I apologize if my reading here is too shallow. I'm hearing no empathy for the plight of African Americans for whom Black = Nigger. I'm only reading that Ms. Gyasi has had to live with being wrongly assigned to that lot. Instead of the message I'm reading--you can't judge a book by its cover--I anticipated the author's moral to be, if all Blacks are niggers I'm proud to be seen as one, rather than mistaken for one.
26
Just as Gyasi traverses the educational path of "white privilege" to cuddle in the lap of NPR and Stanford, so does the Nigerian novelist, Adichie. Writers of African descent in the U.S. don't really experience the harsh social, racial and economic realities of African Americans and fancy themselves as having learned how to be "black" in the U.S. Gyasi's effort to inveigle herself into the race conversation of the U.S. appears strained and forced.
26
Ms Gyasi,
Obviously, you are not a nigger. Nobody is. This is a term of derision that racists use. You should not allow ignorant people to categorize you. It is wrong for you to internalize their racism. It is their problem not yours.
Next, you may or may not be identical genetically to black Americans but you are not identical to a black American in some important ways. Your family was not brought to America as slaves and you have a very different cultural background than either American whites or blacks have. You should cherish that background but it does not make you superior to either whites or blacks.
Finally, you were accepted by Stanford, one of the very best universities in the world, and common sense indicates that all your efforts have succeeded and were not wasted. If you continue your efforts there is every reason to believe that you will have a successful career. You are now apparently a published author. Why do you allow ignorant racists to define you? Most people in the world would envy you and what you have accomplished so far.
Obviously, you are not a nigger. Nobody is. This is a term of derision that racists use. You should not allow ignorant people to categorize you. It is wrong for you to internalize their racism. It is their problem not yours.
Next, you may or may not be identical genetically to black Americans but you are not identical to a black American in some important ways. Your family was not brought to America as slaves and you have a very different cultural background than either American whites or blacks have. You should cherish that background but it does not make you superior to either whites or blacks.
Finally, you were accepted by Stanford, one of the very best universities in the world, and common sense indicates that all your efforts have succeeded and were not wasted. If you continue your efforts there is every reason to believe that you will have a successful career. You are now apparently a published author. Why do you allow ignorant racists to define you? Most people in the world would envy you and what you have accomplished so far.
36
How miserable are we humans when acting tribal, demeaning 'the other' as a matter of course, not giving it a second thought/look. There is only one race, the human race; within that frame, "racism" seems alive and well, making us all the poorer in spirit, irrelevant in our short history on Earth...other than our impertinent and arrogant stance of daring each other for what seems aplenty, stupidity. And our religions, supposed to allow transcendent thoughts and shedding our egos, have made things worse by inserting dogma in ancient beliefs, and by closing our minds to reason and logic, to science, and the need to think for ourselves. If there were a God, he/she would be ashamed of his/her own creation. Although we are part of Nature, we seem arrogant enough to disengage and destroy it and find a scapegoat to blame; as if this isn't enough to condemn ourselves to oblivion, we are the only creature on Earth that feast in torturing before the final blow, the killing itself. I am told we have redeeming values; that may be so, but they must be well hidden, almost as well as the gods we created to escape our own fate, personal death.
10
The elements presented in this article is something I can relate to. As a Ghanaian immigrant and a father of two young girls, I sometimes get confused as to how I will one day talk to my girls about race in this nation . I have had my share of racism right here in NYC.
Nevertheless,I have come to learn that as a society covert, if not overt, racism will always be with us. Great self esteem is the answer.Therefore, Ghanaian or African American? It doesn't matter.What matters is to teach our girls and boys to dream big and to go bold in the world given to them by their maker. For I believe that with strong self esteem they will be able to withstand any slurs, humiliation and insults that may be directed at them as they walk in the streets of this great country.
Racism may have it place but color alone shouldn't define people. Let's rise above this!
Nevertheless,I have come to learn that as a society covert, if not overt, racism will always be with us. Great self esteem is the answer.Therefore, Ghanaian or African American? It doesn't matter.What matters is to teach our girls and boys to dream big and to go bold in the world given to them by their maker. For I believe that with strong self esteem they will be able to withstand any slurs, humiliation and insults that may be directed at them as they walk in the streets of this great country.
Racism may have it place but color alone shouldn't define people. Let's rise above this!
44
"Namely the fact that no one ever asks white children to be good. White goodness is a given, and even if a white person is not good in deed, we can assume that he is good at heart."
I can assure you that "white" children are indeed asked to be good, told to be good, beaten for not being good and all other forms of childhood coercion around behavior are indeed imposed on children who are "white" whatever that word is supposed to mean.
Jewish children are white, Hispanic children are often white, the Italians and Irish have been white for quite some time now.
All of these populations of children deemed "white", are still expected to be "good", I assure you.
I can assure you that "white" children are indeed asked to be good, told to be good, beaten for not being good and all other forms of childhood coercion around behavior are indeed imposed on children who are "white" whatever that word is supposed to mean.
Jewish children are white, Hispanic children are often white, the Italians and Irish have been white for quite some time now.
All of these populations of children deemed "white", are still expected to be "good", I assure you.
57
A friend from Cameroon told me that black immigrants "enjoy" the fastest naturalization process in America: You're viewed and treated as other native blacks as soon as you set foot here, before even sending in your application at immigration.
You quickly blend in and deal with the effects of being black in America.
You quickly blend in and deal with the effects of being black in America.
7
"In our hierarchy of goodness, Ghanaians were at the top, and nothing else came close."
This is when I feel that the white Americans are perhaps justifiable in their suspicion of the loyalty of recent immigrants to this country. It is one thing to be culturally Ghanaian, the parents of Yaa Gyasi and Yaa Gyasi should remember the pledge they take when they receive their American citizenship.
Having said that, I should say that I have heard the same sentiment expressed by Africans from other African countries, that there is a sense of superiority over the "African American." The "African" here is so ironic.
The African Americans are perceived by "African Africans" to have more problems of all sorts. They are known to be not as smart, disciplined or well educated. They speak a kind of English with black slang that is not proper English; they are just troubled souls.
But as far as the word "nigger" denotes, I think none of these matter. They only thing that matters to people who call others "nigger" is that these other people do not have "white" skin and what that implies.
So Yaa is as much a Ghanaian-American as she is black American, whatever her preference may be. As to what it means to be black in this country, that answer I think lies within the totality of experiences by those who are perceived to be "black" and "nigger" and how the black America push back or accept that label.
This is when I feel that the white Americans are perhaps justifiable in their suspicion of the loyalty of recent immigrants to this country. It is one thing to be culturally Ghanaian, the parents of Yaa Gyasi and Yaa Gyasi should remember the pledge they take when they receive their American citizenship.
Having said that, I should say that I have heard the same sentiment expressed by Africans from other African countries, that there is a sense of superiority over the "African American." The "African" here is so ironic.
The African Americans are perceived by "African Africans" to have more problems of all sorts. They are known to be not as smart, disciplined or well educated. They speak a kind of English with black slang that is not proper English; they are just troubled souls.
But as far as the word "nigger" denotes, I think none of these matter. They only thing that matters to people who call others "nigger" is that these other people do not have "white" skin and what that implies.
So Yaa is as much a Ghanaian-American as she is black American, whatever her preference may be. As to what it means to be black in this country, that answer I think lies within the totality of experiences by those who are perceived to be "black" and "nigger" and how the black America push back or accept that label.
7
I had a Hispanic-American friend who moved with her family from California to a deep-South town in the early 70s where her engineer father got a job. A race never seen before, Southerners did not know exactly how to react. Her brother, darker-skinned than her, they sent to the back of the bus but allow her to stay in front.
8
You don't have to be dark of skin to face" inclusion/identity" issues--- not sure how to say it. Because Of my German heritages-- I got it in post WWII elementary school .. ( no one picked on the Czech heritage!! By college I got it from two sides Spiro sounds Jewish and indeed Grandpa was but may have converted to marry Lutheran Grandma and I was reared as Presbyterian-- but did I mention I have a Roman nose (boy did I pass in Rome!!). However when the mamas of various Jewish boyfriends discovered I was a shiksa-- at any rate I did not break their hearts marrying their sons. I would prefer to an octajew just because it sounds so good.. that is not to be my fate...and handsome brother (no Roman nose-- actually the nose is from the Czech side grandma, supposedly Catholic, unacknowledged Jews? -- could be.
Now dotty (in my dotage) I laugh about the ridiculousness of most of it.. Yes, race does matter. Black women I find to be more mature most of the time than white women.. And assuming that somehow the experiences of our ancestors are in our DNA -- I accept that some of my more laudable qualities-- an inquiring mind and a tenuous but definite commitment to charity (justice in Yiddish-- yup Yiddishe Grandpa... ) might result from my Jewish genes.. Wonder what great grandma Regina living in Breslau now Wrodclaw might say.. Wonder what the relationship to Cantor Abraham Beer Spiro and his very accomplished children might be...
We are part of all we have met... Tennyson
Now dotty (in my dotage) I laugh about the ridiculousness of most of it.. Yes, race does matter. Black women I find to be more mature most of the time than white women.. And assuming that somehow the experiences of our ancestors are in our DNA -- I accept that some of my more laudable qualities-- an inquiring mind and a tenuous but definite commitment to charity (justice in Yiddish-- yup Yiddishe Grandpa... ) might result from my Jewish genes.. Wonder what great grandma Regina living in Breslau now Wrodclaw might say.. Wonder what the relationship to Cantor Abraham Beer Spiro and his very accomplished children might be...
We are part of all we have met... Tennyson
6
Neither the so-called black nor white Americans are truly colored black or white. Indeed, black in America meant African then colored then Negro then black then African American. Are you human?
Ghana and America are nation states. Neither is a race. Africa is a continent. It is nor more a race than are Europe, the Americas, Asia or Australia. Color is a biological DNA genetic evolutionary response to solar radiation in chronologically ecologically isolated human populations primarily related to the production of Vitamin D and protecting genetic DNA from damaging frequent mutations. There is only one unified biological DNA genetic evolutionary human race species that began in East Africa 180-200,000 years ago. But socioeconomics, politics, education and history have defined "race' and "color" by division.
Barack Hussein Obama had a white European American mother and a black African Kenyan father. Obama's dusky permanent brown hue carries the lingering legacy of black African humanity denying enslavement and equality defying colored Jim Crow. Obama is not half nor wholly white in America. But unlike most African Americans he knows the name, tribe and national origin of his African ancestor.
A former President of Ghana-Jerry Rawlings- had a white European British father and a black African mother. Was he black? Teresa Heinz Kerry was born and raised in Rhodesia aka Zimbabwe and is more African American than Obama or most black African Americans.
Ghana and America are nation states. Neither is a race. Africa is a continent. It is nor more a race than are Europe, the Americas, Asia or Australia. Color is a biological DNA genetic evolutionary response to solar radiation in chronologically ecologically isolated human populations primarily related to the production of Vitamin D and protecting genetic DNA from damaging frequent mutations. There is only one unified biological DNA genetic evolutionary human race species that began in East Africa 180-200,000 years ago. But socioeconomics, politics, education and history have defined "race' and "color" by division.
