First & foremost let me give all praises due to the Black Star Nation that fought & earned their win against the USA fair & square as we like to say in America & let me congratulate the USA for assembling a great team that showed the world that America is & will be a true contender & winner to the global sport of Futbol/Football -the one that actually uses the foot!

I was not surprised by the sadness & anger by my fellow Americans after a sad defeat at the hands of the same Black Star team that quelled their dreams of group advancement in the World Cup of 2006 with the exact same score that sent them home in the first world cup on African soil; however I am disgusted by the level of venom, endless debates in poor sportmanship of a small number of American fans who showed their true colors in their inability to accept defeat gracefully. I have had to listen to endless foolish & even racist sentiments telling me that “I should not bite the hand that feeds me”, that if I am not supporting team USA agianst the nation whose blood runs thru me that “I need to consider going back to that nation instead of reaping the benefits of living in America”- whaaaaat? Are we back in the 1960’s America? Oh actually no this is new decade 2010 America, a half a century after Civil Rights, Black Liberation, Jim Crowe  separate but equal etc., where racial tensions, xenophia and all types of “mad isms” are emboldened more than ever, even though we like to pretend that change has come & having a Black president puts us in some sort of “post racial America”. Give me a break! Many people will get mad at me for this, but I honestly do not give a damn because it is time that we truly pull up the rug & clean up the dirt. What started as the usual sports, Muhammed Ali, Michael Jordan type of smack talk before the game between Ghana & the USA turned into some sort of referendum on patriotism peppered with racist language, backward xenophobic ideology & retelling & rewriting of history after the USA lost. As Harriet Beecher Stowe said: “The truth is the kindest thing we can give…”

“No One knows when the hour of Africa’s redemption cometh. It is in the wind, it is coming. One day a storm will be here. When that day comes, all Africa will stand together.” Marcus Garvey

Africa stood together as one on saturday cheering on the only African team to win a game at the first world cup on African soil, along with being the only African team to make it out of group play in 2006 & again in 2010 as Africa’s only hope. There was tremendous pressure on the Black Stars with an entire continent riding on their back to bring the  much needed hope that Africa longed for at the time when Dr. Kwame Nkrumah declared freedom for an independent Black Star Nation to 2010 when the Black Stars would once again represent the pride, might & future of Africa. Africa by the way of the Black Star nation once again stepped up to the plate of history to prove that Yes We GYAN- in a modern day era of Nkrumah’s black star nation & stance which proved the liberation & win for Ghana will catalyze a new wind of change calling for African unity & continental liberation.

“I made it quite clear that from now on – today – we must change our attitudes, our minds, we must realise that from now on, we are no more a colonial but a free and independent people..That new African is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all, the black man is capable of managing his own affairs. We are going to demonstrate to the world, to the other nations, that we are prepared to lay our own foundation.Our own African identity. We are going to create our own African personality and identity. It’s the only way that we can show the world that we are ready for own own battles. We have awakened. Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa. We will not sleep anymore. Today, from now on, there is a new African in the world!” Osageyfo Kwame Nkrumah -Independence Day Speech

After listening to some of the ignorant, disrespectful & borderline racists ESPN commentators & to the words & venom from some American fans, I am overjoyed that the Black Stars took this one for Africa because even if Ghana doesn’t win another game after this, this win was enough to  make the world take notice & to get under the skin of many to show their true colors by showing that somethings never change even in the euphoria of the Obama “change we can believe in” & in unity as a nation of immigrants that shows the global world what a melting pot nation should look like. Shame on the soar losers & those who tried so hard with their venomous words & disrespect to spoil the celebrations for Ghana/Africa & to take away from & taint the fact that the USA team played well & got further than they did the last world cup, but they just once again fell short to a Black Star team that was faster, younger & showed more skill & desire to win not just for a nation but for an entire continent.

