Jamie Howell
   Staff Writer

    The documentary series “AfroPoP: the ultimate cultural exchange” began its eighth season this past Monday, Jan. 18 with an episode on immigration called “Days of Hope.”

According to the PBS website, AfroPoP looks into the “life, art, and culture from the contemporary African Diaspora.”

“The African Diaspora includes Africa, the Caribbean, Canada, South America, Europe, the U.S. and anywhere people of African descent have made a significant contribution to the culture” an PBS online article stated.

According to Kay Shaw, National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) Director of Programs and Acquisitions and AfroPoP Executive Producer, the show started because there were many documentaries being made in Africa that weren’t being played on public television in America.

This led them to compile documentaries that already existed so that they could be seen across the United States.

Now, she says, about 86 percent of public stations play the show; it is shown in most parts of the country and is replayed often.

“I can go to almost any part of the country and find AfroPoP playing,” Shaw said.

Shaw called the show a collection of “unique stories that don’t get told.” She said the show is about changing the view of Africa within the community of the U.S. and letting the population see what she called “the new Africa.”

According to a press release, season eight premieres on World Channel and the episode “follows three African immigrants who brave it all for a better life in Europe.”

According to Shaw, the first episode looks at struggles faced by people who emigrate from Africa as a human rights issue.

“With immigration being such a big issue all over the world, they thought it was especially appropriate to start the season this way,” Shaw said. “In the U.S., so little is known about African immigrants.”

AfroPoP looks into the struggles faced not just by Africans but also by black communities all around the world.

“Episode one of the series, ‘Days of Hope,; puts a face — or three — on the immigration issue, showing the lengths to which brave souls will go to better their lives and their families’ dire circumstances.”

Some of the portrayed lengths immigrants will go include the dangerous trip they must take in order to get to Europe. The international organization for Migration says 2,600 people died crossing the Mediterranean Sea in 2015.

The Guardian writes that 33 people died between January and June of 2015 trying to cross the Sahara desert. An article in the New York Times from April points to a weekend where a possible 900 migrants died off the coast of Libya.

“They want to bring attention to the U.S. community about challenges faced by African immigrants,” Shaw said. “It’s not about a policy position at all. It’s about representing the human spirit.”

Shaw also affirmed that the series is about “exposing people to other parts of the world” and “changing the U.S. population’s perception of Africa.”

She noted that “the scale and sheer numbers of immigrants from Mexico and Central America as well as the Syrian refugee crisis overshadow any conversation about immigration from other communities of color, where the human rights concerns are just as critical.”

In a press release, Shaw said, “the opportunity to broadcast a beautifully told story about the plight of West Africans facing the same risks and challenges is a reminder that the issue is global, multi-faceted and multi-racial.”

The host of season eight is one of the stars from the TV show “Empire,” Jussie Smollett.

“AfroPoP’s engaging, real-life tales add to the collection of rich Black stories that audiences are clamoring for, and I wanted to be a part of bringing them to national attention.”

Ditte Haarlov Johnsen directed the first episode. The series is produced by NBPC and co-presented by American Public Television (APT).