Akátá vs. Afrikàná

One of the primary tactics European imperialism has used to seize and maintain it’s grip on the wealth of the world is also one of the oldest, easiest and most effective means of victory in any form of warfare.  Divide and conquer.  It is the reason you, an African, are not in Africa.  The reason you, an “African American”, are not in Africa.  It was used in 1450 in the Bight of Benin, it was used during the Cold War, it is used today, every day, by the very people who perfected it.

“Akátá” is a term used primarily by African people to refer to “African Americans”.  Its origin is with the Yoruba people of West Africa.  The word, however, is now used by people all over the Diaspora to refer to African Americans.  If I tell you what the word actually means, you, the African American, will probably stop reading this piece.  An Afrikáná is usually a very proud African.

Tensions between “Akatas” and Africans in this country have worsened since the upsurge of African immigration here in the ‘80s, but were always there.  And they remain tense, in some circles.  Why?  Everybody knows the answer to this one.  All the Africans shout, “because Akatas are lazy!”  All the African Americans shout, “Because Africans think they’re better than us!”  So who’s right?  Remember that this division is a tactic used by someone not party to either of these groups.  This outside party is greatly benefiting from the use of this tactic.  It allows them to dominate the natural resources and minds of both peoples.  Remember that the reason so many Americans have a false impression of Africa, as being this place where wild Black savages run with the animals, have no food, and live in huts; is because someone told them that.  Most Americans have never been to Africa.  Most Americans have an opinion on Africa.  Where did this opinion originate?  If you turn on your television right this moment and watch it for the next 24 hours, most of it will appear to have nothing to do with Africa.  Most of that which is obvious footage of Africa is highly unlikely to make you want to go there.  If you know better, it may not affect you.  If you don’t, nko?

You may be asking what it benefits European imperialism to set Africans and African Americans against each other.  The fear that if we all one day woke up and realized that we were of the same history—before them—and started mobilizing against them, that the state of the world would be transformed completely, would be reason enough.  The day of a world in which all Black peoples are united as one is not the day that the world is controlled by Europeans.  It is not the day that you have to leave your country to find “better opportunities” and a “better life” abroad.  It is not a day in which millions of Africans are dying in tribal wars. Take that to the bank.

Kunta Kinte is an African who was taken from the “Slave Coast” in 1762¹.  He was captured in the woods where he went to chop wood for the drum he was making.  He was taken across the Atlantic Ocean in a death ship to a stolen land, America.  His brothers remained behind.  On arrival in this stolen land, he was made to work on a plantation as a slave, which he did for many years.  He bore children, and they bore children, and they bore children and so on.  His descendants, who continued in the slave tradition and built the American nation.  So here, in 2007, the descendants of Kunta Kinte, would be known as Akatas—by Afrikanas.

Is anyone asking how those white men who captured Kunta Kinte were able to reach the woods where he was?  Is it safe to say that he probably was not the first African that these white men encountered?  If so, we can conclude that someone allowed them to get inland.  Obviously, these slave catchers did not live in Africa, so they must have reached the continent by water, which would mean that they arrived at the coast, where it would be safe to say that they would be met with some degree of “border security”.  Probably African men.  So how did they get inland?  Someone allowed them.  How were they able to capture slaves?  Someone allowed them.  Someone just as African as the slaves that they were to capture.  Now how did they manage to fill that huge ship with slaves and get all the way across the Atlantic with them?  Someone allowed them.  Divide and conquer.

We don’t know exactly what happened to Kunta’s brothers.  Possibly they remained behind in Africa and bore children, who bore children, who bore children and so on. // Possibly, their descendants went on to build the nations in which they now live.  Was Kunta any different from his brothers?  No, not much.  Were Kunta’s children any different from his brother’s children? Quite possibly, considering that they were born into different worlds on separate continents.  If they had met—by some magical blessing that returned the slaves and thereby Kunta’s family to Africa or brought Lamin’s family here as slaves—they probably would have failed to understand each other in some ways.  But their common ancestry, knowing and feeling that their fathers were brothers, would probably erase any grave difficulty and cement their bonds.  What of Kunta’s and Lamin’s children’s children?  The differences would be greater, more pronounced.  But they too would remember their common ancestry.  Over the generations though, we have forgotten that our forefathers were brothers.

