Who is an African?

We are not Africans because we are born in Africa, we are Africans because Africa is born in us

No one is an Africa unless they are also considered a black person, but not every black person is an African ethnicity

An African is one who comes from Africa and believes in the cultural values of African people.

An African is one who lives in Africa or trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa for 3-4 generations.

For a true African like me this issue has never bothered me. I'm an African because...well i just am. I don't know how to explain it though. The good thing about being raised in the village and all i have never questioned my Africaness. So why this blog? Am glad you ask- and i will tell you.

I was chatting with someone online and he insisted that i should not be a christian because Christianity is not African. It was brought here by the white man. (Really??) He prides himself in being 100% African and advised me to do the same.He tells me that Jesus was human and some council of Nicea sat down and decided to make Jesus into a God. I then asked him how he came to know about this council of Nicea- his response- history books, the same history books that say Jesus died and rose again. (Am i the only one seeing a lot of contradictions???) The way i see it he is choosing which parts of History to believe and not to believe, which don't make no damn sense to me.

Another young man a few days ago was telling me the same . I need to act more African! It got me curious so i went out seeking other peoples thought(read blog whoring) and i was shocked at the number of people trying to act African.You don't act African- you just are. Apparently my love for B.E.P band and whodunnit movies like CSI, Bones,Lie to me...means am not being African enough. It must really be a hard life always questioning your Africaness...always being so colour conscious...always feeling guilty when you watch foreign movies or listen to rock music etc. That's no way to live!

Foreigners come to Kenya all the time and copy our culture and a lot of other stuff and even learn Swahili and no one sees anything wrong with that...in fact we think its cute to hear them speak Swahili with a strange accent. But when you Speak fluent English- you are tryna be white- Yawa! Its not like i wake up in the morning looking for new ways to be white. My parents took me to school and every subject i was taught using English as a medium. I Majored English and Literature in college for crying out loud. Every job I apply for am subjected to aptitude tests which includes questions on the English grammar. Now when was the last time you went to an interview you were asked a question in Swahili?- Its OK I'll wait...

This identity crisis is quickly spreading in Kenya with people trying too hard to be African- wearing chunky bangles and earrings, Afros, kitenges, kikois,Dashikis, thong sandals, dropping their Christian names etc.Its not wrong to do this but don't let it consume you to a point that before you do anything you have to ask yourself, is it African or not- you are not an Island. I read on some blog where a writer was explaining that as an African you should have only photos of exclusively black people on your blog. gawd! If you google a picture and you exclusively look for photos of African people aren't you being a little too colour conscious?

This other young man was telling me how he only reads African books, watch porn with black women only(smh), every thing black and nothing else. Funny thing is he is chatting with me through the internet invented by some white people, his clothes(as seen on the avi) are brands from U.S.A. ...and am thinking if you really want to be African maybe you should go back to wearing cowhide, sleeping in huts etc (you catch my drift)... and while you are at it-drink stuff from African manufacturers, drive cars made by Africans, Go to African owned business etc.And I promise you life will be a prison for you.

Call it naivety or just plain stupidity but i don't get why its such a big issue to remind African they are Africans. Like the way in America you hear Latin American, African American etc but never Australian American, Irish American,Brazillian American, Greek American...it just don't make sense. Now the young people of African descent who have never stepped on African soil, don't know which country their ancestors came from, don't speak any of the African languages are made to feel bad for something which is not their fault. They don't feel like they fit there and when they come to Africa of course we prolly won't consider them African enough - so where do they go? What can they say they are?

Don't get me wrong i like being African and i agree with the person who said that its in the heart not limited to the skin only or where your born. I believe we are beautiful people put on earth with a purpose and not accident. We have contributed a lot to the world from culture, architecture, music to fashion. I understand that we shouldn't adopt every foreign culture blindly. I just have something against people who romanticize the African culture. If you read history, the old African religions weren't perfect either...for crying out loud we had human sacrifice! throwing away of people born with defects etc(Read Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe). There needs to be a balanced view of life.

Thanks to the "enlightened" people now we got some young people walking around wondering if they are African enough. Someone even questioned the use of peroxide(perm) to straighten my hair and wearing of weaves by women. We are not trying to be white, its just easier to manage that way. Just adding some synthetic material on my head won't make me any less African. I mean you men apply imported colognes,wear foreign designer clothes etc so i don't see why weaves is such a big issue for you. Why i watch these foreign movies because i can and there isn't anything else to watch anyways. Just take a look at our local Kenyan Tv stations, majority of the soap operas are foreign with always the same story line- you can almost always predict the ending.After watching foreign comedy shows like How i met your mother, Big Bang theory and somebody wants you to go back to watching our local comedies full of people imitating accent of the Kenyan tribes, I mean it was cute and all when Redykulass did it but we should move on already.The accent thing, is getting old...(But i love what churchill and Omondi are doing though)

So who is an African?

Is it what you wear? is it the colour of your skin? is it where you are born? Is it in your genes? what???

I don't know about you but my take is that just be proud of who you are and where you come from. If you think and feel you are African then you are, if you don't then damn it, you aren't. If anyone tells you different tell them, you are because Vicky said so.lol.