20.2.11

So What If You Are Black In Today's America?

As I have mentioned in the previous postfor the most part, there is no escaping one's skin color.

And although even if this is a hot subject, I have always been intrigued and very much eager to write on this.

And so today, we come to this question that has always been at the back of my mind, ever since coming to America close to ten years ago.

So what if you are Black in today's America?

Okay to be more politically correct, "So what if you're an African American today in the US of A?".

Is it still that bad? It is really all that bad? Has it not been better for some time now?

And the more important question to our African-American brothers is that, "can we still not focus on the positives of being an African American in America than say as compared to being an African in say Africa, Asia or somewhere else"?

Yes, I don't get it.

And this is not just for African Americans or Africans or Americans or people of any color.

Why are we so much concerned with what the things that we don't have or lack than on the things that we do have or have an abundance of?

Yes, why oh why? And that my friend is a question for all of humankind.

Why see the glass as "half-empty" than "half-full"?

I mean sure, most if not all your forefathers were forceably taken from your homeland (your home continent), they were taken from their loved ones, it broke up their families, they were terrorized, brutally brutalized, taken advantage of, humiliated, sold off as slaves, tortured, enslaved (yes I repeated myself) and many times murdered for many, many years, decades and generations. And the wounds, the scars, the pain and the unfortunate effects are still there (don't get me wrong).

But look at where your strong-willed, strong -spirited, strong-all-over and strong-all-around forebears have come to.

I mean, we don't need to say that African-Americans dominate most if not almost all sports and sporting events in the USA.

We don't need to say that African-Americans are the most numerous and the strongest minority group in the USA.

We don't need to say that African-Americans are among the most looked up, idolized, immortalized and among the richest and most influential people in America today.

Look at the music scene and what do you see?

Look at various positions of power in many industries and in the public sector. Look at the armed forces, the military, the police.

Look at the White House and what do you see? Michelle Obama and her kids. Okay, there is Barrack as well.

You look at showbusiness and you see Oprah.

I mean, you look almost anywhere and you see a prominent African-American in places of power, prominence and prestige.

But then at the same time when we look at the lowest rungs of society, we see African-Americans too. And the sad part, that is where we normally concentrate on, linger and gripe on.

Human nature? I'd say.

Manueverings? Biases? Discrimination? Oppression? Sure, it's still going on. But don't forget people of color also do that and some Blacks included. And it happens most everywhere else in the world.

I mean, did say Lady Gaga (or some other non-Black Grammy winner) do a Kanye West and grab the microphone from Esperanza Spalding? Yes, Esperanza Spalding who? And said something like "Bieber should have won that award. That's unfair."

No.

For only somebody like Kanye can and would do that and (almost) get away with it.

Come on, I'm not saying anything not true (or partially true) here.

But all the same, peace man, whatever color you may be.

Cool it man, and always look at the positives more than the negatives. That's what I would say.

Life is good, if we would just stop and take time to think about it.

Like how many African-American teens, young adults and okay middle-aged people would wanna to switch places with an African say born and living in Sudan, in Yemen, in Nigeria and maybe even in Haiti, Egypt, Tunisia and many parts of the Middle East and the African continent, particularly in North or Western Africa nowadays?

Will you?

Yes my guess is not that many too.

If I'm Black and I was born or I live in America, I would still consider myself more blessed than my African brothers in many other nations such as the many places we have mentioned above.

Peace. (Sometimes you may want to think what if my forefathers weren't taken from Africa. Consider this, what if you were born and actually living in  Nigeria, Guinea, Liberia, Senega or Sierra Leone).

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