Josie H Australia I am a Catholic Indian. The middle school I went to was not Catholic, and when I graduated into high school (which was Catholic), I ended up in the top Religion class, getting 80% + in all my tests. One day,a boy asked me disbelievingly, “You went to a non-Catholic primary school? […]
No. Where are you REALLY from?
Barry M Toronto, Canada This six word combination together with two other six word combos (Are you from Jamaica or Africa? — No. Where were you actually born?) formed a common conversation I had throughout the 1990s. In Canada the attitude for a long time was if you are Black, and born before the late […]
Where does your family come from?
Cecelia H Philadelphia, PA I remember being in fourth grade and the entire class had to make a dish displaying their ancestry and representing where your family came from. The project had my family scrambling. We don’t know what country we are from. As descendants of slaves in this country that information has been lost […]
A Black Christian, not White Muslim
Ellen McDaniel-Weissler LaVale, MD When my sister, a Peace Corps volunteer, went to serve her two years with the Corps in Chad, Africa, my parents realized that she was at an age when she might meet and fall in love with someone and want to get married. My father was a Lutheran minister and a […]
Starvation isn’t a synonym for Africa
Tchapda Ade Whitewater, WI
Black in America, white in Africa
Dauda Ladipo Nigeria Grew up and live in both the US and Nigeria. Because of my mixed racial heritage I got used to being viewed as belonging to the local racial minority in both places, even though I didn’t identify culturally with that group. Whereas, the half of me that was local was in fact […]
I Am Shattered Pieces Scattered Black
Lauren Anderson Kansas City, MO I’m not sure what I would consider myself. The only thing that I know is that I am brown-skinned, but light-skinned. Many believe I am mixed with another race or other race(s), but my parents are both Black. I’m not really sure what it means to be Black or where […]
I wish I knew my roots…
Tiffany Chatman Loganville, GA African-American? Well, where in Africa? Should I just be American since that is the only place that I have ever lived and that’s the culture that I know. Sometimes I feel like I don’t truly know who I am. I wish that I could trace my roots to a particular country, […]
Girl, you got that good hair.
Clare Norris-Bell Los Angeles, CA In the Black community, hair has been been a measurement of one’s value for generations. In the African-American culture, “good” hair refers to hair that is not kinky or not what is pejoratively called “nappy”. It is hair that is closer to the texture of people in parts of the […]
Surrounded by brown and welcomed in.
Allison Valeri Charlotte, NC In 2011, I took a trip to Kenya, Africa where my team and I were welcomed in as family. We were all white, a lot of us with blond hair and blue eyes, and one person with red hair. We were a sight to be seen. We stayed in an area […]
What am I? Kenyan, or American?
Nichole Coates Siloam Springs, AR I’m American by birth, but spent my entire childhood in Africa.
Ethiopian-Americans are not African-American.
Abesheet Seattle, WA [White] America may lump us all together; but as far as we are concerned, american-born blacks might as well have been white or asian. We have nothing in common.
Morrocon US citizen IS African American
Lorinda Roberts Carmel, IN For my friend, Rabi, who was born and raised in Africa and is now applying for citizenship, however, cannot describe himself as an African American, according to state college officials.
Black folks: please forgive white ancestors!
Linda Robinson Philadelphia, PA All of us are shaped by the culture and historical period in which we developed as children. That culture almost becomes a part of our DNA – it’s that imbedded in us. The white slave-traders of centuries ago in Africa were shaped by the cultural idea that dark-skinned peoples of Africa […]
White americans assume their cultural exceptionalism.
Rob Walbridge Ivory Coast I am a white American who has lived overseas (in Africa) for 40 years. Married to an African woman for 35 years. This assumption of cultural exceptionalism has caused conflict not only between white and black America, but increasingly between America and the rest of the world, most of which is […]
Don’t fear me, I’m like you.
Constance Morton Henderson, NV I am multi-racial, but what you see when you look at me is my connection to Africa. But my ancestors came from the British Isles as well as walked tall and proud on their Native American soil. Why cannot I celebrate my rick heritage with pride in your presence? If we […]
You have the right skin color
Erin Fischer Boulder, CO This is actually the end of a quote from Abraham Verghese’s novel, Cutting for Stone. The whole quote says “Accent be damned in Africa, as long as it’s foreign and you have the right skin color.” It is referencing how a person who was low class and not well educated in […]
Everyone on Earth is from Africa
Dick Christiansen Huntsville, AL “When humans first ventured out of Africa some 60,000 years ago, they left genetic footprints still visible today.” That’s from the National Geographic “Genographic Project”, an incredible on-going work which proved through a simple DNA test of hundreds of thousands of humans around the world that in deed everyone can trace […]
“You’re sister’s Black? Are you joking?”
Ana Mendelson USA No, I’m not joking. Some other questions I have been asked about my older sister: “Where is she from? Africa?” No, DC. “Is she Jewish?” Well, we adopted her when she was 11, so no. “When did you find out she was adopted?” Um…I guess I just always knew…
Powerful nations considerate you inferior, Africa.
Marie Makoue Hyattsville, MD At people’s sight Africa is seen as a undeveloped territory. I choose theses words because they emphasize developed countries’s opinions about Africa since ancient times. In today’s world there still people who see Africa as a village territory; a place of torture, misery and sufferance. Even though there still, Africa is […]
Why African-American? Why not just American?
Manuel Lluberas Jacksonville, FL Africa is not a country or a culture. It is a continent with almost fifty countries, several hundred tribes and as many languages; and that is only the “black part”. North of the Sahara, Africa is Arab. South of the Calahari is Africaner. Other “identity-labeled groups” use Italian-American, Irish-American, etc., even […]
Did you ride elephants in Africa??
Severin Mahirwe Reynoldsburg, OH Thanks for letting me share, great project.
Racism does not exist in Africa.
Martha Elsie Uganda – Africa
Anti-racist is a code for anti-white.
Ryan Mckee Coweta, OK Africa for Africans. Asia for the Asians. White countries for everyone?
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