October 20, 2014 - 16:37
It woudl be interesting to talk about how we view black Americans and black Africans differently. And how black Americans and black Africans view each other. I think the term "black American" instead of "African-American"itself is indicative of a lot. It is a term my mother uses, and to me places "African-Americans"as completely American, without any assaciaton to their roots elsewhere.
I always talk about Dark Matter, a queer south-asian-american spoken word duo. I think they are wonderful. Their poems often are about the intersection of race and queerness, the oppression that comes from capitalism and colonialism, and other fun stuff. The other day I was watching a Q&A that they were doing, and one of them was talking about their experience of performing in India, and the reaction they got from the crowd. Their work was perceived in a totally different way than how it is perceived in America, because they are a minority in the States but among the majority in India. The crowd was not interested in hearing how hard it is to be from America. They did not need to hear about race issues because it was a reality they were living. They were more interested in hearing about other things.
This makes me wonder how it must feel for African-Americans to try to reconnect to their African heritage, which was stolen from them generations ago, while having Africans looking down on them for being American. Because to me, "black American" isn't an insult, but it's not a compliment. My experience is that it's neutral at best and judgy at worst.
Here's a link to the Q&A if anybody is interested in watching it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm7A58XOXls