Pan-Africanism : Africa and Black America: How Differ and Why

Yes,but...

In my point of view,when i see black americans and africans,i think that for the first they didn't really appreciate the others because they feel...betrayed;they have been sold by our ancestors as slaves and now they haven't forget about!But they are a bit envious;africans are...in THEIR land,they feel secured!Black americans are in USA,that's true that the land belongs to them also in the papers,but what is the reality?
 
napress said:
This is one African perspective on relations between Africa and Black America. They are not very good, let's just face it; although there are individuals from both sides who get along pretty well. But, collectively, as groups, relations are not very good. This discussion has gotten pretty hot on the internet because of a book written by Tanzanian author, Godfrey Mwakikagile, "Relations Between Africans and African Americans: Misconceptions, Myths and Realities" (Grand Rapids, Michigan: National Academic Press, January 2005), 302 pages, softcover edition.


From: "tnygb" <panafbks@a...>
Date: Sat Mar 5, 2005 11:59 pm
Subject: Africa and Black America: How We Differ and Why

adaoma,

I would like to add something right here at the beginning before you
and others read the rest of this post.

One of the biggest disappointments among African Americans comes from
their distorted, romantic view or image of Africa. I think they
sometimes expect too much from Africans, that they should
automatically be embraced by them simply because they are fellow
blacks and have a common origin: Africa. But it's deeper than that.

Africa is a huge, diverse, and complex continent of more than 700
million peoeple even after being ravaged by AIDS and other scourges
including civil wars. Africans are NOT one people the way black
Americans see us. We are all Africans, it's true. But we also belong
to different ethnic groups, speak different languages, have different
cultures and so forth. We even have different races. Just look at the
Somalis, Ethiopians, for example. Look at their features. Do they
look like the Bakongo in Congo, or like the Ewe in Ghana or the Bemba
in Zambia? There are obvious racial differences. They are
not "Negro." The same applies to the Fulani in West Africa who
probably originated from Ethiopia, but obviously somewhere in the
northeast of Africa because of linguistic evidence which ties them to
the Ethiopian highlands, where the Somali also originated.

The point I am trying to make here is that when African Americans
lump all of us together, these African peoples (and NOT just people
but PEOPLES) together, they assume that we are all just one people;
which is simply not true. And we have conflicts among ourselves.

Therefore don't expect Africans to automatically embrace African
Americans when they don't even fully embrace each other over there in
Africa. Just ask the Hutu and the Tutsi and others who have been at
each other's throat for years. And ask the rest of the Africans about the
devastating impact of tribalism. Ask the Igbos what happened to them
in northern Nigeria during the civil war in the sixties, and why the
Hausa and others slaughtered them; and why they still complain today
about being marginalized in Nigeria just like many other people - the
Ogonis and others - complain about the same thing.

After we understand all that, we then begin to understand why these
people, who are not united in their own countries let alone across
the African continent, should not be expected to automatically
embrace black Americans, especially when they visit Africa, the way
American blacks expect to be embraced and welcomed. It also shows why
Pan-Africanism, true Pan-Africanism in its concrete, practical form,
is no more than a myth despite the hopes cherised by some of us.

Now we can go ahead with the subject we addressed earlier, but always
keeping in mind the background I have just provided for a better
understanding of the issues we have already discussed and which I
continue to discuss here, although for the last time. I have also
added a few other things below.

As I said earlier, adaoma, I really appreciate your response. I would
also like to let you know that you don't have to wait to read in the
library the book on relations between Africans and African Americans
written by Godfrey Mwakikagile.

The book is available free on the internet for anybody, and for
everybody anywhere in the world, interested in the subject. So nobody
really has to buy the book if he or she doesn't want to. I don't know
how the author is going to make some money this way, but that's up to
him and his publisher.

The entire book has been posted on a Nigerian web site - an African
site, really, but managed by Nigerians - and is accessible now, 24
hours a day.

If you, or others, want to read the book, go to:
www.africananews.com

Now, concerning my opinion on the subject, as you asked me in your
last post, I thought I explained myself well. Obviously I did not, to
your satisfaction. So, I will try again, and put it this way:

As an African born and raised in Africa, and as someone who has lived
in the United States and in other African countries - including Ghana
and Nigeria in the seventies during the liberation struggle in
southern Africa where I come from - and who knows many Africans in
Africa and in the US from many different African countries, I know
that a very large number of Africans really don't care whether or not
they associate with black Americans, or African Americans. And there
are different reasons for this, mainly because Africans have their
own group or groups, of fellow Africans and even fellow tribesmen whom
they associate and mingle with; they don't accept black Americans as
fellow Africans, at least not the way they accept each other from
different countries on the continent as fellow Africans; they are
concerned about making it life and not about what goes on in the
lives of American blacks; they see black Americans as arrogant who
look down upon Africa and make fun of us even if behind our backs;
and the enslavement of Africans - whose descendants are you and other
African Americans - is NOT on the minds of most Africans since it
happened so long ago, and therefore they feel that they really have
nothing to do with it, or with its legacy especially as it affects
the lives of black Americans even today.

But it is also true, and abundantly clear to many of us from Africa,
that many Black Americans in general are no more interested in Africa
than Africans are in the lives and well-being of American blacks;
although there is also a significant number of them who seem to be
interested in Africa.

