₦airaland Forum

First of all, what is akata? Is that some negative code word for AAs?

As for the question, I'm Afro-American and I find the word offensive. Here's why: I'm the type of person that never forgets my history. In other words, if it weren't for positive black folks such Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. Malcolm X, and the rest, I wouldn't be where I am today. We all benefit from their struggle (black folks are still struggling, but that's another topic). I feel like it's disrespectful to them and to blacks in general when that word is used. No matter how far removed we may be from that era, you can't erase history and you can't erase racism. Sorry, but some people's minds will not be changed. It's also hypocritical to say blacks can use it, but non-blacks cannot. If it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander.

As for the "stop living in the past" argument, I find that argument to be disingenious. Are Jewish people wrong for never forgetting the World War 2 holocaust, even though Jews were not the only people killed? Are some U.S. citizens wrong for saying "never forget 9/11"? If not, then why should Afro-Americans forget? Why should I forget where I come from? Why should I forget about the blood, sweat, and tears my ancestors gave in building the U.S.? Remembering your history is not living in the past. Living in the past is like thinking a black person can't get a job no matter what. Any black person can obviously get a job. But knowing where you come from and using that data to help chart a course for the future is not living in the past.

I agree with your sentiment, EzeUche, but I'm sure Igbos were sent to other European colonies in the Western Hemisphere besides British North America, now called United States. What about African descendants in South America and the Caribbean? I'm sure some of them are of Igbo descent.

I apologize for my assumptin, Ileke-Idi. It was stupid of me to make to make that assumption without looking at the comments in their entirety.

Well, well, well. I see somebody has created another anti-AA thread. You know, I find it funny that some say that absolutely hate group A, but they can't stop talking about group A. If you hate group A so much, why talk about them? Anyway, as some here said this "urban lifestyle" is specific to one group. I've seen black, white, Asian, and so-called "Latino" (they are not actual Latinos) youngsters with the "urban" behavior. Is it unfortunate? Yes. However, one person's actions do not determine the behavior of an entire group.

We obviously never met. Allow me to introduce myself. Hi, my name is A.D.M. (those are my initials). I'm a 24-year-old black/Afro-American man from Brooklyn, New York, United States (I'm not Nigerian). As I said, I have an Associate's degree in business administration and I plan on going for the bachelor's degree, then the master's. I also have an interest in computer programming. I have great parents who taught me how to be an astute contributor to the world in which I live. I also have a job. Nice to meet you. As for the sagging pants, I agree. It's very dumb. I always wonder to myself why some youngsters (that includes non-blacks) would do that. It's not a good look.

I see stupidity knows no bounds. Most comments are good, but I see the ignorance is alive and well. Kenezi, the website you posted is from 1999. Show something from now or recent. I can pull stuff off the web that disproves your nonsense. Bidemi12, you're a smart one. I went to college, got a degree in business administration, and most of the black grduates in my class were from the USA. It's obvious you get your dumb views from what you see in the media or a few individuals that are bad apples. Guess what? One individual's actions does not determine the actions of a group. I guess you like to have a holier-than-thou attitude. Evilspirit, your username rings true because you are evil. Hate, no matter the excuse, is evil and anybody who has hate is evil. You talk about morals while at the same time you have hate in your heart. I smell a hypocrite. As for Charles Taylor, he was a bad guy, no question. But are you saying that because of his individual, voluntary actions? Or are you combining him and his individual, voluntary actions in with your hate and stupidity? Smile11s, you're truly silly. Funny how your signature is "there's only one race and that is the human race" while at the same time referred to blacks in the US as a race. What a contradiction. So, which is it? I'll tell you, it's the former. Every group on this planet have a culture. Yes, this includes AAs. Why is it you think hip-hop music is the only music AAs created? Jazz music, house music, rock and roll, blues, doo-wop, gospel, techno - they're AA music, too. As for negative, Outstrip pretty much took the words out of my mouth.