Barack Hussein Obama had a white European American mother and a black African Kenyan father. Obama's dusky permanent brown hue carries the lingering legacy of black African humanity denying enslavement and equality defying colored Jim Crow. Obama is not half nor wholly white in America. But unlike most African Americans he knows the name, tribe and national origin of his African ancestor.
A former President of Ghana-Jerry Rawlings- had a white European British father and a black African mother. Was he black? Teresa Heinz Kerry was born and raised in Rhodesia aka Zimbabwe and is more African American than Obama or most black African Americans.
19
Every racial group will loss when they allow others to write their story or push their hatred on them. We are educated enough to understand that when anyone takes the responsibility of writing the story or compiling the statistics, they will put themselves on top. But, we know the statistics were written to reflect what they want to be true. The boys who called you a bad word, learned that from their parents and friends. Because they learned the hurtful words, does not make their views valuable or true. She must decide rather she is a Ghanaian-American or Black or anything else.
1
I've observed that a key distinction for blacks in America descended from slaves is the mental enslavement that scars the family unit as a result of a unique tortured history. From the toll tax, Jim Crow laws, redlining, Plessy v Ferguson, and other laws that promote institutional racism, the self-esteem of many is trying. Yet, rarely does the media, film, television, politicians or history books offer another narrative of the "Black Bourgeoisie" as E. Franklin Frazier depicted in his scholarly books. Not all, subscribe to the label of "African Americans" because Africa is a continent, not a country. Blackness is a "state of mind" and a cultural and political identity. For this reason, President Obama checked the "black box" on the American census form. Defining oneself is the greatest liberation of all!
15
There is social Darwinism at work. There is
competition for resources and the
one with power get to keep more. Since early days when people clustered in the villages,
there has been division between "In Group"
and"Out Group". If you are part of "In Group" you get the privileges society has to offer.
Any thing that characterize people differently
-skin color, accent, ethnicity, religion(those Muslims) will mark them for discrimination.
However, America has come a long way. Blacks are admitted into good universities, get good jobs even on wall street and have middle class lives. There are some whites who probably have insecurities and try to feel
superior by putting others down, Not all do it.
Blacks also discriminate against blacks, many immigrants from African countries like Zimbabwe in south Africa are being treated badly. At some level it is human problem.
competition for resources and the
one with power get to keep more. Since early days when people clustered in the villages,
there has been division between "In Group"
and"Out Group". If you are part of "In Group" you get the privileges society has to offer.
Any thing that characterize people differently
-skin color, accent, ethnicity, religion(those Muslims) will mark them for discrimination.
However, America has come a long way. Blacks are admitted into good universities, get good jobs even on wall street and have middle class lives. There are some whites who probably have insecurities and try to feel
superior by putting others down, Not all do it.
Blacks also discriminate against blacks, many immigrants from African countries like Zimbabwe in south Africa are being treated badly. At some level it is human problem.
6
Forgive me, but where does all this self absorbed naval gazing lead? If you choose you can spend the rest of your life wallowing in identity politics- but to what end? The author and her family are a classic American success story and she herself is an example of social mobility in just one generation that would not have happened anywhere but here. There is much to celebrate, much to marvel at, and yet we are left with a sense of bitterness and grievance. If you are waiting for everyone to like you, for every intolerant, ignorant heart to turn, you have a long, disappointing journey ahead. Tough way to go through life.
24
Wow. I am a Nigerian American and you have told my story. Those of us who grew up here are American, even though our families look at this country (both whites and blacks) with disdain. We are black Americans and there is nothing they can do about it.
15
Carefully written to self-promote her novel. In my view, that of a Latino, Yaa's narrative left out one important element and makes a patently inaccurate statement,
(1) In this very society of her struggles --as she likes to refer to but I would prefer to refer her life and merits-- Yaa's talent not only was recognized but factuality supported. She studied in one of the most elitists universities of the world. Clearly, Yaa is doing a good use of this opportunity but, missing in her narrative or worldview is the fact that she was entitled, yes entitled, to such opportunity irrespective of her race, where she and her family came from and economic means.
(2) The notion that white kids (boys only?) are not asked by their parents to be good and that society has different expectations for their behavior is patently inaccurate. If Yaa indeed believes this, she never interacted with other types of American families: White, Latino, Asian or else.
What's troubling of Yaa's essay is not what is written, indeed beautifully, but what she opted to omit.
(1) In this very society of her struggles --as she likes to refer to but I would prefer to refer her life and merits-- Yaa's talent not only was recognized but factuality supported. She studied in one of the most elitists universities of the world. Clearly, Yaa is doing a good use of this opportunity but, missing in her narrative or worldview is the fact that she was entitled, yes entitled, to such opportunity irrespective of her race, where she and her family came from and economic means.
(2) The notion that white kids (boys only?) are not asked by their parents to be good and that society has different expectations for their behavior is patently inaccurate. If Yaa indeed believes this, she never interacted with other types of American families: White, Latino, Asian or else.
What's troubling of Yaa's essay is not what is written, indeed beautifully, but what she opted to omit.
22
That line stood out to me too. All children are told to "be good, " i.e. behave.
9
Beautiful article. Your Ghanaian-ness or blackness is constructed within the boundaries of your family, culture, community, and nation, as it is for us all. But the experience of growing up in America, one that combines deeply-engrained racism with a plural society, makes the American experience particularly fraught with challenges.
Every Latino in North America experiences some version of your story. At home, we are Nicaraguan, Ecuadorian, or Puerto Rican. But US society created a new identity, Latino, and the popular perception conflates our identities into some montage that is largely guided by Mexican or sometimes Puerto Rican stereotypes.
So who I am is quite confusing for a child. Inside the home, she is Colombian, outside, she is Latina or Hispanic and called derogatory names.
Here in Colombia, and throughout the Andean region, there has been a move to re-imagine and re-found our nations as pluri-ethnic and multi-cultural. Here you can be - at least officially - Black or Indigenous, speak an indigenous language and still be Colombian... or Ecuadorian or Bolivian. This is not the melting pot idea of society.
We work towards understanding our own multiple identities, constructed through our own experiences as well as those of our compatriots. It is better to experience the construction of your Ghanaian-American identity, or, if you like Black American identity, which insists on imposing itself on you, rather than the opposite, the de-construction of who you are.
Every Latino in North America experiences some version of your story. At home, we are Nicaraguan, Ecuadorian, or Puerto Rican. But US society created a new identity, Latino, and the popular perception conflates our identities into some montage that is largely guided by Mexican or sometimes Puerto Rican stereotypes.
So who I am is quite confusing for a child. Inside the home, she is Colombian, outside, she is Latina or Hispanic and called derogatory names.
Here in Colombia, and throughout the Andean region, there has been a move to re-imagine and re-found our nations as pluri-ethnic and multi-cultural. Here you can be - at least officially - Black or Indigenous, speak an indigenous language and still be Colombian... or Ecuadorian or Bolivian. This is not the melting pot idea of society.
We work towards understanding our own multiple identities, constructed through our own experiences as well as those of our compatriots. It is better to experience the construction of your Ghanaian-American identity, or, if you like Black American identity, which insists on imposing itself on you, rather than the opposite, the de-construction of who you are.
14
CHILDREN Raised with love learn kindness. Those raised with hatred learn aggression. These truisms are challenged, if not trumped (pun intended) by ethnic and racial stereotypes. In the beautifully written by Yaa Gyasi, the powerful love of her family protected her from identifying with the "n" word, an extraordinary achievement. African American friends have explained to me that they use the "n" word differently, to mean a lowlife of any ethic or racial background. They also use it, paradoxically, as a term of endearment. How amazing! To change a weapon of hatred into an expression of love! I do think that the use of that expression is reserved for African Americans. I think it's grand, and welcome the use of an affectionate word fashioned from a verbal weapon of abuse. Beating swords into plowshares. Yaa's telling of her family's immigration narrative is extraordinary in its richness, detail, depth of understanding and gentle, self-assured tone. Say what you will, Yaa. I believe that your goodness is central to your being. I hope you share it and teach it to as many others as possible. Including people of any background. The world has too little goodness in it. The Friends (Quakers) have an expression, More Love. So, yes, Yaa. More love.
4
Yaa Gyasi is clearly a dangerous woman, defined as a woman who sees what is and writes clearly about what it means to herself, her sisters and brothers of all colors, to the nation nd the world. I was hesitating about obtaining "Homegoing," her first novel, because who really knows what a novel is like, despite raves in the critical press. Now, I have to have it.
4
What distinguishes us can break us apart.
We pick and choose unconsciously or willfully what will separate and bring us together in each moment with another.
We jump in and out of categories at our pleasure and peril
Each generation must go through this.
In trauma, as one example, these superficial differences usually disappear.
Repeat ad infinitum.
We pick and choose unconsciously or willfully what will separate and bring us together in each moment with another.
We jump in and out of categories at our pleasure and peril
Each generation must go through this.
In trauma, as one example, these superficial differences usually disappear.
Repeat ad infinitum.
2
Years ago at a northeastern college I attended for a couple of semesters before transferring elsewhere, the Black Student Union, a student group of American-born blacks, invited the members of the African Student Union, African-born blacks, to join their club. The ASU refused, openly and vigorously, and announced that its members were not American-born blacks or anything like them. Being a reflexively liberal campus, of course all hell broke loose, but I also remember that the whites on campus, liberals all, pretty much agreed with the ASU.
3
British black men that I have worked with consider themselves English first, then Arsenal fans or what club second. Nigerian black men consider themselves upper class first because they were educated and upper class back home. Not sure how they feel about blackness, it never comes up.
6
Why do some Blacks think they can talk about Whites as a single group and yet not be racist? Why didn't her family move into a Black neighborhood? Was it elitism or racism?
The author sounds like a person who is interested in making a living out of race politics without any interest in solving problems for real people. Let her go get her hands dirty teaching full sized classes in inner city schools or better yet Ghanaian schools.
The author sounds like a person who is interested in making a living out of race politics without any interest in solving problems for real people. Let her go get her hands dirty teaching full sized classes in inner city schools or better yet Ghanaian schools.
11
Maybe it's because there were not opportunities in those traditional black neighborhoods. You're talking about solving problems, that's a major issue there Lack of business opportunities and terrible school system, and a crime filled neighborhood due to poverty and lack of opportunities that was mainly created by years of Jim Crow era and decades of institutionalized racism. If a black student wants to get a better education and have a fair chance of ascending the professional ladder, it definitely wouldn't be in a black neighborhood where there is deficit of school funding and lack of economic opportunities. And for your information, many black professionals are doing just that: teaching at innercity neighborhoods, minority physicians are more likely than any other group to cater to underserved populations to help mitigate healthcare disparity (Whites and Asians are less likely to do that due to decreased income opportunities). The author is not calling White people racists, she's simply stating her experience as an immigrant navigating through the American culture. The ability to be seen as an individual first rather than a stereotype is a privilege many black people (as well as Asians and Latinos to some degree) have yet to experience. This sentiment is amplified when you're followed around in stores as a black person, police profiling, etc. Only by interacting with each other (not segregating ourselves) do we come to see and appreciate our shared humanity.
