NationStates Jolt Archive

Remember Marcus Garvey’s “Back to Africa” movement? This sorta seems like the sequal. It sorta strikes me as stupid. I mean come on, what the hell do American blacks have in common with Africans? Its like comparing White Americans to Europeans in the countries we came from...we are nothing like them. I'm not really sure what to think of this except, its an "interesting" idea.
It sorta just seems like a load of garbage that Africans are using to try to bring money to their countries. I mean, do American blacks really have an actual connection with Africa?


Africans mull citizenship for slave kin By DULUE MBACHU, Associated Press Writer
Thu Jul 20, 6:20 PM ET



ABUJA, Nigeria - African and black American leaders meeting this week debated an unusual proposal to spur investment and interest in the continent — securing African citizenship for American descendants of Africans taken away as slaves.


The idea came out of a summit bringing African governments and the U.S. private sector together in search of partnerships to end Africa's poverty. Presidents from 12 African countries attended the four-day conference, along with former U.S. President Bill Clinton and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz.

"Just as the people of different races in America have a place they call home, I believe we should have a place we call our ancestral home," said Hope Masters, daughter of the U.S. civil rights campaigner for whom the Leon Sullivan Summit is named.

Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060720/ap_on_re_af/africa_citizenship_for_slavery)

Black Americans have nothing in common with Africa. They speak a different language, have an entirely different culture, and I know for a fact that any Black American who went there would instantly regret it, with the frequent civil wars and such.

Black Americans have nothing in common with Africa. They speak a different language, have an entirely different culture, and I know for a fact that any Black American who went there would instantly regret it, with the frequent civil wars and such.

Yeah...Its gonna fail, just like Marcus Garvey trying to bring all the blacks back to Africa failed.

Yeah...Its gonna fail, just like Marcus Garvey trying to bring all the blacks back to Africa failed.


Especially with the renewal of violence in Rwanda and in Ethiopia and Somalia. Civil Wars were bad before, but they're just gonna get worse and worse.

No inherent connection outside of emotional. I don't see it as being much different from a Jew going to Israel or someone of German decent going to see Germany and where their family came from. None the less, I don't see it as any real connection.

It is also important to realize that to say "African" is misleading...there are white Africans, as well as northAfricans who are not black...And those who are black could come from dozens of countries and in all probability, hundreds of tribes...going to Africa is far to general to consider it a pilgrimage to the homeland.

Like it or not, after 140 or more years in America, most Black Americans have no more connection to Africa than I do with Scotland - my great-grandparents may have come from there, but I don't.

(Of course, there are also the Black people who just arrived as immigrants or refugees - but we're talking fairly specifically about those whose ancestors were shipped over as slaves.)

No inherent connection outside of emotional. I don't see it as being much different from a Jew going to Israel or someone of German decent going to see Germany and where their family came from. None the less, I don't see it as any real connection.

It is also important to realize that to say "African" is misleading...there are white Africans, as well as northAfricans who are not black...And those who are black could come from dozens of countries and in all probability, hundreds of tribes...going to Africa is far to general to consider it a pilgrimage to the homeland.


True about the White African thing.


My family is of German and Scottish decent. Hell, the Scottish side was one of the royal clans. But I'm making no wishes to move back. I'd like to live there for a stint, sure! But thats only because the Highlands are very beautiful, and I happen to find Germany beautiful as well, from when I was there.

No inherent connection outside of emotional. I don't see it as being much different from a Jew going to Israel or someone of German decent going to see Germany and where their family came from. None the less, I don't see it as any real connection.

Yeah, its sorta like the Israel thing..just because your Jewish doesnt mean that your automatically Israeli (well, atleast it shouldnt in my opinion)...Its just something in the past...Blacks who feel a connection to Africa should move there, but I doubt many feel the connection and an even lower ammount would actually consider moving to the war torn dark continent.

Yeah, its sorta like the Israel thing..just because your Jewish doesnt mean that your automatically Israeli (well, atleast it shouldnt in my opinion)...Its just something in the past...Blacks who feel a connection to Africa should move there, but I doubt many feel the connection and an even lower ammount would actually consider moving to the war torn dark continent.


Interesting you bring that up. An American Jew I was friends with moved to Israel, saying he wanted to complete his religious return to his homeland. He was there for only two months until he returned home. He said the people there were rude, snobbish, and hated people from America. They also looked down on him because his Hebrew had an American accent.

I rest my case lol

Interesting you bring that up. An American Jew I was friends with moved to Israel, saying he wanted to complete his religious return to his homeland. He was there for only two months until he returned home. He said the people there were rude, snobbish, and hated people from America. They also looked down on him because his Hebrew had an American accent.

I rest my case lol

People there are very different than Americans...rude and snobbish, no...but very different. And they do not hate Americans....they like Americans because many Israelis are American immigrants, not to mention all the stuff our government does to support Israel.

People there are very different than Americans...rude and snobbish, no...but very different. And they do not hate Americans....they like Americans because many Israelis are American immigrants, not to mention all the stuff our government does to support Israel.


Just my friends experiance :)

I've never been. Been to Russia, been to France, been to Germany, Canada, Finland, but never Israel. Too dangerous lol


(Ironic thing is about Paris was though, I was there during the height of the riots, right in the middle of them!)

Extending a privilege to people who have an ancestral link isn't really all that shocking. If you can prove Irish descent, you can have your post-secondary education in that country paid for. Citizenship in an African nation is a gesture, and one that I doubt many will bother taking them up on. Then again, it might be a real source of pride for some. I see nothing wrong with it.

Probably not, but they would likely be a good asset. Many are successful here...but I'd like them to stay. They need to...well it won't be the same. :fluffle:

Probably not, but they would likely be a good asset. Many are successful here...but I'd like them to stay. They need to...well it won't be the same. :fluffle:
There isn't going to be some mass exodus to Africa. If they wanted to go, they could go as it is. Citizenship only makes it slightly easier.

Why the hell would anyone want to move to that miserable continent?

Why the hell would anyone want to move to that miserable continent?
It's not all bad.

It amazes me you would be unable to acknowledge that.

Wait. No, it doesn't.

It's not all bad.

It amazes me you would be unable to acknowledge that.

Wait. No, it doesn't.
Of course it's not all bad, but the dangers that exist from the regional inability to give up on tribalism tend to make it far more dangerous than most other places. Conflict spills across borders easily, destabilizing even healthy and relatively uncorrupt governments rapidly.

I think it is great, they share guns and Liberia.
They couldn't mak Africa any dumber it has already been swarmed by tin pot dictators.

It's not all bad.

It amazes me you would be unable to acknowledge that.

Wait. No, it doesn't.
Uh, yeah it is all bad. Where the hell in Africa isnt it bad? Huh, huh? And who the hell would live in Africa over America???:confused:

You're missing the point. The proposal wasn't that black Americans should emigrate to Africa, it was just to make them citizens of Africa. Being citizens they might want to, you know, maybe send a little cash back to the motherland.

Uh, yeah it is all bad. Where the hell in Africa isnt it bad? Tunisia, South Africa, Mauritius...
I'm sure if you took the time to look, you'd find (shock!) places that aren't experiencing genocide, famine, massive oppression, or abject, unescapable poverty.

Just because white people don't wish to acknowledge it, doesn't change the fact, African-Americans do feel an emotional connection to the African continent.