Can you really be black in Africa and not African?

I got this from http://www.blackchat.co.uk/theblackf...m32/22978.html

Think the travelers encountered group that hadn't been educated about the transatlantic slave trade......



not that big of a shock....people who determined the curriculum over there decided it wasn't worth teaching.....just like much non-american ,non-western hisotry is not taught over here.....



hisotry of africans taught here often begins with slave trade....

Well it irks me when Africans act suprised that I don't say i'm african when i'm fully carribean, partindian and part Irish. I also feel Insulted that people on this website can call me part Bluefoot ! That just seems so hateful. I'm not african, i'm Carribean. I always get the stick cause people accuse me of being indenial of my african heritage and YES i do love my african heritage but I can't relate to africa in the way that such a person whom has grown and has family their can. I don't have ANY relatives in africa and I don't even know what part of africa my possible heritage may be or come from. Hey even when I go to america, people use the term that i'm African American WHICH i'm not and i make it clear. I'm black carribean with a part heritage of irish and indian. I'm black PERIOD but not african. And what sometimes gets me is that some africans won't even associate some very lightskinned blacks has African which irks me.

lilsoulful1 wrote:
Do you realize how contradictory you sound? On the one hand you don't associate yourself with Africans because you're Caribbean with part Indian and Irish blood, but on the other hand you're geting upsetbecauseAfricans don't want to associate with mixed race people. Did you ever stop to realize that these people don't mean it as a slight to you or anyone by doing this and that like you they also have a problem associating with someone who doesn't fully share their heritage? You're basically complaining about the same thing you're doing.

And by what you're saying you're 'fully' Caribbean. Doesn't that make you African?Howcan the smaller parts of you, (that is the irish and the indian), make you non- African?

If you was to look at a white person on the street without knowing them, 10 times out of10 you'd think, white = English. But she/he could be part Irish/part German/part Italian, but you wouldn't have the time nor the inclination to think that would you - you'd just automatically assume.

In case no-one told you it's mainly about skin colour coupled with your attitude that makes you African.


You can try and disassociate yourself with Africans all you like. Fact of the matter is - you are.

being african is like being asian or european. you may not have been born on the continent or grown up there but you are still of that place.

if you identify with africa and africans is another matter and depending on where and how you grew up will make all the difference. i know africans with parents who moved to the uk from african countries fairly recently who dont really identify themselves with africa particularly and would call themselves british with no hesitation.

people who describe themselves as black and not african really mean that they are africans who dont identify or have a connection to africa. black is just a label given to african people, it is not the correct name for african people and if you are descended from an indigenous african person then you are african. whether your people got shipped to the americas, the caribbean or wherever you were still african people and its the same people still populating those regions. you may have some mixture in you now through the years, but if your heritage is predominantly african then i guess you can call yourself that. when i say predominantly, it's hard to say what that is because how can you measure how much 'black' blood someone has in them? it would be ignorant to base it on skin colour and hair texture wouldnt it? i believe it has to be more about identity than physical characteristics though and some people who i would call african based on the predominance of african heritage in their history, would not see themselves as that because their family tree left africa too long ago or because there are mixtures of other races in their bloodline that they know of and a lack of education about the history of african people.

then there are those who have one european parent and one african parent, yet who strongly identify with african heritage and class themselves as african while fully accepting that they also have european heritage. i dont know what to make of that.

In answer to the question - no I don't think you can be 'black' in Africa and not be African.

Although many may argue that 'Australian Aborigines' can sayit - I don't believe that because without going into itwe are all descendents of Africa.

lilsoulful1 wrote:
you are entitled to call yourself what you like however if most of your ancestors got to the caribbean via slaveships from africa - then you are a descendent of africans. what does that make you? descendent of africans = african.

if you are descended from the indigenous people of the caribbean (those who were there before the slave trade) then i understand why you call yourself caribbean. if you are a descendant of mainly enslaved africans who were brought to the caribbean by force, then your roots are really african rather than caribbean.

saying that, i understand why you feel caribbean if many generations of your family livedand multiplied in the caribbeanand that is all you are familiar with. if asked i would say you are african-caribbean to take into account your african roots and your family history in the caribbean. because of slavery your culture would differ from someone who was african (say senegalese)andhad no family history in the caribbean so no one is saying that all africans are exactly the same with the same culture and the same history. this is the case even with africans on the continent. diasporan africans have different cultures too but they are still africans as far as i am concerned.