Books by Peter Erice Adotley Addo

How the Spider Became Bald: Folktales and Legends from West Africa  /  Talking Drums An Anthology of Poetry

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How a Black African Views 

His American Black Brothers

Cornish Rogers Interviews Peter Eric Adotley Addo

Addo: I will not attempt here to speak for the whole of Africa or, for that matter for all Africans, for there are as many answers to the questions you have asked as there are Africans. Yet I believe that what I have to say is in many ways representative of the views of large numbers of enlightened Africans. I want to make it clear that I have not come to these conclusions overnight, but rather from years of observations and of trying to understand both Africans and their way of life and Americans and their way of life. But I am also very much aware that if someone else were to answer these questions his answers would probably be different.

Rogers: Why do Africans invariably treat black Americans more as Americans than as brothers?

Addo: This is a very interesting question indeed. it goes back to the basic differences in the sociological background and the lifestyle of the African and the American. Before the African gets to the American continent he is practically in love with his black American brothers; he wants to identify with them to the point that he evens calls them his "overseas cousins."

But I think this question presents a problem. Let me put it this way. The black American who plans to visit Africa must first of all have a proper understanding of the African way of life. Unless he prepares himself, he will come to Africa thinking that because he looks black he will be automatically accepted as a brother. What the visiting American black is not aware of is that all his actions—the way he looks at things and the way he reacts to Africa and the African people—are very American.

He cannot help it—it comes naturally. He has internalized certain lifestyles which are completely different from those of the black African. thus you can see why the two will misunderstand each other; they are two different people brought up in two different countries, even though they may both be black. An African may see an American who looks like an African he knows, or an American may see an African who looks like a black American back home. But in reality they are total strangers to each other.

True, they are in sympathy with each other, but their images of each other are distorted by time, history, and circumstances.

There is, for instance, the simple problems of food and language. To the black American, African food will be unfamiliar and so will African language and behavior. All he knows is what he has seen on television and what he wants to see in African people. Usually he will react to an African dish just as a European will. On his part, the black African looks at his black American brother and says, "Well, he may look black, but he is something different: "He is European," or "He is American." 

Again, the black American generally expects to find in Africa the same conveniences that he has been accustomed to at home, and when he does not find them he complains. His African host does not understand such complaints. I have seen visiting black Americans going to European barber shops in Africa, rather than to black shops. Such incidents served to reinforce his host's distorted  image of the black American. generally, anyone who comes to Africa, whether he is black or white, should try to understand the culture of the people whose guest he is.

Most black Americans, being in many respects typical Americans, speak only one language, while the average African speaks his own language plus English or French. Nor will the visiting black American normally want to stay with the the African in the latter's own habitat but will rather go to the areas of the city that have been Westernized. the rank-and-file African will not understand, and you can see how this may become a problem. Also, the black American, like his white counterpart, usually sees the U.S.A. as the center of the universe, while the African is usually more international minded.

For the black Americans to be accepted, they must understand the people they are visiting. on the other hand, the host people need to understand them too.

II

Then there is this problem: recently I helped some 50 black American students to prepare for a summer visit to Africa. On their return I was shocked to find that most of them were much more fascinated with what they called "primitive Africa" than with the big cities and towns, the industrial part of Africa. This is understandable, but the African does not really want American blacks to return home full of ideas and impressions of "primitive people" running around naked in the rude villages. Not all Africans live in villages and not all Africans walk around naked or barefoot. What I am saying is that the black American who goes to Africa tends to find there the things and places that affirm his own subconscious negative impression of Africa. Perhaps this is due to brainwashing.

The African is a well mannered person, and there are certain things he will not do in public. Let us name just one thing that created a problem for a group of visiting students. The Africans were shocked to see them holding hands and even kissing in public may be all right in the United States, but it is wholly unacceptable in Africa, especially if students do it. The African student tends to be a little more secretive about displaying his affections. Education is a great privilege in Africa, and it is taken seriously.

I could cite many more reasons why the black American is not embraced as a brother immediately. I do believe, however, that when the two get to know each other and understand the problems inherent in each culture, they will finally appreciate each other and be able to live together.

III

I think it is unfair on the part on the part of the black American to expect the African to welcome him with open arms as soon as he sets foot on African soil just because he is black. The white American whose ancestors came from England or Ireland does not expect the English or the Irish to treat him as a fellow tribesman when he arrives among them; even a John Kennedy is an American visiting the land of his forbears. So it should be with the black American who goes to Africa. He is first of all an American. The only difference between him and white Americans is that his ancestors came from Africa. Let me say here, however, that I find that, usually, black Americans are able to explain democracy much more eloquently than white Americans. Africans usually find this very interesting.

