African Descendants ✊🏿 Black People - Americas, Africa, Caribbean Culture Discussion

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This is Candace Owens baby shower picture. There is absolutely nothing else that needs to be said

I think if anything changes her views it will be motherhood. Parenthood changes people. And eventually when her biracial child is mistreated by some authority figure or a so called 'friend' uses a slur who is 'just joking' it will hit home. In that moment, she'll wake up to reality. So we can only hope.
 
Admittedly, this describes me. I know my ancestors are predominantly Nigerian, Ghanaian and Congolese but home to me is Antigua and the nine other islands in which my family is rooted. Tbh I just started looking into my African roots a few years ago. Very few people in my family have any interest in anything beyond the Caribbean/North America.
Ethnogenesis has happened.

New identities are formed from the events of history. Genetically we know we are African. Some links remain culturally, aesthetically, and linguistically. But the mind is not inherently connected to Africa in the same way. I hope the comparison does not bring offense but we in the West whose parents or grandparents are not directly from Africa are in a similar position to many White Americans, Canadians, Argentines etc. and how they relate to Europe. We know where our roots come from, we know the links and the cultural lineage. But ultimately something new has been created. Something we were raised in and on some instinctive level we seem to prefer to the source material.

It might sound a little cold and nihilistic but life moves on. Most do not have the luxury to ponder on their origins beyond a generation or two. And even those who do rarely do more than make a visit, or buy a flag. You and your distant relatives live a different reality. Different political/legal histories, different understandings of religion, different geographies, different cultural encounters all make a difference. It might sound trivial and wordly, but these and much more factors do impact human behavior and understanding of self.

If I may make an example.

Genetically speaking, the largest ethnic subgroup in the United States is the German-American. From my research, they tried hard to remain culturally German while adopting American political values and allegiances. In much of the Midwest German language schools and cultural centers were common. Today almost no Americans speak German in the home except for the Mennonites and related sects who purposely seclude themselves from American society (and even they do not maintain any significant links with Germany, Austria, or Switzerland). World War I happened and in an effort to prove their loyalty to their new home (and in many cases their only home) German speaking ceased almost overnight.

Today many Americans know they are fully or partially of German ancestry. They may practice common German religions (Lutheranism, Catholicism, Anabaptist Protestantism), eat German foods on occasion, and maintain some cultural quirks (like being anal af about following the rules), maybe even learn a few words in high school or university. But they do not fundamentally understand the German experience. They do not have any immediate relatives who suffered under Communism. They do not carry the guilt of the atrocities of World War II. They do not know what it is like to have your entire educational and career trajectory decided by the time you are 12.

All these things might be small independently but in the aggregate add up to a new experience, a new way of looking at the world. Sure, some things transcend. But not enough for the average German and the average German American to look at one another and say, we are the same.

So it goes, whether we like it or not, with us as Diasporan Africans.
 
Good for you but I'm nothing more than glad for his success. I'm not the most pro-capitalism person in general, but I have zero heat or qualms for black capitalists. It's a fairly new concept that's a tiny grain of sand in the grand scheme, there just aren't enough of them. Black folks focusing on them like they're a problem comes across as fake concern. I put ya'll on to FD, doesn't mean I agree with everything he says.
 
:lol: :lol:

We are in a country that actively ignores the black community & tries to stifle it at any point, The whole society is ran on money & the accumulation of it. Telling black people capitalism is bad is asking for even worse slaughter. If there's no infrastructure available for us we need to build it & none of that gets done w/o capital.
 
Good for you but I'm nothing more than glad for his success. I'm not the most pro-capitalism person in general, but I have zero heat or qualms for black capitalists. It's a fairly new concept that's a tiny grain of sand in the grand scheme, there just aren't enough of them. Black folks focusing on them like they're a problem comes across as fake concern. I put ya'll on to FD, doesn't mean I agree with everything he says.

You bugging I put y’all on to FD
 
how/why so?

Diddy and Yeezy announcing they are boycotting Adidas is so tone deaf with this movement to try and support black owned brands. I'm not against them "boycotting" the brand, but we should have boycotted all these brands since day one.

I kinda get what Diddy is trying to do, but im rolling my eyes at the fact that these 2 damn near 50 year old billionaires are just NOW getting the picture.
 
Diddy decrying poor business practices and not treating creatives with respect is dubious considering his past.

It’s all angelic and social justice when it’s not you not stealing the money. My man probably going to her daughters boyfriend telling him you should be a loyal and faithful man. Meanwhile…

And it’s hilarious…adults and kids have probably lost their lives for these Nike/adidas/etc shoes. Meanwhile Shaq got the Walmart specials but kids get clowned and no one recognizing the man for dropping affordable shoes.
 
Diddy and Yeezy announcing they are boycotting Adidas is so tone deaf with this movement to try and support black owned brands. I'm not against them "boycotting" the brand, but we should have boycotted all these brands since day one.

I kinda get what Diddy is trying to do, but im rolling my eyes at the fact that these 2 damn near 50 year old billionaires are just NOW getting the picture.

what is ‘this movement?’ why/to what end would ‘boycotting’ these brands amount to??

Diddy decrying poor business practices and not treating creatives with respect is dubious considering his past.

It’s all angelic and social justice when it’s not you not stealing the money. My man probably going to her daughters boyfriend telling him you should be a loyal and faithful man. Meanwhile…

And it’s hilarious…adults and kids have probably lost their lives for these Nike/adidas/etc shoes. Meanwhile Shaq got the Walmart specials but kids get clowned and no one recognizing the man for dropping affordable shoes.

😂 i thought that funny about diddy’s stance as well…but i get it

the interesting thing about the whole yeezy/adidas/gap thing is, without knowing the terms of their agreement(s), it kinda seems foolish that ye wouldn’t have known they would draft off his designs & influence for the corporate brand…being that almost every brand has something like a good, better, best product strategy…as well them deciding to churn out colorways of past yeezy models…just seems like a leverage play by ye, which i guess is all in the game, especially if the numbers (yeezy being some disproportionate amount of adidas overall footwear sales) are true
 
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Diddy could counter…did you read the contract? So can Adidas?

But if Kanye can pull a Dave Chapelle (strong arming Comedy Central to giving him the rights to the Chapelle Show through an information campaign to sway the public)…cool.
 
Diddy could counter…did you read the contract? So can Adidas?

But if Kanye can pull a Dave Chapelle (strong arming Comedy Central to giving him the rights to the Chapelle Show through an information campaign to sway the public)…cool.

😂 exactly! another hypothetical aside is if yeezy were truly a standalone brand would it be able to maintain whatever level of consistency, price, output, & quality without being attached to the larger brand’s economies of scale & manufacturing…so i really can’t imagine either side walking away from each other
 
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Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the infrastructure, distribution, etc.

But my man has been learning. Can’t front that he’s not a huge influencer and player.
 
Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the infrastructure, distribution, etc.

But my man has been learning. Can’t front that he’s not a huge influencer and player.

😂 despite his best effort(s) this has undeniably been true!
 
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