12
Culture is not the same as skin color as a friend from the Islands made clear to me the one time I referred to him as "Black". He was "Caribbean", not "Black".
I am going to look for Mr Gyasi's book.
I am going to look for Mr Gyasi's book.
3
He was "Caribbean" and not "black"? I hope that works for him the next time he gets stopped by the cops.
15
Very thought provoking. A friend of mine told me about a young woman who came to Tennessee from India in the early 60's, to join her Indian husband studying at a university there. One day, she had to do her laundry and took all her clothes to the laundromat; she saw two of them, one labelled 'Whites' and the other 'Coloreds'. Not aware of all the Black/White miserable saga in America, she did the obvious: put all her white clothes in the first and all colored clothes in the second.
I've always thought that this was a profound story about our common humanity in all its variety and diversity. Our differences shouldn't even be skin deep; they should only be as deep as the clothes we wear..
I've always thought that this was a profound story about our common humanity in all its variety and diversity. Our differences shouldn't even be skin deep; they should only be as deep as the clothes we wear..
27
It is a "fact" that no one ever asks white children to be good? If a white person is not good in deed, "we can assume that he is good at heart"?
Wow.
I remember being held to moral standards by my white parents when I was a kid, but maybe I was an anomaly. I also remember being taunted copiously by other children growing up.
Every person who's ever been a kid has been called a mean name by other kids. That's what kids do. And yes, you'll have to face the fact that not everyone likes your "group." I remember seeing graffiti in a playground that said "Jews will burn."
Ms. Gyasi, my white Jewish ancestors were discriminated against plenty in this country and were not able to go to universities like Stanford or get the jobs they wanted. I never heard a word of complaint. They made a good life for themselves in spite of the fact that the world is full of meanies.
Wow.
I remember being held to moral standards by my white parents when I was a kid, but maybe I was an anomaly. I also remember being taunted copiously by other children growing up.
Every person who's ever been a kid has been called a mean name by other kids. That's what kids do. And yes, you'll have to face the fact that not everyone likes your "group." I remember seeing graffiti in a playground that said "Jews will burn."
Ms. Gyasi, my white Jewish ancestors were discriminated against plenty in this country and were not able to go to universities like Stanford or get the jobs they wanted. I never heard a word of complaint. They made a good life for themselves in spite of the fact that the world is full of meanies.
40
If this article were the only thing written by an immigrant in all of 2016, it would by itself prove the value of immigration. Those of us who have been here for a few generations tend to see things differently than those who are first-generation immigrants. When someone as introspective and intelligent as Ms. Gyasi explains her perspective so clearly and eloquently, American culture is enriched and we are all better for it.
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
10
Do not allow yourself to fall into the trap set by the victimology crowd. You have accomplished what they have neither the will, skill or makeup to achieve, preferring instead to wallow in their history. People can overcome their history as you have so admirably done. No need to look backwards as the mob would have you do as they denigrate your climbing the ladder of success. Go it alone if you must, but leave the past, and those who would cling to it, behind. You don't need their bile and they will only resent you in the end.
5
The author Yaa Gyasi: "I started to see cracks in the logic of respectability politics, namely the fact that no one ever asks white children to be good. White goodness is a given, and even if a white person is not good in deed, we can assume that he is good at heart. I wanted to be good because I knew subconsciously that being good is only worthwhile insofar as it separates you from those who are bad. And, in America, African-Americans are bad, both in deed and at heart."
The author really believes this, has this conception of how whites perceive themselves and how they perceive blacks? And this is how blacks perceive the situation between whites and blacks? If so we can clearly state that for all education (notice the author's credentials culminating in Stanford)--in fact education period in America (it makes little difference whether of blacks or whites)--we have essentially a seven year old comic book reality: The whites on one side who are always good no matter an individual transgression here and there, and on the other side we have the blacks who are bad no matter what...
This is how the author conceives of black and white relations in America? This is the reality the author believes white people hold and that they make black people believe? I have no idea what to say. I am trying to imagine a white person and a black person growing up separately in America and culminating at Stanford in the advanced literature of comic book black/white reality. Why read at all?
The author really believes this, has this conception of how whites perceive themselves and how they perceive blacks? And this is how blacks perceive the situation between whites and blacks? If so we can clearly state that for all education (notice the author's credentials culminating in Stanford)--in fact education period in America (it makes little difference whether of blacks or whites)--we have essentially a seven year old comic book reality: The whites on one side who are always good no matter an individual transgression here and there, and on the other side we have the blacks who are bad no matter what...
This is how the author conceives of black and white relations in America? This is the reality the author believes white people hold and that they make black people believe? I have no idea what to say. I am trying to imagine a white person and a black person growing up separately in America and culminating at Stanford in the advanced literature of comic book black/white reality. Why read at all?
18
I am Ethiopian. As most of you know, Ethiopia is one of the two countries in Africa that never got colonized. Ethiopians also generally have lighter skin color than most Africans. For these reasons, most Ethiopians consider them selves as "not Black". Black, in this context for Ethiopians means "baria" which technicaly translates to a person who has been colonized by an external force, especially European Powers. However that does not apply to us and like Yaa Gyasi said, this puts us on top, we are untouchable and proud. However as a teenager, who grew up with the ideology of we are untouchable, coming to America and conforming and cheking the African American box on application papers and being thought of as "black" seems like I am drowning my victory and freedom. I can vary much connect to this piece.
5
Thank you for the essay. I truly recommend for everyone who immigrated to this country to buy/download the excellent documentary Eye on the Prize. It fully covers the Civil Rights struggle, I.e. the beatings, lynchings, etc black Americans endured so that Africans and others enjoy the rights and freedoms they have now.
10
When I decided leave Puerto Rico once and for all, a friend took me out to lunch and issued a warning: "Get ready to change races". I looked at her and remembered when, years ago, I had met a college girl from North Dakota who was attending an Encampment for Citizenship in PR. She questioned me, in all innocence: Are all the people with black hair negroes?
I was taken aback, for that was precisely the substance of my friend's warning: even though my skin was white, the mere fact that I was a "spik" would make me into a "cultural nigger".
In other words, for many white Americans, particularly Republican White Supremacists,
foreigners are automatically "yellow", "brown", "black" but never "white" as they are. My partner at the time was a blond, blue eyed Puerto Rican. He easily "passed" as white until he opened his mouth and his accent betrayed him.
So, welcome to the club. We are what Amerikans say we are. Period.. I have learned to live with it and not to let it interfere in my life.
I was taken aback, for that was precisely the substance of my friend's warning: even though my skin was white, the mere fact that I was a "spik" would make me into a "cultural nigger".
In other words, for many white Americans, particularly Republican White Supremacists,
foreigners are automatically "yellow", "brown", "black" but never "white" as they are. My partner at the time was a blond, blue eyed Puerto Rican. He easily "passed" as white until he opened his mouth and his accent betrayed him.
So, welcome to the club. We are what Amerikans say we are. Period.. I have learned to live with it and not to let it interfere in my life.
10
Otoh, nice woman (heard her NPR interview) and book sounds interesting. But this commentary is absurdly a-historical, and offensively so. Here's why:
Without the all-out, life and death struggles of African Americans in the Civil Rights movement and beyond (AL was ground zero), for her family there would be:
-- No tenured position at U of AL or Alabama A&M
-- No house in the white part of town
-- No home equity (segregated & redlined homes don't appreciate)
-- No Stanford education
-- No NPR interview
-- No book deal
There wouldn't even be a State of Alabama, because Black American labor built that state and its economy (after the forced removal of Alabama's Native American population) in a slavery and post-slavery that outdid Virginia and the Carolinas for its brutality and permanent separation of families.
How does Ms. Gyasi neglect to mention this historical context? She's a well-read Stanford humanities graduate writing about an experience rooted in Blackness (of a kind), so it's hard to imagine she isn't aware of it.
By omitting this context here, Ms. Gyasi, perhaps unintentionally, lends a seeming validity to the view of her parents and their immigrant peers that the Black Americans she grew up around but not "of" are some kind of other, to be viewed as separate from the African immigrant experience. In fact, there would be no African immigrant experience at all without the life and death struggles and organized efforts of African Americans.
Without the all-out, life and death struggles of African Americans in the Civil Rights movement and beyond (AL was ground zero), for her family there would be:
-- No tenured position at U of AL or Alabama A&M
-- No house in the white part of town
-- No home equity (segregated & redlined homes don't appreciate)
-- No Stanford education
-- No NPR interview
-- No book deal
There wouldn't even be a State of Alabama, because Black American labor built that state and its economy (after the forced removal of Alabama's Native American population) in a slavery and post-slavery that outdid Virginia and the Carolinas for its brutality and permanent separation of families.
How does Ms. Gyasi neglect to mention this historical context? She's a well-read Stanford humanities graduate writing about an experience rooted in Blackness (of a kind), so it's hard to imagine she isn't aware of it.
By omitting this context here, Ms. Gyasi, perhaps unintentionally, lends a seeming validity to the view of her parents and their immigrant peers that the Black Americans she grew up around but not "of" are some kind of other, to be viewed as separate from the African immigrant experience. In fact, there would be no African immigrant experience at all without the life and death struggles and organized efforts of African Americans.
56
As a Black American I never grew up knowing or associating with immigrants or second generation descendants from Africa or the Caribbean. Just recently I started hearing about Africans amd Caribbeans Blacks intentionally separating themselves from Black Americans.
The sad part of all of this is that many Black Americans don't even know or recognize that this is happening to us; the intent distancing by other African dispora in this country. I even see it at church where the Africans don't socialize with Black Americans before or after the service.
I have to be real and say that this whole "we're better than Black Americans" has ticked me off coming from Africans and Caribbean immigrants and their descendants. I'm working on not being bitter about this nasty attitude towards Black folks, but I really want to let them know that "hey you're enjoying this great life in America", because of my ancestors. They fought the good fight of faith for all of you to enjoy the privileges of their hard work.
The sad part of all of this is that many Black Americans don't even know or recognize that this is happening to us; the intent distancing by other African dispora in this country. I even see it at church where the Africans don't socialize with Black Americans before or after the service.
I have to be real and say that this whole "we're better than Black Americans" has ticked me off coming from Africans and Caribbean immigrants and their descendants. I'm working on not being bitter about this nasty attitude towards Black folks, but I really want to let them know that "hey you're enjoying this great life in America", because of my ancestors. They fought the good fight of faith for all of you to enjoy the privileges of their hard work.