A young Black man living in The Gambia, or Mandinique, today is likely very different from a young Black man living in Atlanta and from one living in Jamaica.  But it is quite possible that the three of them share the same admiration of the “rich” young Black man, if they have access to media.  All three aspire to some form of greatness, whether or not this greatness is acceptable to the rest of us.  Excepting the avid scholar, it is safe to say that many young Black men around the world have some amount of awe for the Black men they see on television, who appear to be powerful.  All three share some affinity with him.  Assuming that we are referring to young men in the Diaspora as a result of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the lineages of all three could definitely be traced back to some point in time where there was no European interaction to reveal a common ancestor, or if not, very close by ones.  If one of them finds his roots in Gambia, another in what is known as Ghana, another in what is known as Sierra Leone, is that not close enough to a similar heritage?  Because if you took them back another 1000 years, it is quite possible that their common ancestor lived somewhere further inland.  Common Blood ancestor.

So if you are my sister, and I move away from you, start a family in a new land, are we any less sisters?  Are our children any less family?  Are their children any less both of our grand children?  Five hundred years from now, no matter where our children are, no matter what they look like or what they do, we are no less sisters.  They are no less family, by virtue of the blood running through our veins.  So why should they be divided?  True, they may not know each other, but keeping in mind that they share this common history would keep them mentally bonded with each other.  As, if you today met someone on the street with whom you become friends, and then down the line find out that your she is the niece of your Great Great Uncle’s first born’s grandchild.  This fact alone would not turn you into best friends, but it would underline your bond.  If you are from a polygamous home, you know that your half-siblings may not be the closest to you, but they are still family.

If two people apply for a job today—in the U.S.—one of them African, one African American, we all know who the employer is usually likely to prefer, depending upon the position.  If he needs someone who will work hard, go above and beyond, kiss his behind a little, he is likely to go with the African.  However, if the job is not that hard, he doesn’t understand people with accents, or he is a serious “Americanist”, he may go with the African American.  Most times, he will go with the African.  Be honest.  This alone should be enough to stir up some tension.

If you are an African American and you are graduating anything, your entire family, all three generations, are likely to show up to cheer you on.  If you are an African, you’re lucky if your parents show up.  They are probably not in the country.  You’re probably at the top of your class, too.  Too bad.  To the African American parent, this is an achievement.  To the African parent, this is an expectation.  In the classroom, the African students have the reputation of being “smart”, nerdy, maybe even brown-nosers.  The African American students are thought to be the loud underachievers.  Be honest.

Many African parents who raise their children in the Diaspora would prefer that—if not someone from their nation—their children marry off to a white husband or wife rather than an African American.  Why is this?

It is necessary that if we are to progress as a people, rather than denying, ignoring or upholding the differences between us, resulting from five hundred years of violent separation and infinite division, that we address them.  What is the number one issue that Africans have with African Americans?  Simple.  By [fresh-off-the-boat] African standards, they are disrespectful.  Very close seconds are that by fresh-off-the-boat African standards, they lack identity and, by fresh-off-the-boat African standards, they are lazy.  What is the number one issue that African Americans hold against Africans?  We are stuck up.  Very stuck up.  We think we are better than African Americans and are not afraid to show it.  Are we?  Does it matter?  Granted, Africans here hold onto some form of identity because we still have close ties with home.  We may speak the language, wear the dress, practice the customs.  The intactness of our identity gives us a power, confidence, conviction that African Americans—and other Diasporic Africans—lack in that aspect.

We work hard because we have someone to answer to.  Not only do we need to send money home; our siblings, our mother’s mother, sisters and brothers and their children are all talking about us to their friends.  Accountabilty.  Family.  That is part of the difference.  This family not only provides accountability, but also support, wisdom, strength.  African Americans are individualistic compared to fresh-off-the-boat Africans, not compared to Europeans.  They live in an individualistic society.  Not always, but oftentimes, an African American has the option to do with his or her life whatever he or she pleases and tell Mama to “let me live my own life!”  It is very rare that an African has this option.  Even though Africans kiss whitey’s behind on the job, we detest his individualism.  The real Africans do.  The lost ones…they try as hard as possible to emulate even his worst traits.  An African American is likely to get away with a lesser level of “achievement” than an African is.  Who is going to challenge the African American to do beyond his best?  Maybe his mother, maybe a community leader if he has one.  Who will challenge the African?  Every other African.

A tremendous part of this identity is the respect that is crucial to the functioning of the African family machine.  Respect for elders is holy territory.  Respect for others is also important.  In a well oiled African American family, this is the case also.  However the African’s definition of respect is much tighter than that of the African American.  For Africans, this factor is built into the language, and therefore the culture.  For African Americans it is second to a European language of violence and disrespect, so it suffers greatly.  African languages have, built in, one way for speaking to elders, parents, etc and one way for speaking to your peers.  Our languages have, built in, customs and behaviors for interacting with each other in a respectful manner, how to reverence and honor our parents and elders and each other.  This may seem like a minute piece to a larger puzzle, but it is very crucial to the differences between Africans and African Americans because it dictates so much of our behavior.  If there is no room in your language or customs for you to curse your mother, you will probably never do it.  If there is, you just might.  In a language where there is only one word for God, He is likely to be less influential than in a language with ten different words for God.

