Found this gem on today on “The Frisky.“
My issue is not just with the flyer that was sent home with students from Western Union Elementary school, but with the statements made by the post’s author, Jessica Wakeman.
Where to begin? I’m having so many thoughts, its best I just do this in list form.
1. I know the teacher meant well, but God damn! She (Here I go, stereotyping all teachers as female, when really I have no clue as to the sex) is what I refer to as tragically ignorant. She needs to do a little better! What the EFF is African American attire? Are we talking stereotypes here, or are we talking about the flannel pajama pants and tie dyed t-shirt I’m wearing right now?
2. Nearly everything I own is either pink, furry, or animal print. I didn’t realize I was paying homage to my motherland by covering my laptop with zebra print duct tape. Good for me.
3. The larger theme of the flyer is identity politics. African-American and African are not the same thing. While African-Americans are (duh) descendents of Africans, their culture is completely different. Send my ass over to Africa and yeah, I might look similar to the people there, but I will still experience culture shock.
4. Wakeman writes, “Not knowing the difference between Black and African-American (i.e. you can have dark skin and not be from or have ancestors from Africa, like Rihanna) is bad enough for someone who is supposed to be educating our children.”
Rihanna and her father
Ok, so. Regarding singer Rihanna’s ethnicity, Wikipedia writes “Her mother, a native of Guyana, is Afro-Guyanese, and her father is of Barbadian and Irish descent.” Basically her Mom is black and a transplant from Africa (somewhere down the line.) Her dad is a mix of European and Barbadian, meaning someone from Barbados. Whether he is a mix of the native Caribbean people from there, or a mix of the natives and the Africans, I do not know. Bottom line is this: Rihanna does have ancestors from Africa, without which she would not have her “dark skin.” Her mom, though she never lived in Africa, is of African descent. My father is from Belize. His ancestors came from Africa at some point in history. This doesn’t make him “not black.” If he were to claim it that, people would laugh in his face! I do agree that there is a difference between Black and African-American. African-American is more related to culture and nationality. Black is more related to your ancestry. (See the title of this post.) Some Dominicans by sight (although it is not always as simple as that) are clearly Black in whole or in part. But they don’t want to claim Black because of the stigma that goes along with it. So they just claim Dominican. While Dominican is their nationality, their ancestry is African (Black). So they are in reality, Black-Dominicans. But this is a phrase you will seldom if ever hear used. For example, a year ago I was at a party and saw a guy whom I had never seen before. I asked my friend, “Who’s the Black guy?” I was informed that he was someone’s boyfriend’s friend. Later, someone referred to him as Black. “I’m not Black,” he said, “I’m Dominican.” I rolled my eyes at this. I couldn’t be bothered arguing with the kid. If he wanted to deny who he was, that was his business. He was darker than I was, with a head of hair more textured than mine.
5. When I was younger, if prompted, I couldn’t answer as to whether or not I was African-American. Back then the question confused me; I knew my dad wasn’t from Africa – he was from Belize. So how would I answer the question now? I would say that it was more complicated than that. My dad is Black and he is from Belize, the former British Honduras. He is Garifuna. Garifuna people are a mix of shipwrecked Africans who never made it into the slave trade market, and the native Caribs. (Although some argue that their genetic makeup is mostly African.) My mother is mostly Puerto Rican, with a little bit of Mexican and Cuban. When Jennifer Lopez started getting popular, she mad being Puerto Rican really trendy. A bunch of girls in my middle school started lying and saying they were Puerto Rican. It got to the point that years later, a guy asked me what I was mixed with and when I told him Puerto Rican and Black, he wouldn’t believe me. Perhaps it had something to do with the people who have a drop of some type of Hispanic in them somewhere and claim that country because they think its hip. “I’m Honduran!” I am dubious of these people, but I will get more into that in an upcoming post.
When I was giving my class the final presentation for this blog/project, I could see the confusion in some of my white classmates’ faces. Why did I tell them I didn’t know how to identify myself? Honestly, most people who are not biracial or mixed race just don’t get it. After all, I look Black. But its never just black and white. So you can just call me a mutt. I am who I am and I’m very proud of it. One of my best friends, Ashley, is mixed with Black and white. She said it best on her Facebook page when she wrote, “I am neither black nor white. I am both.”
Of course, none of this should matter! But it does. Identity, culture and race are highly complex. I have so much more to say about claiming and identify politics, which will all be revealed in a later in a post I’ve been working very hard on.
