posted
Meaning of being African in post-racial age
By Ali A Mazrui
Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama are icons of the post-racial age which is still unfolding. But they are very different post-racial icons. Mandela was very much a child of the struggle against racism at its height, whereas Obama attained maturity when racism was on the decline and the civil rights movement in the United States had already attained some of its most important achievements.
A major precondition of Obama's preparation for the American presidency was his being abandoned by his African father. The divorce of his parents (his mother, Ann Durham, was from Kansas, Missouri) is probably destined to be counted by historians as one of the most significant matrimonial break-ups in history.
If young Barack had been brought up by his dad, and become a member of the Black Diaspora of post-coloniality, he would have been another African sending remittances home to Kenya.
If he was prepared to serve in the poor areas of Chicago as a matter of conscience, he would also have been tempted to serve in Africa - a case of brain gain.
Since he was one of the most brilliant black students ever to graduate from Harvard Law School, this brilliance could have been mobilised to serve Africa as brain gain.
Another great "might-have-been" is as follows: if Obama's mother had been black, but his wife white, it is unlikely he would have been chosen as the Democratic candidate for president. Obama's white mother was less of a political liability than a white wife would have been.
An African-American married to a white woman would have been less attractive to African-American voters - as well as to blue-collar white voters. A white First Lady married to a black president would have been a bleak prospect to many race-conscious voters, both black and white.
Many African-American women sometimes feel offended when a highly eligible black male turns to a white female and proposes marriage.
When the African Union (AU) came into being in 2002, five sub-regions of the African continent were envisaged - Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western and Central Africa. But a sixth sub-region was also discussed, at least as a scenario - the African Diaspora as a constituent part of greater Africa. Earnest conversations began about how such an African presence, scattered in several continents and islands of the world, could effectively and physically be represented in an organisation based in Africa. How would black people, dispersed from Brunei to Brazil, from Harlem to Hamburg, from Barbados to Birmingham, participate in the institutions of the AU?
The black world outside Africa - perhaps as many as 150 million people - as a whole is descended from both enslaved Africans and more recent ex-colonials. The overwhelming majority of black people in the United States are descendants of the enslaved rather than descendants of the colonised.
But the migrant families of black people like Obama's father, Chinua Achebe and Ali A Mazrui are part of the diaspora of post-coloniality who left Africa in the aftermath of the disruptions and dislocations of the colonial and post-colonial experience.
This diaspora of post-coloniality, "Africa's floating nation", is "floating" partly because of its own uncertain psychology. Are these Africans overseas permanently, or only until they retire at home, or until conditions improve in their ancestral countries? Obama's father floated back to Kenya early. He also floated as a family man. He left his son's mother when the boy was only two years old. He floated back to see young Obama when the boy was 10 years old - and then abandoned the child for ever.
In the US, these people are American Africans, rather than African-Americans. In their case, the noun of identity is "Africans". To the question, "What kind of Africans?", the answer becomes "American Africans". The term "American" is an adjective. Obama Senior was African for certain. But was he really ever "American African"? Was he afloat all the time?
On the other hand, Jesse Jackson and his children are "Americans" first, as the basis of their identity. To the question, "What kind of Americans?", the answer becomes "African Americans". The term "African" in this case is the adjective.
American Africans are part of Africa's floating nation. But their children or grandchildren may indeed one day become African-Americans. Young Barack Obama illustrated a speedy transition from American African to African-American - as links with his African family at home shrank, his command of African languages never took off, his taste for African cuisine weakened, memories of Africa became less personal, and his self-definition becomes more firmly American than African.
But perhaps the most compelling reason as to why the diaspora of post-coloniality is "a nation afloat" is the potential transition from brain drain to brain gain or brain bonus.
It is widely understood that two interactive forces cause the brain drain - the push-out factors in weak countries like those of Africa and the pull-in factors in stronger countries, which serve as magnets. The push-out factors in Africa include political instability, economic uncertainty, the pendulum between too much government (tyranny) and too little (anarchy), and the resulting dilution of occupational opportunities and professional recognition.
The pull-in factors in stronger and more stable countries include higher professional rewards, greater political openness, the reassurance of stability and better prospects for one's children and grandchildren.
But are African conditions always a push-out force? And is the Western world always a pull-in magnetic force? There are changes at work, which are likely to affect the balance between the brain drain and the brain gain.
