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Continuity is an important word. Herskovits proved, to the disdain of bourgeoisie black folks, and bigoted white folks, that African culture has never been extinguished in America. He basically traced many elements of so called present day "black" culture to Africa. People in America who want to deny African Americans their African past are those who want to believe that African Americans only have a slave past.
The problem with that is, however, that Africans don't accept it. I could take a DNA test that tells me I have the genetic markers of people from the region of Africa known as Cameroon. So what do I do with that? Nobody in Cameroon would accept me. It would be like Obama claiming to be white--white people would not accept it. Tears in the rain.
The history we have is the history we have; nobody else has it, only we have it. Our history has the value we give it; nobody else gives it any value.
Take a look at the photographic history of James Van Der Zee. Do you feel the need to be ashamed of those people? I have no shame of what we endured, survived, and overcame--I don't need to appeal to people who won't accept me anyway for validation.
In my view black US-Americans are the least African of all blacks in the Americas. And that's ok, being African is not better than not being African. I would prefer to be a black person in the US rather than in Africa, frankly. And strong individuals don't need some ethnic pseudo-legacy to cling to, they just are who they are. There are white Americans who are just as (little) African as black Americans are, except for the mere genetic aspect, but culture is not genetic.
In my view black US-Americans are the least African of all blacks in the Americas. And that's ok, being African is not better than not being African. I would prefer to be a black person in the US rather than in Africa, frankly. And strong individuals don't need some ethnic pseudo-legacy to cling to, they just are who they are. There are white Americans who are just as (little) African as black Americans are, except for the mere genetic aspect, but culture is not genetic.
Disagree.
The average black American is around 78-81 percent African and around 19-20 percent European. Many aspects of black American culture are very similar to various tribes of West Africa, especially music, dance and certain dialects that some groups of African-Americans speak (see the Gullah for example).
It is hard to form one's identity without knowledge of the past. That has been torn away from Africans/blacks of the diaspora.
Countries are in peoples dna,there are specific markers that people have from their country of origin,race is sacred.
Most african americans are mixed race in just about any dna test and should call themselves mixed race.
Lol.
Nope.
If you took a look at my grandfather, you wouldn't think he was mixed. He is dark but tested 25 percent European. That is very typical. If black Americans all started claiming to be mixed because of a small percentage of non-African blood, there would be few African-Americans left.
If white people can call themselves Irish-American, Italian-American, etc without such heated debates then why can black Americans, who are made of various African ethnicities (my grandfather got tested and is Nigerian, Ghanaian, Togolese, Beninese, Senegalese, Cameroonian, and I forget what else), call themselves African-American without silly debates?
Did those white people need to get tested in order to find out their origins? That's the difference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thriftylefty
You should read Melvile J. Herskovits book "The Myth of the Negro Past
"He is known for exploring the cultural continuity from African cultures as expressed in African-American communities."
Continuity is an important word. Herskovits proved, to the disdain of bourgeoisie black folks, and bigoted white folks, that African culture has never been extinguished in America. He basically traced many elements of so called present day "black" culture to Africa. People in America who want to deny African Americans their African past are those who want to believe that African Americans only have a slave past.
And while I'm am on a soap box I would hope moderators would be more selective in allowing threads criticizing the use of the term "African American" due to the fact there have been so many of these threads and last but not least, the amount of scholarship in the subject is so overwhelmingly in favor of African American as the appropriate anthropological term.
So I'm bougie and you want moderators to close the thread because a bunch of people don't agree with you? Lol. Do you speak any African languages? Better yet, do you speak any language with a good amount of African words? I could go to the Seychelles Islands tomorrow, not speak English the whole time I'm there, and be fine getting around. Could you? I'm probably more "African" than most people that insist on using "AA".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph_Kirk
The problem with that is, however, that Africans don't accept it. I could take a DNA test that tells me I have the genetic markers of people from the region of Africa known as Cameroon. So what do I do with that? Nobody in Cameroon would accept me. It would be like Obama claiming to be white--white people would not accept it. Tears in the rain.
This whole paragraph, especially the first sentence.
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,885,513 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TiltheEndofTime
Lol.
Nope.
If you took a look at my grandfather, you wouldn't think he was mixed. He is dark but tested 25 percent European. That is very typical. If black Americans all started claiming to be mixed because of a small percentage of non-African blood, there would be few African-Americans left.
Nor North American Indians, nor many Europeans (many have Mongol DNA in them), nor Asians etc. etc.
