2001, Americans faced an atmosphere of enormous fear and uncertainty. One of the most important responses was a determination that fear would not dictate everyday life. People continued going to work, traveling, eating with their families, attending public events and gathering as communities. The message was simple: fear would not be allowed to take away normal life or the freedoms that define society.
There is a lesson in that for us as Zambians in the diaspora. We cannot live in perpetual fear that attending a Zambian event, celebrating Independence, wearing our national colors, eating our food, dancing to our music or simply gathering with fellow Zambians will cause someone to question our politics or attach a political label to us.
Look at how Americans celebrate the Fourth of July. Democrats, Republicans, independents and people who want nothing to do with politics show up. They attend parades, cookouts, fireworks and community celebrations together. Supporting a Fourth of July celebration does not mean supporting whichever political party happens to occupy the White House. The country and its culture are bigger than the government of the day.
Zambia must be no different. Our elections are over. Some supported the winning candidate; others supported candidates who lost. Those political choices remain everyone's democratic right. But disappointment with an election result cannot become a campaign to discourage people from attending community events, intimidate those who participate, undermine organizers or make ordinary Zambians feel that every community gathering is a political statement.I encourage Zambians: show up.
Bring your children. Bring your families. Wear your Zambian colors. Celebrate Independence. Attend community events. Support Zambian businesses. Eat together, dance together, network together and continue building the relationships that make this diaspora a family away from home.
Nobody should have to explain their political affiliation before celebrating Zambia.
You can disagree with the President. You can support the President. You can belong to the opposition. You can belong to no political party whatsoever. But Zambia still belongs to you.
We should refuse to surrender our community spaces to fear, intimidation or political division.
Governments change. Political parties win and lose. Elections come and go. But Zambia remains—and wherever Zambians gather in good faith to celebrate our culture, our connections and our families, we should show up.
OZA is a nonpartisan organization that helps every Zambian regardless of their political affiliation, gender, religion, and race. Our leaders do participate in their personal capacity in politics as is their right to do so.
If people discuss politics out on social media, we are not sure how OZA and other communities then turns into targets. This community resource helps everyone — unfortunately we are slowly destroying something that has taken over a decade to build.
We hope and pray that this trajectory can be reversed before real damage is done to some of the most resilient communities we have in the USA.
Masheke Akashambatwa
President
OZA.