The senior Barack Obama (the father) resisted the pull-in factors of the US - and returned to Kenya, leaving his young son behind. Inadvertently, the father permitted his son to become American enough to become a credible candidate for the American presidency.
A distinction needs to be made between Africans of the blood and Africans of the soil. Those of the blood belong to the African race, but not necessarily to the African continent. Africans of the soil, on the other hand, belong to the African continent, but not necessarily to the black race.
By being left behind in America by his dad, young Barack Obama was prevented from being an African of the soil - and became only an African of the blood.
Most Algerians, Tunisians and Egyptians are Africans of the soil but not of the blood. Most African-Americans, Afro-Brazilians, and Afro-Jamaicans are Africans of the blood - belonging to the black race but no longer to the African continent. However, most black people that reside south of the Sahara are Africans of both the blood and the soil.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former secretary-general of the United Nations, was African of the soil by ancestry. FW de Klerk, former president of South Africa, was African of the soil by adoption. On the other hand, Kofi Annan, also of the United Nations, was African of both the blood and the soil.
There are Africans of the blood objectively who may not subjectively regard themselves as Africans at all. These would include Saudi or Kuwaiti princes with black mothers. The long-time Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, was objectively an African of the blood, but subjectively in denial about his Africanity.
The late president Anwar Sadat of Egypt was an African of the soil both objectively and subjectively. Because his mother was black, Sadat was also an African of the blood, but only objectively. He did not regard himself as a black African at all.
Ralph Bunche and Martin Luther King jun were of course African-American Nobel Peace Laureates and therefore Africans of the blood in our sense, but not of the soil. Sadat and De Klerk were as Peace Laureates, Africans of the soil, but not of the blood. Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela were Africans of both the soil and the blood. All three were South Africans, as was De Klerk. But we should note that De Klerk is an "African of the soil" by adoption rather than by indigenous roots to the continent. Kofi Annan as a Nobel Laureate is African of both the soil and the blood. Also elevated more recently is Egyptian Mohamed El Baradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
As the 20th century was coming to a close, Mandela achieved a unique status. He became the first truly universal black moral leader in the world in his own lifetime after spending 27 years in prison. Martin Luther King achieved universal status after his death. King and Jesus Christ are the only two individuals whose birthdays are federal holidays in the US.
The shadows in Africa itself are not yet fully lifting. Poverty, underdevelopment, disease and instability are still rampant. The brain drain continues unrelentingly. But the shadows of Africa's role in world affairs are indeed lifting more clearly.
As Secretary of State of the US, Colin Powell was an African of the blood and a compatriot of Martin Luther King. As secretary-general of the United Nations, Annan was an African of both the soil and the blood - and a compatriot of Kwame Nkrumah.
As for WEB DuBois, he was the reverse brain drain from America to Africa. DuBois was also a compatriot of both Powell (fellow African-American) and Nkrumah (fellow Ghanaian).
As for the first African woman to win the Nobel Prize for Peace, this was the achievement of Kenya's Wangari Maathai in 2004. She was also the first black woman of any country to become such a Nobel Peace Laureate. And Liberia has led the way with the first woman president in Africa's history, Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson. She also happened to be a Diaspora returnee. A former member of Africa's brain drain returned to make gender history in Liberia.
President Barack Obama may be the final fulfillment of upward political mobility. Will he be the ultimate brain gain for Africa? The answer is in the womb of a history which has yet to unfold.
Professor Mazrui is director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University in New York and the author of more than 25 books. He received the Order of the Grand Companion of OR Tambo in 2007. This is an edited version of a speech delivered in Nairobi, Kenya, last month. Mazrui will be in South Africa this week as the guest of the Centre for Conflict Resolution and will speak on "Barack Obama and the Black Atlantic: Towards a post-racial global Africa" on September 15 at 5.30pm at the University of Cape Town's Kramer Law Building.
