One thought on “%1$s”

1. I’m going to go ahead and disagree. I consider myself Black American. I do use African American and Black American interchangeable at times. However, when I step back and think about it, I’m not so fond of being coined “African American.” It has nothing to do with racial stigmas, but more to do with cultural identity. And yes, I wasn’t born in African. I’m not even sure what desire there is to hold onto a continental identity. People don’t go around insisting that White Americans call themselves European American, or German American, or whatever White standard. So, why is it so important that Black people call themselves African American? Why can’t people identify the way they want. To be honest, I really just want to be called American. Period. That’s my dream… to simply have people, regardless of their ethnic origin, just be called American. That’s if they are in fact American. 🙂

   Now, why do I prefer Black American over African American? Because I’ve been around Africans and I don’t relate to them. Yes, I relate to them as human beings, but their culture is foreign to me. Not in a bad way, just in a different way. Different in the way I’d say a Mexican families live or an Asian families live. I’m not part of the culture, because I’ve never lived it. It’s not bad, it’s just not my culture. So, why do I have to pretend that I’m something that I’m not. Why do I have to take a label I don’t identify with, just because not taking it makes someone else uncomfortable? I’m comfortable in my skin, and I’m comfortable with being Black American, but even more comfortable with the universal term American. Black American makes me feel segregated. Simply being American makes me think of equality.

   The more I think about it, the term Black unites us far more than African-whatever country you’re from than anything. I think of places like Australia with their Black natives (Aborigines). They’re Black, but are more closely related to Asians than Africans. Australian Blacks suffer from similar oppressions as Blacks around the world. There are some places in the South Pacific with Black people who resemble the Aborigines. Not African. Again, their darker skin color has lead to oppression. All over the world Black people are oppressed and viewed as lesser. You don’t have to be a slave descendent from Africa to experience discrimination. Black is Black wherever you go. In fact, the closer you are to the true color black, the more discrimination you’re likely to see.

   Now the Africans I’ve met in America (whether they’ve obtain citizenship or not), have been wonderful people who seem to band together to elevate each other. Keep in mind, this is the outsider view looking in. I’ve also met a Rwanda genocide survivor, lost his entire family, with a mission to give back to African orphans. Even though, there’s inter fighting among tribes, it seems there’s still a sense of collectiveness. And yes, I’m stereotyping based on my small interactions. However, It’s a collectiveness I don’t find among a lot of Black Americans. On the other hand, I do see a wave of change with movements #blackbusiness and #blacklivesmatter. The desire is there, but other than a lot of lip service, not so much action.

   I traced some of my roots back to the 1800s. It was very satisfying. It really helped me find closure with my own personal history. I’m a descendant of slaves. The history I know is truncated in slavery. I’m 99% sure that at some time my distant ancestors originated in Africa, but I wasn’t able to trace back that far because of the damage slavery has done to historical records. I’m okay with that, because I know that slavery is apart of my history. It’s something I can embrace. In some ways, I take pride in being a descendant of a slave. It reminds of how far my family has come, despite disadvantages. Though I probably should be humble, it makes me feel like all the success I achieve is greater than the success of others, because I’ve had that much more to overcome.

   When I look at women like Madame C.J. Walker, I can’t help but be proud. I would love to connect my ancestral dots to a woman like her or similar.

   I’m Black, American, and a descendant of slaves (most likely from the continent of African).

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