silly me! one of these days i'll be strong enough not to rise to what feels like trolling. i should have remembered the thoughts i had over seeing the title of some of your other "contributions" .... guess i'll learn someday.
btw, thanks! "exceedingly presumptuous and pretentious" quite nicely describes this and the jackie robinson insult ... and i have been ignoring your "defending hip hop" "contribution".
EL PAPI LEANDO said:
Mr AnAfrican, are you, yourself, a Continental African? If not, your words were exceedingly presumptuous and pretentious - as thoroughly ARROGANT as you claimed mine to be.
Firstly, I responded to a post in another thread by a brother who said that time and again, he experienced Continental Africans telling him they were "offended" by African Americans referring to themselves as Africans, as we have "no idea" what it is to be an African. REALLY? What is it to be African, and does anyone have a monopoly on that experience? Who are they who've got this monopoly?
sometimes i fear that the sad truth is, however, that we really have no idea what it is to be African!
I'd submit that to be an African includes Dignity, Honor, Respect, Self Respect, Strength, Humility, Love, Spirituality. No, there is no "monopoly" on these attributes, but what with the way that they are not implemented, and sometimes even shunned, it seems as if there must be some that think there is some sort of monopoly .. but that word ("monopoly"), and the concepts behind it comes from a inflicted culture that would believe that it "owns" anything around this planet!! (i suppose that one will miss, too.)
I'd opine that, were there such a "monopoly on the experience of being African", it would logically be those that have had experience with BEing African. I'd also opine, that there would be no barrier to Americans of African descent learning and living this experience.
But, AnAfrican, your wildest claim was that their real problem with us is the fact that we hyphenate, and claim an american heritage.
(ya know; this is a trait that i have noticed about those that have so absorbed this "western" conditioning. they seem to have this comprehension deficit such that they take what someone has said and narrows it down to a totally inconsequential misinterpretation of what was said. or could this be more properly termed "troll like behavior"??
you focussed on "hyphenate" and missed the bit about not claiming either by trying to claim both. there is nothing "wrong" about claiming to be an American born and bred African and desiring to learn of the African heritage lost. the "problem" comes with claiming to be an "African American" and somehow having a "more justified" claim to being called an African. but, of course, if one didn't twist stuff up ...)
nope, not what i said. standing up and claiming an "American heritage" would at least show the world that American born Africans had something to stand for. but, of course, there are those that suggest that there is no valid reason to claim an American heritage anyway. (yeah, i know; "those people define this country and say/show that we aren't part of it".) but if one won't stand for that which one busts one's hump for everyday, of what value would that one be anywhere else?
This, according to you, means that we are not AFRICAN enough, that we are all about the "benjamins", and apparently, this capitalist bent makes us thoroughly repulsive to our African relatives. AnAfrican, sir, are you sure you want to stand by all of this ?
it's only when that "capitalist bent" follows the capitalistic notion that it is as simple as flashing enough green to be recognized, or even (???)"become an honorary chief"(???) that things become repulsive. ... well, ok, repulsive to me, anyway.
Fact is, it is a fact that even in threads and posts I've read at this website, our money/benjamins is never rejected by Continental Africans. In fact, we are encouraged to contribute as much money to Africans and the continent as possible, and leads me to wonder who are these Africans who are so offended by our identification with our motherland.
heck, everybody wants to eat, eh? and this busted mentality that is running this planet into the ground has got everybody convinced that the only way to partake of the free bounty that Mother Earth provides (all the stuff we need is right there in the ground. all the tools we need to figure out how to get it from the ground to our bellies has been given to us by Mother Earth in these bodies and brains. all the help we need to do anything is right there in all of our neighbors) is with this capitalistic structure that requires a false class system that leaves too many people in need of those dollars.
of course they will gladly accept the dollars. it is the Heart, Honor, Humility, Respect and Dignity behind the Gift that is usually offensive. and most of the folks that haven't pulled those bits together within themselves would not be as willing to accept the Teachings/Knowledge required for a non-offensive approach to that identification.
Brother AnAfrican, I don't think YOU have the answer - not even close. Try allowing a REAL AFrican the chance to answer my question. Your very arrogant presumptions and pontifications disqualified you before the start.
I
am a "real African"! I am also a "real American". What I am NOT is an "African American"; these are not the "United States of Ethnic America"! When folks got here, they were Afrcan. When folks were "freed" here, they were African. So it would follow that those of us that would dare would be entitled to call ourselves Africans. This is a thing of the Heart; if the Heart ain't right, then everybody is gonna feel "insulted" by what comes out in the actions and out of the mouth.
Welcome to the Family!! Enjoy your stay; I'll try not to respond to your "stuff". but "questions" like this just offend me enough that sometimes i
forget your pardon, please.