30
"While slavery was undoubtedly a European and American enterprise"
Huh? What?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_slave_trade
Huh? What?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_slave_trade
12
Whilst at this, to attain a fuller understanding of what Gyasi advances, I point to 'The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi' by Arthur Japin. In similitude to the allusion to Toni Morrison and Chinua Achebe, I think of the conversation that that novel is having with Gyasi's Homegoing, both in theme of the legacy of colonialism/slavery and the question of identity.
Identity is contested. It is not only a conversation of Africa diaspora. It is also a conversation of Africa. For me, born and bred in Ghana, I have identities to resolve. Am I an Asante? Mine is not in the context of what these novels consider. It is of internal immigration. It is of who I can call family, where to call home.
I do not have an answer for you. I do not know what it means to be even Ghanaian. I know one thing for sure. Whatever we consider ourselves to be, we cannot afford to lose our humaness. Here, in exile, I eat myself up everyday.
So for you, ride free to life. Don't ever stop your curiosity. Your humaness. Never stop the wind. Pause and breathe life, fill your nostrils with her. Be obsessed with life. And live like the woman that you are. Never lose faith.
Identity is contested. It is not only a conversation of Africa diaspora. It is also a conversation of Africa. For me, born and bred in Ghana, I have identities to resolve. Am I an Asante? Mine is not in the context of what these novels consider. It is of internal immigration. It is of who I can call family, where to call home.
I do not have an answer for you. I do not know what it means to be even Ghanaian. I know one thing for sure. Whatever we consider ourselves to be, we cannot afford to lose our humaness. Here, in exile, I eat myself up everyday.
So for you, ride free to life. Don't ever stop your curiosity. Your humaness. Never stop the wind. Pause and breathe life, fill your nostrils with her. Be obsessed with life. And live like the woman that you are. Never lose faith.
8
Excellent piece. I wish more African thought this way. As an African American woman, too often I've met other Black people from different countries with this exact attitude of superiority. And my perception of them have been one of disdain for American Blacks. A smug "We are so much better than you" attitude that rubs the wrong way. It's not just Africans, people from the Caribbean are notorious for having that chip on their shoulder.
Meanwhile, some came here from abject poverty and benefited greatly. And more power to you if you can come and so that. Yet, to turn around and besmirch African Americans? That is the gall that rubs the community the wrong way.
We don't have a country to go back to, so we built this one. And your welcome to come and participate. But to be here and treat me and mine as inferior? The brain washing is insane. It usually takes a racist act for them to realize that no one gives a damn where your from; your one of us whether you like it or not.
I'd like to quote a supervisor I once had who made this very point. She was a Black woman in a serious position of power who had to put a cheeky young Jamaican woman in her place when she tried to come off with that snarky attitude to her obvious superior. She said "It doesn't matter if your a Southern N*gger, A Jamaican N*gger, an African N*gger, a light or dark skinned N*gger. Here, you're going to just be treated like the rest of us. As long as your here, get over yourself and get with the program."
Meanwhile, some came here from abject poverty and benefited greatly. And more power to you if you can come and so that. Yet, to turn around and besmirch African Americans? That is the gall that rubs the community the wrong way.
We don't have a country to go back to, so we built this one. And your welcome to come and participate. But to be here and treat me and mine as inferior? The brain washing is insane. It usually takes a racist act for them to realize that no one gives a damn where your from; your one of us whether you like it or not.
I'd like to quote a supervisor I once had who made this very point. She was a Black woman in a serious position of power who had to put a cheeky young Jamaican woman in her place when she tried to come off with that snarky attitude to her obvious superior. She said "It doesn't matter if your a Southern N*gger, A Jamaican N*gger, an African N*gger, a light or dark skinned N*gger. Here, you're going to just be treated like the rest of us. As long as your here, get over yourself and get with the program."
20
Thank you for your honesty. I hope every segment of our diaspora reads these words.
3
You'll find out soon enough if you are pulled over by the Waller County sheriff here in Texas. Write a second op-ed to tell us how that went.
7
I hope your book focuses on what the African immigrants think of the Black-Americans/African-Americans and vice versa. I am always fascinated by the mutual contempt between the African immigrants and the black Americans. What are the roots of such contempts and how do they play out within the context of a white-dominated society? And how did this mutual contempt come into play?
2
If a Caucasian has heritage from England, are they British American...or Poland, are they Polish American? Why does the "Country of Origin-American" apply to minorities (Afr. Amr. or Asian Amr.)? I would think I would be valued for the value as a human being and not the amount of melanin in my skin. What a shame! If we truly have value, then we would be treated as equals, starting with the fact that we are all Americans, regardless of our diverse heritage. And I would not need to check the "CoO-American" box on every personal application.
1
As a descendant of slaves in this country, and having grown up on the south side of Chicago, the first time I heard the term "black American" it was a derisive mimicry voiced by a high school friend. She'd learned it from her older cousin and like the author, she and her family were Ghanaian immigrants, resentful of American racial politics that threw them in with the rest of us. That was 20 years ago. Time, maturity, studying people and history, I've concluded that all human societies suffer serious pathology and the main way that we cope is to define ourselves at the expense of others. That is what racism, sexism, homophobia, and every other discriminatory social construct is about. It allows us to cope with the universal human condition of uncertainty. Personally, I am exhausted with identity politics, especially those voiced by the author because they're no more than academic exercises that allow one to indulge the privilege that we all enjoy at the expense of others. As a daughter who is descended from those Africans who were sold, who managed to obtain an elite education, and who lost my 16 year old brother to "gang violence," I implore all members of the African Diaspora to consider two things. One, the opportunities they seek in this country are only available because others fought and died for them. And two, they and their parents choose to seek opportunity here, instead of their glorious homelands because...? Now that, is an interesting question.
65
Many U.S. blacks today have Ghanaian blood or roots as the early slave trade preyed upon what is today Ghana and neighboring countries. It should be pointed out, though, that it was not only Europeans who engaged in this slave trade, but Africans themselves and Ghana has apologized to the descendants of slaves.
https://www.modernghana.com/news/102692/1/ghana-apologizes-to-slaves-des...
A second wave of immigrants from Ghana to the U.S took place during the 1950s and 1960s and there should be a (modern) Ghanaian diaspora in the U.S. of about 100,000 today. Many who came in this wave were professionals, highly educated and spoke English as a native language. Yaa Gyasi's family fits this profile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghanaian_Americans
As to one's identity, there are two sides to the matter: self and society. This has always been the case re all ethnic and religious groups, immigration and acculturation everywhere. It just took Yaa Gyasi a little longer than usual to figure that out.
https://www.modernghana.com/news/102692/1/ghana-apologizes-to-slaves-des...
A second wave of immigrants from Ghana to the U.S took place during the 1950s and 1960s and there should be a (modern) Ghanaian diaspora in the U.S. of about 100,000 today. Many who came in this wave were professionals, highly educated and spoke English as a native language. Yaa Gyasi's family fits this profile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghanaian_Americans
As to one's identity, there are two sides to the matter: self and society. This has always been the case re all ethnic and religious groups, immigration and acculturation everywhere. It just took Yaa Gyasi a little longer than usual to figure that out.
5
Sorry, but to suggest that kids are being killed for riding bicycles demonstrates hatred I cannot share. When my brothers and I were surrounded and taunted for being Jewish, there was no need to respond; it was their problem, not mine.
Just as Ghanaians consider themselves better than others, so do my people. They're both wrong, but no one with privileges to pass on would change the way things are.
Just as Ghanaians consider themselves better than others, so do my people. They're both wrong, but no one with privileges to pass on would change the way things are.
5
Do black Africans also get benefits of affirmative action ?
1
No, white females do.
6
Not Mark...
I read your essay after writing about the psychobabble that has followed Omar Marteen after his murders and his own death. Now that he is a guy who has killed 49 people, and cannot speak, people, mostly Whites, in New York city, where he was born and raised, and Florida, where he went to college, lived and worked, can say anything about him. Even call him a "psychopathic child". They never ask...how did a child become troubled or unhappy? Or, how did a child grow up to be a mass murderer? They never look at the culture, society and the institutions, both inside his home and outside, that might have pushed him to kill.
It appears White America never looks at itself objectively or fairly. It only wants compliments and entitlements...while blaming the poorest of the poor among them, and the colored folks who were victims of their policies for centuries, to be "quiet, act properly, conform, comply..and be grateful for their few handouts". It is no different than what colonialists did and expected. And Ghana suffered colonialism at its worst. There was the slave trade, and then the enslavement of people left behind, and then persistent racism of people of color.
Somebody asked me years ago, "If you are intelligent, insightful and sensitive woman of color in America...it is difficult not to be angry, anxious, vigilant or outright crazy. How do you remain sane in such an insane system...and speak and write as beautifully as you do?"
I ask of you the same thing.
I read your essay after writing about the psychobabble that has followed Omar Marteen after his murders and his own death. Now that he is a guy who has killed 49 people, and cannot speak, people, mostly Whites, in New York city, where he was born and raised, and Florida, where he went to college, lived and worked, can say anything about him. Even call him a "psychopathic child". They never ask...how did a child become troubled or unhappy? Or, how did a child grow up to be a mass murderer? They never look at the culture, society and the institutions, both inside his home and outside, that might have pushed him to kill.
It appears White America never looks at itself objectively or fairly. It only wants compliments and entitlements...while blaming the poorest of the poor among them, and the colored folks who were victims of their policies for centuries, to be "quiet, act properly, conform, comply..and be grateful for their few handouts". It is no different than what colonialists did and expected. And Ghana suffered colonialism at its worst. There was the slave trade, and then the enslavement of people left behind, and then persistent racism of people of color.
Somebody asked me years ago, "If you are intelligent, insightful and sensitive woman of color in America...it is difficult not to be angry, anxious, vigilant or outright crazy. How do you remain sane in such an insane system...and speak and write as beautifully as you do?"
I ask of you the same thing.
3
The fact is that for all People of African descent. No matter how well behaved, well educated, intelligent, sophisticated etc... You are, the fact is that for. A notable segment of White america, you will still be seen as less than or in some cases, as the author states - you will be viewed as a Nigger. The sad fact is that racism is deeply imbedded in the hearts, minds and souls and DNA of many Whites, whether consciously or unconscously.
6
So touching. Even if you excel at everything, your skin color defines you. It shows the meanness, small-minded, dimwitted cowards around you, not a reflection of your superior intellect, goodness and your superior upbringing by your loving parents who love and cherish you. Just know who you are and be confident about yourself. You have a great hero to emulate - our President Obama. Against all odds, he has become one of our greatest Presidents. And all the racism he has endured in his Presidency he has stoically come out the winner with dignity, always cool, calm and collected. So please, don't lose hope. Anything can happen in America. The process seems slow now but with a change of generations it maybe accelerated and racism maybe a thing of the past.
5
I used to not believe that racism existed in America as a white man. I'd hear racist jokes and things of that sort but I assumed it was just in jest. Then I worked with a Ghanaian immigrant who was a pharmacist. I saw the unsubstantiated hatred towards him from some. The visceral anger towards a complete stranger as if he had committed some great crime against them solely by being black. He considered himself a proud Ghanaian but due to his skin color he was just another black in the eyes of some.
