Distance, disinformation and the passage of time have separated continental Africans and Africans in the Diaspora for hundreds of years. Of course, all of these things are by the design of our common enemy– the same enemy who enslaved our people and colonized our homeland. Anything that man has designed, however, man can destroy and redesign. The following are but three easy ways we can all help “reverse the curse”, so to speak. Through communication, cultural exchange and compassion, I believe continental Africans and Diasporans can begin to strengthen our relationships and help strengthen Africa, in the process.
COMMUNICATION
We all know communication is key to any good relationship. Beyond polite conversation, however, we’ve got to go deeper in communicating in order to really know one another. On both sides of the Atlantic, we’ve been deliberately miseducated about ourselves and each other. The result is that we hold a lot of harmful stereotypes about the other which makes some of us not even want to associate ourselves with the other. To overcome this, we have to have honest, hard and meaningful conversations about who we are as a people and some of the issues that have divided us.
CULTURAL EXCHANGE
While we share some commonalities between our cultures, we are also different in a lot of ways. As Africans, we are a resilient people. Whether we’ve remained on the continent or were dragged away from it in literal chains, we know how to survive and thrive. Despite all that’s been meant to destroy us, we’re still here and we’re still flourishing. At the same time, however, we don’t seem to know what to do with our differences. For some, the answer is to just ignore the other. For others, there’s the game of classifying one’s culture as better than the other’s. Even though we don’t call it such, this is a type of tribalism that doesn’t benefit any of us, but it does benefit our common enemy who does not want to see us unite.
To combat this, we have to be intentional about learning one another’s cultures, as well as respecting those cultures and even embracing them. We have to stop prioritizing one over the other. I’m not just talking about thinking one’s culture is better than the other, either, but we also have to stop degrading our own culture while thinking other cultures are better. I see this a lot on both sides where continental Africans will see our westernized ways as being superior and where those of us in the Diaspora who hunger and thirst for Africa will be energetic about rejecting Black culture with an eye on all things African. All cultures are important and it is critical that we begin to unpack and explore the beauty in our cultures while, at the same time, devising ways we can blend our cultures for the good of all Africans and of the Motherland herself.
COMPASSION
We just have to have compassion for one another. Patience, empathy and understanding are a few of the building blocks of compassion that we have to use regularly as we fortify our relationships. Listen, whether we remained on the continent or were taken elsewhere, the fact is that we have been terribly used and abused. Now, we don’t want to enter the trauma Olympics where we try to outdo one another by sharing our woeful histories, but we do want to learn about each so that we can understand how we arrived where we are. We want to do this by really placing ourselves in the other’s shoes and not thinking about what we would’ve done in different situations, but just focusing on what the other has endured and how those histories color our worldviews and have shaped the way we think, act and move today.
Want to Discuss More Tips to Help Unite Africans and the Diaspora?
Of course, this is just a short list of things we can do to foster unity between all Africans and begin to strengthen the Continent. We’re going to continue the conversation in our Facebook group and your input is needed! So, please head on over to the group and share your best tips on the topic, as well as your concerns and your questions. We can and MUST come together if we’re going to free ourselves and our ancestral homeland. No longer can we afford this “us and them” mentality that’s been deliberately fostered to divide us so that our land and our people can be continually abused. No one is going to save us. We’re all we’ve got, but God has also blessed us to be all we need!
Before you head to the Facebook group, be sure to share this post with someone who needs to hear it and drop a comment if you believe I’ve left an important tip out of this post. Thanks!