Africa

Are African Americans Guilty of Cultural Appropriation?

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africapolitmapI was reminded recently of a valuable lesson about understanding and respecting other cultures. I went on another business trip to Washington DC a few weeks ago and had some time to catch up with my business partner Marjane, who splits here time between DC and Nairobi. She is a native Kenyan and she is always amazed at the differences between black Africans and African Americans.

When I met her for lunch recently, Marjane was particularly riled up about the issue of cultural appropriation. No, I am not just talking about white people appropriating cornrows, hip-hop and other aspects of black culture. Marjane was talking about African Americans appropriating from African culture.

She began telling me about her recent encounter with a 20-something African-American woman who sported an Afro and wore a Kente cloth “inspired” sari and jewelry at some natural hair meetup. This woman had the audacity to tell Marjane that she wasn’t proud to be black because she straightened her hair.

Marjane responded by saying that she flat irons her hair because she likes how it looks straight and it is easier to manage. She also said that she certainly didn’t do this because she hates her blackness.

I always found the way some people in the natural hair “community” who harshly judge others who don’t share their same taste in hair texture as offensive and off-putting. Not that there isn’t merit to what this woman is saying to a certain extent. Black females have been pressured to mimic Western standards of beauty for many years. Because of this, many black females have felt ashamed of their hair.  Luckily, these standards are slowly changing and black women are becoming more comfortable wearing their natural tresses. However, I don’t think black women should be judged by other black women negatively if they still choose to straighten their hair for whatever reason.

Furthermore, in my experience, many of these judgmental naturalistas tend to be not well-informed or educated about their own black heritage. As a matter of fact, Marjane was more offended that the African-American woman who was judging her hair texture didn’t seem to know anything about Africa. Marjane asked the woman where she got the Kente cloth she was wearing. The woman replied that she bought it at Wal-Mart (really!) and that “it looked like it was from Africa.” She then asked the woman why she was wearing it as a sari and asked if she was South Asian. The woman said she wasn’t South Asian and that she was wearing it as a sari because she liked the way it looked on her.

Marjane proceeded to go all the way in on this clueless woman!

As the story was retold to me by Marjane with a strong accent:

“I told this stupid woman she had no right to criticize my hair and she is walking about dressed the way she looks. She would be laughed out of all of Africa and India dressed the way she was. I told her that if she was going to wear African clothing, she should know where it is from in Africa. Africa is not a country; it is a continent of 54 countries with thousands of languages, ethnic groups, and cultures. Don’t just tell me it’s from Africa, woman! Kente cloth is from Ghana. Ashanti! Akan! West Africa! You are not Asian so why are you wearing a sari?”

Yeah, that really happened.

Marjane does make an excellent point. Just because you are black, doesn’t mean it is okay to appropriate from the cultures of other black people or other people of color for that matter, especially if you don’t know or understand the context you are appropriating. A recent example would be many of the attendees at this year’s AfroPunk Festival, which was a dizzying mess of appropriation. It’s great that African Americans want to reconnect with their lost African roots, but there is a right way and wrong way to do it.

I attribute my strong connection with diverse African cultures not just to my media development work in many African countries, but also because people of Caribbean descent have had a stronger relationship culturally with the African continent. From the maroon uprisings to Marcus Garvey’s Pan-Africanism, Jamaicans always take pride in their black heritage and connections to Africa. Some of the most conscientious African-American activists throughout recent history were of Caribbean descent like Shirley Chisholm, Stokley Carmichael, Louis Farrakhan and Malcolm X. Also, because slavery ended in most Caribbean islands well before America’s emancipation in 1865, many Caribbean folks have been able to retain their African roots better, and this can be seen in our music, fashion, hairstyles, cuisine, and storytelling.

With that said, I think we could all learn from this incident. Here are some tips I have learned over the years.

1. Know your history: If you truly want to be informed, or what the millennials say, “woke,” learn and know about the history and culture of Africa. In addition to reading books and watching educational programming to better understand your cultural identity, you should also talk to African people (and other people of color) and listen to and respect their histories.

2. Know what you are wearing: If I am wearing anything that is African inspired, I try to make sure I know the history behind it. For example, I like to wear box braids. If someone asks me about them, I will say they were done by a woman from Guinea, and box braids have their roots in many parts of Africa, including in Namibia, where Eembuvi braids were worn by women of the Mbalantu tribes.