Seeing that changed my perspective on racial issues. If a well educated medical professional experienced couldn't be afforded the most basic level of respect and courtesy due to his skin color than it goes to show that it doesn't matter who you are as an individual to some.
He was later killed by a mentally ill man. To some it was attributed to being nothing more than black on black crime. His funeral was a mix of whites and blacks, some of which were local Ghanaians that he knew and some were his family. In the end we all mourned his death as fellow human beings. It's sad that some people can't seem to understand that last part.
Seeing that changed my perspective on racial issues. If a well educated medical professional experienced couldn't be afforded the most basic level of respect and courtesy due to his skin color than it goes to show that it doesn't matter who you are as an individual to some.
He was later killed by a mentally ill man. To some it was attributed to being nothing more than black on black crime. His funeral was a mix of whites and blacks, some of which were local Ghanaians that he knew and some were his family. In the end we all mourned his death as fellow human beings. It's sad that some people can't seem to understand that last part.
11
Ms. Gyasi, I have purchased your book and look forward to reading it. Your essay and novel are indeed a departure from the African-in-America story we who are born here have come to recognize: Disdainfully superior, clannish and wholly ignorant of the wholesale destruction of family, tribe and identity resulting in dysfunction today among us Americans of African descent. I so hope you and other African-born folk will realize that, like all of you able to emigrate and thrive here, many of us have roots that run deep to ancestors who were strong enough to endure and make a way for us. We will never know their names. I also hope you will understand that seeking goodness is a good thing and an obligation of the blessed.
7
The author ascribes undue guilt to herself. Colin Powell put it very nicely when he said " make racism their problem not yours ". Little boys who called you a nigger are simply acting out what had been handed down to them. But then again I am sure you knew that :(
4
What I find sickening is that black Africans (and seemingly this author) consider themselves better than black Americans - the descendants of slaves. Equally sad are that whites too, see diaspora Africans as slightly better American blacks. What hurts though, is that each group's ancestors are both highly complicit creating slavery, and now perpetuating negative stereotypes of American blacks both socially and in the workplace.
11
Thank you for presenting your insightful and heartfelt article. Well done.
"The thing I neglected to realize that day when I was 8..." This statement seems to suggest that you actually realized, at the age of 8, that you were a "n****r." Did you really have this ability at 8? Or, should you have written "The thing I COULD NOT realize that day... " The 8 year old you deserves a break. Must have been quite an upbringing living between your family's ingrained sense of superiority over African Americans on the one hand, and European Americans' ingrained sense of superiority over all dark-skinned people, on the other hand. A veritable Twilight Zone.
"The thing I neglected to realize that day when I was 8..." This statement seems to suggest that you actually realized, at the age of 8, that you were a "n****r." Did you really have this ability at 8? Or, should you have written "The thing I COULD NOT realize that day... " The 8 year old you deserves a break. Must have been quite an upbringing living between your family's ingrained sense of superiority over African Americans on the one hand, and European Americans' ingrained sense of superiority over all dark-skinned people, on the other hand. A veritable Twilight Zone.
3
Wish I could apologize on behalf of white people. But it wouldn't do much good. Write your novels, and persevere.
5
Ultimately, the question you asked, "I'm Ghanaian-American, Am I Black?" has a longer shelf life than simply YOU. The perspective you offer, like many first generation "Afro-immigrants" is limited by the narrow-minded focus on the first generation identity.
The more substantial question is what will be the identity of the second, third, and fourth generations of your heritage? Long after the memory of Ghanaian ethnicity/nationality has faded away, the de-tribalized identity of a black person in America will come to the forefront.
Fact is the Ghanian heritage will mean little, much as the West Indian (or Eastern European) heritage means little today to the descendants of immigrants in the 1920s.
So, Yaa Gyasi, I put the question back to your: You are an immigrant "Ghanaian-American" in the U.S. today -- will your descendants be black Americans?
Of course they will.
The more substantial question is what will be the identity of the second, third, and fourth generations of your heritage? Long after the memory of Ghanaian ethnicity/nationality has faded away, the de-tribalized identity of a black person in America will come to the forefront.
Fact is the Ghanian heritage will mean little, much as the West Indian (or Eastern European) heritage means little today to the descendants of immigrants in the 1920s.
So, Yaa Gyasi, I put the question back to your: You are an immigrant "Ghanaian-American" in the U.S. today -- will your descendants be black Americans?
Of course they will.
7
"It did not make up for the fact that when those boys looked at me, a nigger is what they saw." That is such a sad statement. I know that people try to tell children to believe the rhyme about sticks and stones but it's not true. Names hurt and names define. You may not have felt defined but those boys believed you were a nigger, not a human being, not a person with a heritage as unique as theirs.
It is possible to reverse or mitigate those attitudes. Some of us are lucky enough to work in places with a multitude of ethnic groups. It's a joy to discover that your co-worker with the musical accent loves the same baseball you love, or that she knows 3 languages and how to survive in a desert, or that you can get new and different recipes for tabbouleh from the Lebanese woman who works in the HR department. Working with people, especially if they are from other countries is a way to learn if you remember that the American way is not the only way. It enriches our lives when we share and when we ask about what we don't understand.
It is possible to reverse or mitigate those attitudes. Some of us are lucky enough to work in places with a multitude of ethnic groups. It's a joy to discover that your co-worker with the musical accent loves the same baseball you love, or that she knows 3 languages and how to survive in a desert, or that you can get new and different recipes for tabbouleh from the Lebanese woman who works in the HR department. Working with people, especially if they are from other countries is a way to learn if you remember that the American way is not the only way. It enriches our lives when we share and when we ask about what we don't understand.
9
A Haitian friend asked me ( me; an African ): where is the place who produce black people ? It's Africa he said , I'm black he said so I'm an African!
We Africans are black , it's not part of our description there , but in the west...yes!
Once I watched a doc about an African descent lady but born and raised in France, she went on talking about how French she is but showed nothing about her African side ... Well she is black and French . She got both worlds , she should have celebrated instead of insisting that she was "French " ! We are black and beautiful!
We Africans are black , it's not part of our description there , but in the west...yes!
Once I watched a doc about an African descent lady but born and raised in France, she went on talking about how French she is but showed nothing about her African side ... Well she is black and French . She got both worlds , she should have celebrated instead of insisting that she was "French " ! We are black and beautiful!
5
I like your piece very much. (At first I typed “your peace” which I thought was a mistake, but wasn’t, really)
I also want to applaud the full spelling of that awful word. Using asterisks or euphemisms doesn’t take away its pain and ugliness. Hatred shouldn’t get a band-aid.
That’s what Richard Pryor meant when, after visiting Africa, he swore never to use the word again. He said that when he got to Africa, he saw “there were no N*****s there”. There were just bankers, and cab drivers and cooks; lots of different people.
There are a lot of articles lately, maybe germinated by the death of Ali, about race. So, to use boxing imagery, we must continue to fight racism, but as long as were fighting we’ll have to continue to hold it up, prolong it. It may be on the ropes now, but we won’t have won until we can walk away, and not look back. On that day, there won’t be any n******s here in America either, just the rainbow we’ve always promised to become.
I also want to applaud the full spelling of that awful word. Using asterisks or euphemisms doesn’t take away its pain and ugliness. Hatred shouldn’t get a band-aid.
That’s what Richard Pryor meant when, after visiting Africa, he swore never to use the word again. He said that when he got to Africa, he saw “there were no N*****s there”. There were just bankers, and cab drivers and cooks; lots of different people.
There are a lot of articles lately, maybe germinated by the death of Ali, about race. So, to use boxing imagery, we must continue to fight racism, but as long as were fighting we’ll have to continue to hold it up, prolong it. It may be on the ropes now, but we won’t have won until we can walk away, and not look back. On that day, there won’t be any n******s here in America either, just the rainbow we’ve always promised to become.
4
Very well written and very powerful. I would like to know how the author identifies after her visit to Ghana
3
That was depressing. Doesn't everyone teach their children that they are better than everyone else?
I am sorry for the insults you have suffered, but goodness is never a given for anyone human. Many people, of all races, struggle each day to "be good", and to live up to expectations of goodness. Sometimes they succeed and sometimes they fail. To suggest otherwise is reductionist and haughty.
7
You are a human being first.
Pigment does not define you.
Tribes do not own you.
Geography does not limit you.
And so it goes.
Seeking the need to define we risk
losing and gaining some aspect of ourself.
Better to deliberate on the meta question of
how does personhood come to exist and tell
that story as loud as you can.
For each generation has to learn history again
and without compelling voices
will collapse into the destructive forces of
identity politics.
Pigment does not define you.
Tribes do not own you.
Geography does not limit you.
And so it goes.
Seeking the need to define we risk
losing and gaining some aspect of ourself.
Better to deliberate on the meta question of
how does personhood come to exist and tell
that story as loud as you can.
For each generation has to learn history again
and without compelling voices
will collapse into the destructive forces of
identity politics.
2
As I read the article I began to thank God for being an African-American reared in a family that is good with its heritage, that does not see Whiteness as better and that equalizes all men regardless of skin hue. I am honored to pass my heritage of high self- and family-esteem to my children who are resolutely and vocally clear that absolutely no one is better than them and they are better than no one else. They are clear that in their position on the bell curve, they are more privileged that most and not as privileged than some as it pertains to financial wealth and education. Nevertheless, you would never convince them that they are less than wealthy because of the love and respect for oneself, family, others and God that has been instilled in them since we knew they were conceived in love, faith, and hope.
5
The author exhibits her own racism in the third paragraph.
8
The story of immigrants... Or at least of the children of immigrants. But the children of "black" immigrants obviously have a slightly different experience. It's difficult always having to explain that you aren't exactly what people might assume you to be -especially when their eyes tell them different. I still wonder why anyone cares about color or race in the first place.
2
Black Americans are descendants of people captured in Africa and brought to the USA to be slaves. Black Americans are also African Americans because of our ethnicity. Africans who freely immigrated to the USA are also African Americans but not Black Americans because their ancestors DID NOT experience the particular institution of America slavery.
Therefore Barack Obama is an African American but he is not a Black American. His mother is white and his father freely immigrated to America from Kenya. President Obama's daughters are also Black American because of their mother. Her ancestors were slaves.
Who says so? I do.
I keep track of the distinction because one day America will pay for all the free labor used to build this country. I and many other Blacks will never forget, no matter who tries to complicate or sidetrack the slavery experience in America. Never.
I picked cotton during summers on my grandfather's sharecropping farm in the 1960s.
Therefore Barack Obama is an African American but he is not a Black American. His mother is white and his father freely immigrated to America from Kenya. President Obama's daughters are also Black American because of their mother. Her ancestors were slaves.
Who says so? I do.
I keep track of the distinction because one day America will pay for all the free labor used to build this country. I and many other Blacks will never forget, no matter who tries to complicate or sidetrack the slavery experience in America. Never.
