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 Posted: Mon 03 Jul 2006 19:37 Post subject: Blacks can be racist, too - Column |
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Blacks can be racist, too - Column
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_n1_v25/ai_15419072
Essence, May, 1994
by Mohammed Naseehu Ali
| Quote: | I spent my first three years in the United States at a boarding high school for the arts in northern Michigan. Being thousands of miles away from my home in Ghana, West Africa, I was fortunate when a White family opened their house and invited me to spend my vacations with them. I never encountered any overt racial prejudice in the three years I lived in their all-White neighborhood. Ironically enough, it was during this period that I began to gain a clearer understanding of the universality of prejudice. More specifically, I was reminded once again how prejudiced Blacks can be toward one another. It all started when an African-American schoolmate vehemently reproached me for having too many White friends and accused me of "selling out" to "the Man," conveniently ignoring the glaring fact that only 7 percent of the school's student body was Black! And, as if these accusations were not enough, she repeatedly called me out for not eating exclusively at an all-black table in the campus dining hall.
I tried repeatedly to convince her that I chose my friends not for the pigmentation of their skin, but because we shared similar personalities and principles and common goals. Still, nothing I said could change the mind of my young schoolmate. She remained wholly convinced that Blacks who befriended Whites had to be "ashamed" of their skin color, something I am not nor will ever be.
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To this day, I'm not sure my African-American schoolmate actually hated Whites. However, she often defended the racially blind myth that "we [Black people are not capable of racial prejudice." As an African, I have never held such an illusion. Growing up in an area of Ghana where my tribe was in the minority, I witnessed Black-on-black prejudice at an early age. Teachers at my elementary ED school often blatantly compared the IQs of pupils from my tribe to those of animals (one of the teachers referred to children not of his tribe as "a flock of sheep!"). Most natives who have traveled along the coast of West Africa can tell you similar horror stories. When Ghanaians travel to Nigeria or Nigerians go to Ghana, they are treated like second-rate citizens. And our French-speaking neighbors from Togo, the Ivory Coast and Benin often treat English-speaking Africans--Ghanaians and Nigerians--as if they were not human beings at all.
Like every other continent in the world, Africa has its share of problems among its peoples. Africa's turbulent tribal conflicts, often based on erroneous judgments and prejudices among different ethnic and language groups, are well documented. However, the first time that I personally became a victim of overt prejudice was on a bus ride from New York City to Newark, New Jersey. It was there an African-American male who overheard us speaking in Hausa, our native language, said to his friend: "I hate these Africans: They're always speaking their stupid language." Not long after, a Black coworker asked me, "Why are the African women I see here so ugly? Why are some of your people so dumb?"
I offer these examples in hopes of proving to my former schoolmate and other African-Americans who share her opinion that the claim that Blacks are incapable of racism is false. Black-on-Black prejudice, whether based on religion, nationality, skin color, sexuality, ideological preference or even one's physical appearance, is thriving and is just as harmful as White-Black prejudice.
Perhaps no human being is completely innocent of some form of prejudice. It seems innate to human nature to use our own ethical, moral or religious standards to prejudge others. But as humans we are also blessed with an even greater natural ability to love, a quality that can guide us toward tolerating, understanding and even appreciating our differences.
It is not my intention to prescribe a romantic remedy for the prejudice that exists in this country. I am still looking for its cure myself. But I have learned that false egocentric claims can only prevent the kinship that should exist between Africans of the diaspora. Let us make a quest for racial harmony, rather than racism, among our diverse peoples--including sojourners like me--our common agenda. |
COPYRIGHT 1994 Essence Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group |
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