“Ghana, the only team from Africa to make it out of the group phase, was matched against the United States on Saturday. If this were just a game, there is no question where my rooting interest would lie: Go U.S.A. But this was more than a match, just as the World Cup in Africa is more than an event. This was in part a referendum on whether a sub-Saharan nation with black leadership could pull off a mega-event. My heart was with the United States, but I was pulling for Africa. Not Ghana. Africa. As much as this match meant to United States soccer, Ghana’s success could be a catalyst for a long-term psychological boost. This isn’t about patriotism, but about continuing the push to keep this important giant on the right track.Sports can heal. Let Africa be Exhibit A.” Read More

USA was taken down by the same team that stopped them from advancing in group play the last world cup, so why act like it was so unexpected instead of showing respect to a team that has proven themselves not once but twice in the same match up? Over confidence & lack of respect for Africa will get you every time! Big Ups to team USA for a job well done & boo to all the naysayers who showed lack of sportsmanship & disrespect for an African team who had already proven themselves! I am frankly sick & tired of the general global lack of respect for Africa, Africans & their descendants around the world & the fact that many globally think there is nothing wrong with it or it’s par for the course because after all Africa has been the dumping ground & pillage ground for most of the world for centuries & it continues even today.

I am tired of being an upaid educator for people who choose to be ignorant because for them “igorance is bliss”.  How can you say Ghana has no chance against the USA because Michael Essien-the top paid African player in the world, is not on this year’s squad eventhough the new squad of  young players who are the youngest squad in the world cup beat Brazil in the under 20 World Cup  & almost single handedly brought down the champion Pharoahs of Egypt in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, which Michael Essien & his more experienced crew could not do for Ghana even with home field advantage  in 2008.  How can you say Michael Essien is the best player Ghana has ever had when you are ignorant on the history of the Black Stars with world reknown players like Anthony Yeboah & Abedi Pele?  How can you just disregard & disrespect proven winners by saying they can’t score & have only been able to advance because of penalty kicks without recognizing the superb defense of the players & superior play of our  goalie, Kingson ? How can you underestimate a team that has already beaten you once before on the same world stage? All of this disregard & disrespect came to a head to the peril of ignorant naysayers  & an overconfident USA team that as Landon Donovan himself said were naive to Ghana’s play.

The world cup is a wake up call for the emancipation of Global Africans everywhere who choose to deny Africa when Africa has never denied them, as the world at large refuses to let them forget that they are descendants of the Africa they choose to deny when it is convenient or involves the so called “hand that feeds them”. I was not expecting non-Africans to root for Ghana against the USA, but I was atleast expecting some sort of goodwill solidarity toward Ghana from so called African-Americans, who themselves chose to identify themselves as African-Americans at a time of good intentions in finding solidarity in a common global black struggle for freedom by embracing an identity that was taken from them by a nation that refused to accept them as just Americans, but that whole idea has been lost on many generations & has subsequently been used by White America to further a purpose of separatism & divisiveness. I had my own wake up call in recognizing the fact that not all skinfolk are kinfolk & not all non-skinfolk are enemies as I was congratulated by friends from all over the world on the Black Star win.

As we watch the Black faces of African descendants on the European teams & the teams of the Americas, it is very obvious that their ancestry comes from the very land that they have decided to forego or deny in play for the nations of their former enslavers/colonizers & their settlements created after they were done with their slave labor & colonizations. The irony, beauty & greatness of the world cup is that it is the perfect example of one having the choice to be on the side of birth nation or biological roots- which brought Kevin Prince Boateng from his German birth nation to score the first goal against the USA for Ghana’s Black stars, while it kept his brother Jerome Boateng in solidarity with his birth nation of Germany which led the two brothers to have to play against one another even though they share the same blood & last name from their Ghanaian father. This is not just representative of the world cup but also the make-up of today’s world & our global fusions!

