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'I'm Not African'

If you visit this website frequently you may have come across this debate between Africans from the Caribbean and Africans in Africa itself. There are two debates actually, one is 'The African Involvement in the slave trade' and how Africans themselves caught and sold fellow Africans into slavery. The focus is not on the African involvement in slavery this time, I will write about how Africans were harshly involved in the trade another time but this leads directly to the topic I will write about today. The topic is 'I'm not African'. Well this is what my father always insist on plus ending his statement with 'I'm not from there!' He could be right in saying that he is not African as he is really Jamaican, a black Jamaican, who lives in England. We have this argument many times. I always tell him, yes you are Jamaican but African also because Jamaica has different nationalities such as Chinese and Indian folks etc but while they are proud of their Jamaican nationality they are also if not more proud of their Asian Ancestry. So where does that leave people like my pops? Scenario: If everyone were to leave Jamaica and go back to their homelands then my dad would be the only one left on the island, as the original inhabitants of the island (the Arawaks) are all extinct.

Origin v Present day Nationality

Of course when it comes to country and where he was born, we could say that he is right and if a black person says he/she is English then fair enough they are English as they were born in England. However when it comes to race and where one comes from then they are of course African. Just like a Chinese person born in the US or UK would be viewed as Chinese first and foremost. I think we often get the two mixed up as obviously a black man born outside of Africa could not suddenly become Congolese. The division of Africa and colonisation makes this impossible. However he is African just like the Chinese person would be Chinese even though they were not born in China, get it? Therefore on a the nationality argument such as Ghanaian Nigerian or South African there is no argument as only those born there could be viewed as such. I could go further by saying all these different countries in Africa such as Nigeria etc were divided and shared amongst the Europeans. Today I see many Africans obliviously drifting away from their African roots due to division, which is caused by slavery,religion and the colonisation of Africa amongst other factors.

Race mixing during slavery

Many 'Afro Caribbeans' and Afro Americans' will use this to deny their African ness. As you know during slavery racial mixing was common as the slave masters inter-bred with the African ladies and over the years and as a result black folks who can trace their roots to slavery and are often the products of rape on the part of the slave masters. Now because of this, today you will find some black folks even the blue/black ones (really dark) bragging about their white and Asian ancestry. They often do this forgetting to mention their African ancestors in the process. My take on this is, majority rules doesn't it?

Too many negative things associated with Africa and Africans, could this be the reason?

From the good old days of Tarzan and the other old movies to show African's in the worst light possible, naturally a black person like my father from Jamaica or the USA will not want to be associated with those people or that place. On the news we see starving children with huge stomachs and flies around them. We watch this saying, look at the Africans. At the same time we look at the MTV rap videos and us and our children alike are all too excited by them. Now because of this, the rap/gun/drug culture is now associated with people only. We now have MTV Africa people,let the brainwashing continue?! To escape their association with their roots, a black person may buy the most effective bleaching cream to lighten their skin as they think they will be treated with more respect or perceived better. If the pizza face does not work then they might just ridicule Africa to feel better about themselves. Let me just point out that the bleaching of the skin is something real common that black folks caught up in this white man's world is doing to look white. Even within Africa itself,what a shame,if only they knew better.

Contrary to the aforementioned statement African people have done many great deeds and achieved great things, which cannot be surpassed even today. When you understand Egypt and know that the pyramids and the hieroglyphics,and know that the first form of writing to mankind was started and developed by Africans in Africa, and how the Blacka-Moors brought Civilisation to Europe, these should make us proud of our African ness. However some of us cannot be proud of those achievements, as we do not even know that our ancestors did such great things in the first place, because we think someone else did it! The fact is, the only reason why the only country that a science (Egyptology) is named after is due to the African (black) way of life 4000 BC and beyond, not the current 'Arab Republic of Egypt' as we know it. The black way of life in those times is so different from now and it is now mysterious when compared to this present day. Up to this day, Egyptologists are searching for new information in the Land of the blacks (Kemet or Arab Republic of Egypt' as we know it.

After any war or during or at the pinnacle of any great civilisation, the conquerors or those who rule that society will write their own story, and in Egypt's case that is exactly what happened as it was conquered several times over and every victor has there own story from the Greeks, to the Romans then Arabs. We can say this about the whole black race, everyone has there own story as to why they are victors and why their ways of living is right are right, whether it is because fellow Africans sold other Africans into slavery or whether the Europeans went to Africa to bring the people civilisation with them or even bringing salvation to the Africans in the form of Christianity. However for some reason the truth always comes out. The ruling western cultures portray themselves as the makers of civilisation and sell it to the oblivious others who believe it word for word. Even if there is overriding evidence that the once great civilisation in Africa was built and maintained by Africans, we were taught to hate it because it is evil. From the Pharaohs to African spirituality, we were taught to believe that anything African is evil and worthless. On the other hand you will be amazed to know that the same things that they say are evil are the things, which they have copied, translated and having us read as gospel, giving praises unto them.

I believe the current mood is changing when it comes to how African people view themselves. I feel as though there is a wide awakening among black people worldwide and the fact that I'm writing about this is evidence. The fact that the Land where black people are concentrated is called 'Africa' is the only reason why I refer to all black people as Africans. If the continent was called another name then we would be referred to as that name.

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