I Am Not An African - American

I am not an African-American. Don’t call me an African –American. I’m an American plain and simple. I was born here as were my parents and grandparents and you would have to search many a generation back before you found anyone in my family who originated from the continent of Africa. It’s time black people in this country stop trying to identify with a land whose culture is not their own. It’s time we stand up and say “This land is our land” and let everyone know we have a right to this country as much as anyone.

I understand the need for black people in America to find an identity all their own. We are as displaced as a people can be. Brought here in the early seventeenth century, first as indentured servants then as slaves the richness of culture these individuals brought from their various tribes was systematically ripped away from them.

Maybe in calling ourselves African-American we feel we can retrieve some of that richness that is lost to us and was stolen from our people so long ago. However the atrocities of the past are just that, the past and trying to identify with lost cultures isn’t going to help us achieve the respect and prosperity that has alluded us for so long in a country that is still hostile to those of African descent.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way suggesting we forget about the past. It’s important to study and learn from your forefathers’ triumphs, mistakes and pain. Continuously changing our identification however, is not the best way to use that knowledge. We’ve had several “identities:” from Colored to Negro, Black and now African-American.

How can we expect anyone else to know who we are if we’re not sure of our own identity? How can we expect to come together as a people if we can’t agree on something as simple as to what to call ourselves? Hell the government is not even sure who we are if the 2000 census form was any indication with their Black, Negro, African-American non-hispanic category.

I say dispense with all of the confusion. We’re American. The sweat of our brow helped build this country. Benjamin Banneker a black man, helped design the white house. Something as simple as the traffic light and as life saving as the blood transfusion were created by black people. Americans. From music, to dance, to literature we have given much more to this country then it has have ever given to us. We can be proud in simply calling ourselves Americans because we have more then earned that right. It’s time we make use of it.

I was once asked if I viewed myself as an American first and black second. The answer is as long as America views me as black first then I’ll always be American second. But I’ll never be anything other then American, plain and simple.

About the Author
Tamika Johnson is a freelance writer and owner of PrologueReviews.com. To read more reviews by Tamika or to have your book, music or film reviewed visit http://www.prologuereviews.com

African American Scholarship

The African American population had been the most discriminated race in the country for the past decades. This resulted to fewer opportunities for the Blacks and lesser chances for them to prove their worth. And the worst hit was their opportunity to study.

Meanwhile, the new generation of African Americans is slowly entering the world of the all-White dominated society including the all-White fields such as Medicine, Sciences, Mathematics, Engineering, and Business. However, the African American’s participation in these mentioned fields is still unnoticed. There is still a great need for African American to take a significant chunk of pie in order to get noticed and be recognized. Although we can say that there are some African Americans who are outshining others in their fields, this is not enough.

Good thing, there are several institutions that are dedicated to provide the African American population with a good opportunity to study and become great in their own chosen fields.

For one, the United Negro College Fund has been helping African Americans to acquire education for years. They have awarded financial aids worth that go directly to 39 Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the United States. They have been receiving money for various organizations that are willing to help the African Americans to go to school. Two main sponsors are The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funds and the Bank of America.

What are the 39 Historically Black Colleges and Universities?

The 39 Historically Black Colleges and Universities are schools wherein African Americans can study with relatively low tuition fee (as much as 52%) compared to other schools in the country. And with relatively low tuition fee, it never means that these schools are some backcountry community colleges. Some of these schools are well known such as Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

And with the increasing involvement of women in the world, there are institutions that provide African American women to study and finish with a degree. The National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc. has 2 scholarships to be awarded to women who want to pursue undergraduate studies.

Another Scholarship institution that focuses in supporting African American students who want to pursue in the field of Science or Technology is the Development Fund for Black Students in Science and Technology.

There are more out there. If you are persistent enough, you will be able to find one for you.

This content is provided by Low Jeremy.

Where Were You When Obama Was Elected?

Just as our mothers, fathers and grandparents can recall where they were and what they were doing when great leaders such as Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy were slained, in our generation we will be able to remember when America gave life to one, President-elect Barack Obama.

A myriad of emotions ran through me like so many other African Americans. I thought of my grandmother who was alive to see a moment she thought she would never see. She told me, "We are blessed." She reflected on a time when blacks were disrespected by whites, "We weren't good enough to eat their tuna fish." She recalled those sad times when she couldn't enter through the front entryways of white-owned establishments. "We cleaned their floors on our hands and knees, but we couldn't walk through their front doors." Other family members told of stories where they couldn't look white people in their faces and had to address them as Mr. and Ms. (which some still do today.) They talked of water fountains that were for the coloreds, bathrooms for the coloreds, and other similar things that illustrated that black or any other color, for that matter, were not allowed to be in certain places, riding in certain cars, or walking in certain areas. "If you were white you were alright, but if you were black step back."