The reasons for this are equally obvious: Black Americans ARE, first
and foremost, AMERICANS, and NOT Africans, and THEY identify
themselves as such; although they are also Africans genealogically.
Black Americans also don't make a conscious effort to embrace African
immigrants and students in their midst - so why should Africans rush
to embrace them? In fact that's something which Africans really don't
care about, since they have their own groups and identities they
identify with, and from which they seek solace and spiritual
sustenance.

African Americans in general also don't care about Africa because
they are ashamed of their origin as a primitive place. They also
think they are better than Africans. Another major reason is that
they really believe that we DON'T want them over there, in Africa,
and that we have nothing to with them. Whether this is true or not,
it makes no difference to them. They do have this belief. And,
unfortunately, it is also true in many cases - not in all but in many
cases. Many Africans see black Americans just as that - black
Americans, therefore simply as Americans and NOT Africans like them.
Many of them don't even see them - let alone accept them - as distant
cousins but just as another people, AMERICANS, over there, far away
in the United States, or from the United States when they visit
Africa.

The record of African immigrants in the United States(more than 2
million today according to census figures), as well as students, also
has had negative consequences. Africans are on average very
successful in the United States and are among the most successful
immigrant groups. And they use that as a yardstick to measure the
performance of black Americans.

In general, African immigrants and students see black Americans as a
people who don't take full advantage of the opportunities they have.
And they don't see them as achievers, at least not in the same way
they see themselves. Is it true or not? No, it's not. I don't believe
that it's true. One of the reasons, besides arrogance among many
Africans as better blacks than American blacks (and vice versa, of
course), is that Africans come from a continent with very limited
opportunities. So when they come to the United States, they see
abundance everywhere in a way black Americans don't.

I have dealt with black Americans for quite some time and, frankly
speaking, many of them don't care about Africa, or about Africans,
anymore than Africans care about them and Black America. The author
contends otherwise, of course, and I disagree with him on this,
especially when he says you find large numbers on both sides who care
about each other. I don't know where he got that from. May be I'm
wrong. But I think he should know better than that, especially as an
African, although I agree with most of the things he says in his
book.

It's common knowledge among many Africans that they really don't care
about American blacks and even blame them for "commtting all that
crime," as the saying goes, and for complaining too much, way too
much, about racism instead of working hard or going out there to look
for a job, and keep on looking until you find something to do.

That's the attitude of many Africans towards black Americans, the way
I see it, from my own observation; which differs from the author's in
significant ways. He seems to be too optimistic for me. Others, of
course, will differ with me on that, as much as they will differ with
him.

So, where are we headed? I really don't know, although I would like
to be optimistic as well. But I haven't seen any solid evidence of
African immigrants, as a group or groups, working with African
Americans anymore than I have seen that evidence from the other side,
African American groups working with African immigrants and students.

Where are these groups of Africans doing this in California, Georgia,
New York, North Carolina, Texas, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, some
of the states with a very large number of African immigrants; where
are they and where is the evidence showing that they work with black
Americans in terms of racial solidarity as one people? And where are
these groups of black Americans doing this, working with African
immigrants, inviting and welcoming them into their communities and
churches and social organizations and civic groups in an organized
way, not just randomly or just on an individual basis? Where are the
black churches doing this, taking the initiative to do so especially
as the most powerful institution in Black America, inviting African
immigrants and students, to achieve this goal of working together and
in pursuit of racial solidarity? A few individuals do that, now and
then, in different parts of the country. But that's about it. Nothing
on a sustained basis, in an organized way, and as a concerted effort.

So, we remain divided. And that is why Africa also is still divided.
Each to his own. Nkrumah tried to unite Africa back in the sixties.
He was ignored. Malcolm X also tried to forge links between Africa
and Black America probably more than any other black American leader
did in the sixties. He was also ignored. And both are still ignored
today.

We hear, for example, of a dream of a united West Africa under one
government some time in the future. It's just that, a dream. And just
recently we have even heard of a specific time table on consummation
of an East African federation, that Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are
going to start uniting next year, in 2006, and by 2010 will form a
political federation under one government with one president. Well,
we will see. I am a realist. I don't believe it is going to happen.
And if it does, the three countries would be better off to start with
a confederation, which is a loose federation, than with a federation.

It seems to me that Pan-Africanism will remain just that, an ideal,
for generations to come; no more than empty rhetoric besides a few
achievements in terms of cooperation among African countries, and
between Africans and African Americans, as has been the case all the
time. And I am not going to lose sleep over it.

I also rest my case and will go on to something else. Let others
continue this discussion if they want to. I think both of us, you and
I, have raised a lot important issues which can be addressed by
others as well.

Best wishes,

Tony


Whew, the truth hurts, man - 'deed it do - but it tis what tis... Very Powerful post, indeed... Very revealing about the value systems of both Africans and African Americans, as well... Man, have we all been SAXON-ized...

Peace!
Isaiah
 
I feel the only seperation that has tooken place has alot to do with colonization and the Europeans empliment of inferior ideas on the Black masses. I see the situation in africa no diffrent than the one here. Blacks in America are divided between this notion of "dark skin" and "mulatto" just like Blacks are divided amoungst color in the mother continent.i could sit here and literally type for hours about the americanization or europeanization of the cotinent of Africa, but we must make it clear. we must first address these ailemets. I feel in order to BREAK these divides Blacks in both hemispheres must first address these problems and the origin of their oppression and then secondly work to end it. We cannot just say " Oh Fawk it" cause some brotha in Africa feels that u are not of his kin or etc. His psyche of brotherhood is great tainted just like the black man in america. All i saying is that we must first embrace each other and work out the demons that effect us in order to stregthen each other as a race globaly.
 

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