America First is Not Isolationism: A Catholic Martyr, U.S. Leadership, and Why the DRC Matters

If you’re reading this on a smartphone, tablet, or laptop, chances are the minerals inside it come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This country, often overlooked by American policymakers, is home to some of the world’s largest cobalt, coltan, and lithium reserves, which are essential for everything from electric vehicles to national security defense systems.

Yet, despite its immense wealth, the DRC remains trapped in a cycle of corruption, violence, and foreign exploitation. Americans should care about this—not because of some utopian globalist vision of aid, but because what happens in places like the DRC directly affects the United States.

Floribert Bwana Chui. (Credit: Image courtesy of the Community of Sant’Egidio.)

One man who understood the price of corruption and the value of integrity was Floribert Bwana Chui Bin Kositi. Floribert was a young Catholic customs officer who refused to take a bribe that would have allowed spoiled food into his country’s markets—a decision that ultimately cost him his life.

Today, he is on the path to becoming the DRC’s first Catholic saint, a powerful symbol of faith, the rule of law, and free enterprise. These are the very values that America should promote—not retreat from—as it engages with the world.

I was drawn to his story for many reasons, not the least of which is that as a lawyer who has worked on corporate compliance for multinational companies in challenging regions, I have met men and women like him from many nations. They quietly uphold integrity in environments where corruption is the norm, often under immense pressure to compromise their principles. Their work is difficult in government, business, or regulatory enforcement.