Cultural Identity Theft
We met for the first time. We looked similar to one another. At least by the color of our skin. He's from Gambia and I on the other hand am from... well, about that.
I guarantee the majority of you reading this can say what regions or areas your ancestors were from. But I cannot say where I or my people are from. When I met Al, the guy from Gambia whom I mentioned earlier, I felt disconnected. I felt torn and awkward because he asked me where I was from. I told him I had no clue where in Africa my family was from specifically but I knew I was from the Motherland.
Immigrants HUH Ben Carson?
My reluctance to claim America as my true home stems from the fact that, well, it isn't my true home. Or at least it wasn't supposed to be. My ancestors did not come to America knowingly or willingly to seek a "better" life the way most immigrants come to this country. No, my people were stolen, literally kidnapped from Africa and bound with chains and shackles, stuffed into dungeon-like ships, transported thousands of miles away from home, and treated worse than pigs when they finally made it to shore. Millions of husbands were ripped away from the arms of their wives and mothers prayed everyday for the return of their children whom they would never see again.
The history of my people is lost due to the slave trade, slavery, and the industry that was slavery. Big money was made on the backs of black skin and that money is still in circulation today benefiting mostly people that look nothing like me. The reason why I feel like my people are all victims of cultural identity theft is that most African-Americans can only trace their roots back to their Great Grandparents, if that.
Many factors make up a culture. Three crucial parts of any culture are language, beliefs, and history.
3 Steps to Erase Culture
Step 1: Take away the native language
There are countless languages spoken in Africa. In a slave ship, it wasn't uncommon to be chained to someone who doesn't understand anything you're saying. This was step one in losing our culture. Someone's name is their biggest identifier, whenever someone asks you, "so tell me a little about yourself," we almost always lead with, "well, my name is _____ and I'm from ____." When the ship made it to shore and people were sold to the highest bidder, they were also stripped of their African names (usually descriptive of their tribe) and given new, European first and sometimes last names. (If you've seen ROOTS, you know how trying to hold on to something as sacred as your own name was STRONGLY discouraged. SPOILER ALERT: The name Toby was literally beaten into Kunta Kinte). After arriving at the plantation, the Africans were forced to learn and speak English because that's the language their captors spoke and there was no longer anyone to converse with in their native African tongue.
Step 2: Take away beliefs
Along with the English language, the bible was also beaten into the brains of black people (a misconstrued version might I add). After being brought to the Americas, black people were no longer allowed to practice their religious beliefs and were forced to take on Christianity.
Step 3: Erase history
Our history was taken away from us because the stories of our ancestors could only be passed down so far. Since it was illegal for black people in America to read and write, many were illiterate. The idea was to keep the slave's body strong and their minds weak. I don't know where my people were from in Africa because my parents don't know, because their parents didn't know, and because our ancestors weren't allowed to talk about it. Fast forward several hundred years and here I am, a black man identifying as African first and an African-American second but either way it goes I have no clue where exactly the African part comes from.
My quest to find my true identity will continue although it is a very painful and angering journey. Think about this for a second. Tens of millions of Africans died on their way to the new world. Someone in my family survived this horrible journey. We as black people are overcomers and innovators. We literally had to reinvent ourselves and create our own culture out of nothing and we are still doing this today. We have had to build and create things from nothing and still we get no credit for what we have done to make America such a "great" country. Our music, stolen. Our dance moves, stolen. Our beauty, stolen. Our swag and slang, stolen. Our inventions, stolen. Our athletic abilities, exploited. But here we are. We are hunted and outcasted but we remain. We are warriors. We are fighters. We are BLACK. We are STRONG. We are AFRICAN.
That is one of the worst crimes committed in human history, and reminds us worst kinds of oppressions humans are capable of. Ben C doesn't know what is talking about half of the time.
While it is important to know the history and learning the cultural/historical identity, it is equally important not to fall into a trap of tribal mentality. All people should be united against any kind of oppression.
What do you mean by the tribal mentality?
I don't know what I am talking about.
That's comforting. . . You say something, then have no idea what your intended message was with the words you wrote. I hate that about this generation. Too afraid to elaborate on what they could or could not have wrong, to the point that future discussions are halted out of fear of doing something undesired. Progress is made by sometimes hard understandings.
