Tuesday, October 18, 2011

What is Afirca to a man who was never raised there?  Your ancestors come from there, but besides that how does it relate to you?  Is Africa noisy or is that just the sound of nature?  Are the men Strong and Bronze or regal black?  If one went back to Africa, he or she would have to adapt to it’s ways.  Are the jungle boys and girls like us, just searching for love.  The Imagery is beautiful, but could we deal with the customs, the reality?

When I was younger there was a movement to go back to Africa by the Black culture.  Whether or not it was a call to visit or move back I can’t remember.  Now I could said that when I was a kid I thought the movement was stupid, but I was obsessed over power rangers at the time so that would have been a lie.  But I do think the movement was stupid.  Now I’m not against exploring one’s background, but doing something just because it was a cultural movement is stupid.  If you had a genuine interest in Africa, then go visit, but if your interest is fueled by everyone else doing it then that is bad.  Our culture has changed so much from our time in Africa.  We have mostly adopted the Christan God, as a group know very little about our “homeland” and would probably take a long time to adapt if we could.  We call ourselves African-Americas, but it really just a title.  Cullen consider the Gods of Africa to be Heathens and he has no need for them.  But then Cullen identifies God as not black (“Wishing He I served were Black”)  So what does that say about him?

2 comments:

  1. I think Cullen was saying that he was stuck in the middle of the two cultures. Which you point out with the "heathen gods" vs. the "christian god." He has no place for the "heathen gods" and sees fault in the "christian god." So where does he fit in? He doesn't fit in with his "homeland" because he was in America and it was so different there than Africa, yet he didn't fit in in America because he was black and looked down upon. He was stuck. Where does he fit in?

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  2. I think that's a problem college students have to deal with all the time. The mixture of cultures on a college campus can cause us to have our identity to be split in two.

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