Embracing all of African Heritage
“Why are some Africans so ashamed of their heritage.”
That was the first sentence I typed as I sat down writing this article next to my friend Isidora, who was eager to point out the fact that the statement above was a lie. Isidora was from Serbia, a beautiful country in between central and southwest Europe and in the last few years had gotten quite close to a few of the Africans in my school. I smiled and told her that I knew what I typed seemed a little broad and generalised but nonetheless it was fact. However, she was adamant that I was wrong because as far as she could tell Africans were some of the proudest people she had met in the whole school. I couldn’t argue with that, so I’ll elaborate on my statement.
Sure Africans are some of the proudest people in the world. We are quick to jump to the rescue as soon as someone utters an insultingly inaccurate fact or generalization about Africa. We never fail to roll our eyes at the people who ask us whether we speak African and we are not afraid to break it down on the dance floor as soon as some Wizkid/Cabo Snoop tune comes up. Yet, within ourselves we refuse to embrace the very aspects of our cultures that are, in actuality, what define us as Africans.
