Chic
thought that “blacks” lacked culture, so I of course, had him define
culture. “Generations of stories,
community, language…” he said. One
example I was given was having my shoes upside down on the floor. “That’s bad luck.” He went on to say that in Africa the
community watches over you. “Here, you
better not tell me about my kid, and you better not say anything to my child
either,” Malick mocked. And of course, I
was reminded of all the languages they spoke.
After I turned my shoes over, I
begged to differ; though, I understood where they were coming from... especially
regarding language. I couldn’t
understand a damn thing they were saying in their language. But hell, it's not as if enslaved Africans said, "Let's take a cruise to a new land and stop speaking our language." This was not by choice. And though to society's discredit, blacks did create their own languages/dialects. How about jive, Ebonics, pidgins? ;o) But
seriously, black people established themselves by learning a new language and pulling
the American government to mercy. Therefore,
there are a lot of stories. And
community is relevant to the individual.
In this day and age, many people don’t know the name of their
neighbors. In short, black people may
have lost a lot of the African culture, but they created their own culture and adapted after
revolution. It’s only been 149 years
since the Emancipation Proclamation and 48 years since the Civil Rights Act of
1964. Still, there are many African
Americans that made a significant difference in American society, thereby,
establishing African American culture.
To Be Continued…
