US
Race: White Privilege, Black Disadvantage
In a recent article - “Saying Sorry For Slavery Isn’t Enough” - that I wrote for the Guardian about the US House of Representatives’ apology for slavery, one of the readers made a comment to the effect that he/she is white and is sick of hearing about race.
This type of comment is one that particularly [...]
Obama & The Rest Of The World
If the rest of the world could vote in the American elections, Barack Obama would certainly win. The adulation that he was greeted with on his tour of Europe, the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan show as much. Obama symbolizes a great deal to a world fed up with President Bush.
Americans, however, seem not to [...]
Transcending Race - Don’t Talk Nonsense!
[Taken from a blog post written in February 2008]
The notions of ‘transcending race’ and ‘post-racial politics’ are not only nonsensical but rather troubling. Although people use the terms as though they are a cause for celebration, when you read between the lines you find that they actually carry with them inherently racist ideas.
Here’s why…
1) The dictionary definition of [...]
Do You Want To Be A Nigga?
Since I’ve been living in America, one thing that has shocked me is the amount of racial terminology and general derogatory language that people use. ‘Nigga’, ‘bitch’, ‘cracker’, ‘muthaf***a’ - I hear them all… and often.
Until I came here, I thought that the N word was used mainly in music, until I realized that it really [...]
The Global African-American influence
I had already visited America a number of times prior to coming here to live. But that’s not how I am able to sing RnB songs, or how I’m able to rap full verses from artists like Common, Jay Z, Biggie and Tupac or even much older hip hop groups. It’s not how I understand [...]