3. Support African businesses: Instead of buying African products from a Western department store support an African business. I buy a lot of my handbags, jewelry and clothing from the Maasai market in Nairobi when I travel there. Of course, not everyone can travel to Africa to shop, but you can support a local African vendor so the money will go back to that black-owned business, and not a Western big box.

4. It’s not what you wear: it’s who you are: It really doesn’t matter how long your dreadlocks are or how good your Dashiki looks on you. At the end of the day, it is more important to know who you are as a person of African descent and how to pay respect to our ancestors for future generations.

China: The Neo-Colonialist?

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Zimbabwe arms shipment returns to ChinaA few weeks ago it was announced that Zimbabwe will use the Chinese yuan as an official currency.  In exchange, China will cancel the southern African country’s $40 billion debt. Mind you, the US dollar and the South African rand are also de facto currencies in Zimbabwe.  Many economists may argue that using the yuan is a good idea to getting around American sanctions.

This is just the latest maneuver by China to further penetrate the African continent through trade and development.  According to the International Monetary Fund, of the 20 countries worldwide projected to grow the fastest by next year, 10 of them are in Africa.  Africa’s population is also expected to double to 3.5 billion by the 2050.

So it would make sense for China and other countries to make a move on potentially big economic opportunities related to the continent’s rich resources and minerals.  Approximately over a million Chinese people have moved to Africa in the last 10 years alone as part of a new scramble for Africa.  However, many feel that China is doing more harm than good.

Journalist Howard French wrote a book a couple of years called China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building A New Empire in Africa.  He traveled to half a dozen African countries to meet with these Chinese migrants about their motivations.  They work in a wide variety of occupations, including factory owners, farmers and even prostitutes.  Many of them come to Africa because they are either tired of the competitiveness, lack of freedoms and/or lack of economic mobility back in China.    

The book left a really bad taste in my mouth and a fear for the worst.  Many of the Chinese interviewees sounded the same way European colonizers did during the original Scramble for Africa over a one hundred years ago.  Most of the interviewees speak of Africans in a very racist manner, commonly calling them the derogative hei ren.  

The biggest gripe with the Chinese businesses is that they hire other Chinese workers – not African workers – to construct big development projects in Africa.  The Chinese businesses say they do this because they feel the Africans are not smart enough, childish, and don’t eat bitter, or work as hard as the Chinese.  Then when Africans are hired for jobs, they are paid low wages with very limited benefits and in dangerous environments. But many of these problems stem from African governments allowing Chinese business to come into their countries while ignoring their labor laws.

It seems like China is setting up these African countries to be totally dependent on them by just hiring only Chinese workers.  It would be more valuable for the continent to practice capacity building, where they train Africans to build and maintain their own infrastructure.  Sure, American aid and development projects in Africa have also been known to have shady, ulterior motives in the past as well, including most recently with PEPFAR, but at least Americans mostly hires Africans to work on African projects.  Even when I work on any media development projects in Africa, we make a conscious effort to hire locals because the whole point of development is all about, in my opinion, “ teaching someone how to fish.”

There is also a Chinese presence throughout the Caribbean.  In Jamaica, where my family is from, there have been similar complaints about Chinese development projects, mostly in the tourism sector with resorts.  Recently I was in Kingston and I noticed that the Chinese community self-segregates themselves from other Jamaicans and don’t usually hire locals in their businesses.  Jamaicans that are hired are treated poorly.  Because of this there is growing hostility towards the Chinese migrant community.  A Jamaican friend once told me, “We have replaced British colonization and exploitation with the Chinese.  They are only here to exploit us.”

What is most interesting about the Zimbabwe situation is that introducing Chinese currency into the country’s economy takes the Chinese neo-colonialist agenda to a whole new level.  China, a country that has a long rap sheet of human rights abuses, is hooking up with Zimbabwe, another country with serious human rights problems. Furthermore, despite the fact that he has been an egomaniacal despot in recent years, Mugabe was originally a freedom fighter 40 years ago who helped Zimbabwe become a free country.  Now it feels it feels like the country is moving back into colonialism.   

Ghanaian business executive Ed Brown said the best quote in French’s book:

“This [relationship] is going to be determine Africa’s future for the next fifty years.  This big question is whether African countries are dynamic enough to take advantage, or whether they’ll end up being the appendage of somebody else all over again.”  

