Some black self hatred in America comes as a result of being severed from our homeland and true identity. There are not many good blueprints for black people in America to go by so more and more we have been cast away into dysfunction. As a people we have been existing in dysfunction for a very long time, but only now it is widespread.
In this case I'm excusing this rapper's language. He uses less profanity than most rappers including my old favorite Tupac.
I'm also posting the piece below in italics. I can't remember where I got it online exactly. I saved it to my documents months ago. There is much truth in the piece, but I disagree somewhat that Africans are in as bad a shape as we in the Diaspora here in the US especially. Here's why. I haven't been to any countries where large populations of black people of African descent live such as Brazil and some other parts of Latin America or the Caribbean, so I can't critique, but I know African Americans very well, all of our pathologies. I feel that many continental Africans lack self-confidence in standing up to various forms of oppression and exploitation, but one strength many have is that they still respect marriage and have a desire to be wedded and to have an intact family and community structure. Africa is not the West where the individual rules. The clan and the tribe hasn't been erased there. I don't believe that illegitimacy and divorce is as rampant in Africa as here. Also many Africans value education. They don't see learning as being "white" as some African Americans have described getting an education. Overall American culture is anti-intellectual. But too often all the shortcomings, ills, and recklessness of the society blacks in America take on with a hardy vengeance. This all goes back to self-hatred and lack of a true and meaningful identity. Our history didn't begin with the nightmare and oppression of slavery in the Americas, and we haven't reached the pinnacle as a group because of President Obama. Very very far from it.
Therefore, I will end in a bit and allow you to ponder like I often do.
One way we can conquer our self hatred as a people is to connect with Africans online since most of us will never get to Africa. I've been to two African countries and have meet many Africans from various countries over the years. My view of self began to slowly change when I set foot on the continent. It took many many years, but I changed into more of a complete person. Today I see myself as an African of the Diaspora. There is no nationality, country, or continent named "black." Black is a misnomer and too limited in scope for me. I alienates me from my origins. Like "American" it just isn't detailed enough for my tastes, describing the essence of who I am. It's too new, inaccurate, and limiting. Shame over my skin color or hair texture has nothing to do with me refusing to go solely by the description of black. I don't have any shame over my features. But I want more. I want to identify myself with my ancestry and a particular geographic region which I relate to the most. There is nothing wrong with that. I have a longing for this, and I will not deny my longing. It is my right. However, "African" doesn't quite go deep enough as well for somewhere on that vast continent in a little spot among some tribe or clan is my true home. I am a part of Africa whether north, south, east, west. We are one, and I am proud to be who I am. Everyone should be.
I have come to the conclusion that the majority of Afrikan men and women in the UK -- and most certainly in places like the USA and Caribbean, and most probably in Afrika -- are 'functionally mentally ill'. By this I mean that whilst most people in this category can function effectively at a certain level, i.e. hold down a job, obey the rules and laws of society, maintain social relationships over a prolonged period time, use their cognitive skills to solve various problems, there is something fundamentally wrong or missing at the heart of their psyche. This affective gap manifests itself in a deep-seated but unrecognised sense of racial inferiority, an inability to admire the Afrikan physiological and cultural aesthetic, a lack of racial self-esteem and confidence and a profound difficulty in working effectively with other Afrikans, often induced by the inability to trust one another. This functional mental illness is one of the main reasons that most Afrikan controlled countries are economic and social basket cases. It explains the widespread use of skin bleaching agents by Afrikan women and why Afrikan women who 'go natural' with their hair often provoke such enormous and negative emotional reactions from other women who use chemicals to straighten their hair, or who wear wigs, weaves, extensions etc. It explains why Afrikans find it so hard to forgive each other and yet can forgive Caucasians in South Afrika (and other places) for their atrocities without any strong demand for justice or reparations. It explains why we are in such a mess and yet so many of us think we are 'doing well' as individuals. It explains why so many Brothers think that 'things' will help them to feel whole and never learn the lessons when they don't. It is time for a rethink. Time to get down beneath the rhetoric and the kente cloth (or Versace) and deal with the pain. Deal with the pain of being rejected by your absent father, the pain of never being hugged by your physically present but emotionally absent father, the pain of belonging to a defeated and oppressed race, the pain of having to go to your oppressor for the means to live, the pain of a lifetime of insults and accusing looks, the pain of being rejected by your women, the pain of somehow feeling less than a man. We are a group of men who have been conquered and we have failed in our single most important task, namely the protection and defence of our community. However, no matter that many battles have been lost, the war continues apace. Can we face ourselves in the mirror of our ancestors and those yet to be born and summon the will and self-belief to win? For win we must. You cannot have an honourable defeat at the hands of white supremacy. Let's do some healing and some cleansing and build a nation of men our women and children can be proud of."
Paul Ifayomi Grant
Niggers, Negroes, Black People & Afrikans
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