There was a deep heartfelt resentment, anger, and rage that permeated with many who lived in a time of segregation, for some they couldn't hold back their own racist remarks, "It's about time...the white house is now black!" I couldn't help but feel happy that Barack Obama is going to the White House, because I knew what this meant for many, another door would now be opened for anyone who wasn't traditionally white and male. But as my grandmother warned, "Don't get too happy, we must pray. There are still many who don't want him in there. Let's hope he doesn't get killed."

As I type this blog, I think of the joy I experienced on November 4th, 2008 when I read on the screen that "Obama is elected President." I thought of the black men who I had spoken to in the past who cried about their plights and how the white man had his foot on their necks, "No more excuses," I thought. "No more blaming the white man my bruthas. Obama just set a high learning curve and now it is up to you to follow suit or step aside!" I was excited to the point of tears, thinking about my four sons! They could see that a black man could do much more than make media headlines for acting, running, jumping, driving, singing, dancing, fighting, and playing. Those things were nothing new under the sun even back during times of segregation. Rather, he could make headlines for what was between his ears!

Education--that's what really matters. When you become too old to play ball, what does a black athlete have to do? Put what he has learned in college, business and trade schools, or independent study to good use in order to keep those dollars flowing. If Barack hadn't demonstrated "consistent" intelligence in his mannerisms and speech, he would have never won. If he hadn't been careful in what he said and did more listening than talking, he wouldn't have won. If he hadn't taken the time to look outside of his bubble and not only befriend those different from him, but study people of other races and creeds around him, he wouldn't have won. (Oprah is the master at that!) If he hadn't put God and his family first, rather than being a selfish, inconsiderate, Negro from around the way while profiling with women and bling, he wouldn't have won. He wasn't running for president to make people laugh, to entertain with catch phrases, to befriend the bruthas and muthas from the hood, or to glorify himself, it was all about selling people on change --a platform that McCain stole when he saw that it was working, and in the end it still didn't help him win.

Michelle Obama said it right, "For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country, because it feels like hope is making a comeback." Irregardless of what she really meant by this statement which she clarified by being proud of the states her husband won, those who participated in the political process, etc. Depending on your experience in this country, her statement is left up to open interpretation. As a voter in the political process, I was glad to see people went out and voted in record numbers. After the Hanging chad incidents back in 2000, it left a bad taste in many people's mouths. But as an African American born and raised in this country, what made me proud was that people of all races was giving a black man a chance. Minorities get tired of being micro-managed, second-guessed, told that what they are saying isn't making any sense, followed around in stores, stared at because their skin is a different shade, overlooked because their skin isn't the right shade --are any of these things one should be proud of in a country that boasts opportunity, justice, freedom for all?! For once, just once, we all want not just "a someone" to respect us and hear what we are saying, but a group of people, a powerful entity, to look at you for who you are and what you stand for, Barack Obama did just that! People not only said they would support him, but they put their money where their mouth was! On November 4th, thousands upon thousands of those who grew up in the segregated south and later moved North, silenced their own ignorant voices and those around them and did what was right, not what was white! We saw evidence of this with the voter turn out in Ohio and Pennsylvania which have historically been won by Republicans.

And when my tears were about dried up, I thought of the old saying that, "Behind every black man there is an even stronger black woman!" I had hoped that African American women everywhere would take notice that Michelle Obama loved her man. She knew how to carry herself with class not crass. If it wasn't for her being the "rock" in Barack, he wouldn't have made it this far! I had also hoped that black men everywhere would recognize that with a wise woman alongside of them "they could do all things through Christ who strengthens them." Maybe just maybe if enough images of the new first family are seen everywhere by black men that they will do the right thing by the mothers of their children.

I am not niave to think that racism is behind us, far from it, but just like President-elect Obama, I am hopeful. Change has to start somewhere and it is up to us to make things happen just as he has done. Had he not took the first step, we would have never heard of Barack Obama.

So when my four sons ask me when they become older, "Mommy where were you and what were you doing when the first black man of the United States became President?" I will tell them "sitting in front of the television shouting, crying, and hoping that one of you would make a significant impact on our society like Barack Obama has done."

Nicholl McGuire