Recent news stories about police brutality and race politics have got me considering whether the African experience is different from the African-American experience in America. Is there a difference? Does it matter that one is African and another is African American or some other group of color? Images on the TV screen, the Internet, and in newspapers of thousands of protestors engender feelings of anger toward the perpetrators of injustice as well as fear for the future of Black children, particularly Black males.
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I wonder how our parents’ generation must feel about the current state of affairs in America and how it affects the mind-set of this present generation? As a child of African immigrants, I know of the journey from oppression to a land of perceived freedom and the dreams of children growing up safe and unharassed.
I know our parents got a taste of discrimination and prejudice, but did they think that race relations in America would regress so drastically?
For many years, Africans have held some negative viewpoints of African Americans, and likewise, African Americans have held negative viewpoints of Africans. But the recent deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray (pictured), and countless others, have really forced both Africans and African Americans to reconsider our differences, whether real or unreal.
We are forced to consider the reality of being countered by the deadly force of White supremacy, which does not discriminate between our Blackness.
Now, more than ever, is the time that Black people and people of color all over the world must hold one another up in solidarity and love. As stated by Jesus Christ, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Our division only makes us weaker and more vulnerable to the effects of institutionalized racism, generational prejudice, and inhumane White supremacy.
We were divided twice before, first, during the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade, then again during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
We must not allow ourselves to be divided for a third time.
As Africans, we must not stand by and assume that what we see going on in our various communities in America is just an African-American problem, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, ” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said.
I also share the same sentiment as Malcolm X, who said, “I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.”
Human beings must love each other, but we as a historically oppressed people (both in and out of Africa) must pay special attention to our brethren.
Unity is power.
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You do not have to have an African community in America if you were intelligent enough to build your homeland.You asked to come here.You can leave at anytime, or can you?
Well said and well past time.
PEACE. Thank you sister OLIMPIA Jarboe for inviting Africans of the Diaspora to come back home to Africa. As you know the grass always appears to be greener on the other side, so there is always going to be migration to and fro
All ethnic peoples contribute to their continent, we shouldn't be any different. Basically our contribution to the western world has been fulfilled. All the signs are there for anyone with a little vision to see that the western world has very little to offer herself. Its glory days are behind her, she will no longer be a dominant figure in the New World Order. Desparation is what we see going on in the USA today, the Beast is licking his wounds, and unfortunatly they havn't found a cure for their wounds, they maybe able to find a quick fix for the wound but due to the shift in the economic dynamics the life style that they have been used to is over, therefore the beast is going to become more vicious. It's now all about survival of the fittest, Need I say more.
Now here we are at this late stage in our social economic development and we are again caught in a catastrophic situation that is basically no making of our own and we are caught between a hard rock and a hard stone. We have an alternative our people, lets not get caught sleeping again. CONCERNED.
I fully agree with all but your statement that we should fear especially for black males. What of what is revealed in the case of Sandra Bland? What of the bikini clad black girl tackled by a raging police officer at a pool party?
By black daughter grew up not only having to be wary of police and other authorities but also of black boys and men who saw her as a lesser gender and treated her like she was either a play thing or a person whose main responsibility was to support them in whatever way they demanded. I fear more for these young women who are expected to "hold down" for their men while getting little respect from either their men or racist authorities.