The world seems to think it’s ok to disrespect the same African nations whose children are coveted by teams all over the world to help them win championships without giving any thought to our so called global connection thru Africa, which also historically & scientifically encompasses the roots of the world which some claim when it’s convenient while many others like to deny by all means. Africa has touched the entire world by force/malice & by choice/goodness whether anyone likes it or not & the world cup is ironically & symbolically telling of that. Africans & their descendants are everywhere in the world in positions of power, but no matter where it is in the world they still face the same exact disrespect & global inferiority complex that would have someone who is the best in class be questioned that they were accepted to an ivy league university or granted a high paying & high powered job because of some sort of affirmative action initiative, the same disrespect & put upon global inferiority complex that allows cops to stop & frisk, jail, beat & murder more black boys/men in America than any other group, the same disrespect & put upon global inferiority complex that allows blatant racism & questioning of the patriotism of the first black president in America as just a part of practicing basic American freedom of speech, the same disrespect & put upon global inferiority complex that allows xenophic laws to be put in place in America with very little resistance , the same disrespect & put upon global inferiority complex that allows cab drivers to pass by any Black person in favor of a White passenger, the same disrespect & put upon global inferiority complex that has put France in a national debate on patriotism & has brought riots to Italy, the same disrespect & put upon global inferiority complex that makes European club fans think it is OK to shout racial epithets & throw bananas at African players as just basic taunting & tomfoolery in sports, the same disrespect & put upon global inferiority complex that made me have to defend Ghana, Africans and my own patriotism because certain people could not accept defeat gracefully because it came at the hands of those that they have globally disrespected for centuries. Are we really in a post racial America or a post racial world & when are we all going to get real with ourselves and have real talk about this undying issue that has haunted the world at large for generations?

I spent a weekend of celebration of the  Black Stars hearing stories of the type of global “White privilege” that allowed a Puerto Rican woman in the west village who was telling her son to stay away from a dog owned by a White woman to be told blatantly to her face that her son does not have to be afraid of the dog because the dog is not from the Bronx, while the same White woman who said those fighting words was shocked that her words would send the Puerto Rican woman in a violent rage after she had just humiliated her in front of her young son. I had to sit in a courtroom as I waited for a Jewish female lawyer representing my Harlem landlord who failed to abide by a court ordered agreement to fulfill certain renovations in my apartment, as she went on in conversation for about 10 minutes with a Jewish male attorney talking about how she tried to hire another lawyer, who was out of work, to help her with her workload who refused the job because she didn’t feel that Harlem was a safe place for her to come to -as the lawyer that was doing the hiring said “I don’t know why she doesn’t want to come there it’s pretty safe now, even I go there at night”- with complete disregard to the fact that as a Black woman living in Harlem , I would be offended by that type of conversation in my presence while being forced to wait for her to finish the conversation to attend to my business. I held my breath & summed up my inner Zen to not be the stereotypical angry Black woman who wanted so badly to just tell her off & suggest that maybe she should look in Harlem for the many Black lawyers that I know who are out of work & would be more than happy to work & stay in their community, which is quickly being gentrified by the same people who the first thing they ask any Harlem realtor is “Is it safe”, but would not think to ask that on the Upper East side, where they were having many women being raped, because after all the make-up of the neighborhood determines safety for some people.

This is the same “White Privilege” that had my male White friend walking with me thru Harlem as we witnessed a Black man getting stopped & frisked, happily ready to find commonalty in telling me about his own story which he thought was so hilarious when he & another White male friend had been stopped in the East Village by the police who told them that they fit the description of two Puerto Rican guys that they were looking for & how he was shocked that the cab driver passed my female cousin by in Harlem as if he had not lived in New York for 10 plus years & dated & hung around enough Black people to not be so oblivious & dumbfounded by the fact that this type of blatant racism goes on daily- but I guess ignorance is bliss when you have the privileged to find humor in being stopped and told you fit the description by cops as a random occurrence in your life instead of an everyday part of life that many Black boys/men face. I am tired of those who like to act like they are so oblivious to the obvious & who choose to keep their mouths shut when they see injustice just because it doesn’t directly effect them. I actually have more respect for the KKK, Glenn Becks & Rush Limbaughs of the world than I do for the so called liberal civil rights champions like Bill Clinton whose true colors come out when their postions of power are challenged by the same people they claim to champion in equality & freedom because at least with the latter it is straight forward & you will always know what you are going to get. Don’t get me wrong, I actually generally like Bill Clinton & think his foundation has done many great things for the the plights of the world, but it is clear that his supposedly altruistic intentions toward helping Black people all over the world is based  more on his personal benefit, shine & global recognition, so because of that I am extremely weary of what will go on in Haiti under his watch.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