I actually wrote the answer. Then I didn't like it and edited.
Majority of people who hear people like @humanearl talk on a subject like this, they are quick to say 'don't talk about slavery', but they fail to realize that although there are problems in talking about slavery, there are bigger problems in not talking about slavery. Some people let their worries about the subject deter them from giving slavery the attention it deserves.
Am so proud of you @humanearl for relating this issue wonderfully well, to our present day situation of knowing who we truly are and where we come from.
When we don't talk about slavery, we participate in making “the great rift” between blacks and whites deeper and wider. Moreover, it’s an unpleasant history,thats why Ben Carson had to use the word 'immigrants', trying to polish slavery. Surely slavery, which caused and underlies this rift, was the most pervasive single issue in our past. Consider that contention about slavery forced the Whig Party to collapse; caused the main Protestant churches to separate, North and South; and prompted the Republican Party to form.
Yes its a sensitive issue, but like a proverb said in my country, 'if you don't know when the rain started beating you, you'll never know when it stopped'
Knowing where we come from will happen us know where we ought to be headed to.
Telling black people in america to not talk about slavery is like telling the Jews to not talk about the holocaust. Makes no sense.
I know black America has been at the fore front of speaking and working against racism. You guys are doing a really good job.
I personally don't go on protests and stuff, but I carry out my own orientation by speaking to young black people, letting them know they are special especially in God's sight, that He sent His only Son to die for them.
Making them realize that they are not inferior to anyone, from any country.
I feel it's just my little way of giving back to the society
Thanks again,your blessing is well appreciated
Nice post @humanearl. I really love this. God bless you. I really wish you success on your quest.
History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, however, if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” In so many ways, the American experience is the African American experience. In every development of our country’s history, every step that has made America better is tied to African American lives, patriotism and sacrifice. Indeed, profits from slavery provided a reservoir of capital that allowed America to grow into a world power. The image of America as a just society is stained by the lack of moral reparations and fair treatment for a group of its earliest and most loyal laborers and residents.
That is why the moral debt is what most concerns me. African Americans helped force America to live up to its stated ideals. This nation’s sense of citizenship, its notion of liberty, its understanding of justice for all owes a debt to the African American; these are the people who believed in the promise of America, and who, by their struggles, helped make that promise more accessible to all.
How does a nation repay its moral debt? The greatest repayment would be to ensure that African Americans now and generations from now, have access to quality education, affordable health care and neighborhoods that are safe. That would make all those who once suffered smile, because they didnt suffer in vain. I really love looking forward to your kind of reasoning. Really have a lot to say, but let me rest it here. Thank you foe giving me the opportunity to voice how i feel.
Reparations for African americans would be in the trillions of dollars. That's how much we have contributed to the building of this country. I'm glad you voiced how you feel. We need healthy and honest dialogue regarding history and the reality many people face today.
Yeah, i couldnt agree more @humanearl. The accomplishments of African Americans and their contributions to our society have
been left out of most history books. Therefore, most African Americans do not know of
their contributions to history.
Slaves performed all kinds of jobs within the United States of America. They worked
on plantations and in the towns or cities at various kinds of occupations whether they
were skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled. The slave labor helped to build the United States
into the great country it is today. Enslaved African labor was necessary for the survival
of European colonial economies in the Americas from the 16th through the 19th centuries.
The slaves from West and Central Africa imported the knowledge of growing rice,
which grew well in their land, to South Carolina and Georgia. The slaves taught the slave
owners how to cultivate this crop. Rice did not grow in Great Britain. Other foods that
came from Africa were watermelon, black-eyed peas, sorghum, okra, and millet.
I want to firstly say that I love the pictures you have used here @humanearl. Even without you saying anything, they already pass their message vividly.
Am proud to be African. I refuse to accept the distorted definition the world chooses to give me. My race will always carry a torch and fight for our right to be as equal as any white person that steps foot on this earth. Everyday we fight for our freedom in the land of the Free. Everyday we fight for our lives, so that we can go home to our loved ones. Everyday we fight for the right to keep our lives after an altercation with an officer of the law, and I use that term loosely.
