Unapologetically Black But Won’t Tour In Africa

Viv, it appears that wherever you live now you have a bad experience as an African. Well, I don’t! 1stly, the slave trade thrived mostly because of tribalism. Stronger militant African tribes would raid weaker tribes, capture their children and sell them in exchange for goods like cloth, wine etc to slave ships. 2ndly, I still am friends with those white mates of mine! One of them was in class with me till 12th grade! I know very well about past injustices like colonialism, but our understanding here is that that was an evil done by a generation of that time, not the people I’m friends with today. So I refuse to perpetuate the cycle of victim-hood. My wife and I are actually the youngest in a leadership team in a church that is 70% white here in Zim. I grew up in a mixed neighborhood, went to a mixed race school, and now am part of a mixed race friendship circle…to my memory, I have only met 2 racist whites, but that does not give me the right to say the other dozens of white people whom I know and am friends with are also racist. If you would like to know, between 1980 and 1984 (before I was born) my country suffered black on black racism which killed more black people than the war against colonialism. Search for “Gukurahundi”. Racism is not a white people problem, it’s a people problem. Even Shaka Zulu, the great Zulu king, believed that other African tribes apart from his Zulu tribe had to be subdued and colonised, hence you had Mfecane movement – when Africans migrated en-mass from the South going up north…this was way before the colonization of Africa. We were exploited in colonization because when the Europeans came, they saw small warring tribes that couldn’t unite against a common enemy. Slavery was not ended in Africa, because Africans made good money selling Africans. If you have heard the word “Muranda” you will know that before slavery of Africa by the west, there was slavery of Africans by Africans. We were manipulated into slavery because we couldn’t protect our territories and citizens. In as much as you have whites here who are proud to be African, you also have blacks who are in the West and don’t want nothing to do with Africa! Africa is not a factory where black-skinned people are made, Africa is a diverse community of people of all races and cultures! Even I had to learn how to be African – hence we had to let our grannies tell us stories, proverbs and idioms…so we could know Ubuntu!

No I’m more concerned with major , issues that affect Africans all over the world. I’m more concerned about all the people that died at sea this weekend .I more interested in the positive rather than the negative . With all you stated above why are you really concerned when their are bigger issues . Obviously I’m interested in the things that happens to Africans all around the world. We as a people always looking to be accepted and respected by other cultures, but don’t respect each other. We don’t see each other as one blood that’s why we are last across the world

Let’s be realistic, If you want a BIG artist to come to African venues during their world tours (meaning performances independent of sponsorships), there needs to be a large financial demand, and availability. There is certainly the demand, and the ability in terms of large venues. Now with transportation there are some more roadblocks (ex. many african airlines have poor safety ratings so the artist wold have to fly their private jets, but they’d want to recoup that cost). I’m not saying its impossible, I just think we need to be realistic in our options. Not every artist will be willing (especially big artists used to make 3+ million per performance), but some will and they should be encouraged to. (Though of the artists pictured as performing in Africa, some have only ventured outside of South Africa once).
African is the origin for black people, but it is NOT the start of all things for them. Many black people outside of Africa have created their own cultures independent of Africa, and that in itself needs to be respected. Black Americans have created their own culture that is copied constantly internationally, independent of African influences. Many artists call their tours World Tours and exclude various locations, Africa is not exclusive in this regard, sometimes South America is excluded, currently the Formation World Tour is excluding the Middle East and Asia). And black artists can use black influences in their work without going to Africa, because as I said, black culture exists independently of African culture (though Lemonade the film did have strong African AND African American influences, but the music itself did not). Also, saying you’re not providing more information because it’s just an article and not a dissertation is poor journalism. You don’t have to write a dissertation to cite your sources and give details. Additionally, the structuring of the photos used are misleading to the reader. Amber Rose went to Nigeria last year, and Nicki recently toured in South Africa and added another date when the demand was high. ” If you like your cornrow (Kim K Boxer-Braids)”, a hairstyle that derives from African braiding that black americans made popular and have to constantly see appropriated, and “negro nose & afros” which exist internationally and not just in Africa, such wording makes it seem as though an appreciation for these things requires visitation to Africa, (completely ignoring that black americans are the ones who made this popular.
One could argue that African artists who wish to wear dashikis must tour to the US to do so (because while dashikis are typically made with african prints, the cut of the style itself originated in NY during the black panther movement in the 70’s, and then migrated back to Africa). The creation of the dashiki itself shows the power and influence the diaspora can have when we share mutual understand gin and respect for each other. Now, I agree wit the over al premise of this article, more artist should tour in Africa (not just South Africa). That message can be said without using misleading journalism and poor examples that degrade black american culture. This not not said to discourage your work, as an international University student I rely heavily on the media and I have a strong encouragement for good journalism, so I encourage you to continue your work but do it thoughtfully and eloquently. Be careful of how you word things, cite your sources, and do extensive research, you have an important message to the world.

I agree that one should be educated, but I’m saying this required pilgrimage is a stretch. And I’d hope those in Africa who choose to use black american culture also educate themselves on our struggle as well, don’t just use our creations (music, dance, fashion) and then disregard us.

Difference is, these artists are not completely talking about Africa and its cultures? Some are tying specific parts that they have in their lineage. And being a black american means that black culture is regularly appropriated and misused by other cultures around the world, but the one continent we don’t mind using our culture is Africa because we recognize it as a familial nation, a place we know we originated from. And for many african americans its actually painful not to be able to have a closer connection to african cultures because its a reminder of the NATURE of how we came to be in the U.S. Because slaves were documented as property, it costs a lot of money to find out where exactly ones family originated from, and even then theres no guarantee. I recently told a Nigerin friend of mine how hard it was for black americans to trace our lineage and she was surprised to hear how difficult it was. Most black americans can only trace 3-6 generations back, nowhere near far enough to find out roots in Africa, so instead we connect to the African diaspora as a whole, and many black people in various regions do that as well. Also, economically traveling to Africa is significantly more costly than traveling to Europe. (I had the option of traveling to Lagos or Tokyo this summer and I was surprised to find that Tokyo was cheaper). Also you should know Americans do not travel to Europe to connect to any sort of heritage, usually its just a vacation location thats is preferable cause its still Western. And you seem to have a misconstructed idea of what it means to be a black american, it does not mean our voices are heard around the world, our culture is seen but we are not heard. Just look at how America treats its own black citizens (hate crimes, police brutality), and how anti-black racism permeates other nations around the world.

Ummm…you know all those requirements for visiting the states are also required for US citizens who want to travel outside of the country too right? That’s just the normal international travel requirements. There are some exceptions for countries that border each other (ex. U.S. and Canada), but when I traveled to Europe and when my friend traveled to Nigeria, we had to get the same things, these requirements are not abnormal or outrageous for international travel. And you have to note that black artist who incorporate African elements into their pieces have african lineage. Black people are connected via the african diaspora, but when we start to nitpick on travel requirements to share black/African culture, both sides will lose enriching elements of culture and connection.