CARLTON FLETCHER: Udoto seeks promised land half a world away

There’s a lot of work to be done In the promised land.

— Damian Marley

Here’s what’s so remarkable about Gilbert Udoto. If you talk to him for even a few minutes, you quickly discover that the city of Albany has few more ardent cheerleaders.

The businessman, whose holdings include Odyssey Records, Big Daddy’s Lounge and the Sand Trap Lounge, has a knack for turning any conversation into a discourse on the virtues of all things Albany.

Funny thing is, Udoto’s not from here, not even from around here.

Born and raised in the Musaga Village of Kenya’s Western Province, Udoto came to Albany after learning about the city from Preston King, a then exiled professor who was pardoned by President Bill Clinton in 2000. King’s stories of the Southwest Georgia city and its people convinced Udoto and his family that he should seek his education — and perhaps his fortune — here.

Udoto eventually got over the culture shock that hit him hard when he enrolled at Albany State College (now University), and he quickly earned a business degree, taking only three years to do so. While attending graduate school, Udoto started what would turn into a successful business career that is now approaching 40 years.

I look for as many opportunities as possible to talk with Gilbert. His clipped, lilting accented English has a joyous quality to it that makes any conversation entertaining. And, invariably, no matter what direction the topic of a conversation with Udoto might start in, it eventually comes around to ways that Albany could reach its abundant potential.

Over the years, Udoto has had no trouble adapting to American culture, despite his tribal upbringing. But as he talks about Albany and its issues, it’s easy enough to see how his vision for the city has elements of the village approach native to his home country.

“We have to consider the quality of every human life,” Udoto said this week as we started out talking about the T.I. concert he’s helping promote at the Albany Civic Center. “So many people see these homeless men sleeping under a bridge embankment and just dismiss them. I can’t do that. I can’t see any person in any circumstance and not see a fellow human being.”

While many Albany natives find only the worst in their city, dismissing it frequently as a lost cost, Udoto looks at the city and sees what could be. Some of his words are not enthusiastically embraced by the powers that be in the community — at least not by the ones who cling with a white-knuckled death grip to the status quo — but he is adamant that the city cannot move forward until its leaders make way for the next generation and its new ideas.

“You see these elected officials (and Udoto offers a few names), and they’re doing everything they can to keep things the same,” he said. “They refuse to listen to ideas that would bring about changes that would positively impact the young people of our community. That’s who we should be concerned with.”

As Udoto talks about what’s right and wrong in the city he loves so well, he becomes more animated, his usual quiet calm giving way to an enthusiasm that’s infectious.

“There are people with the capacity to change our community, they just have to be willing to do it,” he said. “And it has to be about everyone. I envision some kind of gathering at the football stadium where everyone is welcome, and everyone has an opportunity to share their ideas.

“Once we get that communitywide involvement, we can change this city. Albany can be the major city it was meant to be. I truly believe that.”

As I’ve often done in the past, I tell Udoto he needs to run for office, a suggestion he quickly brushes away. He’s one of those rare people, you see, who doesn’t seek the limelight. He just wants to see this city — his city — become the one he envisioned when Preston King’s verbal images inspired him to move a world away in search of a promise that just hasn’t quite been kept.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected]. Follow @ABH_Fletcher on Twitter.