When you put a bunch of ingredients in a pot and start to cook them, they eventually take on the identity the smell and the taste of each other. While this has been advertised as a good thing to the world, this is a disaster for the person of African descents
By Wonena Russ
With the current state of affairs in Nigeria, it’s understandable that many young people want to flee to other countries. This is especially true for young Nigerians.
I was born in America and sometimes Americans don’t appreciate all of the opportunities that are available to them
Being a native of America, I’m keenly aware of the consequences of living and working in America.
I’m going to list the top 5 reasons why Nigerians should NOT JAPA to the U.S. – especially now.
This will be a series:
Number 5: Loss Of Cultural Identity
Reason 5 why Nigerians should reconsider ‘JAPA-ing’ to the U.S. is because people who go to America tend to lose their sense of cultural identity to assimilate with the American culture. This is especially true among people of African descent.
For some strange reason, people of African descent who come to America are forced to assimilate within the American culture, forget about who they were in their homelands, change their names, change their religion – all in an effort to assimilate and to fit in with their American friends.
In no other culture, amongst NO other race of immigrants that migrate to the States is it required that they lose their identities, their culture or identities in order to assimilate with their new neighbors.
Hispanics can migrate to America – they can keep celebrating their holidays they celebrated back home, they can speak their regular languages, and they don’t change who they are as a people in order to assimilate with Americans even though they reside on American soil.
Asian people are another set of people that hold TRUE to their culture. They don’t change who they are, they don’t change how they speak and communicate to one another, they don’t change their traditions and culture so that they can fit in with Americans.
Indians, Arabians, people from Muslim countries, none of these people are asked to change who they are, change their names, or pretty much change their identity in order to get along with their new neighbors.
The question lends then….
Why people of African descent always feel the need to change who they are in order to assimilate with other peoples in countries that they decide to JAPA to?
Is it that the African culture and all of its different forms, cultures, and identities – is it so threatening to European, Asian, Australian, or any other countries where we are not the majority?
What is it about the African culture that is so appealingsa nd yet so threatening to the majority? Why is it that we have to change our dialect, our languages, the way that we speak to each other and to others, the way that we dress, the way that we worship, the way that we make music, dance, or entertain?
Why is it that our traditions, our rituals, & even our ancestral lineage is such a threat to others? It was so much a threat that after they took our ancestors and brought them to America, they stripped them of their names, their memories, their lineage, their identities.
They spent so much time, money and resources trying to make sure that the descendants of slaves would never find out who they really are!
I don’t think most Nigerians – especially young ones – really understand the wholesale effort, money, & witchcraft even that has been invested into hiding who we are as a people.
You don’t understand what they have done to wipe out the memory of people of African descent that were born in America!
I recently had a DNA ancestry test because I wanted to know about my lineage. My own research in America only help me trace my roots back to the late 1700s at most.
My great grandfather was a slave named John who reside sworked on a plantation in Florida. I researched my last name & found out that the first person who CAME TO America with that last name was an Irish man. I can assure you that I am NOT Irish!
I found out that my ancestors according to my DNA, I am 20% Nigerian! You don’t understand how happy I was to know that my connection to Nigeria was not just an emotional one! I was literally drawn back to where I came from!!!
So from the 1700s and before, there is this big blank in terms of who my ancestors are, where we came from, the names of our tribe, and what my real name is.
I know that most young people take for granted the importance of knowing your history, your lineage, knowing what your ancestors did & who they were.
As you get older in life, you begin to understand & appreciate your lineage, your heritage, where you come from.
Once you start to take for granted the importance of knowing your lineage & your heritage, you literally forget WHO YOU ARE!
When I migrated from the southern region of the U.S. & moved up north as a young woman, I had to shut off part of who I was, how I spoke, and I had to develop a new identity in order for me to be marketable, to be able to make it ‘up north.’
In the process of trying to make it, I lost a part of who I was. Young person – don’t let your ambition, wanting to succeed make you forget who you are in the process!
This is what America does!
Why do you think it’s called the big melting pot?
When you put a bunch of ingredients in a pot and start to cook them, they eventually take on the identity the smell and the taste of each other. While this has been advertised as a good thing to the world, this is a disaster for the person of African descent!