We are fighters, taking on a fight that we shouldn't of had to fight in the first place.
I am proud of my pigment, the color on my arms does not define me, but prompt me to be stronger. I am proud that I am of color, I want to be different and I want someone to notice me when I walk out in this sea of Ivory. I want you to see my accomplishments, my features exaggerated way beyond the social normality. I want the world to notice that caramel is a color and that ivory will never cover my dark palette.
Thank you @humanearl for this wonderful post, re-establishing the fact that I have to be proud of my heritage as an african
Your post is warming and I'm glad we share like minds. Take pride in being African because we were literally forced to hate each other. We have to change the narrative and that's exactly why I wrote this. I pray we heal together and help our fellow man to do the same.
A big amen to that. Divide and conquer, is exactly the principle being applied here. They make you think your African brother is the problem, and they are your friends.
We have to keep working hard to spread thus wonderful message you have written here. I'll surely resteem this.
A big amen to us healing together, and as we move towards this healing together, nothing can stop us, our potentials are so enormous.
If under this conditions, we have been able to achieve all these breakthroughs, then imagine what we would achieve if given the same level playing ground.
Just imagine what we could do is right. Thanks for your thoughts
Please, Ive been doing a lot of studies on this subject of slavery, and how to affects our present day life, especially in the case of racism.
Racism is found everywhere today, especially against blacks.
So I wanted to know, please I there a connection between slavery and racism?
A very important question.
Slavery is a fact of how an individual is held and required to work for his/her master. Racism is obnoxious behavior toward an individual or group of individuals based on their race. There is some speculation that once a group of people has been held in slavery, it is easier for others to treat them in a racist way. It is also true that the same prejudice which would allow one to hold a human being in slavery could also express itself in racist behavior.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for giving a response to this question. Hmm, well said. This really does justice to the question. Just like in the Bible where the Israelite were held in slavery in Egypt, and later on the Romans saw them as an inferior race. And it was a shock to find out that the Savior of the whole world came from that 'inferior' race.
Thanks a lot. This opens my eyes to the link between slavery and racism.
Originally, slavery had nothing to do with racism either in the ancient world or in colonial North America, but simply existed as an economic arrangement favoring those who enslaved forced labor. In the classical world, victorious armies often enslaved captives of war. Moreover, debtors who could not work off their debts found themselves sold into slavery. However, when a group of people with identifiable racial characteristics had been in slavery for a several generations, their physical characteristics helped them be more easily identified as slaves:
Yes. Slavery is not a new thing. It has been going on forever. So we have either voluntary slavery or involuntary slavery to sum up what you mentioned. I tried to get people to understand my post with the understanding that this was NOT voluntary slavery at all. We did not come willingly or to seek a better life as Mr. Carson stated.
Hmm. Very true. I believe Mr Carson was trying to sugar coat what he knew was slavery. Immigration is voluntary, while slavery is involuntary.
Thanks so much @humanearl and @blessing2002 for the answers. They really helped alot.
I just pray this movement will not end here, but will get to a lot of people for we need this mindset restructuring.
I feel racism is a consequence of slavery. Because people of black skin were forced into slavery, and their lands exploited, this led to a stigma being placed on people of that skin color.
That's where racism gets its power from.
Also because those lands were exploited, it is kind of much harder for those lands to catch up with those in the west. And because of thus 'backwardness' it seems to give fuel to racism.
I feel this is the connection.
The Scramble For Africa
Racism and slavery known to black people in America has a big brother. His name is WHITE SUPREMACY. You see black bodies are seen as disposable. This is why it is easy for cops to gun us down without consequence most of the time. We are seen as disposable or non human which is why so many justified enslaving us.
Many times ethnic groups that tend to see themselves better as another ethnic group will see the "lesser" group as disposable. This can lead to not only slavery but genocide, torture, discrimination, etc.
This is just so unfortunate.I really loved the video on 'scramble for africa'. The funniest part of the whole thing is that it all starts as a little dissatisfaction with a person of color, probably because of that person's behavior, and before you know it, a generalized mindset based on this fallacy is planted, and thenb to the generalize mindset that all people of color are that way, and this grew grow to bigger things like hatred and slavery.
