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The naming, well, I can tell you where that comes from. Africans have not been extinguished of their African heritage, so they don't feel compelled to make up names that are perceived to sound "African". They can give their children a name from their own language. Example, Osamudiame is a Nigerian name. It comes from the Edo language and it means "God Stands for Me". Names have meaning because it is part of their heritage, and always have been part of their heritage. Security in their heritage is also part of the history of why Africans often have names like Peter, Paul, Isaac, Moses,ect. Many Africans name their children Biblical names.
With Black Americans, on the other hand, many have perceived names like Peter, Paul,etc., to be "too White" or "reminiscent of the slave days". Black Americans have basically been extinguished of their African heritage, therefore, not knowing which African heritage they have. Coming up with names that are perceived as "ghetto" could be argued as a perceived way to get closer to one's African heritage.
I always liked the name "Patrice"...but of course, that is FAR TO MUCH OF A SLAVE NAME to give a proud, black child. Only an Uncle Tom could possibly be named "Patrice" and not a real, fighting African....ohh....
wait...
However, before anything can be done to change this culture, one has to know where this culture came from. Where did it originate? How did it originate? Why don't Africans have this culture? If you ask questions, you can come up with solutions to combat this problem.
As someone posted on another thread, this is the legacy of debilitating racism across many generations over hundreds of years, similar to what happened in South Africa. The same phenomenon of underachievement, self-esteem issues resulting from European values and standards of beauty presented ubiquitously in the media as the norm, etc. is present both in South African society and US AA society. It's not "culture", it's dysfunction born of a complex variety of factors resulting from marginalization by a dominant White society. African students studying in the West don't come from this type of background.
Frankly, I find it very sad that this even needs to be explained.
No excuse they can ask Africans for ideas for names instead of saddling their kids with disastrous names. Ironically in their attempt to be more African, they ignore or slight one of the most important rituals in the West African tradition, the naming of a child.
My parents made me watch that when I was little...black parents today, instead of buying it on DVD will let little Rashonda and Jamal run around watching gansta rap videos all day. So much for "black pride."
I always liked the name "Patrice"...but of course, that is FAR TO MUCH OF A SLAVE NAME to give a proud, black child. Only an Uncle Tom could possibly be named "Patrice" and not a real, fighting African....ohh....
wait...
I wasn't saying that names like Patrice were "slave names". I was saying there is a perception shaped by time, history, and place. Culture is shaped by that. Now it is a question is creating a new culture, or at least reforming the culture for the better.
Who said Patrice is a slave name? I've never heard that. I only know of Patrice Lumumba, who was such a powerful presence and popular leader Belgium and the CIA had to take him out. I'd say from that perspective, it's more of a warrior name, than a slave name.
It's not "culture", it's dysfunction born of a complex variety of factors resulting from marginalization by a dominant White society. African students studying in the West don't come from this type of background.
Those factors, along with others, created a dysfunctional culture.
As someone posted on another thread, this is the legacy of debilitating racism across many generations over hundreds of years, similar to what happened in South Africa. The same phenomenon of underachievement, self-esteem issues resulting from European values and standards of beauty presented ubiquitously in the media as the norm, etc. is present both in South African society and US AA society. It's not "culture", it's dysfunction born of a complex variety of factors resulting from marginalization by a dominant White society. African students studying in the West don't come from this type of background.
Frankly, I find it very sad that this even needs to be explained.
The way I see it, if people are looking at culture and dysfunction, then one to look at how things came out the way they did. You just mentioned the point I have been trying to point out. It isn't as simple as say "it's culture". One has to look at the HOW, WHERE, WHY, WHAT, of all of this. Africans coming from Nigeria, Kenya, and other African nations might have a history of enduring colonialism, but they have a sense of their own nationhood. A sense of themselves.
The way I see it, if people are looking at culture and dysfunction, then one to look at how things came out the way they did. You just mentioned the point I have been trying to point out. It isn't as simple as say "it's culture". One has to look at the HOW, WHERE, WHY, WHAT, of all of this. Africans coming from Nigeria, Kenya, and other African nations might have a history of enduring colonialism, but they have a sense of their own nationhood. A sense of themselves.
Of course, that sense of themselves is part of their culture.
Sowell's theory of the black redneck culture:
Quote:
Disparities between Southern whites and Northern whites extended across the board from rates of violence to rates of illegitimacy. American writers from both the antebellum South and the North commented on the great differences between the white people in the two regions. So did famed French visitor Alexis de Tocqueville...Slavery also cannot explain the difference between American blacks and West Indian blacks living in the United States because the ancestors of both were enslaved. When race, racism, and slavery all fail the empirical test, what is left? Culture is left.
The culture of the people who were called "rednecks" and "crackers" before they ever got on the boats to cross the Atlantic was a culture that produced far lower levels of intellectual and economic achievement, as well as far higher levels of violence and sexual promiscuity...While a third of the white population of the U.S. lived within the redneck culture, more than 90% of the black population did. Although that culture eroded away over the generations...It eroded away much faster in Britain than in the U.S. and somewhat faster among Southern whites than among Southern blacks, who had fewer opportunities for education or for the rewards that came with escape from that counterproductive culture.
Nevertheless the process took a long time. As late as the First World War, white soldiers from Georgia, Arkansas, Kentucky and Mississippi scored lower on mental tests than black soldiers from Ohio, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania. Again, neither race nor racism can explain that--and neither can slavery.
The redneck culture proved to be a major handicap for both whites and blacks who absorbed it...The counterproductive and self-destructive culture of black rednecks in today's ghettos is regarded by many as the only "authentic" black culture--and, for that reason, something not to be tampered with
Africans are of the same genetic stock as black Americans, especially Nigerians who are from the same place that most black slave originated from. They are black too, so they face the same discrimination...and yet they excel where American born blacks lag.
So, it isn't DNA as some idiot Nazi would claim, and it isn't racism...so what answer is left? CULTURE.
Modern black American culture is disgusting and should be changed for the benefit of American blacks. Problem is, black Americans are the only group who cling to their social problems as a part of their identity, and getting away from them is seen as being inauthentic.
The fact you believe that over 42 million people ALL have the same values, behaviors and beliefs is patently ridiculous.
The belief that ALL Black Americans think, believe or act the same way is indicative of a serious lack of knowledge and understanding of the individuals that profess or advocate those beliefs about Black Americans.
Remember one of the chief ingredients of prejudice is ignorance.
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