By Barack Obama Mandela.
Since I was a kid growing up in the 1980s, I have been told that my ethnic label is “African American”. The idea of this identity is that I am a descendant of “Africans” who were brought to “America”. Therefore the identity suggests that I am an “American” of “African” origins.
Over the years I have noticed that many black leaders take pride in the African American identity. Reverend Jesse Jackson, who was one of the leading proponents of the new label, encourages black people to integrate their “African” and “American” roots.
However, for me integration of the “African” “American” identity is impossible. I find that I was self-conflicted and unhappy when I attempted to conceive of myself as an “African American”. The identity does not fit me. The label does not imbue me with peace of mind.
This is because the “African” identity conflicts with the “American” identity. This combined identity is forever linked to European colonialism and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The African American identity is replete with pain, suffering, oppression, attempted genocide, and overt racism.
For my own sense of peace and sanity, it is important for me to divest myself of the “African American” identity once and for all. At the end of the day, I decided to eliminate the “American” past of the identity. I therefore see myself as a “black African” who happens to live on the American continent. However, I am not an “American”.
By returning to my purely African roots and declining to be American, I am much happier and at peace with myself. I do not vote in American elections. I do not participate in American political movements nor do I protest American societal issues.
I am 100% African. I am as black as black coffee. Too black. Too strong. There is no creme or white milk in my black coffee. This purity of identity has ennobled me with strength, power, and Michael Jordan-like focus.
I am no longer a divided “African” “American”. Rather, I am solely a black African who shines in the world like the sun.