Hmm, am still trying to recover from the wonderful impact your last post on living your dreams had on me @humanearl, and now this one.
You could not have put it any better.
The part that got to me was the religion part. You know, the slave masters of then used 'Christianity' as a weapon of slavery. You know when people hear you say this, they think you are anti Christian. No, God forbid. I am a full bornagain Christian with all of my heart, but what those slave masters did was to twart God's word.
IT so happened that Slaves frequently were moved to hold their own religious meetings out of disgust for the vitiated gospel preached by their masters’ preachers. The preacher usually came and, he’d just say, ‘Serve your masters. Don’t steal your master’s turkey. Don’t steal your master’s chickens. Don’t steal your master’s hawgs. Don’t steal your master’s meat. Do whatsomever your master tells you to do.’ Same old thing all the time. Sometimes the slaves would want a real meetin’ with some real preachin’. They used to sing their songs in a whisper and pray in a whisper.
These false preachers never edifices their spirit or told them words that would lift their spirit up. It was all a means to keep them in bondage, rather than to free them.
This was not what Christ came for. He came to set the captive free.
Am glad this wonderful post of yours is coming now, so that we will start to give the issue of cultural heritage a serious thought.
You are exactly right in that God's word was twisted and used as a weapon. Those who called themselves Christians and also slave masters is a head scratcher.
True, so true. It's just so sad to see that the devil could use men to use the word of God that was meant to bless lives, as a weapon of negativity.
Its really a head scratch, and am so grateful to God that He rose up men in those days to do what you are doing now. Men that chose not to keep their mouths shut, but to stand for who they are. You might not be a.martin Luther king Jr, but I like the fact that you are making a change in your own way, in your own area. God bless your work.
Your post deeply touched my hearts and opened my eyes to what most african-american people may be going through. I fervently hope your success with your quest. It will not be just for yourself but for everyone who feels the same but just doesn't have the courage to talk.
Such a wonderful way to gracefully write on such a sensitive topic. You have really brought to light a very significant part of the African history.
You know, language is so important in the life of a person. It's the definition of the culture and heritage of the person.
The slave masters knew this that's why they went all out to take it away.
To emphasize my point, I'll like to point out, just as you have, a famous scene in the landmark 1977 series Roots, which shows the moment when language is recognised as being significant in the fight for power – for the Africans, in our struggle for liberation, for slave masters, in their plan to dominate a whole set of people by violent and cultural means. The scene shows Kunta Kinte being tortured to force him to relinquish his African name, after he was caught again trying to escape the plantation. Other enslaved Africans are gathered to witness him being whipped to within an inch of his life, with his slave master demanding that he accept the European name of Toby.
From a physical perspective the battle was grossly unequal, with Kunta’s arms and legs bound. But from a psychological perspective, the fight was by no means one-sided, with Kunta having to be severely beaten before he finally conceded. Both Kunta and tha slave master recognised that language is power, with the overseer determined to prevent the enslaved from holding on to any sense of self-worth, pride, or notion of individual and cultural empowerment. When Kunta does eventually concede, even his enslaved family and friends look disappointed – since his surrender marks a significant moment in the defeat their liberation struggle.
Till this day, this sight of defeat is still very visible, until we make efforts to get back to our roots, to what makes us blacks.
We have to understand pass it to our children that there is no shame in being black, but that black is our heritage.
Till this day indeed. we are still traumatized by what happened hundreds of years ago. We have not received the proper therapy to help us recover from all that. So yes there are still signs of defeat but now we have power. We can change the narrative and we will take back our lives and our minds. I pray we help one another to heal, love one another, and take pride of our African heritage. Thanks.
Very true. We have power now. We are no longer those slaves who saw themselves as weak and indigent.
We have all it takes to take our lives back. But like you said, it all starts with the mind. The more we renew our minds in God's word, and through books and posts like this, we get reoriented.
We can never achieve this if we are divided.we must work together as one. Division was the strategy used in slavery, taking your country men who spoke your language away from you. We have to speak one language, the language of true freedom and true liberation.
This is such an awesome piece. Thanks @humanearl for writing a post on a topic so dear to the African race and culture.
