It
has always been a case of debate when historical lessons are being
expounded on the relationship between Africans and African-Americans
with just too many denials.
African-Americans have been depicted as our long lost brothers and
sisters in some circles and we love to believe the hype. Stories of
Oprah Winfrey being from the Kpelle Tribe in Liberia and Whoopi Goldberg
from an ethnic group in Guinea-Bissau excite us. However, does tracing
roots to an African Tribe make African-Americans part of us? Do they
want to be part of us?
Whoopi Goldberg for one seems uninterested as she recently made
headlines for saying she was simply “American” and not even African
American. The whole dynamic is a complex balancing act. The pressure put
on black-Americans is immense; to be just the right amount of African
while being American enough to be respected in their home-country. For
Africans, the choice is easier; we simply have to be African because
that’s all we can and should be.
African Booty Scratchers and the Akata?
Africans and African Americans seem to be on opposite ends of the
divide of class. Some Africans who have been to the United States of
America feel the most hateful racial slurs have come from fellow blacks.
One of the most notorious of these is “African Booty Scratcher”.
In Bound: Africans v African Americans, a motion picture produced
by Peres Owino, Actor Isaiah Washington of Grey’s Anatomy says, “There will be two people of colour in a class. One African and one African-American. And they will not look at each other.” Another interviewee then adds, “I
was called an African Booty Scratcher I don’t even know how many
times…Typically, the darker you are the more you get called it.”
Instead of just taking such slurs at face-value, we need to
understand where they come from. How do blacks end up hating each other?
Tampa poet, James Tokley says, “A lot of us (African Americans) do
harbour a lot of hostility toward Africans. Many Africans have no idea
what our ancestors endured during slavery.” The answer is therefore the shaky ground on which the United States is built.
Slavery is the foundation on which the great edifice that the USA
is was built upon and black-Americans feel they deserve apologies not
just from the whites but their black brothers who “sold their ancestors off.”
Worse still, blacks who later came to America were known to have better
relations with whites as a result of previous encounters with
missionaries in Africa. This made them relate with the white man on a
more cordial level than the black-American who had been subjected to
years of institutionalised torture which remains even to this day.
Looking from the outside, this was a betrayal.
However, where African-Americans use their own slurs to hurl at
Africans, Africans have their own to retort. Some call the
black-Americans “Akata” which is a wandering cat. Luvvie Ajayi says,
“That word epitomizes the terrible stereotypes that Africans have about
African Americans. But many young Africans don’t know what it MEANS.”
The Role of Education
Luvvie Ajayi is a Nigerian and her understanding of the
misunderstandings between the two groups stems from the inherent flaws
in our education. Her views are that Africans do not know about the
black American’s struggle for legitimacy and equality in America to
which she even says, “I didn’t know a thing about African Americans
being slaves when I was growing up. I thought everyone had a maid and
driver like I did.” It might be a fact of most African countries that
blacks no longer know the struggle of simply being labelled black. In
America, they still have the Black Lives Matter movement to assert their
rights in an environment that keeps reminding them that they are not at
par with other races.
Some Africans do not know this and the way they connect with African Americans is telling. “Much
of the tension between Africans and African Americans exists because we
don’t talk enough about our uncomfortable relationship,” Ajayi
says. Where Africans are successful in the United States of America, we
feel it is the black American’s fault that he is not equally successful.
We call the black American an Akata, a wild animal with no cause.
Unknowingly, we play right into the hands of the conventional mainstream
media. A synergy of African and African American voices is too hard to
conquer and mainstream media seeks to highlight the differences in
background over blood so as to divide and conquer.
African Americans are taught that Africa is nothing more than a
primitive backward jungle from where they came while Africans believe
African Americans to be a very violent people who always have guns.
Kofi Glover, a Ghanaian political science Professor at the
University of South Florida makes an eternally factual conclusion on the
matter, saying, “A shared complexion does not equal a shared
culture, nor does it automatically lead to friendships. Whether we like
it or not, Africans and African-Americans have two different and very
distinct cultures.” Though this is true, we have a shared background of repression and disputed legitimacy.
This should count for something! African Americans should learn
about our wars of liberation as we should also learn about slavery so we
appreciate that none of us had it easy.
Source: AfricanExponent
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