Pan-Africanism : Are You African or African American?

Are You "African" or "African American?"

  • I am African.

    Votes: 83 46.4%
  • I am African American.

    Votes: 52 29.1%
  • none of the above

    Votes: 44 24.6%

  • Total voters
    179
Originally posted by happy69

To call myself an African, would make me, an abused child, identify with my abuser; surely, you can liken that to those of us today, still reaching for labels to say who we are, what we are about... identifying with those who still wretchedly try to destroy us... it is a legacy that throughout history has provided us nothing but a self-imposed treachery that still serves to kill ourselves... we are easy. [/B]

happy69, I don't understand your logic. Can you please clarify.....
 
"Just remember that you don't have to be what they want you to be." - Muhammad Ali

"There has never been another you. With no effort on your part you were born to be something very special and set apart. What you are going to do in appreciation of that gift is a decision only you can make." - Dan Zadra

There's no right or wrong in how a person perceives their self. It may seem trivial to some as to how some of us view the world and ourselves in it, but our consciousness has to start somewhere and in some, it matters a lot that we connect to a place of origin that conjures up more memories of who we are than memories of pain. Romantic notions? To some degree probably, but I don't think romantic at the risk of being ignorant of the politics involved in our slave experience. No, in fact, it might be the opposite.

What have THEY ever done for me and us? Well, I guess that would depend on how a person thinks who THEY are. What are WE doing for us? No group is perfect and neither are Africans. To be blind to this fact is to be ignorant at its most basic level.

What I see when I think of Africa and the more I learn about her is a NATION built with strong, proud, and intelligent who historically have come through a lot. I see a nation of greatness and extreme potential.

Thinking of the greatness of Africa and it's potential helps me to clear my head and let go of racist programming that I've been exposed to ALL my life and a victim of here in America. This is all that I know, unless I make a concerted effort to find out the truth. I wear the badge for me and for my ancestors who couldn't claim it because they would be beaten, raped and killed if they did.

If my ancestors were alive today, I wonder what their thoughts would be and how they would want to answer this question. Deep inside I'd like to think I already know the answer.

happy, to answer your question sis...I don't see labels as "bling-bling." It may not make sense but in our world today, people tend to identify with groups by labels. I see this as another example practiced by us and others around the world.

Just my opinion.

Peace!
 
M-Brown;
to me it is simple. To call myself an African is to betray my foremother and forefather. As an empathetic people, sure, they would have forgiven the treachery... I do believe that; but I also feel that they would have been hurt the rest of their very lives for the treachery of their own basically giving them away to suffer; for SUGAR,AND TRINKETS... it is logical to me, and that is all that matters.

Queen,
that is your right. I have no qualms with your rationale. But, just like we have both espoused in the past that we need to rethink who we fight for , and what we fight for, and let no fight get in the way of our progress... I feel the same about "Other" Blacks. Not that they shouldn't fight for the things that they want and are right and just--- do that, it may work! I think that we need to take a break... We are the ones who lobbied for them to even be here; we still lobby--- and I feel that the dissipating level of that lobbying is due in part to US waking up to the fact that sometimes Black ain't Black--- and that is okay, but we have to think about it... Hell, we even lobby for Hispanics!

The absolute last time I raised my voice against anything was the Anti-Apartheid movement; it was wrong, it was unjust... I still have my pins, and "act-so" letters, etc... until I began to think; how could it happen, how could a people in a place where they outnumber those in charge by 1000 to 1 be enslaved? I think that our reticence to join with anybody is a light into the fact that we are wakening up to some very real facts; we are willing to help anybody and we do; nobody helps us... not other blacks, not anyone.... it is just the truth... you tell me of anytime when others did (and I am not talking Marcus Garvey, different time, differing people); and I will give you times when we have helped them..... and all the lies/liars that they ally themselves with... against us.

Your question should be Why Are We Not Doing It Just For Us?
Happily, I would say, that we are beginning- and that is good--start.

When I think of Africa... I think of the cradle of civilization, that gave birth to a great people... who were light years ahead of the rest of the world... who cursed itself and it's people by being blinded by "Bling-Bling;" And I am not just talking about their children they sold to Whites---and burdened them with unflinching hatred that still swirls around us each and everyday... they have put that caste upon their own children with unbidding greed, and hatred...

Just because the way we all are may be comparable, does that mean that it is right. I was trying to paint the picture that our seeming affiliation for Bling-Bling may be hereditary?
 

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