This was a law in Alabama, 1833, section 33,
'Any free person of color who shall write for any slave a pass or free paper, on conviction thereof, shall receive for every such offense, thirty-nine lashes on the bare back, and leave the state of Alabama within thirty days thereafter...'
Source - Wikipedia
All they wanted was for there to be no form of communication. They first took away the indigenous language of the slaves, and then took away any form of communication between them.
The languages that slaves spoke originally were varied; there was no single language that they all spoke. Some examples include the Yaruba, Igbo, and Hausa languages, all of which were from tribes in present day Nigeria, which happened to be where most slaves going to the 13 colonies and the West Indies came from.
Every slave importing country/colony in the new world had differing manners of "integrating" slaves into their system. In the US it was common practice for slave owners to outlaw native languages and religion. There are various reasons for this but the main two being that it was believed that they would be more easily controlled and produce children (more slaves), and the fear of revolt (native languages cold be used for slaves to organize themselves).
It's so unfortunate that all these were founded in selfish reasons.
But am so grateful to God that no matter how much they try to take it all away, they can never take away our skin color. That's our heritage that no man can take away.
Thanks for such a wonderful piece.
One of my good friends is of the Igbo. I love hearing him speak in his language. It is simply powerful. This is why I really love hearing African languages spoken because I feel so connected to it even though it has been disconnected from me. If that makes sense.
Ah is that so. Hmm, am actually igbo by tribe too.My name is Emeka (pronounced 'Air-ma-car'. hope this helps) Seems we have so much in connection.
Yah African languages are very powerful. It unites us somuch. When a person speaks your language, you just feel this bond between the both of you, you just feel like you have known for a really long time.
Am glad you feel connected to it. It makes things more personal to me.
Well I'm glad I got to meet you. It's cool to know that you are Igbo
Great post i must say.
You really made my day by this.
I love the part you said keep the slave's body strong and their minds weak
Mental Slavery is far more sinister than physical slavery because the chains are invisible and are transmitted across generations. If African slavery was only physical, African people would have within one generation been able to skip the plethora of social-economic issues which plague African people globally the second the chains came off. Even when Abraham Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, in which he declared that as of January 1, 1863, all slaves in states in rebellion against the Union "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free", most slaves were not free because of they couldnt even read those proclamations on the walls on streets. They were not educated, their minds were weak. So most of them remained in bondage even after being declared free. Bcos most of our parents were not educated, they didnt know what freedom was then, they had no idea where they were from.
Your observations of the conditions of black life in America today versus the state and condition of the African in “Roots” was spot on. Great reflections on our culture, spirituality, and even some possible options. Wonderful writing.
Africa is rising albeit slowly due to the continued exploitation of it's resources by foreign countries. And yes to your point about mental slavery. It is the hardest thing to battle because we have literally been conditioned to think and act a certain way. We have to reprogram ourselves and tap back into our African roots.
Very true my friend @humanearl. I have read wide about this bcos i really see how we have been used. Africa has suffered the worst genocide and holocaust at the hands of the architects of slavery and colonialism. What is called “European Renaissance” was the worst darkness for Africa’s people. Armed with the technology of the gun and the compass it copied from China, Europe became a menace for Africa against her spears. So-called “civilised” Europe also claiming to be “Christian” came up with the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. There was massive loss of African population and skills. As if slavery had not already done enough damage to Africa’s people, European leaders met in Germany from December 1884 to February 1885 at the imperialist Berlin Conference. The Belgian King Leopold stated the purpose of the Berlin Conference as “How we should divide among ourselves this magnificent African cake.”
Its really painful
Europe progressed at the downfall and destruction of other people groups.
Yes. You are making a lot of sense @bridgetoby and @humanearl.
There were some acts perpetrated by Belgium in the Congo in the name of “Western Christian Civilisation.” “Each village was ordered by the authorities to collect and bring in a certain amount of rubber – as much as the men could bring in by neglecting all work for their own maintenance.
If they failed to bring the required amount, their women were taken away and kept as hostages...in the harems of colonial government employees. If this method failed...troops were sent to the village to spread terror, if necessary by killing some of the men...they were ordered to bring one right hand amputated from an African victim for every cartridge used. Can you imagine this. But see us today, what they thought we could not be or achieve, we are at the fore front of development in those countries.