This artificial segmentation and an attempt to deny a history (or worse, invent one) drives people apart and not together. The Jesse Jackon's,Al Sharpton's and the 'Reverend Wright' have done as much or more to cause racism as David Duke has. They are all disgusting people.
Slavery was a fact, and most black slaves came from west Africa, sold to white slave traders by other blacks. It was a horrible institution. But reality that was then. Now is different. A heritage is interesting but your life is more influenced by what you do and how your parents raised you as opposed what great-great-great-grandpappy did or was or where he came from.
Those white people weren't enslaved and raped and had their history stolen from them, now were they?
I am not sure why you care what others call themselves. I am black AND African-American. My ancestors came from all over West Africa and it is a part of my family's story.
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,885,513 times
Reputation: 4559
Quote:
Originally Posted by TiltheEndofTime
Those white people weren't enslaved and raped and had their history stolen from them, now were they?
I am not sure why you care what others call themselves. I am black AND African-American. My ancestors came from all over West Africa and it is a part of my family's story.
Guess your ancestors were never dominated by Mongols? Who raped, killed and enslaved millions. I know, that part of history is suppressed, because it's not PC.
Face it, the institution of slavery, even to this day, is not relegated to just being a black issue. Asians, Caucasians, Blacks, and any other racial group or mixture you want to point at were and still are in some cases victims of slavery.
But what was then was then. My ancient ancestors plight or actions are not who form me or my children. Yes, family history is interesting, and in some cases very interesting, but it does not define me. One doesn't have to be from any particular origin to have gaps in the story. Descendants from Black American slaves have greater gaps than most whites in America, but does it really matter after 150 years? What about 200 years? 300?
There comes a point that the past really is the past. The southern relatives of those that were in the Confederacy really need to get over their issues just as much as the relatives of the slaves they owned. It just doesn't matter in today's world. To attempt to define oneself by what existed generations ago doesn't help. Do we need to learn from those horrible mistakes? You bet! But we should not let that history define US, today. We are better than that.
The average black American is around 78-81 percent African and around 19-20 percent European. Many aspects of black American culture are very similar to various tribes of West Africa, especially music, dance and certain dialects that some groups of African-Americans speak (see the Gullah for example).
It is hard to form one's identity without knowledge of the past. That has been torn away from Africans/blacks of the diaspora.
Again, those percentages are just genes. So what I might ask...
AA culture is nothing like any African cultures. Since you mention music, African music is very different, different rhythms and everything. I hear a lot of African music where I live, it is different from any genre associated with AA's. Dance is also different. Nor do AA's speak African languages anymore.
Just in case you mention chanting during field work in the past, it also exists in rural Portugal, even today.
I think AA's are the least authentic African ones in the Americas. Black people in NE Brazil for instance are a whole lot more African. Same goes for Colombia and other countries in Latin America.
I have a problem with the term identity there. I think it is a problem when people try to invent or cling to a lost identity just because they look similar. AA identity can only be the American one in my view. Now more so than ever. Let me use an example: an AA R&B artist is a whole lot closer to, say, Hall and Oates or Bobby Caldwell than to any African artists.
I am white, I don't cling to any white identity. Both my parents were adopted, I don't even know who my ancestors were, nor do I care. I am who I am as an individual. I look more or less white, but I don't feel like I have a white identity or kind of belong to whites as opposed to blacks or Indians or whoever.
Since modern white people are for the most part good people, I think it would make more sense for AA and white Americans to embrace each other and bring about a new, common American people, instead of looking to another continent that doesn't even care about AA's, nor want them "back". It is not like with the Jewish diaspora, where there is a homeland again and people can move back. That will never happen again with AA's. Liberia was already a giant failure.
I don't personally know any Americans who have ancestors were brought from Africa and pressed into slavery that expressly deny either their African origins or their more recent history as Americans 'who have ancestors were brought from Africa and pressed into slavery."
I'm sure such people exist. Fifty years ago--when most of what most black Americans knew about our African ancestry was filtered through biased white media--there was more of an effort to forget about that heritage (despite "back to Africa" movements such as the establishment of Liberia and by Marcus Garvey, which were hampered by the lack of non-biased mass media).
That pretty much changed by the 60s. Whether individuals prefer either "black American" or "AFrican-American," any who actually deny either part of that heritage are outliers.
Others may vary in which part they personally believe needs the most active support, but I don't know any who actively deny either part.
Are there any "Afro-centric" blacks who also say, "Screw the Tuskegee Airmen?" Maybe so, but they're outliers.
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