Journal Entry 44: Who are you anyway?

A short time ago I overheard a group of my friends having a conversation about race and couldn’t help but catch a few ideas that stood out to me. When I entered the conversation (out of my nosy habits), a white American girl was directing her argument to comments made by a black American girl earlier. “You say you’ve been through all of this stuff and you’ve seen so much and then you turn around and say you’re privileged. Who are you?” she said, in a tone that obviously offended the black American girl.

Further into the conversation, a Nigerian girl, who claims to be a global citizen (as she has lived in many places and doesn’t have a Nigerian accent) made claims about distinctions between African-Americans and Africans, and why Africans do better when settling in the U.S (or other Western countries). Her argument was that African-Americans are constantly trying to find out who they are which is why they come to places like Ghana. They are constantly in search of themselves and struggle with their identity, which causes them more racial issues (unlike Africans). When I addressed her, I immediately noticed her referral of “you people”. She looked at me and said “You people struggle with your identity but I’m already in Africa so I don’t have to search for my culture—it is already here”. I had a hard time fully taking in what she was saying, considering the identity issues I've noticed while in Ghana. “I agree that there are issues of identity in the African-American community, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that Africans don’t struggle with their identity as well”. When I brought up how so many Ghanaians seem to be influenced by African-American culture (as their own culture is gradually dismissed), she claimed that it was just “adapting” and made references to the “African mentality”. It’s still a little difficult for to me to absorb the idea that a country where people openly express internalized racism doesn’t struggle with its identity. Of course, it’s ten times worse when everyone thinks everything is okay. Nonetheless, I’m always happy to have these discussions, even when a little tension is involved.