I picked cotton during summers on my grandfather's sharecropping farm in the 1960s.
3
"Therefore Barack Obama is an African American but he is not a Black American. His mother is white and his father freely immigrated to America from Kenya. President Obama's daughters are also Black American because of their mother. Her ancestors were slaves. Who says so? I do."
That's your right - but I have the right to disagree with you. (And I also have much older relatives who picked cotton in the summertimes.) I get very tired of people trying to say President Obama is not really black (notice I use the word uncapitalized and as an adjective, as I do with the word white) or the right kind of black person, etc. To the world at large he's an American black man. His wife and children are American black women. That's how they're seen. It's not changing. No one's going to do look at the president and think he's African American in a way that is different from any other black American.
In fact, that's why I stopped using the word "African-American" long ago. Because what about the Canadians who are black? (I know some.) What about Swedes who are black? (I know some.) Trying to assume that black Americans have some sort of superiority and that a distinction needs to be kept track of is the very thing that Ms. Gyasi is pointing out didn't work well in her family. People notice when Africans tried to hold themselves apart from Americans here. Most I know grew out of that because they realized like President Obama and Ms. Gyasi, black is the first thing that's seen about them.
That's your right - but I have the right to disagree with you. (And I also have much older relatives who picked cotton in the summertimes.) I get very tired of people trying to say President Obama is not really black (notice I use the word uncapitalized and as an adjective, as I do with the word white) or the right kind of black person, etc. To the world at large he's an American black man. His wife and children are American black women. That's how they're seen. It's not changing. No one's going to do look at the president and think he's African American in a way that is different from any other black American.
In fact, that's why I stopped using the word "African-American" long ago. Because what about the Canadians who are black? (I know some.) What about Swedes who are black? (I know some.) Trying to assume that black Americans have some sort of superiority and that a distinction needs to be kept track of is the very thing that Ms. Gyasi is pointing out didn't work well in her family. People notice when Africans tried to hold themselves apart from Americans here. Most I know grew out of that because they realized like President Obama and Ms. Gyasi, black is the first thing that's seen about them.
11
I look forward to reading the author's novel when it's finished. I'm glad that she realizes that whether she calls herself a Ghanaian-American or and African-American, pitting minorities against each other only benefits white supremacists.
All minorities and people of good-will from the majority culture need to resist the divide-and-conquer tactics that have kept the status quo in place with nearly everything going to the top 10%, crumbs going to everyone else and larger crumbs going to people deemed 'one of the good ones' because they helped to stomp on the rest of the population.
All minorities and people of good-will from the majority culture need to resist the divide-and-conquer tactics that have kept the status quo in place with nearly everything going to the top 10%, crumbs going to everyone else and larger crumbs going to people deemed 'one of the good ones' because they helped to stomp on the rest of the population.
6
Well, let's figure this out.
You can't be white. If you were, people would have hunted you down and destroyed you by now, for writing what you did - 7 times.
Are you black?
I don't know - is Obama black?
To me, who is not black, the most hateful and despicable aspect of all of this is that color has been used...globally...to make people feel impure and/or inferior.
As a child, the self-evident logic of judging people by the content of their character - and not the color of their skin - seemed inevitable to me.
But - more than fifty years later - we're closer to driverless flying cars than we are to this ideal.
So - for what it's worth - some advice.
People want to come to America and become Americans so badly, some die on the journey.
My advice to you, along this line - become a black American.
Most folks already think you are.
And most of those folks - black or white - should see you as an inspiration.
The content of your character inspires me.
That of your parents, too.
I it is - and I know Obama disagrees with me on this - what makes America exceptional.
At least some of the time.
You can't be white. If you were, people would have hunted you down and destroyed you by now, for writing what you did - 7 times.
Are you black?
I don't know - is Obama black?
To me, who is not black, the most hateful and despicable aspect of all of this is that color has been used...globally...to make people feel impure and/or inferior.
As a child, the self-evident logic of judging people by the content of their character - and not the color of their skin - seemed inevitable to me.
But - more than fifty years later - we're closer to driverless flying cars than we are to this ideal.
So - for what it's worth - some advice.
People want to come to America and become Americans so badly, some die on the journey.
My advice to you, along this line - become a black American.
Most folks already think you are.
And most of those folks - black or white - should see you as an inspiration.
The content of your character inspires me.
That of your parents, too.
I it is - and I know Obama disagrees with me on this - what makes America exceptional.
At least some of the time.
2
Thanks for doing your part, however involuntarily, in breaking down the ridiculous farce that was the genteel, well-meaning Southern handling of the racial differences among all of God's children. I suppose that what we were seeing was religious faith working its way through racism like acid rain working its way through limestone, or chocolate topping working its magic on ice cream.
4
Thanks for putting into words the contradictory intergeneraional perspectives of black immigrants in America. I have long ago realized that parents who grew up being judged by their deeds can never fully understand what it is like to be judged by skin color - from the womb. And upbringing in my opinion, accounts for 90% of a person's life story.
Barring refugees, black immigrants have for the most part already experienced some measure of success in the home country. For those who hadn't made it at home, coming to America is their success, and being able to extend help to those 'back home' elevates their status. From that position on the upward trajectory of their lives, it can be very hard to identify with African Americans as a community. As a consequence, black immigrants may find themselves ill equipped to help their own young kids develop the necessary skill set for growing up black in America.
Barring refugees, black immigrants have for the most part already experienced some measure of success in the home country. For those who hadn't made it at home, coming to America is their success, and being able to extend help to those 'back home' elevates their status. From that position on the upward trajectory of their lives, it can be very hard to identify with African Americans as a community. As a consequence, black immigrants may find themselves ill equipped to help their own young kids develop the necessary skill set for growing up black in America.
5
I have no idea what you are trying to say or get across but....
no one should ever use that word - and that includes you.
no one should ever use that word - and that includes you.
3
More powerful than most meditations on race I've ever seen.
2
Thank you for this. I've really never read anything from your point of view. Your parents were so wonderful to raise you without the cautions that most black children are. Being good had little to do with race, for you. I'm sorry for the racism you encountered (and surely still do), and grateful that you identify it as ignorance and fear. You write beautifully, and I am going to buy your book.
4
I am not sure why it is that so many educated and accomplished Blacks feel the need to write and talk so much about issues related to race. It is not altogether clear if that practice advances or degrades relationship between Blacks and Whites. Marginal Blacks by hearing and reading this race stuff could experience another round of anger at Whites, and Whites of good will could ask indignantly when will the White guilting end.
1
Yes,yes,yes,yes ! You are ! If those White Boys had known you were African they would have placed you at a lower level,since you were not blessed with the association of White civilization !
Part of the author's difficulty appears to stem from how she sees herself. Anyone who identifies nationality with a hyphen will always be of two minds when it comes to identity. And they will always be in conflict with Americans.
Those boys had it wrong....following DNA tracking and that original "group of seventeen" who trkked northward out of Africa, we are all black.
But in America, our collective ignorance and varying degrees of racism(we were enculturated here, eh?) dictate the cleavages of Black,White, etc.
My daughter, then age eight, asked me: "Daddy, why do they call pink people white?" Enculturation...the forming of reality...was doing its best to drag her in.
But in America, our collective ignorance and varying degrees of racism(we were enculturated here, eh?) dictate the cleavages of Black,White, etc.
My daughter, then age eight, asked me: "Daddy, why do they call pink people white?" Enculturation...the forming of reality...was doing its best to drag her in.
9
when my daughter was 3 she asked me the exact question,that was 35 years ago.
1
America still has a long way to go in race relations. In some parts of the county Malcom X's observation still rings true:
"Do you know what they call a negro scholar? Ph.D.? Professor?"
"Do you know what they call a negro scholar? Ph.D.? Professor?"
5
"In our hierarchy of goodness, Ghanaians were at the top, and nothing else came close." Why is the author allowed to cling to her nationalism and race as being "at the top" of the human hierarchy when such sentiments would be excoriated if uttered by another group? Identity politics are truly ripping the social fabric apart.
21
You seem to have missed the point of the article, she is not clinging to her nationalism, hence the rejection of her parents attitude of superiority, and the trip to Ghana and condemnation of the role Ghana played in slave trade.
10
The author has published an autobiographical essay in which she shares her thoughts and ideas about herself and her family. That's entirely different from publishing a piece in which these ideas are presented as objective fact. It's not identity politics, it's autobiographical literature.
6
"In our hierarchy of goodness, Ghanaians _were_ at the top, and nothing else came close." Why is the author allowed to cling to her nationalism and race as being "at the top" of the human hierarchy ...
-------
You'll notice she used the word "were." That's _past_ tense.
-------
You'll notice she used the word "were." That's _past_ tense.
5
I love this article. As someone who is a very light skinned biracial woman, race is central to my life. I look white but know that I have white privilege. No one would guess that I am Black. This week in the Times there was an article about a Black model named Pat Cleveland. I appear to have the same skin color she has. She considers herself Black as do I.
I remember recognizing that my father's brown skin was not the same as my own. However, I never considered myself white. I have always felt tied to the African American experience in America although I was more discriminated against as a fat person, a Jew and a lesbian.
That's because I know that if I had grown up anywhere other than a Black neighborhood in New York City, I would have known what it was like to be called the "n" word. In fact, my white uncle from Brooklyn would use the word and then say "I'm sorry, Debra." He wasn't really sorry.
Being Ghananian and having the pride in your culture may mean that you were not influenced by American white supremacy. However, you will still be considered Black in this country. Black is a glorious spectrum -- and I would argue that white would be too as I think of all the beautiful countries in Europe -- if some of them can get over their racism and superiority.
The struggle continues.
I remember recognizing that my father's brown skin was not the same as my own. However, I never considered myself white. I have always felt tied to the African American experience in America although I was more discriminated against as a fat person, a Jew and a lesbian.
That's because I know that if I had grown up anywhere other than a Black neighborhood in New York City, I would have known what it was like to be called the "n" word. In fact, my white uncle from Brooklyn would use the word and then say "I'm sorry, Debra." He wasn't really sorry.
Being Ghananian and having the pride in your culture may mean that you were not influenced by American white supremacy. However, you will still be considered Black in this country. Black is a glorious spectrum -- and I would argue that white would be too as I think of all the beautiful countries in Europe -- if some of them can get over their racism and superiority.
The struggle continues.
37
There's a song that I hardly ever hear but it runs like this: we are gay and straight together and we are singing for our lives. You are Ghanaian, African American, female, a writer, a daughter, a niece, a friend, etc. And you are beautiful. You are a child of the universe. It's a hackneyed quote but it's also true for all of us. We forget it at our own risk. To be part of the universe means that we should try to contribute to the harmony or further it even if that means some discomfort. We do better when we pay attention to each other and cherish our differences.
