Glad i'm not the only one that see this........sister wrote a good piece here.........
This part of the article is really the underlining problem:
Curtis A. Keim also indicates in his novel, “Mistaking Africa: Curiosities and inventions of the American Mind,” that the image of Africa has been so denigrated that many black Americans don’t want to be associated with Africa due persisting portrayals of Africans as poor, uneducated and salvage.
http://fiusm.com/2016/03/01/dont-call-me-african-black-americas-identity-crisis/
The current trends placing members of black America everywhere seem to be suggesting a deviation from the present label of African American. If you compare an article published in the New York Times in 1989 to a modern day article on the same subject, you will notice that what once was an acceptable title seems to be losing favor.
According to a 1989 New York Times article written by journalist Isabel Wilkerson, what was once seen as an empowering and liberating term advocated by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and black academics to describe a population who throughout history has seen more name changes than any other, is now seen as an inaccurate description for encompassing the true essence of the black experience.
The argument suggests that the desire for a less ambiguous label than “black” or “American” comes from the desire to include all members of the African diaspora by simply respecting their claim to the title “African.” It would seem erroneous to suggest – according to a commentary by John H. Mcwhorter on the differences between black and African American identity – that a group of people who have lived in North America for over 400 years, versus people who actually immigrate from Africa, should be given the same descriptive label.
The reasoning stems from a belief that there are only echoes of Africa in modern day black America.
Several articles can be found across the internet quoting modern members of the black community asserting this belief. One journalist, Shahida Muhammad, wrote, “using the term African American feels like using Kente cloth made in China trying desperately to authenticate myself.”
Mcwhorter also commented in his article that “Living descendants of slaves in America neither knew their African ancestors nor even have elder relatives who knew them…”
Remarks like “we respect our African heritage, but that term is not really us,” and “Africa was a long time ago, Are we always going to be tethered to Africa? Spiritually I’m American. When the war starts, I’m fighting for America.” as said by Jesse Washington in an article regarding the terms, are becoming the norm. This desire to migrate from the term African American may be arising in response to a neo-spiritualist movement, inspiring all Americans to define themselves as a whole within humanity.
According to a 2015 study done by the Pew Research center, the number of Americans who are associating with religious affiliation is declining and instead, the number of those who are considering themselves as spiritual is increasing. This change is congruent among Americans of all races. A more existential and all-inclusive label may be a result of these changes.
Curtis A. Keim also indicates in his novel, “Mistaking Africa: Curiosities and inventions of the American Mind,” that the image of Africa has been so denigrated that many black Americans don’t want to be associated with Africa due persisting portrayals of Africans as poor, uneducated and salvage.
Also, we cannot neglect to mention that the relations between Africans and black Americans are not always warm and friendly. Terms such as “obruni,” (white or foreigner) and “akata,” a term derived from the Yoruba language meaning “wild cat,” have evolved to perpetuate the derogatory opinions Africans have of black Americans says an article written by Dr. Farooq A. Kperogi.
The truth lies not it what black America calls itself, but in the idea that society only allows for rigid and strict categorization.
When a person must decide “to be or not to be,” they must embrace all of one thing and discard all of another.
Black America is quite aware that their image in America has often been fervently crucified and they are reminded of their true position in American society almost daily. Modern news is saturated with the tales of the unequal scales of Lady Justice – who isn’t as blind as she seems.
From being told who they must be and then deciding who they must be, especially in a world that makes their status in America clear to them daily, the black American faces the task of what to call himself.
In 1903 W. E. B. Du Bois turned his ideas into a poetic groaning. He was driven by a sense of the frustration a man who has no tongue yet knows every language must feel when attempting to explain the “rhythms” of his heart to a deaf world.
Du Bois’s words: “…this double-consciousness… of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity… his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body,” are a poetic melody that transcends a century and still maintains its most primitive truths.
The American of African descent is said to have an identity crisis as portrayed in the film “Black is, Black Ain’t” by Director Marlon Riggs. The trauma of slavery has left him in a perpetual state of identity foreclosure according to Ron Eyerman, author of “Cultural Trauma: Slavery and the Formation of the African American Identity.” He has no land to claim as his own, he has no country that he may call his home, and his descendants are said to not have a legacy because of it. There is no wonder why there is all this confusion.
