Hats Off to Honoré

While waiting for the James Taylor concert to start, I met Honoré, a security guard on the scene. He looked like someone from someplace else, like I did. Turns out he came to Charlotte from the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) about ten years ago.  Now he's working towards his doctorate on the side, in international relations.  "When I go back to the Ivory Coast, I will run for president," he said.  He looked serious, too.  "Remember me," I smiled.  Later we met a taxi driver from the Congo, whose civil war left many refugees around the world.  He said he liked living in Charlotte because it was affordable.  Charlotte and North Carolina are home to an estimated 15-20,000 African immigrants, we learned.  No one knows for sure because census data record them as "black" and not African.