26
thank you, hen3ry, reading now through tears
"I am ghanian american, Am I black?" The short answer is unequivocally YES. I am cameroonian by birth and have lived in the US (for 22years) since is was 18.And yes I am black. My fortunes and fate and struggles in America are tied to those of every black person on earth. If one of my brothers is shot by a police officer then a part of me bleeds for him because it could have been me. If one of my sisters drowns trying to make it across the meditterenean then a part of me aches for her because it could have been me. The fate of every black person in the african diaspora is tied to mine and my childrens. so yes we are all black. We are just cousins seperated by time and space but yes we are still a family.
81
Thank you so much! The biggest problem we have is the disconnection. Many have never set foot on the African continent but they are still Africans whether they like it or not. The sooner they realize this, the better off they'll be. As long as the denial, the disconnect, apathy and indifference remains, so will the agony of conflict. My father taught us that we are all family who arrived on different shores on different ships. Our division benefits and enriches those who perpetuate it.
4
Your insightful critique is truly heartfelt. Many thanks for your pearls of wisdom!
3
What a riveting piece. Thank you Yaa Gyasi. I struggle with this question daily. I am a migrant to America who moved here at 30. By then my self image had fully set in and I had no internal misgivings about being black, though my black is a very light one. I reveled in it, have no qualms in seeing it as beautiful and dignified. My single greatest challenge today is the backlash I receive when walking out that dignity because somehow it is more acceptable to be shackled with the pain of those limitations. This is a worthy conversation that we all need to explore more. Thank you again.
61
I read this letter and wish for a county where everyone had a little storybook around their necks with all their hopes and dreams as well as everything they had accomplished up to that point in their lives printed on it. We all would understand that until you read someone else's storybook, you had no idea who that person was. Your own storybook would be about this amazing and gifted person, intelligent and ambitious, hard-working and kind; her family from Ghana but a perfect American.
But being America, too many people see your entire story in just one glance. I have never been able to figure out why or how to change this, but I hope your novel brings you answers to all your own questions and perhaps helps some others answer their own questions as well. God Bless
But being America, too many people see your entire story in just one glance. I have never been able to figure out why or how to change this, but I hope your novel brings you answers to all your own questions and perhaps helps some others answer their own questions as well. God Bless
23
"... being America, too many people see your entire story in just one glance." Actually, anywhere on this planet people see your entire story in just one glance.
Often - not always - they are right.
Often - not always - they are right.
3
I look forward to reading your book. Thank you for this thoughtful and enlightening essay.
10
A thoughtful piece. It raises an important point. There are a lot of labels that are thrown around as if they have no social context. In Ghana presumably, Ms. Gyasi would not be considered "African American" but part of the Ghanaian diaspora. In some social context of the USA, she will be lumped together with "African Americans" while in other contexts she would be seen as "African". In some contexts, people from southern India would be considered "Black" and in other contexts not.
In a world where there are so many possible interpretation, based on social context, I wonder how meaningful it is to ask "Am I Black"? The answer is yes and no. I was hoping she would say more to that effect rather than seeking a simple "yes" based on a questionable argument about sharing in a history of victimization by "white supremacy".
The poor and oppressed--whether originating from Africa, Asia, or even Europe (yes, there are poor and oppressed people of European ancestry) have much more to lose by seeing their common interests than focusing on skin color or other physical differences. Money and power (what is really the core meaning of "White Supremacy") ultimately can find an ally in a person of any color. Just look at Clarence Thomas.
In a world where there are so many possible interpretation, based on social context, I wonder how meaningful it is to ask "Am I Black"? The answer is yes and no. I was hoping she would say more to that effect rather than seeking a simple "yes" based on a questionable argument about sharing in a history of victimization by "white supremacy".
The poor and oppressed--whether originating from Africa, Asia, or even Europe (yes, there are poor and oppressed people of European ancestry) have much more to lose by seeing their common interests than focusing on skin color or other physical differences. Money and power (what is really the core meaning of "White Supremacy") ultimately can find an ally in a person of any color. Just look at Clarence Thomas.
15
Did you have to mention Clarence "Uncle Tom" Thomas?
2
This question is easy to answer. Look in the mirror -- if you aren't White, you've got your answer, and just fill-in the blank.
Of course, it's a lot more complicated than that, as it also has a lot to do with one's own cultural identity, and being Black in America doesn't always mean that one is a Black-American, because so many Black people are coming here from somewhere else.
And this very same maxim would apply in reverse, if one were to travel to the opposite side of the diaspora; more likely than not, most African-Americans would feel more American than African when venturing to that continent.
And then they too, would end up asking the same question:
"What does it mean to be a Black American in Africa?"
It goes both ways.
Of course, it's a lot more complicated than that, as it also has a lot to do with one's own cultural identity, and being Black in America doesn't always mean that one is a Black-American, because so many Black people are coming here from somewhere else.
And this very same maxim would apply in reverse, if one were to travel to the opposite side of the diaspora; more likely than not, most African-Americans would feel more American than African when venturing to that continent.
And then they too, would end up asking the same question:
"What does it mean to be a Black American in Africa?"
It goes both ways.
34
You are so correct. In Sub-Saharan Africa, African-Americans are often called "white" by the local people (not a compliment, either!). It's a sad state of affairs.
6
I grew up in the Midwest. My Grandmother was born in 1904 to a Native American mom and a drunken Irish Catholic father. She had 4 alcoholic sons and an alcoholic daughter. They all fought hard. Life was and is hard for all of us.
The idea that any racial group has it "easy" is wrong. Everyone fight, some win, it's a jungle.
The idea that any racial group has it "easy" is wrong. Everyone fight, some win, it's a jungle.
51
I disagree. Your comment calls to mind a quote I read somewhere, "No one is saying your life can't be hard if you're white, we're saying it's hardly ever hard because you're white."
Life is generally hard for everyone yes, but it's certainly not hard for everyone as a result of skin colour.
Life is generally hard for everyone yes, but it's certainly not hard for everyone as a result of skin colour.
9
You are totally lost here. Please find your way home. This article is way above your head. It isn't about how life is hard. It's about how as a black person, you will never be good enough. It's about how immigrant blacks separate from native blacks.
8
As you state your family struggled because they had issues with alcoholism. For a black family today, they have to struggle even if they are "good blacks". They are judged for the color of their skin rather than their deeds.
6
When my mother's grandparents came here, they were not considered white. Two were considered Italian. The others were considered Sicilian. Both were called names by and discriminated against by "white people."
The Italian ones watched "white" teachers smack their son, an A student, because he was "one of those." The Sicilian's daughter had an easier time, as she had blond hair and blue eyes. Despite both my Italian and Sicilian grandparent's fabulous grades, which enabled both of them to skip a year, neither could go to high school. At age thirteen, they had to go to work.
The families of both were shocked when they married. An Italian marry a Sicilian!
Their child, my mother, considered herself an Italian-American. Her Italian heritage defined her, even after she married a German-Irish man.
I'm curious. We're my grandparents white? Was my mother? And if so, at what point did they "become" white?
Mark my words. In another couple of generations, many Latinos will be considered white.
The Italian ones watched "white" teachers smack their son, an A student, because he was "one of those." The Sicilian's daughter had an easier time, as she had blond hair and blue eyes. Despite both my Italian and Sicilian grandparent's fabulous grades, which enabled both of them to skip a year, neither could go to high school. At age thirteen, they had to go to work.
The families of both were shocked when they married. An Italian marry a Sicilian!
Their child, my mother, considered herself an Italian-American. Her Italian heritage defined her, even after she married a German-Irish man.
I'm curious. We're my grandparents white? Was my mother? And if so, at what point did they "become" white?
Mark my words. In another couple of generations, many Latinos will be considered white.
94
Ted Cruz certainly did.
Many Latinos are considered white already, at least by government classifications, which specifies non-white Hispanics when it specifies Hispanic at all. Race is not ethnicity, although prejudice is an equal opportunity offender.
3
Back in the early 1900s, the US Congress actually held hearings to decide if Italians were 'white'/Caucasian.' Many didn't want to have any more dark-skinned, Catholic, crime-connected immigrants showing up in the US. (Sounds familiar, doesn't it?)
My grandparents came to the US in the early 1900s as indentured servants - yes, it was illegal, but it happened to thousands of Italians who ended up in the US South as farm workers. Look it up - the Italian consulate and US Attorney General even tried to stop some of the worst practices, like not paying them for a year's work if the crops weren't in. My own parents remembered having a teacher who would wrinkle her nose and tell the class that she 'smelled garlic' and those 'WOPs' must be in her classroom.
And did you know that Italians were lynched in Louisiana and other US southern states, by crowds of whites who didn't want to wait for a court to decide if any crime had been committed? And on a positive note, Louis Armstrong always kept a soft spot in his heart for the Italians because a New Orleans Italian family took him in as a child. American 'blacks' and America Italians have more in common than most people know.
My grandparents came to the US in the early 1900s as indentured servants - yes, it was illegal, but it happened to thousands of Italians who ended up in the US South as farm workers. Look it up - the Italian consulate and US Attorney General even tried to stop some of the worst practices, like not paying them for a year's work if the crops weren't in. My own parents remembered having a teacher who would wrinkle her nose and tell the class that she 'smelled garlic' and those 'WOPs' must be in her classroom.
And did you know that Italians were lynched in Louisiana and other US southern states, by crowds of whites who didn't want to wait for a court to decide if any crime had been committed? And on a positive note, Louis Armstrong always kept a soft spot in his heart for the Italians because a New Orleans Italian family took him in as a child. American 'blacks' and America Italians have more in common than most people know.
13
I'm torn. Much of what you say reminds me of my own experience growing up Caribbean American. My own parents were strict in differentiating between us and those blacks whose families were brought to the US as slaves. They also made sure to let me know that American police don't care. Yet, the distinctions among groups of blacks in the US do seem to matter. Nigerian Americans are the most highly educated ethnic group in the US. Over 90% of the blacks in my own Ivy League professional school were West African or Caribbean. Similar socioeconomic distinctions can made among Asians (Japanese Americans are typically more highly educated than Cambodian Americans.). While these realities aren't on the radar of law enforcement, they have real quality of life implications for the minority groups in question. So yes, of course you're black. What else could you possibly be considered in a country like ours? You're also a first generation immigrant and, while your struggles may have some overlap, they are not the same as those blacks in this country whose history was erased by the slave trade.
54
Most countries in the West Indies and West Africa only send the blacks with money to the U.S.A. Very few poor ones arrive on these shores, hence the 90% of the Nigerians in your Ivy League class. Harvard and Mount Holyoke are glad to take your sons and daughters because they don't have to offer scholarships and other financial aid. Thus, they can say they have a "diverse" campus and still discriminate against qualified black Americans who might require such tuition assistance. F.Y.I.
6
Prejudice and stereo-typing are two of humans' worst characteristics. We are all guilty of it. Sometimes it's taught, sometimes it's extrapolation from previous experience. For example, as a I read Yaa Gyasi's description of how well she did in school and how well prepared she was for college, my immediate innate reaction was "Of course!" I've known a number of Ghanaians and with rare exceptions they have ALL prized intelligence, education and what we would call "Middle-Class Values". So naturally, I extrapolated to EXPECT this from Ms. Gyasi. But isn't that prejudice as well? To ASSUME that Ghanaians are deliberately following that path that many Asians have followed, and my "own people", Eastern European Jews followed before them?
