Skip to main content

Dear Black People, Not me.

I'm absolutely mortified every time I hear someone talk about some faction of Dark skinned Africans using the word "black" . A while back I was trying to explain to a friend of mine , a French girl why I didn't care so much so about racism or that I couldn't really identify with the Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill . Here is why: 

 Black people do not exist in Africa . Yes, I mean it. Black people are a product of slave trade and only exist under that title in racially segregated societies such as the Americas and Europe. When you set your foot in any African airport , the dark skinned individuals before you are AFRICANS. 

These Africans while we share a part of our history without stolen brethrens across the ocean; our realities are very much different . Take for example , while the tragedy of our story lies in colonisation , our struggle is for unity , development and building ourselves up to identify with our culture . 
Black people's tragedy lies in racism , systemic and structural discrimination at a social level .  Maybe from a distance you can "blackwash" us with the same issues. But a closer look will reveal very different values , cultures and thus struggles . My aim is not further divide us while our brothers over there are fighting for 'black excellence'; but I'm just pointing out that if I don't care about the issues of Black America , it's because my African feet walked a different journey . And I am definitely not going to your destination. 

Here's a link to what inspired me to write this opinion piece : http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2018/02/12/wakanda-afrofuturism-and-decolonizing-international-relations-scholarship/

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lessons unlearned : On Respect

Photo by  Lisa Herbert You can't burn bridges then ask me to find my way back. Like where all good things come from; Twitter, I read that you cannot heal in the same environment you got sick . Never appreciated the value of that simple statement  until I woke up choking , in absolute seething anger , at family mostly .Because although I have mastered the 'outside people' , here I am , the 'outside people' to my inside people . And there is nothing I could do . My mum said never to use the word "hate" . It's ugly and cheap and so absolute . So here is my unlearned lesson; that loyalty must be given to family . No ! Loyalty , respect and all that is wanted must be given to those that earned it . 

How to: Make Rice

As per rice, before the jollof Wisdom is your grandmother telling you to soak it for an hour, "experience" is your mother telling you to 3 table spoons of oil per cup, innovation is you using butter to fry the soaked rice first.  You're welcome!

Space off.

  We all need space. Just enough to let us grow, but not too much that you feel forgotten and left out. S easy to succumb to the charm. pain holds you back, and every night you're on your knees same prayer, "Make me bigger, my voice heard, a better day tomorrow". Tough night, tomorrow is the same, same fake smiles...but you're honestly trying but the scariest thing is remembering, fragments and pieces of a painful past you were too young to remember or know better. fuck this, another day ill deal with this shit, but when. All I have to make is a single phone call, get it off my chest, tell them that i remember now everything that they did, and you know better, but you're not doing it just for that. its because you need to grow . because maybe, just maybe the pain will stop and you can trust again, maybe even feel beautiful and carefree like you once did...damn! thats a long shot , but its worth trying right? but i never do, so every day i dont, a small piece of ...