Chasm between Africans and African Americans?
This entry was precipitated by a conversation with an African American who simply asked me "Why is it that Africans do not like African Americans?" I think it is not so much dislike, i think part of the reason for this,is perhaps ignorance or a lack of knowledge about African american history. Lets' see, i do not recall learning about the underground railroad or Hariet Tubman in school, i came to learn about it when i came to the US. It is a large body of work and African American culture cannot be summarized by the images you see in the media, or the rap videos. It is a wonderful culture all its own, which i am not qualified to even attempt an analysis. The same case about lack of knowledge about African history can be made for some African americans. It doesnt appear that we had a confluence point for the two cultures. I think in the 60's there was dialogue between the black leaders in America and leaders in Africa, as we were all struggling for civil rights, just on different continents. African Americans wore dashiki's, and i dont know to what extent American culture permeated Africa at the time. (If there is a blogger with insight about that, please post)Well, point is, i think there was some dialogue with the leaders on both continents. (I know i have to support this assertion with specific facts, i will add that later, send me links if you have some, this is more of a thought)Moving along...I do not recall a major initiative by African leaders to reach out to the black community here, When African leaders visit the US do they speak to the NAACP? I dont know, i could be wrong about this.There is an author whose upcoming book will look at this question, amongst other immigrant experiences that he shares in his book Check out his website here Disclosure: The author and his wife are dear friends, i actually read the manuscript for the book.
Song of the day: Pimping Around the world by Ludacris(Believe me, listen to the song!)Why is it the song of the day on a Kenyan blog?? Because of this line towards the end of the song...
"...ain't no need of even askin brah, the best women all reside in Africa, and that's real"
Need i say more? Peace.
*This entry may contain generalizations, look at it as more of just a thought...
Update: Do check out The Desert Warrior's take on this issue link
Song of the day: Pimping Around the world by Ludacris(Believe me, listen to the song!)Why is it the song of the day on a Kenyan blog?? Because of this line towards the end of the song...
"...ain't no need of even askin brah, the best women all reside in Africa, and that's real"
Need i say more? Peace.
*This entry may contain generalizations, look at it as more of just a thought...
Update: Do check out The Desert Warrior's take on this issue link
posted by Afromusing at
4/07/2005 08:32:00 PM
12 Comments:
Hey Desert warrior! Thanks!I just checked it out, i have included a link to your post, because i think you looked at it more in depth, which is great! maybe we should do a follow post on the baby steps that we can suggest to bridge the gap, i have a rough draft that is kinda silly, will send it to you to have a look.
Hi afromusing! Great post...This will be sheer speculation, but here is my take on the perceived clash between african americans and africans: During the slave trade those many years ago, the white buyers of slaves relied heavily on africans to bring their fellow africans to be sold as slaves. White people did not necessarily go out and capture slaves themselves; they got major help from african "middlemen". Therefore, traditionally, the would-be slave resented the africans left behind because they were responsible for his/her fate. Unfortunately, to a large extent, the resentment is still alive and well...
@MJY,i feel you on not knowing enough about ourselves, since our history and traditions were definitely suppressed.
@Irene, i thought the middlemen were arabs,but i dont know for sure. we will probably need to look that up.A mix of factors perhaps?
@memoire, its quite interesting how that works out when kenyans idolize african americans. Perhaps the perception that they are living in the 'first world' and are really living it up. Reality is, we have so much in common in terms of our struggle to make it, to achieve the proverbial 'american dream', perhaps we are in need of a 'kenyan dream'.That's a whole other discussion...
...working on the follow up.
Hey, the middle men were actually in most cases Africans. When I was in Ghana I made friends with a guy who had an odd European, Dutch actually, sounding name and turns out one of his ancestors was a slave merchant.
Black Ambition, your contribution to this conversation is greatly appreciated. It is eye opening and very interesting. I agree that we would have to see the best of each other in order to appreciate and reach out [to one another]
eni hosted a student from nigeria we learned much from each but a few things that disturbed me was that she thought we came here to have a better way of life an that some of us acheived it and never came back. she also called us niggers because we didnt dress in kenta an from the sterio type of rappers r rich an used the word nigger much. I bought her a pair of sneakers she put them on an said i am a nigga mow, she had know knowlege of the pain behind the word.so i let her watch roots she recognised her language when some of the slaves spoke realised we are there people does not use the word nigger an said when she goes home shes going to tell everyone.
I think I will have to disagree with that statement. I have met several African fellows and I never felt like discriminated or anything. They've treated me with respect and love.
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