Title: Election Night
Tags: Barack Obama, African President, history
Blog Entry: I am content with the results of the election. I have never been more proud to be in America . However, I heard a comment tonight that really got me stirred up! Someone said that they were tired of hearing people say that they were excited about having a black president and that it was ignorance on their part. I found that statement to be disturbing on many levels. First, with the history of this country and how Blacks came about living here, it is first a surprise and honor to see one of our own in one of the highest positions. I know that this may be hard to understand if you detach yourself as a Black person from other black people. We too know that it is not all about race, but the race of our new President speaks volumes not only to African Americans but also to the world. Secondly, it reawakened my knowledge of the division among Black people. I abhor this egocentric separation. The same blood and DNA that caused me to be black is that that courses through the veins of a black person from the Caribbean or within any of my brothers and sisters in Africa . Some of us have been deceived to think that we are somehow better than the other groups of blacks. Being a part of one of the most “educated” subgroups of blacks does not make you any better than the rest. I find it childish and highly moronic when I hear one group of black people criticizing the other. We have a lot of things to overcome without persecuting and destroying each other. The better thing to do would be that if you know a more excellent way to do something to teach your brother to do likewise and not to stand back and make foolish judgments that many times cannot even be confirmed by logic. Just as it is ignorant for an American-born African to insult an African, so is it if done by the African to his other brothers or from any group of blacks toward another. There is no perfect spectrum of the Black race; we all have our struggles and shortcomings. It is sad to say that although we assume that we are drastically different we tend to have some of the same weaknesses. Having more degrees, being born in the United States , in one of the islands, or in Africa does not make one a better black person than the other. It just boils my blood when I hear some blacks boast to others how that they are African as if to say that you are not. It is not the definition or acceptance of this one group, that makes one a member but the facts beyond human influences that bind us. Whether I am ever recognized as African or not does not make me any less African. It is sickening for me to see blacks from abroad and here in the states turn their noses up at one another. I know that we blacks in the states may be moving behind our potential, but it does not deem us useless, as it does not to our brothers abroad who are moving way behind schedule with the times. I take pride in Africa no matter how backwards some of the customs may be, this is my homeland; and I would defend any of my brothers simply because they are my brothers. In other words, I would find the common ground and stop harping on the differences. As a matter of fact, the similarities outweigh the differences. For those of my kin born abroad let’s just be honest, if it were not for the struggles of the sons and daughters of former ‘African’ slaves here in the United States our other brothers and sisters from abroad and the motherland would not be able to enjoy their lives as they do in the U.S. today (i.e. Sojourner Truth, W.E.B Dubois, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, and countless blacks whose names were never mentioned, but they fought and gave their lives so that you could alienate your bothers). Yes, I do think that every person of African descent should visit Africa and not just accept what the media says about it. I also think that our African and island brothers should wake up and get their heads out of the clouds and be a little more humble and less snobbish with their “American” brothers and vice versa. I know that many will choose to continue with their cycle of hate and prejudice, but here is some food for thought, whether you were born in Africa, the Caribbean, South America , or the United States to all those who are not of African descent you’re just another black person.
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