The African Diaspora

Ernesto is here. He and I have been traveling around Ghana for the past week. I have read every book I packed and I have no desire to purchase any new books. Books have become an additional weight and space filler in my bag and are therefore not ideal during travels. I have listened to every song on my ipod at least 9 times and I cannot bear the sound of them anymore. I have been spending a lot of time in thought...it seems the only way to make it through 9 hour tro-tro rides over unpaved roads. The thought that has been encompassing my thoughts is this, "Even though Black people have been dispersed throughout the world (mostly through the slave trade), how is it that their situations, challenges, and experiences throughout the world are so similar?"

Traveling throughout Ghana I have seen widespread poverty. I have seen devastation that HIV/AIDS has had on Black communities. I have understood the amount of dependency that Blacks have developed on others, often Whites, for their own survival. What I see in Ghana is not all that different from the realities that many African-Americans face. It is not very different from the circumstances of the Afro-Caribbeans. Blacks (Africans, African-Americans, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Europeans, Haitians, Jamaicans, etc...) are all dealing with the same psychological, health, economic and familial challenges. Many of these challenges result from similar histories. We all have histories of being forced into labor (slavery) or colonization (being robbed of our own land). That alone has caused a lot of physiological and economic damage. However, I will not accept that the past justifies everything that I see today.

On a tro-tro ride Ernesto and I befriended a retired Ghanian solider named Robert. We small talked with Robert for a while. He talked and talked. He told us that nothing in Ghana is owned by Ghanians (I knew this already). European and Asian countries own the major corporations throughout the country. Ghanians own very few, if any, of the businesses throughout their own country. They do not even control their own cocoa plantations. Nestle owns the Cocoa. The cars are imported from other nations. Holland owns the roads. Various European countries own the cell phone companies. China owns everything else. With that, I asked Robert, "Well then you understand that Ghana, and most of the rest of the African countries, are still colonized?" It took him a minute to process what I meant. Maybe he had not thought about it in this way. He went on to say that he felt that it was better that outside countries controlled the major businesses in Ghana. "Ghanians don't do good business. Holland makes better roads. Chinese do better business. I do not like to do business with Ghanians. Ghanian business no good." With this, my heart sank. This is the same exact sentiment that many African-Americans take with each other. We do not support our own businesses because our attitude is that White's do things better (I admit that I take on this attitude in certain aspects of life as well). If you want your car fixed correctly and quickly, take it to the White man. If you want your car fixed cheaply and you have time to spare, take it to a brother. I am starting to develop different feelings about the way that members of the Black Diaspora use the words "brother" and "sister" so loosely. Do we really feel that way about each other? I mean damn, I understand that it is often family that treats each other the worst but does this have to transfer to the way entire communities, or races, of people treat interact?

The children here in Africa remind me so much of the Black children in the states. Many of them receive sub-standard educations. Too many of them suffer from lack of nutritious diets (these malnourished diets result from lack of education, cultural cuisine and limited financial means). There is a lack of men in the home. Everybody has a Daddy but few children have a father. They do not have the access they need to compete with the rest of the world. That access is denied through lack of technology, opportunity and adults who expect them to excel. Harmful practices are not abandoned if they are considered part of the culture. Indigenous doctors, or "Witch doctors", old people, preachers (and religious institutions in general) have way too much power in Black communities. There is not enough questioning of cultural and historical practices. There is way, way, way, way, way, too much acceptance. There is not enough QUESTIONING. Not enough CHALLENGING. And surely, Not enough CHANGING!

We, as a people, have a lot of work to do.