Daily Views, Pop Culture, Rants, and News: The Art of Getting Jumped.

2006-09-26T00:25:00.000-07:00

Africa, just one big country right?

2006-09-21T06:48:00.000-07:00

As a black man who lives in South Africa, it always infuriates me when simpletons from abroad perpetuate negative stereotypes about our continent. Yes as a matter of fact Africa is a continent, not a country. Recently, I visited my aunt who lives in Brooklyn, New York and I was an instant celebrity in the “hood” for all the wrong reasons. The neighbours could not believe they had had a real African in their midst. This one git came up to me and enquired whether I knew one Hashim Jackson, who apparently lives in Nigeria. I gave him this blank expressionless stare in wonderment. Now Nigeria is atleast 50 000 fucking miles from South Africa. So tell me how the fuck am I supposed to know Hashim or whatever his name was? People can be such ignoramuses, case in point take Patrick Ewing, who used to play for the New York Knicks. When he landed at the airport in South Africa, he remarked: “Shit this is Africa, where are the lions and tigers? I was expecting a jungle” That remark left me with an indelible impression about our black brothers from America. While I’m talking about our black brothers, there’s this sick tendency amongst Celebrities who come to perform in our shores. They always proclaim, ad nauseum, that they’re “HOME”. It is so annoying and yet so sad. Recently I learned the Afeni Shakur wants to bury Tupac’s ashes in Soweto. Now Soweto is the equivalent of a “hood” in America. I suppose the rationale behind this gesture is that she’s taking him “home” to rest in peaceI think our brothers in the USA need an urgent crash course in African American history, lest we suffer more glib remarks about their “homecoming” whenever they deign to grace us in South Africa.

i write what i like

Daily Views, Pop Culture, Rants, and News: The Art of Getting Jumped.

Africa, just one big country right?