I had to have a long drawn out unexpected debate with a good friend of mine who got so offended that I didn’t give him enough time to mourn the loss of the USA before I called him for the usual smack talk & giggles banter that we had always shared with one another. He got so angry with me celebrating Ghana that he hung up the phone on me & proceeded to write me an e-mail that said that maybe I should consider living in the nation that I was rooting for. Wow! was all I could think because I really didn’t know it was that deep to warrant getting hung up on & going to the lowest & oldest xenophobic denominator of American history which fails to recognize that this is a nation built by immigrants collectively, whether they came by force or willingly; therefore America as we know it is an accumulation of the cultures of many nations, so no one outside of the natives who were pushed aside in the pursuit of manifest destiny can claim America as any more theirs than any of the children & descendants of immigrants who make up America. My friend did see the error of his ways & language & did apologize -but it goes to show the devil of unconsciousness can be found even in the most well meaning conscious people.

As an African-American born in America who claims Africa & Ghana in particular as the foundation of my roots, the USA is just as much mine as it is anyone one else’s who calls themselves an American & perhaps even more mine because the so called “hand that feeds me” was made possible by years of forced unpaid labor of my ancestors –so nothing has been given to me or any other African descendant by the USA –whatever benefits we reap were made possible by our ancestors & since we will never collect reparations as the Jews have for the Holocaust, I suggest Americans who like to spew this type of divisive evil- shut the hell up & refrain from any such further statements in ignorance because NO, I will never forget about slavery as much as America encourages Jews to never forget about the holocaust. In my American freedom of choice, I choose to recognize & pay homage to my ancestors by supporting Africa- the home they never were allowed to go back to because they had to build America which never allowed them to reap any benefits from their labor.

Me cheering for Africa does not equal me hating America, but ignorance & divisiveness would have many choose to believe that scenario instead of understanding history & why any African descendent would choose to cheer for Africa, particularly during the first world cup in Africa that has so much riding on the future of the continent as a whole more so than it has riding on the future of America. I went on to tell this lovely gentleman friend of mine that America forces me to check a box which clearly states African-American, where Africa is put first, so why should anyone in America be angry that I act accordingly by putting Africa first. This turned into a debate where he went on a diatribe about how he felt the title African-American should be abolished completely and  how I somehow should help lead that charge :

“I find it laughable that a white person who was raised their entire life in africa and gets US citizenship 15 minutes ago is called a “white person” while a black kid from Chicago who’s never left Illinois, couldn’t find Africa on a map, who’s family has been here for three times as long as mine is referred to as an african american, solely based on his skin tone….for me it all goes back to the late eighties when black americans were trying to break out their own identity and afrocentric became “theirs” and gave them solidarity (and Queen Latifah’s hat)… well the word is really out of date now and does more harm than good in my opinion, including stigmatizing people, of all races, with darker skin tones stating white is a fine adjective and implying that “black” is something to be ashamed of….frankly the only way this will change is if people of color make an effort to change it…. how do you think a white politician would sound making these arguments or “telling black people what to call themselves” ?…. black americans are extremely sensitive, and rightfully so, about the verbiage that has been used to describe them over hundreds of years and i feel strongly that any change in the census boxes will be coming from forward thinking, American black leaders who understand the deeper implications (Aretha Sarfo anyone?)….i think the word African-American does a lot of damage that many people of color, and the white devils, don’t recognize including the ongoing prejudice issue, that exists around the globe, that there is somehow something intrinsically worse or less desirable about being dark skinned and the bias it foments…I’ve always thought this word is one of the stupidest ever, and I’m surprised we haven’t had this conversation before, but in this case I feel like there’s not a goddamned thing any white folks can do with this one, except to maybe stir up with the influential black folks they know, i.e. YOU, and let them know if they want to change it they can. (I think most white people don’t care how black people choose to be addressed they just want consistency, less confusion and less than six syllables)..”