African Americans might also say that we smell when we first come here.  Do we? Be honest.  Most newcomers are adjusting to an entirely new environment.  New food, new air, new water.  All things that affect our bodies tremendously.  So don’t forget your deodorant, and chew some gum!  You could also eat a pure diet…

Though they do make fun of our accents, it is not really out of malice.  The African American soul has been brutalized so violently by it’s oppressors, that it is seeking help—often manifested in negative behavior.  We, Africans, are the ones to help heal them as they heal themselves.  The African soul has of course also been brutalized.  But to a different degree.  We had more means to survive this brutality.  Language, culture, family.  But instead of reaching out, we separate ourselves and cleave to the behinds of the very ones killing us both.

African Americans, if you want peace with Afrikanas, do not try to get us to do your work for you.  Instead work closely with us, so that we can learn from one another.  We know that this society is constantly telling you that you will never amount to anything.  We don’t agree.  Neither would Kunta.  Dwell within loyalty.  Look at the African sitting next to you as your brother.  Decide right this moment that there is nothing you will not do to help him if he needs it.  Decide that he is your brother and that you are part of his family.  Next time he asks you for something that you are able to provide, don’t assume that he can get it somewhere else.  // ; Give it to him.  Practice generosity in everything you do.  Always try to see how you can give to the next one, be it your time, resources, energy.  Next time you go to an African’s house, do not overstay your welcome.  Africans believe that charity begins at home.  And so does pride.  We expect that you should be so proud of the home you come from, that you would rather be there, with your people, than anywhere else.  So as much as you will enjoy visiting with us and us with you, please pick up your children to go home eventually.  Meditate on RESPECT.  How you can honor and reverence every other Black person with whom you come in contact.

Africans, oh Africans!  Get your noses out of the air so that you can see your brother standing next to you!  African pride is a beautiful thing, and we should never lose it.  But it should not be so grave as to keep us from loving one another.  Instead of separating ourselves, let us reach out to our distant brothers, so that we may bring them back home.  Stop calling African Americans akatas!  They are people too.  Reach out, reach out, reach out.

This division that has conquered us certainly does not apply only to the Afrikana v. Akata relationship, but also the Afrikana v. Afrikana.  In 1884, the European countries went to Berlin to confer, and drew borders all over the map of Africa².  So that today we call ourselves “Nigerian”, “Burkinabe”, “Congolese”.  These identities did not exist just over 100 years ago, but now they are the knife that cuts into African unity.  As Sudanese events are for the “Sudanese”, Nigerian events for Nigerians, Jamaican events for Jamaicans. Some of my closest alliances have been with people from other African “countries”, nations or “tribes”.  Alliances that survived tribal wars and differences that would have torn us apart on the continent.  What would happen to Big Oil if from Ghana to Chad to Congo, the governments became one unit and were able to support each other against capitalist policies that devastated their countries?  If the battle for oil was fought across borders, against imperialism and not against other civilians, there could be no oil deaths.  It would be a done deal.  But we don’t even support each other in the Diaspora, so how can we support each other on the continent?

I use the term African American because, as much as I love the word Black and everything surrounding being Black, and acknowledge that Africans and African Americans are both Black, I appreciate that this term—African American—does something to remind those listening of the connection.  The connection is Kunta and Lamin Kinte.  The connection is in the power of melanin.  The connection is Black youths gunned down by NYPD, Black youths gunned down by child soldiers and Black youths tortured by “African” governments.  The connection is the slave ship.  The connection is being captured in the woods while chopping wood for your drum and being thrown onto a slave ship and being captured in the woods while chopping wood for your fire and being hung from a tree.  We are Black.  We are African.  And of the same bloodline, like it or not.  So please, acknowledge the next Afrikan³ you see walking down the street.  And when that brother acknowledges you, please respond in kind.□

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1) Considering the controversy surrounding the truth of his story as depicted in the book Roots, the date presented is the alleged date surmised by genealogists.  The fictional story of Roots is a crucial story regardless.

2) Please see The Scramble for Africa, Chamberlain, M.E., Hong Kong: Longman Group Ltd., 1974.

3) Any person of African Descent.