This article was originally published on page 9 of The Cape Times on September 09, 2008
Posts: 2007 | From: Washington State | Registered: Oct 2006
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posted
Yep. The brainwashing is only just begun. It is almost as if they are spoon feeding blacks how they are supposed to BELIEVE that this is a "post racial" age. But I don't see it. Was what happened during Katrina "post racial"? Was the disenfranchisement of black voters during the first election of Bush Jr. "post racial"? Is the ongoing exploitation and economic strangulation of Africa "post racial"? Who said it was "post racial"? Seems to me this is a WHITE term being adopted by SOME black thinkers who do NO thinking on their own. Black thinkers need to define THEIR OWN standards of progress and stop adopting something because WHITES said so. Obama, Powell, Tutu and Sadat heroes? Why? Their main fame came more as poster boys for WHITE agendas. Mandela and Tutu are some of the biggest sellouts in African history. Sadat was famously NON BLACK. So what is this dribble about. Obama isn't even really identifying with BLACK issues, he identifies with WHITES. So what is this b.s. about? What is a post-racial age? Does this mean that blacks have "made" it? Does this mean that all the issues of race and racism are behind blacks? Please. That is ABSOLUTELY absurd. It must be a empty token phrase intended to help those blacks who don't want to identify as black to continue doing so, because blacks have certainly not "made" it yet. It must be for those blacks who think making it means having a job at a WHITE company driving a car and living in a MOSTLY WHITE neighborhood. Of course blacks BEING IN CONTROL of THEIR OWN communities, THEIR OWN education and THEIR OWN economies never enters into the mix, either IN AFRICA or IN THE DIASPORA. So while the PROBLEMS of Africa are talked about, how does the "post racial" mentality DO anything about it? Which is exactly the point. It is an empty phrase meant to implore empty minds to do NOTHING about the issues of blacks in the diaspora while giving them comfort in EMTPY phrases that have EMPTY meaning and EMPTY promises for future advancement for African people.
Posts: 8896 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Do you not detect the veiled attempts at keeping us divided in the article? I swear it is like the Jedi mind trick but in paragraphs. Not worth posting. Please be more selective. Or was it your intention to bring notice of the trickery?
Prof. Ali Mazrui, should have written something better than this article. Perhaps the article was a momentary lapse in judgment.
Posts: 96 | Registered: Oct 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Novel: I swear it is like the Jedi mind trick but in paragraphs.
Rotfl, so true, but isn't it always?
quote:Mazrui: A distinction needs to be made between Africans of the blood and Africans of the soil. Those of the blood belong to the African race, but not necessarily to the African continent. Africans of the soil, on the other hand, belong to the African continent, but not necessarily to the black race.
^So much for 'post-racial' age.
How can such a concept even be thought of when presently so many attempt to propogate a racial ideology (like in this article)?
Racial - something that is unique and particular to one group (race), and seperate and absent from another.
^^Many still believe in crude, simplistic and divisive stereotypes. They were socially fabricated in the past, and still socially strong today.
Racism it self was simply an excuse/justification for slavery and other mis-deeds (when the real reason for those misdeeds was economic and not about beliefs).
So in an age where racist apologetic excuses like "we saved you from what would happen in savage Africa today" abound, an attempt to usher in a 'post-racial age' just sounds like an attempt to ease the pain in the minds of certain folk who needlessly feel pain at the mention of things like 'race' and 'slavery' to begin with. (with sincerity they should just stop being racist and let their actions speak for them before they ask anyone else to let anything go)
Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
Just another one of Mazrui's simpleminded essays--always constructing phony terms for the sake of some nebulous set of contrasts. He has been highly overated and highly paid($125K + per annum at SUNY, Binghampton, New York) over the years.
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Evergreen: Meaning of being African in post-racial age
By Ali A Mazrui
Evergreen Writes:
A better title would have been "Meaning of being African in a post-explicitly racial age". Explicit racism is generally a thing of the past. In fact, explicit racism is against the best interest of the Western/White power structure because they are now dependent upon the natural resources of Africa and the Middle East. When Nixon ended the gold standard the basis of Western power and wealth became "Brand America". This may be the reason elite Westerners so strongly support an Obama preidency and the "goodwill" and image improvement it will bring to the West. Imagine the markets Obama can open or capture from the Chinese in Africa for various natural resources.
In Western nations, especially the USA there is a very sophisticated attempt to sweep residual racism under the rug. We have to become more sophisticated in our response to subjective and residule racism.
Posts: 2007 | From: Washington State | Registered: Oct 2006
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posted
Post racial is a term originating among whites. It originates in the main stream media's coverage of Barack Obama as a reflection of a new "post racial" age in America. This is another example of some black so-called "thinkers" being mouth pieces for white ideas.
