Most American Blacks are descended from Africans, who were brought
here hundreds of years ago through no will of their own. Having their
cultural identities stripped away, the descendants of these Africans
have vague – if any- social and historical perceptive.
Without first-hand knowledge of their roots, many American Blacks can
only shape their views of Africa based upon what has been said and
written in both the media and distorted history books, which tells us of
a continent full of war-torn countries, starving people and corrupt
leaders, who continue to profit from the betrayal of its people. I didn't understand why a lot of blacks born in America had a issue with their heritage. In the early sixties it was insulting to be called black. But in the
late nineteen sixties we were wearing our African clothing, our African
head-dress. Too most people the Negro and colored phrases were dropped,
black was most definitely in, and that's what most of us wanted to be
called by other races.
Still today, some of the southern states
and rural areas still call us coloreds or Negroes. While these phrases
are insulting to most young and middle-aged African-Americans, there are
older African-Americans that would prefer to be called colored or
Negro. To be called black is insulting to them.
Then there are
those "African-Americans or blacks" that are ashamed of being called
African-Americans. If you ask them they will tell you they are not
ashamed to be African-Americans. They say they would rather be called
by their name than to be called a race.
On the flip side are the migrant Africans, from various parts of the
continent, who are either unfamiliar or ambivalent with the past and
continued struggle of American blacks. In some cases, these native-born
Africans carry some of their own prejudices, which too have been
perpetuated through the media. For example, believing that
African-Americans are too racially ambiguous to be considered
“full-blood” Africans or believing that Blacks harbor a deep-seated
“chip on their shoulder” syndrome about slavery, which has prohibited
them from fully taken advantages of the land of opportunity.
The result is that many native-born Africans and African-Americans
have become ignorant to each other’s complex realities, choosing to
maintain a separate identity and not fully capitalizing of each other’s
various strengths.
However, while cultural differences remain, our shared future in a
country, where racial discrimination and intimidation still exist, have a
greater power to unite both sides of the same black coin. In other
words, while we may continue to divide intra-racially, there are others,
who only see “black” and will react accordingly – just ask the likes of
Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell.
To bridge the divide, there must be a collective effort to develop a
mutual respect and understanding of one another’s struggle, strengths
and triumphs. Our people, collectively, have to understand that
colonization in some ways was no different than slavery and its impact
of how we view ourselves, and each other, is all relative. Perhaps we
are in need of another “Back to Africa” movement, like what was started
by Jamaican-born Marcus Garvey, in which the primary focus is on
educating, outreach and reconciliation of all people of African descent
worldwide.
One could hope that African Americans and Africans alike will someday
realize the importance of economic, political and cultural linkages
with our brothers and sisters and embrace the term “African” no matter
where they may reside in the Diaspora.
