Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
But no living Black American was directly affected by Slavery, and very few old enough to have been directly affected by Segretation. Similarly, very few Black Africans are old enough to have been directly affected by Colonialism. However historically important those phenomena are, a Black American and a Black African meeting in the street have not been influenced at all in their lifetimes by slavery, segregation or colonialism.
You don't have to be directly affected by something to be shaped by it later on.
No black American today was directly affected by slavery but it's more that you have to view slavery as the foundation of the racism and racial issues that came afterwards in America. Where did America's racial problem start as far as black and white? Slavery.
Fewer Africans today were directly affected by colonialism but colonialism to some extent still shapes Africa both physically and culturally. Physically the African continent was carved up by Europeans and the countries you see today in Africa are the results of that carving. Culturally most Africans speak a European language as their national language and many are christians. These things came through colonialism. Similarly slavery shaped Black-America culturally. Why do Black-Americans speak english and most are christians? Because of slavery.
So both slavery and colonialism don't have to have been directly experianced by people today for both to still be shaping things. Both slavery and colonialsm are more like the foundations for the experiance of both current day Black-Americans and Africans.
You don't have to be directly affected by something to be shaped by it later on.
No black American today was directly affected by slavery but it's more that you have to view slavery as the foundation of the racism and racial issues that came afterwards in America. Where did America's racial problem start as far as black and white? Slavery.
Fewer Africans today were directly affected by colonialism but colonialism to some extent still shapes Africa both physically and culturally. Physically the African continent was carved up by Europeans and the countries you see today in Africa are the results of that carving. Culturally most Africans speak a European language as their national language and many are christians. These things came through colonialism. Similarly slavery shaped Black-America culturally. Why do Black-Americans speak english and most are christians? Because of slavery.
So both slavery and colonialism don't have to have been directly experianced by people today for both to still be shaping things. Both slavery and colonialsm are more like the foundations for the experiance of both current day Black-Americans and Africans.
I tried to point out what I felt were the more obvious ways slavery and colonialism still affects things today.
I'll admit that things like the high unemployment/poverty found in Black-American communities and poverty in Africa today have more than one cause than just racism and colonialism.
Location: where people are either too stupid to leave or too stuck to move
3,982 posts, read 6,662,434 times
Reputation: 3688
An African American would probably have more in common with an American than an African(of any country). Because cuiture has a bigger bond then just sharing physical appearance . You don't realize how American you are until you leave the country.
People are polite in polite society the problems surface when you begin to get intimate. I have plenty friend across the ethnic divide doesn't mean there are not real differences.
Also I've found "lower tiered ignorant folk" tend to mix even more.
We consider each other brothers so like I said no real problems.
I guess lowered tiered ignorant folk and internet people do mix and are interchangeable.
I'm just jumping into this conversation, but my experience as an African-American when I meet Africans is mixed and can sometimes depend on where the African immigrant is from.
I've been in situations where I was totally treated like an outcast amongst a group of Ghanians, while I've been in other situations (especially in college) where Nigerians and I have been united because we were the only "Black" people in a classroom setting. Then there are those situations where light-skinned Ethiopians don't see anything in common with me as an Black-American at all. And even more interesting, there are times where I've interacted with Afro-Latinos who see themselves as one with Afro-Americans despite the difference in nationality, but even in that dynamic, the opposite is true, too.
I don't think we can really make it an "African vs. African-American' thing because that makes it narrow and ignores the complexities that come with nationality, religion, and other cultural factors that supersede our common African ancestry.
I also think that there needs to be more dialogue around this, and I commend the OP for sparking up this conversation.
The African diaspora is unique and GLOBAL. African Americans, Afro Latin Americans, Afro Central Americans, Afro South Americans, Afro Caribbeans, Continental Africans, Afro Europeans, Afro Asians, Afro Middle Easterners, Afro Arabs etc all have lots of things in common, and at the same time lots of differences.
As I like to say, "We are all the same, but we're also different"
You don't have to be directly affected by something to be shaped by it later on.
No black American today was directly affected by slavery but it's more that you have to view slavery as the foundation of the racism and racial issues that came afterwards in America. Where did America's racial problem start as far as black and white? Slavery.
Fewer Africans today were directly affected by colonialism but colonialism to some extent still shapes Africa both physically and culturally. Physically the African continent was carved up by Europeans and the countries you see today in Africa are the results of that carving. Culturally most Africans speak a European language as their national language and many are christians. These things came through colonialism. Similarly slavery shaped Black-America culturally. Why do Black-Americans speak english and most are christians? Because of slavery.
So both slavery and colonialism don't have to have been directly experianced by people today for both to still be shaping things. Both slavery and colonialsm are more like the foundations for the experiance of both current day Black-Americans and Africans.
The racial divide did not occur during slavery, and in fact most blood quantum rules began in the north.*
The racial divide really began during the Jim Crow. If there is any excuse or grounds for potential reparations, it would be because the institutionalization of Jim Crow and when it happened. And there are many Jim Crow survivors still alive today.
It was really the one droppism that did the damage. Segregationist one droppism is the evil elephant in the room.
You don't have to be directly affected by something to be shaped by it later on.
No black American today was directly affected by slavery but it's more that you have to view slavery as the foundation of the racism and racial issues that came afterwards in America. Where did America's racial problem start as far as black and white? Slavery.
Fewer Africans today were directly affected by colonialism but colonialism to some extent still shapes Africa both physically and culturally. Physically the African continent was carved up by Europeans and the countries you see today in Africa are the results of that carving. Culturally most Africans speak a European language as their national language and many are christians. These things came through colonialism. Similarly slavery shaped Black-America culturally. Why do Black-Americans speak english and most are christians? Because of slavery.
So both slavery and colonialism don't have to have been directly experianced by people today for both to still be shaping things. Both slavery and colonialsm are more like the foundations for the experiance of both current day Black-Americans and Africans.
In addition, keep in mind the Arab colonial rule and Arab oppression that set the ball in motion for worldwide oppression of Africans. The Arab slave trade had a big impact on Africa and began earlier and lasted longer than the European slave trading of Africans. Arab slave trade has been in exostence simce amcient times. Arabs are still oppressing Africans and the descendants of African slaves and servants in the Arab world. Blacks are still referred to as "abd" which means "slave" in Arabic.
In addition Africans traded other "fellow" Africans as slaves to each other and to foreign powers, traders, and entities.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.