President Obama’s first 200 days have been both promising and perilous. The symbolism of Obama’s first trip to Africa as president held the attention of foreign policy watchers, but only for a moment.

After eight years of atrocious foreign policy under Bush, change is long overdue. Symbolism is important, but today the African world is wondering when the change will come?

Hilary Clinton’s trip to Africa is an attempt to answer that question. When picked by Obama to lead the State Department, many Africa enthusiasts wondered what this pick meant for Africa.

Clinton’s State Department has pushed badly needed foreign aid reform and advocated for the appointment of effective professionals outside of the D.C. establishment, like Dr. Paul Farmer for USAID. And yet, many of these changes seem to be stalled, delayed or vetoed from on high.

Buzz words like “human rights” and “transparency” define the administration’s expectations of Africa. And yet, with all of the problems on the continent, rarely is there discussion of fundamental economic causes at the heart of problems in Africa.

The notion of our “dreams deferred” has been expressed by many activists in both the domestic and international arenas. Nowhere do I see more obvious intersections than on international trade issues.

Left and right, Americans are losing their jobs; in the African-American community, the bleeding is felt even more acutely because we didn’t have that much to begin with. Cities like Detroit, Cleveland and my hometown of Buffalo have seen a lot of bad rust-belt times and yet the question “could it get worse?” has been answered.

These cities are bled certainly by generational poverty and unavoidable realities of globalization, but they are also bled by greed. Rich and powerful corporations profit as jobs are cut and sent overseas only to be replaced by jobs with poverty-producing wages in developing countries.

Make no mistake: those in Africa and Latin America, those that come into our country “illegally” are not the threat. The threat is the lack of fair trade regulations that should govern companies and countries profiting on both sides of the border.

It is this same greed which bleeds Africa. As Clinton and congressional delegations visit the continent in the next few weeks, they will focus on U.S. foreign investment measures — Africa’s economic stimulus. More than 10 years after the Clinton Administration passed the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Africans have yet to benefit from the promised prosperity of the this trade agreement.

Touted as a measure to promote investment and a path to eventual economic stability, AGOA has done little to help the millions of unemployed in Africa. Instead of providing opportunities for indigenous African businesses to flourish or jobs for Africa’s eager populace, foreign companies have taken advantage of the program and even brought in their own labor forces, bypassing the locals.

The few Africans who have achieved employment have found horrible working conditions and terrible wages. Today, natural resources such as oil hold the market share of what Africa is able to export to the U.S.

It is virtually impossible for African farmers to get their crops to U.S. or European markets. Yet, administration after administration touts this program as a way up from poverty for African countries.

Africans still seem to receive only the economic crumbs from the table of prosperity. As in the U.S., the status quo won’t do. Americans and Africans are looking for fundamental changes in how we engage those less fortunate both here and abroad.

Clinton’s trip to Africa will no doubt reap fruits. The question is will those fruits be long-lasting fundamental changes benefiting the masses?

Or will we attempt to brush more crumbs off the table while pursuing business as usual? What we do both domestically and in Africa will have long lasting implications to peace and security that cannot be disregarded.

The dreams of the people on all continents cannot be ignored.

Lee is an NNPA columnist and executive director of TransAfrica Forum.