CNN Talks About The Cultural Differences Between African-Americans & Africans

As an African-American,I can totally relate to certain aspects of the article(and this video) that CNN did on the cultural division between Africans & African-Americans.I have experienced firsthand the disdain that some Africans feel towards their American counterparts.

For instance,I once was on a date with a very successful African man who seemed to think that most African-Americans are champions of failure.I mean,we had an intense conversation about whether or not African-Americans hung out in front of liquor stores all day gambling,drinking 40's,& smoking weed.

He spent our entire time together trying to convince me that I was lucky that he had even bothered to pay attention to me at all.Because according to him,African-Americans are the dregs of society.It was like being on a date with a white supremacist.Needless to say,that was the last I saw of him!

Of course,there are a lot of blacks who do not want to be associated with Africans at all.They carry their own stereotypes,which the article on CNN.com discusses,about Africans.Some African-Americans really do think that all Africans are primitive,tribal peoples who have yet to enter into modern society.

It really does go both ways.And this great article that I have posted an excerpt from talks about the divide between Africans & African-Americans.Here's more from CNN:

"Nkosi's American classmates acknowledge their misconceptions. Cydney Smith, 17, of Nashville, Tennessee, said she once believed Africa was populated with "uncivilized tribes."

Raphael Craig, 17, of Hyattsville, Maryland, said the television misinformed him as well.

Before Craig visited the continent in 2005 and 2006, he thought of Africans as "half-naked, running around with tigers in the jungle," Craig said, confessing he was unaware tigers roam only Asia.

But in Ghana and Nigeria, Craig saw children playing the same games he and his siblings played. He saw many signs of modernity, including Mercedes and other brands of cars found in the United States.

"OK, this country is running how we're running, just two different schools," Craig recalled thinking. "It really opened my eyes to the point that everything you see on TV is not always the actual thing."

If the Western media are doing Africans no favors, then the African media are also a disservice to African-Americans because it portrays them as criminals, some immigrants say.

Sandi Litia, 19, a Piney Woods graduate from Limulunga, Zambia, said she was initially scared of African-Americans because the African media show them "wearing clothes like gangsters and killing each other."

Nkosi concurred that African media "made it seem as if they were these aggressive people that did nothing constructive with their lives except occupy prison space."

Trying to fit in

Chinedu Ezeamuzie, 21, of Athens, Georgia, arrived in 2003. He had spent the majority of his life in Jabriya, Kuwait, and came to the U.S. to pursue his education.

The recent Georgia Tech graduate said he considers himself Nigerian because his parents -- both from the village of Uga -- instilled in their four children strong Nigerian values of family, community, spirituality and self-betterment.

In Athens, Ezeamuzie found his ideals at odds with those who shared his skin color at Clarke Central High School, his first stint in a public school."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the article in its full context here.

Jeff Sessions Is The Last Person That Should Be Questioning Sonia Sotomayor About Racist Statements!

If you follow politics at all,you have probably heard about Sen. Jeff Session's racist statements.So,isn't it hypocritical of him to question Sonia Sotomayor about her remarks?He is the last person that should be jumping down anyone's throat regarding racism!

While he's grilling Judge Sonia Sotomayor about her level of fairness,many have questioned whether Sessions can be impartial & fair towards her.Here's more on that from NPR:

"In July, Sen. Jeff Sessions has a chance to pass judgment on the nomination to the Supreme Court of Sonia Sotomayor, whom several conservative pundits have criticized as being racist. The lines at issue are from a speech Sotomayor gave back in October 2001, when she said:

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

But some wonder whether Sessions can evaluate Sotomayor fairly.

In 1986, then-U.S. Attorney Jeff Sessions was himself in the hot seat after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan for a federal judgeship. His nomination was later rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee, in part because of testimony by J. Gerald Hebert, a former senior trial attorney in the civil rights division of the Department of Justice.

The 'Communist' NAACP

In a recent interview with NPR's Michel Martin, Hebert, who had several encounters with Sessions prior to his nomination by Reagan, recalls:

"When the NAACP would come up, he [Sessions] would snidely remark that it was a 'pinko' organization, or communist inspired," recalls Hebert. "[Sessions] seemed to have a unprogressive attitude toward race and equal opportunity."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest of this insightful article here.

Men like Jeff Sessions drive most minorities as far away from the Republican party as they can get. Because it's so obvious that he still holds the same views that got him into trouble before.

The Valley Swim Club Incident Is Yet Another Example Of Racism!

Despite their apologies,I would never go back to the Valley Swim Club if I had been discriminated against!And that is exactly what happened to a group of very young & impressionable black kids in Pennsylvania!You don't have to go down South to experience racism because it is everywhere!

Unfortunately,I have been called a "monkey" & a "nigger" right here in the so-called liberal California.This mental disease that compels one to hate another solely because of the color of their skin runs rampant throughout America!

Apparently,some of the folks,if not all, who patronize the Valley Swim Club are racists.They did not want black children at their exclusive club.It might mess up the "complexion" of the club!

That is exactly how the president of the club initially put it when asked why these kids were treated so horribly by the club's patrons.How horrific that this stuff still goes on in what some people naively call a "post-racial" society!

Here's more on this sad incident from Yahoo! News:

"More than 60 campers from Northeast Philadelphia were turned away from a private swim club and left to wonder if their race was the reason.

"I heard this lady, she was like, 'Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?' She's like, 'I'm scared they might do something to my child,'" said camper Dymire Baylor.

The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers' first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.

"When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool," Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. "The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately."

The next day the club told the camp director that the camp's membership was being suspended and their money would be refunded.

"I said, 'The parents don't want the refund. They want a place for their children to swim,'" camp director Aetha Wright said.

Campers remain unsure why they're no longer welcome.

"They just kicked us out. And we were about to go. Had our swim things and everything," said camper Simer Burwell.

The explanation they got was either dishearteningly honest or poorly worded."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.

Now,this racist swim club is facing a lawsuit.If anybody should get sued,it's these people!They are getting exactly what they deserve.Because these kids will be grappling with this incident long after they have left childhood behind.