NPR:
quote: NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr observes the ascendance of Barack Obama as a presidential candidate and wonders whether the U.S. is entering a new, "post-racial" political era.
quote: We are supposed to be living in post-racial times: Black mayors such as Washington's Adrian Fenty and Newark's Cory Booker preside over predominantly black cities with a philosophy based on transcending differences. An African American candidate for president has won primaries and caucuses in overwhelmingly white states such as Iowa and Wyoming and is the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. These men are not concentrating on racial uplift so much as on individual uplift.
quote: Washington, for so long a lagging indicator of American social life—far behind edgy New York and buzzy L.A. and brazen Chicago and even upstart Atlanta and Houston—is now, of all things, a harbinger. Increasingly, the Washington area is the post-racial America that we have all been told to expect. A member of Congress who wonders what a genuinely multicultural country might look like need only rustle up taxi fare to Arlington and walk around. My immediate neighbors include a black-white couple, a Filipino psychiatrist, a Korean accountant, and two Indian families, whose kids' names I can't pronounce. I have never lived in a more neighborly neighborhood. If this is the future, it seems to work.
America is just as racial as it ever was, only in a different way. The same stereotypes still exist and the same obstructions and hindrances are still in place. The only difference is that things are not as in the open as they used to be. But the end result is still the same. Black neighborhoods are still plagued by poverty, lack of health care, poor schools and low wage jobs that have ALWAYS been found in the black community and so forth and so on. This is a slogan for those blacks who think they have "made it" to feel good about LEAVING the "hood" and going to the "other side of the fence" in order to find the good life. No more is it important to bring the "good life" to the majority of blacks and majority black neighborhoods. Rather, the goal is to imitate whites and FLEE black poverty instead of trying to understand the root causes of the problem so that they can ultimately be fixed..... That is POST RACIAL, where blacks are "on their own" and nobody gives a rat f*ck about how well they do and actually ADDRESSING the problems they face. So this means DON'T EXPECT the government to address issues that are of importance to blacks and if you ask, expect to be called "racist" or asking for "hand outs". Of course, this obviously is contrary to the fact that "hand outs" are what this country is built on and there are "hand outs" to politically connected companies and communities ALL THE TIME. The government IS the community, otherwise what the hell is it THERE FORE? If you can't address the problems then why do I need you to begin with? But of course, since blacks have NEVER got anything from this government but a foot in the *ss and a "get back to f*cking work", what do you expect? And this slogan is just another way of saying the same thing: "shut the f*ck up" and don't expect this country or its leadership to address themselves to BLACKS or BLACK issues, except to lock them up and call them "problematic" elements in the community who are FORCED to "get back to work" and "be productive" (for someone ELSE) in chain gangs. But note how these chain gangs aren't picking up trash and cleaning the streets of inner city BLACK neighborhoods where they COME FROM. I guess that isn't "productive". So former slaves just "shut up" and pull yourself up from the DISADVANTAGED position that you have been put in and don't expect this "post racial" black president (let alone any other politician) to say or do ANYTHING for black folks, as this goes against the idea of the post racial age we are supposed to be in. So sit back and watch while we plan for the NEW America, where inner city black communities are dismantled and repopulated by force (katrina) or migrations of "post racial" couples and black issues are replaced by post racial ideologies with LITTLE or NO input by those blacks who are affected the most. Which is the same B.S. that has been facing blacks in this country all along as they are swept and caught up in socio-economic forces that they have NO control over and little understanding.
Posts: 8896 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Doug M: America is just as racial as it ever was, only in a different way. The same stereotypes still exist and the same obstructions and hindrances are still in place. The only difference is that things are not as in the open as they used to be. But the end result is still the same. Black neighborhoods are still plagued by poverty, lack of health care, poor schools and low wage jobs that have ALWAYS been found in the black community and so forth and so on. This is a slogan for those blacks who think they have "made it" to feel good about LEAVING the "hood" and going to the "other side of the fence" in order to find the good life. No more is it important to bring the "good life" to the majority of blacks and majority black neighborhoods. Rather, the goal is to imitate whites and FLEE black poverty instead of trying to understand the root causes of the problem so that they can ultimately be fixed..... That is POST RACIAL, where blacks are "on their own" and nobody gives a rat f*ck about how well they do and actually ADDRESSING the problems they face. So this means DON'T EXPECT the government to address issues that are of importance to blacks and if you ask, expect to be called "racist" or asking for "hand outs". Of course, this obviously is contrary to the fact that "hand outs" are what this country is built on and there are "hand outs" to politically connected companies and communities ALL THE TIME. The government IS the community, otherwise what the hell is it THERE FORE? If you can't address the problems then why do I need you to begin with? But of course, since blacks have NEVER got anything from this government but a foot in the *ss and a "get back to f*cking work", what do you expect? And this slogan is just another way of saying the same thing: "shut the f*ck up" and don't expect this country or its leadership to address themselves to BLACKS or BLACK issues, except to lock them up and call them "problematic" elements in the community who are FORCED to "get back to work" and "be productive" (for someone ELSE) in chain gangs. But note how these chain gangs aren't picking up trash and cleaning the streets of inner city BLACK neighborhoods where they COME FROM. I guess that isn't "productive". So former slaves just "shut up" and pull yourself up from the DISADVANTAGED position that you have been put in and don't expect this "post racial" black president (let alone any other politician) to say or do ANYTHING for black folks, as this goes against the idea of the post racial age we are supposed to be in. So sit back and watch while we plan for the NEW America, where inner city black communities are dismantled and repopulated by force (katrina) or migrations of "post racial" couples and black issues are replaced by post racial ideologies with LITTLE or NO input by those blacks who are affected the most. Which is the same B.S. that has been facing blacks in this country all along as they are swept and caught up in socio-economic forces that they have NO control over and little understanding.