Until recently most black Americans were not much interested in Africa because of what they had been told about that continent—how primitive it is, how poor and undeveloped. Now, all of a sudden, they want to go to Africa and identify with its black people. Since this is their initial attempt to get together with Africans, we must expect problems; it's not going to be just ice cream and cookies from the beginning.

As time goes by an we get to know each other, maybe both of us will change and become true friends. The important thing is for black Americans to learn the truth about Africa so that they can feel secure when they are there. They still have reservations—reservations that have been put there by years of brainwashing—and these show, even when they meet friendly Africans. So often I hear people ask, "Is it safe to go?" I have heard many black American women remark that, when they have the money, they will go to Europe rather than to Africa.

It seems to me that the more they travel outside the U.S. the better will black Americans learn to understand not only themselves but their African brothers. It is only when both of us are aware of our self-identity that we will be saved—when we both know who we are and where we stand, without having anything to hide or any reservations about the ability or the "primitiveness" of the other. 

IV

Rogers: Do Africans feel a sense of guilt about their ancestors' complicity in the slave trade?

Addo: Emphatically no! I did not enslave anybody, and slavery was practiced by a very small minority. The role of slavery in African society was minimal. We did not have slaves in the Western sense. Our ancient processes of apprenticeship have often incorrectly been called slavery. Slavery was an institution was a method of dealing with war captives and criminals. However, as the trade became profitable in the 18th century there were Africans who exploited the masses and, for example, attacked their neighbors for the sole purpose of capturing persons who could be sold to the Europeans. But no group was permanently marked as inferior and thus destined to be slaves.

So you see why I do not personally feel any sense of guilt about the possibility that somewhere along the line my ancestors or my friends' ancestors were instrumental in providing slaves for America. Let me put it this way: in every society there will be some who exploit the masses. I'm not saying that they did the right thing. I'm not commending them. But the system of slavery in Africa was different from that practiced in the West. For example, when the Ashantis overcame another people, they would take into Ashanti territory all the skilled laborers and craftsmen among the vanquished—not as slaves, but as conquered people. 

True, these victims had to live in exile in the land of the Ashantis and work for the Ashanti empire. But in this sort of slavery there was no inferiority complex. Being a slave did not make you an inferior human being, nor did it make you and your offspring slaves forever. If you were carried off into another country, you became part of that country. The only inconvenience was that you lived in a different country; but you were free, and nobody pointed a finger at you and said, "There goes a slave." You see, slavery in the West became something bad, something dehumanizing, and it marked you for life. It was only in the U.S.A. that this sort of dehumanizing process developed. 

Rogers: What do Africans visiting the United States think of American blacks and the black power movement?

Addo: This is indeed the most difficult of your questions, because, as I said before, I cannot speak for all Africans. There are as many reactions to the movement as there are Africans. But we can narrow it down by stating that their opinions about the black power movement will depend on their own background and on where they are living in the United States.

If a black African visitor lives on the West Coast, or in or near Atlanta or Detroit or Cleveland, he'll probably be very close to the movement; but if he is in an Ivy League college he will probably be isolated from it and will know only what he reads in the papers. If the African is in a predominantly white university in the South, he will have one impression; but if he is in a predominantly black university he will have quite another. Naturally, in the predominantly black university he can mix easily. He may have his own ideas of what black power means, but circumstances will force him to go long with the students on the campus. 

On the other hand, if he is in a predominantly white university, he may be thrown into a situation where he has to make a choice. Still, when the black power flag is raised you might find him neutral, because he doesn't want to jeopardize the nice things he gets from whites. On the other hand, if he has come face to face with hatred and discrimination, if he has come close to being molested or dehumanized, he will definitely support the black power movement.

Another problem is that there is no one definition of the black power movement. To the black student on the predominantly white campus, black power may mean making sure that he gets his way or that he can stand up like a man among the whites on campus. To the student in the predominantly black university, the situation is a little different, though it may mean essentially the same thing: making sure that his school stays the way it is. Usually the demands of black power advocates relate to what is happening in the big cities. So the African visitor's attitude toward black power depends on where he is.

If by black power you mean the power of the nonwhite world—the world that has been exploited, colonized and dehumanized—to unite in asserting its dignity and selfhood, then it is linked with the Pan-African struggle for unity on the African continent.

Source: Christian Century (September 6, 1972)

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updated 6 October 2007