You want to know which group of people is truly useless? People like you, smiley face. When I say that, I'm talking about folks of ALL colors, nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, religions, etc. that have nothing better to do with their sorry lives than spew ignorant bullshit and hate as if it's their job. And most of these folks do it on the world wide web. I guess all that anonymity gives folks the bravado they probably would never have if face-to-face with the hated. The individuals I named, along with MandingoII and Blazay, are examples of how stupid humans can be. They're really not worth it, but I felt like typing. And if some here don't like that there are non-Nigerians on this forum, too bad. This website is public and on the world wide web. That means it's accesible to the all people on Earth. It's not called the world wide web for nothing. Don't cry to me like a 6-year-old wanting a toy, cry to the moderators. But I doubt that would work given the threads and comments that are allowed.

Inked_Nerd, both of my parents are Afro-American. My heritage on both sides is Afro-American. And yes, some, not all, some African-Americans do use the whole American Indian to distance themselves from their African heritage, but African descendants from the Dominican Republic are much worse. Some acknowledge being of African descent, but they mostly hate it. Where does it come from? It could come from the environment a person was born and raised in. It could come from being influenced by the media. I never followed media garbage and I was raised to love the skin I'm in. I learned about AA history from my parents when I was young, but it was mostly self-taught. And yeah, you're right Inked_Nerd, this topic will probably never go away.

I'm of African descent, Inked_Nerd. I mentioned my being Afro-American in previous comments. To be more specific, I live in the Sheepshead Bay/Nostrand houses housing project. It's bounded by Nostrand Avenue, Bragg Street, Avenue V, and Avenue X, with Avenue W and Batchelder Street running through the development dividing it into a four block complex. Lots of black people here, along with non-blacks. It's relatively safe and quiet. It's not bad. And I second your pro-African solidarity thread.

I thought I said this dumb thread should be ended.

Inked_Nerd, I live in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn. I agree with your comment about some Afro-Americans claiming to be American Indian or part American Indian. It is sad and pathetic. The self-hatred I see and hear from some Afro-Americans makes me shake my head and ask, "What the f---?" It's your basic self-hatred: "I'm not African, I have nothing to do with Africa and Africans" and on and on and on. It's pathetic. K.o.n.y., you're right about Afro-American culture being in other parts of the world, but the whole "Africans should look up to black Americans" talk is condescending and disrespectful. By the way, the Africans you're responding to are black, too. Duh!

This may come as a shock to some, but a lot of Afro-American music has African influences. Jazz music is one example. By 1808, the Atlantic slave trade had brought almost half a million Africans to the United States. The slaves largely came from West Africa and brought strong tribal musical traditions with them. Lavish festivals featuring African dances to drums were organized on Sundays at Place Congo, or Congo Square, in New Orleans until 1843, as were similar gatherings in New England and New York. African music was largely functional, for work or ritual, and included work songs and field hollers. The African tradition made use of a single-line melody and call-and-response pattern, but without the European concept of harmony. Rhythms reflected African speech patterns, and the African use of pentatonic scales led to blue notes in blues and jazz.

All this back and forth is getting us nowhere. I'm not a religious man, but for the love of God and everything that is holy, can we please put an end to this silly thread? How many times are folks going to talk about this?

Let's talk about something more important like the possibilty of a third world war.

Inked_Nerd:
SIDE NOTE: A.D.M., where in Brooklyn are you?

I'd like to tell you via personal message, but there's no link on your profile.

Afro-Americans have problems they need to deal with and Africans or black Africans have problems they need to deal with. Can we all agree on that? Now, how about we put a rest to this dumb thread?

Good advice, EzeUche_.

I am laughing right now at a few of the comments. I can't believe there are people that think ALL black Americans listen to hip-hop music. How dumb do you have to be to think that? In case you don't know, and you obviously don't, hip-hop music is not the only created in an AA community. Jazz was started in New Orleans by AAs. House music was started in Chicago by AAs. AAs also contributed to the creation of rock and roll. Blues is another AA creation. As for hip-hop music, you obviously need to stop paying attention to the mainstream garbage. Lil' Wayne is a lil' virus that needs to be stopped, along with his cohorts. You want good hip-hop? Listen to Public Enemy, Mos Def, Immortal Technique, A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One, Talib Kweli, UMCs, Jean Grae, Bahamadia, and others whose names escape as I'm typing this. The folks who buy the mainstream garbage are silly. Are you silly? And blaming the mainstream garbage for problems in a society is laughable to me. It reminds me of when rock music and video games was being blamed for the ills of society. It's not the media's job to raise your kids. If you instilled good values in your kids and teach them not to be followers, then your kids will be okay.