Evergreen Writes:
The Black Man is the God of his own universe (future).
Wu-Tang Clan and Isaac Hayes I can't go to sleep
"The power is in your hands. Stop all this crying and be a man."
Lost Found Muslim Lesson Number 2
"Will you sit at home and wait for that Mystery GOD to bring you food?"
Posts: 2007 | From: Washington State | Registered: Oct 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Doug M: Post racial is a term originating among whites. It originates in the main stream media's coverage of Barack Obama as a reflection of a new "post racial" age in America. This is another example of some black so-called "thinkers" being mouth pieces for white ideas.
Yeh its just as stupid as you using said washington post uncritically in another thread as a reliable source on African affairs while at the same time pointing out their racist "agenda" here. LOL You are one confused Afrocentric.
Posts: 4165 | From: jamaica | Registered: May 2008
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posted
^ Nope. But YOU are one confused queer! You may not be confused about your sexuality but you are obviously confused about your purpose here in this forum since you obviously are not Afrocentric or Africanist yourself and you obviously have no interest in history or culture at all but are merely obsessed with the imaginary 'Jews' that ravage your life and not like your real boyfriends who ravage your body.
Posts: 26267 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Getting back to the topic of this thread. What indeed do we do about native born whites of Africa and native born blacks of Europe to be fair??
Of course there are more blacks in Europe than are whites so we recognized these blacks as being European as whites being African?..
Posts: 26267 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
^ I think whites born in Africa should have as much rights as Blacks born there. However, these rights should be denied if they are found to have a Euro-centric agenda (like the white South-Africans) that is injurious to the native Blacks.
Colour of skin should not be used to decide who belongs to a group, but political ideology should be used. So soon as we see whites preaching that Euro-centric agenda is Africa - PUT FOOT IN THEIR ASS.
It should be that simple. It's a shame that it isn't.
-------------------- state of mind Posts: 1819 | From: odesco baba | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
For one, 78% of an African country's resources should not be in the hands of 1-2% of its ex-colonial population or be used to finance ex-colonial nations.
I was wondering that same thing, Djehuti, but the answer is what we've known all along.
Lord Sauron's right, and Renaisance Europe did the same thing to its ruling minority.
quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: you obviously are not Afrocentric or Africanist yourself and you obviously have no interest in history or culture at all
^ So says the Catholic philipooo who casually dismissed the master teacher George GM James' book - without reading it - as "silly" and "Afrocentric". Stop projecting your s**t on me mary. LOL
Posts: 4165 | From: jamaica | Registered: May 2008
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First of all, yes like many Filippinos I was baptized Catholic even though my parents were actually of independent denomination, but it does not even matter because I'm not even religious person let alone a convicted Catholic no more than YOU are as an Anglican! (I doubt any religion would support the sodomy and fornication you engage in anyay) So bringing in my religious background is useless as with any other ad-hominem attack. I come to this forum to engage in scholarly discussion on ancient Egypt or other things related to ancient African history. YOU do not.
Second of all, again as I've said before I have read James book years ago, and likely long before your ass has even heard of it!! So please stop throwing up Jame's book as a red-herring excuse and cover for your own issues!
Lastly, the only one projecting around here is YOU and you know it. Accusing me of being somekind of 'bigot' is a joke when it is obvious to everyone that you are the biggest bigot in here. So please stop lying to yourself as it is obviously a form of denial.
Posts: 26267 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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