Have you ever schooled someone on something that they didn’t know anything about? And afterwards you can tell how much they appreciated learning that bit of information. That’s a pretty damn good feeling. Fredric can attest to the fact that, at times, I have issues with patience. But definitely not when I am educating others about something that is important to me, such as my race, heritage, and culture.Part of my job as Project Manager for MyBnk is to go into schools and facilitate workshops on entrepreneurship. Today before our session began, I had an interesting conversation with a girl from Ghana who was about 14 years old. The reason she even approached me was because of my “American accent,” something that many young Brits seem to be infatuated with. They tell me that they “love my accent” and even try to prompt me to talk “pure English.” I always playfully deny even having an accent, accusing Britains of being the ones with accents. At any rate, from my dialect, she knew I was American, but continued to ask me where I was from. Here’s how the conversation went:
“Miss, where are you from?”
“Chicago, in the United States.”
“No, where are you from?”
“I’m from America. I’m African-American.”
“Say what Miss? You’re what? What did you say? Africa?”
“I am from America. I was born there, and so were my parents and grandparents. [By now two more students had joined us] But I know that I am of African descent; my ancestors came from Africa.”
Then I continued to explain descent, ancestors, and slavery, and how without using investigative resources like ancestry.com, most Black Americans do not know what country in Africa they “come from.” To this they still questioned, “But why don’t you know where your family comes from?” So after a few more details about slaves being forced to change their names, separate from their families, and their inability to keep records, they started to understand how thousands of Africans lost their identities when they were brought to America. These British students didn’t know this. They were never taught this, not even during UK Black History Month. This was all new information for them and I had 10 minutes to give them this important lesson about my history. But even with only 10 minutes, I know they will always remember what I said.
When someone understands you, that means something….that means they get what you were trying to tell them. That may sound simple, but think about all the times when people don’t listen to you and don’t understand, sometimes leaving you both frustrated. I knew the girl got it because of the look on her face. She said “That’s sad. No, not sad, that’s very, very sad.” It reminded me of the episode of The Daily Show when Jon Stewart was comprehending that Al Sharpton’s great-grandfather was a slave. Like, wow, this was your grandfather’s father…he was a slave…And you could see the look of revelation on Stewart’s face, as if he were thinking, wow, slavery really wasn’t that long ago… deep.
But our history isn’t sad. To the contrary, as I stated in my Black History post, we have history like no other group in the world. Our history is unique, special, and should constantly be shared with others. We know where we come from-we come from struggle, we come from accomplishment, and we come from triumph.
Unfortunately, every time we think we’ve come a long way up from slavery, judicial racism occurs in small towns like Paris, Texas, making us feel like, on the road of progression, we’ve taken giant steps backwards. The case of Shaquanda Cotten proves that we can never get too comfortable in this country- we must stay on our toes to ensure that we are treated with the respect the American Constitution affords us. We are American, yet we are still treated as if no one has any idea where we came from.
James Walton
Nice post, it is a shame most of us do not know what country we are from. We lost our link to the pass along with our self esteme. We as African Americans owe it to ourselves and our past to establish a present day pattern of success so in the future our family linkage can use us as benchmarks
March 14, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Fredric
very enlightening, indeed. one of these days i will take the time and go through ancestry.com.
March 14, 2007 at 4:15 pm
dr robert l. mcmiller
This is an interesting piece. I am reminded of an
art gallery I attended with a colleague of mind. One of the art professor attending mentioned he was from Africa, Chad. Our conversations were many but one was about what tribe, based on my demeanor, I probably came from. He said my ancestors are probably from the Mandinka tribe. I was amazed.
March 14, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Jess
I was blessed to go to Ghana my junior year of college. The feeling that overcame me when I stood in the Cape Coast castle, which still has the metallic stench of blood in its walls, and looked out from THE DOOR OF RETURN to the Ocean was one of pure and total consuming pain. It was as if all of the tragedy and horror of the lives of those who had been confined in that room locked itself around my heart. I could not breathe. My life was forever changed in that moment. It may sound cliche, but you truly can have no appreciation for where you are going until you understand where you come from. If you have the chance, go.
March 14, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Fredric
wow. Mandinka tribe. that is what’s up right there.
March 15, 2007 at 6:37 am
Kimberly
Cool Dad, so if we’re from the Mandinka tribe that means we are from Gambia (West Africa). It’s the largest tribe in Gambia. Author of Roots, Alex Haley also traced his roots to that tribe. http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/mandinka.htm
It’s a start, but I think I’ll definitely do a search on ancestry.com
March 15, 2007 at 7:09 am
Brittania
Well they have DNA technology now that helps you figure out where/what tribe some of your ancestors are from in Africa. Check it out at http://www.africanancestry.com
March 15, 2007 at 11:16 am
YBP Guide — weekly roundup: 3/17
[...] “Where are you from?†[...]
March 17, 2007 at 8:20 am
YBP Guide — ‘Door of No Return’ in Ghana open to tourists
[...] week I wrote a post how many African-Americans do not know what part of Africa they come from. My cousin commented on [...]
March 20, 2007 at 8:49 am
David McQueen
Unfortunately Kimberley Black History month in the UK is a gimmick. I am constantly telling black students to study their history all year round. When I talk to them about WE Dubois, Patrice Lumumba, Steve Biko, Cheik Antia Diop, Frantz Fanon and many of the heroes I discovered in my Dad’s library they either are shocked that there is so much history or don’t care. Schools are not allowing speakers like myself in to teach either as they are afraid of the direct speech and research of such history which flies in the face of what they have been told about world or African history.
I have Nigerian (paternal) and Ghanian(maternal) in my lineage, along with a hodgepdge of Carib, Portuguese and Celtic. By discovering where I am came from it empowers me to where I am going.
Truth be told I believe many of the students if they really understood where they were coming from wouldnt have the issues of misplaced ego and identity. Sad really!
March 23, 2007 at 4:17 am
Malinda
interesting interaction here. i’m actually a graduate student doing some research on black americans in london(uk) and the diaspora. do you or have you lived in london? would you be willing to share some of your experiences?
June 21, 2008 at 6:49 am
Kimberly
Yes! Fredric and I both lived in London and would love to share more of our experiences. Please contact us at ybpguide [at] gmail [dot] com.
June 21, 2008 at 9:00 am