This part of the article is really the underlining problem:
Curtis A. Keim also indicates in his novel, “Mistaking Africa: Curiosities and inventions of the American Mind,” that the image of Africa has been so denigrated that many black Americans don’t want to be associated with Africa due persisting portrayals of Africans as poor, uneducated and salvage.
http://fiusm.com/2016/03/01/dont-call-me-african-black-americas-identity-crisis/
The current trends placing members of black America everywhere seem to be suggesting a deviation from the present label of African American. If you compare an article published in the New York Times in 1989 to a modern day article on the same subject, you will notice that what once was an acceptable title seems to be losing favor.
According to a 1989 New York Times article written by journalist Isabel Wilkerson, what was once seen as an empowering and liberating term advocated by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and black academics to describe a population who throughout history has seen more name changes than any other, is now seen as an inaccurate description for encompassing the true essence of the black experience.
The argument suggests that the desire for a less ambiguous label than “black” or “American” comes from the desire to include all members of the African diaspora by simply respecting their claim to the title “African.” It would seem erroneous to suggest – according to a commentary by John H. Mcwhorter on the differences between black and African American identity – that a group of people who have lived in North America for over 400 years, versus people who actually immigrate from Africa, should be given the same descriptive label.
The reasoning stems from a belief that there are only echoes of Africa in modern day black America.
Several articles can be found across the internet quoting modern members of the black community asserting this belief. One journalist, Shahida Muhammad, wrote, “using the term African American feels like using Kente cloth made in China trying desperately to authenticate myself.”
Mcwhorter also commented in his article that “Living descendants of slaves in America neither knew their African ancestors nor even have elder relatives who knew them…”
Remarks like “we respect our African heritage, but that term is not really us,” and “Africa was a long time ago, Are we always going to be tethered to Africa? Spiritually I’m American. When the war starts, I’m fighting for America.” as said by Jesse Washington in an article regarding the terms, are becoming the norm. This desire to migrate from the term African American may be arising in response to a neo-spiritualist movement, inspiring all Americans to define themselves as a whole within humanity.
According to a 2015 study done by the Pew Research center, the number of Americans who are associating with religious affiliation is declining and instead, the number of those who are considering themselves as spiritual is increasing. This change is congruent among Americans of all races. A more existential and all-inclusive label may be a result of these changes.
Curtis A. Keim also indicates in his novel, “Mistaking Africa: Curiosities and inventions of the American Mind,” that the image of Africa has been so denigrated that many black Americans don’t want to be associated with Africa due persisting portrayals of Africans as poor, uneducated and salvage.
Also, we cannot neglect to mention that the relations between Africans and black Americans are not always warm and friendly. Terms such as “obruni,” (white or foreigner) and “akata,” a term derived from the Yoruba language meaning “wild cat,” have evolved to perpetuate the derogatory opinions Africans have of black Americans says an article written by Dr. Farooq A. Kperogi.
The truth lies not it what black America calls itself, but in the idea that society only allows for rigid and strict categorization.
When a person must decide “to be or not to be,” they must embrace all of one thing and discard all of another.
Black America is quite aware that their image in America has often been fervently crucified and they are reminded of their true position in American society almost daily. Modern news is saturated with the tales of the unequal scales of Lady Justice – who isn’t as blind as she seems.
From being told who they must be and then deciding who they must be, especially in a world that makes their status in America clear to them daily, the black American faces the task of what to call himself.
In 1903 W. E. B. Du Bois turned his ideas into a poetic groaning. He was driven by a sense of the frustration a man who has no tongue yet knows every language must feel when attempting to explain the “rhythms” of his heart to a deaf world.
Du Bois’s words: “…this double-consciousness… of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity… his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body,” are a poetic melody that transcends a century and still maintains its most primitive truths.
The American of African descent is said to have an identity crisis as portrayed in the film “Black is, Black Ain’t” by Director Marlon Riggs. The trauma of slavery has left him in a perpetual state of identity foreclosure according to Ron Eyerman, author of “Cultural Trauma: Slavery and the Formation of the African American Identity.” He has no land to claim as his own, he has no country that he may call his home, and his descendants are said to not have a legacy because of it. There is no wonder why there is all this confusion.