I can't speak for others, but I'm not sugar coating anything. AAs do have problems concerning gangs (Bloods, Crips) and gang violence. That has to be solved and nipped in the bud. Black-to-black violence needs to be stopped. But when I see a comment like "every gang in the United States is black" or "every crime committed in the United States is committed by blacks," I will step in to correct the person. I guess the person never heard of the Latin Kings, Mara Salvatrucha aka MS-13, Aryan Brotherhood, Mexican Mafia, Hells Angels and the Irish Mob.

You know, this whole thing is so silly on so many levels. No human is better than another. We all mistakes we all learn from them. Some don't unfortunately. Why? I don't know. But I'm not going to act like one ethnic group is one in the same.

By the way, k.o.n.y., if you need validation form anybody, it should be your family, specifically your parents. Unless you're my mom, my dad, or part of my family, I really don't care about somebdoy I've never met being proud of me or not.

Inked Nerd, what part of Brooklyn do you live in? I live in Brooklyn myself.

http://www.blackenterprise.com/2011/03/03/black-owned-business-boom/

Allow me to add my two cents. I'm Afro-American, in case you're wondering. Inked Nerd, in one of your comments you said you can't speak for all Africans, but then you African immigrants keep things bottled up. Which is it? I didn't know one individual could speak for an entire group of people. When you say Africans, are talking about black people from the continent? Because there are Arabs and whites that live on the African continent.

As for the topic, some have taken the words out of my mouth. Some say the judge people based on experience. Bulls---. Even basing ideas about a group of people from interactions with certain individuals is nonsense because those within a group are not the same. Contrary to popular opinion, we all don't think alike. I know guys from countries such as Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone. I'm cool with them. Why? Because I like to treat people the way I want to be treated. And comparing Africans with Afro-Americans is silly. You can't compare one ethnic group in one country to thousands of ethnic groups throughout an entire continent, not to mention the non-black ethnic groups.

Are there bad apples among AAs? Yes. You won't get any disagreement from me on that. But what group of people on the planet does not have bad apples? Maybe you should step outside the neighborhood you live in.

This will be my last comment concerning this thread. I personally don't care if you're light-skinned or dark-skinned. Black is black to me. And as a black man, I personally believe black women are the most beautiful women on the planet. This nonsense has to stop. All this skin complexion and "not being black enough" garbage is killing us. Divide and conquer is the oldest trick in the book and it still works. What I think we need to do is stop looking to the media for what's acceptable and stop trying to gain favoritism from those who don't look like at us and don't like us. I know it has something to do with colonization and the media. But we need to strong-minded people and get rid of those mental shackles. WE ARE NOT INFERIOR TO ANYBODY!

Self-hatred exist everywhere unfortunately. In Latin America, black is seen by some as ugly, too (don't know why some only think it's a U.S. thing). Sammy Sosa is just one example. Most Dominicans are of African descent and some recognize it and embrace it. But if you call one black, a lot of them will get offended and say, "I'm not black, I'm Latino." It's not just African descendants and Africans. People in India still think there's a caste system depending on complexion. There was controversy in India a couple years ago involving a commercial promoting a skin bleaching product. It showed a dark-skinned man being sad and depressed. After he used the product, he became happy and women flocked to him.

In Korea, there are women who get plastic surgery to make their eyes look "Western." That's obviously a code word for white or European. No matter how you look at it, it's all very sad. As for outrage about Beyonce, I don't see it, so I guess it'll be buried.

cap28:
After reading some of the posts on here i am now convinced that there is a marked difference between how black people who were born and raised in america view racism from the way black people who came to the US as adults view racism.

You have to have lived through it to understand it and unfortunately many nigerians who came to the west as full grown adults do not understand what its like to live in an environment where being black is regarded as a mark of inferiority.

This is why some posters on here are saying things like: "whats the big deal", "why cant you move on" whereas blacks who were born and raised in an environment in which they have constantly been told that they are less than, automatically take offence to these pictures.

I have spent a lot of time researching and reading about the experience of african americans and i understand why african americans/ black people born and raised in america are upset.

