But you do know that there is something called the Political capital of Africa and its Addis Ababa

As an African growing up in America, you’ve undoubtedly been called one of the following:

Alex Haley’s Roots was once the bane of my existence. The movie is great and the story is timeless, but for some reason kids liked referencing this dude (Kunte Kinte) as soon as they hear the word “Africa”. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against Toby. It’s just that around the end of middle school or so I began to get stressed about going to school the following Monday that it reran on TBS’s cultural movie Saturdays.

“Give us free” or “Give-is-Us-s-Free” was another infamous quote to taunt Africans and the children of African immigrants in America. In this Spielberg pic (Amistad), Djimon Hounsou played the role of Joseph Cinque and the quote were his first words (in the film) that were spoken in English. Notice that the two most widely-used reproaches while teasing about Africa are related to slavery. They (we) are educated to be ashamed, and so we defend ourselves by separating ourselves.

The movie was a classic. Nobody in their creative mind can refute that. However, it manifested a still very Hollywood and unrealistic view of Africa. It was like you either came here poor or as a slave, or you were once a prince that had a zoo in your back yard and utopia-like, melodramatically submissive brides to choose from. And even though he was a prince, he was still unhappy with the custom and tradition of Africa and had to come to America to find true love.

As an African growing up in America, you’ve undoubtedly been called one of the following:

Alex Haley’s Roots was once the bane of my existence. The movie is great and the story is timeless, but for some reason kids liked referencing this dude (Kunte Kinte) as soon as they hear the word “Africa”. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against Toby. It’s just that around the end of middle school or so I began to get stressed about going to school the following Monday that it reran on TBS’s cultural movie Saturdays.

“Give us free” or “Give-is-Us-s-Free” was another infamous quote to taunt Africans and the children of African immigrants in America. In this Spielberg pic (Amistad), Djimon Hounsou played the role of Joseph Cinque and the quote were his first words (in the film) that were spoken in English. Notice that the two most widely-used reproaches while teasing about Africa are related to slavery. They (we) are educated to be ashamed, and so we defend ourselves by separating ourselves.

The movie was a classic. Nobody in their creative mind can refute that. However, it manifested a still very Hollywood and unrealistic view of Africa. It was like you either came here poor or as a slave, or you were once a prince that had a zoo in your back yard and utopia-like, melodramatically submissive brides to choose from. And even though he was a prince, he was still unhappy with the custom and tradition of Africa and had to come to America to find true love.