Power Africa Initiative: One Year On

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NASA satellite photo of Europe and Africa at night.

NASA satellite photo of Europe, Africa and the Middle East at night to contrast electricity access.

Last year President Obama launched the Power Africa Initiative, an ambitious plan to bring electricity to rural areas that lack access.  The initial projection was to provide US$7 billion over five years in on-grid, mini-grid and off-grid solutions to 20 million households and businesses.  Last month the Obama administration increased the financial commitment to US$20 billion to serve 60 million households and businesses.  The power solutions will eventually develop geothermal, hydro, wind and solar energy.

More than two-thirds of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is without electricity access, and more than 85 percent of those living in rural areas lack access.  Most people without power use candles and even cow dung, which can be very dangerous.  Currently, for those who can afford it use diesel generators.  The lack of electricity is quite possible the greatest barrier to development on the continent.  Electricity is something those of us in industrialized countries take for granted.  Better access to it will help the continent move forward both socially and economically.

Food security is impacted because better power access leads to better technological solutions to processing and distributing food.  Electricity access also supports better international security.  Poverty fuels extremist behavior worldwide.  Power access provides more job creation, which in turn creates better economic opportunities for all.  Many of these new jobs will be in the STEM fields, and will help Africa compete better on the global market, as well as improve ICT capacity in general.

I found this interesting VOA program that gets into what Power Africa has accomplished over the last year, and most importantly, what Africans think of the Initiative:

According to USAID, Power Africa has accomplished the following:

  • Transactions brought to financial close will generate 2,792 MW
  • 25% of total goal reached in first year
  • Over 5,000 MW in process
  • Nearly 3:1 leveraging of funds — $7 billion USG investment to more than $18 billion private sector financing
  • First year results represent projects with a potential to power more than 5 million connections to African homes, businesses, schools, and clinics

Read the Power Africa annual report.

Islam, Racism and Media Bias

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Photo Credit: Newd Magazine - Black Jews in NigeriaThe ongoing violence between Israel and Hamas has brought up discussions about media bias.  Many argue that there is a bias by American media outlets to portray Israelis as more valuable than Palestinians.  Others have said there is a racist overtone towards how Hamas and the Palestinians are portrayed in the media.  So what is the role of black journalists in reporting this crisis in a fair and accurate manner?  Many journalists of color have historically gone out of their way to report about issues affecting marginalized communities because those issues affect them too.

However, the Palestine Question has become a third rail issue that no American journalist of any color wants to broach.  The problem is that if you say anything even remotely negative about Israel’s policy towards Palestinians, you are immediately labeled an anti-Semite. This is why they is such an imbalance in coverage.

This issue was examined in a workshop I attended at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention last Saturday.   Dr. Akbar Muhammad of the Nation of Islam said that more African-Americans should speak out about the current aggression against the Palestinians, as well as the role of Islam in the African Diaspora.

He was disappointed by President Obama’s lack of political courage to speak out about Israel.  During a press conference last week, Obama said “Israel has a right to defend itself.” Both White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett and State Department’s spokesman Jen Psaki claim to “condemn” the violence in Gaza, but neither of them seem to mention that the weapons Israel is using in Gaza are paid for by U.S. taxpayer money.

Muhammad called upon black journalists to hold White House officials accountable for what they say.

“As journalists, we have to present a different picture that isn’t being presented,” he said.

Palestinians are not the only ones suffering under Israel’s occupation.  In recent months there have been documented accounts and reports of racism against black African immigrants in Israel.  Most of them are refugees or asylum seekers from Eritrea (many of them Jewish) and Sudan.  Many of them have been detained by Israel and put into prisons under seriously inhumane conditions. Last month hundreds of African immigrants staged a hunger strike in protest of the detentions.

Regarding the African Diaspora, Islam is the fastest growing religion on the African continent.  African-Americans make up to nearly a quarter of all Muslims in the United States.  Unfortunately, all Muslims worldwide are viewed through the prism of what’s going on in the Middle East, and specifically through the violent actions of al Qaeda and Boko Haram.  We as black journalists have an obligation to present more balanced discussions about Israel, Muslims of all colors and racism to make sure everyone’s voice is accurately heard.

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