It seems benign but only until one examines oneself for the flip side and sees yourself presuming certain ethnicities will not act that way, and then prejudging them negatively. The headlines are full, everyday, of horrors caused by prejudice and racism.
And that, of course, is the path to prejudice, which leads to all the injustices Ms. Gyasi references.
It seems benign but only until one examines oneself for the flip side and sees yourself presuming certain ethnicities will not act that way, and then prejudging them negatively. The headlines are full, everyday, of horrors caused by prejudice and racism.
And that, of course, is the path to prejudice, which leads to all the injustices Ms. Gyasi references.
22
although, isn't it possible that having stereotypes that are good like asians are good academics in a way more good than bad? Would it set higher expectations that would then drive people to meet them and succeed? Better yet if we can extend them to everyone, but just saying. Also, when stereotypes are based on facts such as high tendencies, hiw bad are they? Just trying to say not all stereotypes are equal and wondering aloud whether they're all bad. Of course they are always bad when they are above reality, but are they as bad when placed 2nd? IDK, just wondering
1
I immigrated to the United States from Asia when I was young. I am white-looking and perceived as such. Even though I look white, I'm not your average American white person and I don't identify with that narrative. I have a weird name, I don't speak English at home and some of my family's practices would really stick out in a place like Alabama.
In my American history classes growing up, I was always really bored by the units on slavery and racism. I felt that these things had nothing to do with me. My family never owned slaves, were thousands of miles away from anywhere slavery was being practiced on a large scale. People should really just get over it, I thought.
It took me a long time to understand that just because I had nothing to do with slavery, doesn't mean I'm not benefiting from the consequences of white privilege in a society where how you look can change everything. I'm a very successful person today, and I often wonder how my life would be different if I was to immigrate While Being Black.
Thank you for this piece.
In my American history classes growing up, I was always really bored by the units on slavery and racism. I felt that these things had nothing to do with me. My family never owned slaves, were thousands of miles away from anywhere slavery was being practiced on a large scale. People should really just get over it, I thought.
It took me a long time to understand that just because I had nothing to do with slavery, doesn't mean I'm not benefiting from the consequences of white privilege in a society where how you look can change everything. I'm a very successful person today, and I often wonder how my life would be different if I was to immigrate While Being Black.
Thank you for this piece.
102
Respectfully, what is "an average white person"? Or an average Asian person, for that matter? Stereotyping by people of any race is never a good thing. Never.
13
I don't know of any single member of my family who was in the USA before the end of slavery. AFAIK, all the immigrants came during the great Exodus to America of 1880 to 1920, so while Americans were either living under slavery, owning slaves, or fighting slavery, my ancestors were under a dictatorial Tsar or Austro-Hungarian Kaiser, both of whom detested Jews.
But neither I nor my parents were born in Europe. We were born here, in the USA, and the history of America from the highest golden moments to the deepest darkest most evil depths, is our history as well. We cannot, nor should not, escape it. After all, it was an American philosopher who said that those who do not learn from History are condemned to repeat it.
But neither I nor my parents were born in Europe. We were born here, in the USA, and the history of America from the highest golden moments to the deepest darkest most evil depths, is our history as well. We cannot, nor should not, escape it. After all, it was an American philosopher who said that those who do not learn from History are condemned to repeat it.
3
I understand what you're saying. I was intentionally using the term as a signifier for a white person who grew up in the United States, spoke English, never thought of themselves as anything other than a white American person.
2
Beautiful story.
"When my little brother had the police called on him by our new neighbors while riding his bike on a nearby lot, he couldn’t say to those officers, “It’s O.K., I’m Ghanaian-American.” He was only 12, but he already looked suspicious. This is the tame version of this too common story of black boys in America."
You are definitely black, as is your brother.
"When my little brother had the police called on him by our new neighbors while riding his bike on a nearby lot, he couldn’t say to those officers, “It’s O.K., I’m Ghanaian-American.” He was only 12, but he already looked suspicious. This is the tame version of this too common story of black boys in America."
You are definitely black, as is your brother.
19
Why would her brother say, I'm Ghanaian-American unless he was raised by racist parents?
4
Welcome to the United States- all talk and no real understanding of our common humanity. The foul smell of racism pervades us here as is does the world over. Is it any wonder? Religions don’t speak out wanting only more market share, our elected governments just focus on cutting taxes and being reelected, our police are never disciplined for any killing mistake, too much is never enough for the 1%, schools are underfunded, we’re awash in guns that are slaughtering 35,000 of the good, the bad and the ugly and maybe 55% vote in our presidential elections. This is our reality in a nation that proclaims itself to be the best that ever was, is or ever will be under some god or another. Welcome to the United States. It sounds to me that you have finally become a black immigrant! Good luck with that.
13
How sad. We should be less concerned with the perceived 'bad attitudes' of others, especially children, and more concerned with how we as a community can set ourselves up for success. People act in their own self interest--self destructive behavior is a sign of trauma and general unwellness. Regardless, our rights are inalienable and should not be contingent on 'acting right'.
3
This essay resonates with me: I too am the immigrant offspring of affluent, tenured faculty. I grew up within a 2 hr drive of Huntsville. I know what it is like to grow up without "minority" culture informing my family of origin: not feeling at all defined by it as a child only to find how deep seated these classifications are in American society and culture. I can only hope as the ethnic landscape evolves, that we transcend all this nonsense.
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Hmmm... It's a little more complicated than that. Maybe to those racist Southen white boys you were a "nigger," but up North you're not African-American/black - you're African.
12
Not really.
1
What a thought-provoking and thoughtfully written piece. I have so much going on in my head from reading it, I can't possibly put it all down, but here are some immediate thoughts.
First, you were a "nigger" because you were in Jackson, Tennessee, and the people who used the epithet did so because they were too ignorant and limited by their ignorance to do otherwise. You aren't thought of that way in much of the country.
Second, history is ugly. No national or ethnic group comes out of it looking good, and you are quite right to recognize that West Africa, including Ghana, was complicit in the slave trade by selling its own people. Before the Middle Passage was ever thought of, about nine million West Africans were marched into the Sahara as slaves, bound for the North African slave markets.
Third, as a white person I can tell you that white goodness is not a given.
Fourth, while that epithet was first introduced to you over twenty years ago, just this last year, it was regularly used against me by a number of the black students I taught in South Los Angeles. I am white, and the word was not meant as a compliment.
Thanks for the piece. I hope it is very widely read.
First, you were a "nigger" because you were in Jackson, Tennessee, and the people who used the epithet did so because they were too ignorant and limited by their ignorance to do otherwise. You aren't thought of that way in much of the country.
Second, history is ugly. No national or ethnic group comes out of it looking good, and you are quite right to recognize that West Africa, including Ghana, was complicit in the slave trade by selling its own people. Before the Middle Passage was ever thought of, about nine million West Africans were marched into the Sahara as slaves, bound for the North African slave markets.
Third, as a white person I can tell you that white goodness is not a given.
Fourth, while that epithet was first introduced to you over twenty years ago, just this last year, it was regularly used against me by a number of the black students I taught in South Los Angeles. I am white, and the word was not meant as a compliment.
Thanks for the piece. I hope it is very widely read.
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There is much discussion concerning the impact of contemporary racism on progress of Black Americans versus the impact of historic racism as a primary reason for the current starting state of Black Americans. This distinction is essential in determining the type and impact of policy when attempting to improve outcomes for young Blacks. One of the most striking facts is the significant difference in outcomes from first generation Blacks from primarily West Indies or Africa. It is estimated that about 40% of Blacks in Ivy Leagues are from this background. Assuming there is no difference in the opportunities for this group and therefore they are subject to the same racism as it exists today, what cultural differences exist that produce these differences in outcomes.
10
Depends. I, too, had wondered about the difference in the outcomes after noticing that the only Black students (one or two in a class of twenty) in my advanced math classes in college were those actually from Africa. Could be cultural differences, could be less exposure to racism, as they had been brought up in Black-majority countries, or could simply be that the population coming here was, as is the case from other countries, including China and India, the so-called cream of the crop, i.e., a very selective and high-achieving population.
One thought that has lately come to mind has been that if White people are so terrible, why do so many non-White people want to emigrate to White-majority or White-dominated countries, and from Non-White-dominated countries? Could it be not just poverty, but the the race-within-a-race caste system that still exists in India or unequal opportunities for some groups (urban vs. rural, Han vs. other Chinese ethnicities) in China or unrest and/or government even in countries effectively populated by members of only one race?
While Ms. Gyasi is clearly extremely intelligent, hardworking, and very accomplished, Stanford rejects hundreds of White students with the same profile each year. How many Black students with that profile has it rejected? To be fair, the diversity she contributes is more than most can offer, since she is a native of Africa, but, along with the bad, she has also clearly seen some of the benefits of being Black in America.
One thought that has lately come to mind has been that if White people are so terrible, why do so many non-White people want to emigrate to White-majority or White-dominated countries, and from Non-White-dominated countries? Could it be not just poverty, but the the race-within-a-race caste system that still exists in India or unequal opportunities for some groups (urban vs. rural, Han vs. other Chinese ethnicities) in China or unrest and/or government even in countries effectively populated by members of only one race?
While Ms. Gyasi is clearly extremely intelligent, hardworking, and very accomplished, Stanford rejects hundreds of White students with the same profile each year. How many Black students with that profile has it rejected? To be fair, the diversity she contributes is more than most can offer, since she is a native of Africa, but, along with the bad, she has also clearly seen some of the benefits of being Black in America.
17
I would say that it relates to the common thread of immigrants coming solely to the U.S. for a better life, with specific goal-oriented priorities. Asians and West African children bare the burden of getting good grades to secure professional jobs to honor the sacrifices their parents endured by coming to a new country and starting life from scratch--sometimes working two or three jobs to make sure they have enough to put food on the table and to get their children a decent education. These parents were professionals in their native country with middle class values and despite the fact that they start from nothing by working at menial jobs, they instill middle class values in their children, expecting them to work harder in class and at their future professions in order to secure a better life for their family and and other members of their community. With children who have such burdens from childhood, you shouldn't be surprised at their given success. It's similar to the things Amy Chua elaborated in her novel about how some cultural groups are more successful than others.
3
When Stanford accepted Ms. Gyasi, they not only rejected White students, but African Americans and Hispanics.
7
Wonderful writing. Thank you.
10
This isanexcellent essay and I will look forward to reading more of this author's work. She brings up many interesting & important issues. I'm reminded of the time that my neighbor, a black man, was admiring my godson, a charming black baby I was holding. He completely lost interest when I told him the baby was African. Truly there is a strange relationship between being dark-skinned in America, and being African-American-- it will be good for all of us to explore this & understand it better. One thing I did not quite agree with, though- white children ARE told to be good, all the time.They are not exempt.
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