Being black in america is synonymous with inferiority - there are some nigerians who are in complete denial about this but you can not run away from the truth. Black people in america have it ingrained in them from the cradle to the grave that there is something wrong with them because they are black, furthermore dark skin (especially on women is regarded as unattractive) the western media has placed on a pedestal the beauty of the white woman and has degraded the beauty of the black woman, this is evident in those pictures that Beyonce took in which the make up artiststs darken her skin in such a way that it looks as if the darkness of her skin is blotting out her beauty, in other words being very dark skinned makes it impossible for people to actually tell whether you are beautiful or not - this is what the white fashion and beauty industry thinks of dark skin.

Were Fela's dancers and singers not mostly dark skinned? were they not exquisitely beautiful? did any of them look like that caricature that Beyonce displayed in that magazine?

If you look at the way Fela's dancers/singers decorated their faces you can tell that this was done with the utmost care and attention, their faces were like works of art, contrast that with the cartoonish sambo like distortions on beyonce and you will see that the whites are merely using beyonce as a way to further push their insidious campaign that dark skin is not beautiful.

In the old days white entertainers would put boot polish on their faces and pretend to be black people - they would speak and act like braindead buffoons because this is how they wanted the world to perceive black people, as a result "black face" became synonymous with the words: clown, buffoon, sambo, simpleton and fool. It therefore beggars beleif that Beyonce and her handlers would go as far as using this sort of imagery to portray an african person.

Does it mean that beyonce and her handlers are so devoid of self respect and basic human dignity that they would be willing to not only demean themselves for a quick buck but also disregard the suffering and abuse meted out to their ancestors who fought for years to rise above those kind of hateful images and be treated as equals in a nation built on the sweat of their ancestors?

Excellent comment, but you make it sound like there's no racism or bigotry in other parts of the world. You live in Europe. You mean to tell me there's no bigotry in Europe including jolly old England? Look at the anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe. It's huge! I assume you've heard of the BNP.

By the way, not every black person in the Western Hemisphere, whether they're American or Dominican, hate being black. Most are not like Sammy Sosa.

I have to say this again: It's not a big story in the United States. I have seen no media coverage of this story. What do you say we put this thing to rest?

AngieFan:
What part of African American are you? This story is on all the big AA sites and forums with hundreds of posts and most of them are not happy at this depiction of black people. Forget the big entertainment channels after all they most times focus on more mainstream stories that focus on white people.

Fela and his dancers never painted their faces black and I am sure there one of two of the wives who were just as light skinned as Beyonce. Beyonce voluntarily blackened her face as if to say she is not one of us (black people) and it is an insult. That is the general consensus on the AA sites and forums.

P.S As an African American perhaps you need to read up more on Blackface iconography and how it contributed to the denigration of Black people in the diaspora.

As an AA, I know about blackface very well and the racial stereotyping that comes with it. I just don't give a damn about celebrities. But like I said, after reading a few comments, I admit it is offensive.

Once again, I don't care for Beyonce, so whatever she does or says means nothing to me. I'm African-American, in case you're wondering. This story means nothing to me. In fact, entertainment shows here in the USA aren't covering it. But after reading ogugua88's comment, I can see why some would be offended. Sisi Kill, I'm black. No need to go deeper than that.

ogugua88:
Lol how is it nothing? I, personally, don't like being stereotyped. Not all Africans are black in color. Not all Africans wear cheetah and snake print as she has done. Someone pay tribute to Jackie Chan. I'm very serious. Paint your face yellow, and hold chopsticks in one hand and a bowl of rice in the other. Tell me which Oriental Asian won't take offense.

After reading your comment, I guess I was wrong in my statement.

I think it's much ado about nothing. Despite what some think, this story is not a big deal in the U.S. I have yet to see entertainment programs in the USA talk about this.

What a sad story.

Sagamite, why are you bashing people? This thread is about something else, yet, you come here making dumb, generalized statements. Everybody of every background kill everday, including Americans and Nigerians. I think queensmith is making a generalized statement, but I don't live in London. All I know is I don't get info about others from the media. Get rid of that hate. Hate is just as evil as killing a person.

I'm glad the murderer was caught. Now, the bum will spend the rest of his life in prison. If you do the crime, you will do the time.

Do anybody here know of a program that would allow me to retrieve a Youtube user's password?