As much as I can see where he is coming from in the fact that this title has caused confusion & divisiveness in it being used against Black Americans who do not in anyway claim Africa nor have any allegiance to Africa, I also can acknowledge the fact that this whole issue & its implications to Black/White American relations is not my battle to fight with America in general for Black America because I am deeply rooted in my African-Americaness where I can trace my entire family for generations to specific places in Ghana, so I have no confusion of my allegiances & I can never really relate nor understand what it is like to be in that middle passage type of limbo that Black Americans have had to live with for generations, so I would never have the audacity to say it is the “stupidest word ever”  particularly when it describes me & neither should anyone who has not lived it. To me Black Americans have more claim to this land than most White Americans, but that’s just my hypothesis based in historical fact. Black Americans who have no interest in claiming Africa do need to fight to claim America as their own instead of continuing to be marginalized in a modern era middle passage where they have no allegiance to Africa because they are so far removed, yet they are still labeled & treated as not fully 100% American when America is the only nation they have know for countless generations.

Maybe there needs to be a redefinition of Black America in dropping African-American which has already come up for debate in the Black community in America. It is not up to me as a first generation African-American to decide that for generations of people & it is surely not up to any White American to call Black America’s history which they have only played the part in from a dictatorial outside looking in  standpoint to say their chosen title of African-American is “inappropriate or stupid” or to bring it up for debate, unless they are ready for a battle & to be possibly called outside their given name. Unfortunately what was done as a way of Black America having global solidarity & identity as every other immigrant in America had during the era of the Black Liberation Movement & Pan-Africanism has been used to remind African descendants that they will never be considered as just Americans, but rather the descendants of enslaved Africans & many Black Americans have accepted that even though they refuse to acknowledge, show solidarity or any type of allegiance to Africa, which was the original intention.

“Today’s idea: American-born blacks shouldn’t call themselves “African-American” because now there are many more people in the United States who were actually born in Africa, a black linguist and commentator says” READ MORE

A European who just came to this country a couple of decades ago will have children who are considered just Americans & will never have to check any box to suggest that they were not purely American, like Russian –Americans, Italian-Americans etc. but African descendants whose ancestors have been in this country from the start are boxed in as African-Americans. It’s easy to dish out the hypocrisy, but when it does not benefit America when someone like me chooses to pledge my allegiance in a football game to Africa then I am supposed to remember that I am American first even though that is not what the label African-American implies. Blacks in Europe are not called African-Italians, African-Britons, etc. & Whites in Africa are not called German-South Africans, French-Malians, British-Ghanaians, Italian-Kenyans etc. America was the last to abolish slavery, the only slave nation that has never given any type of real on the books acknowledgment toward reparation to the descendants of those who they enslaved or even remotely apologized for it on the books as many European nations involved in the slave trade have done to some extent. America actually has their first Black President who is against reparations & one of the top scholars on Black history who has angered many in the Black community by suggesting that Africans & European/American slave masters share equal blame for slavery & somehow should split the cost of reparations.

If  you deny the Holocaust or make anti-Semitic remarks in Germany you are subject to be imprisoned, but if you tell Black Americans to get over whining about slavery or make racists remarks toward Black people  in America you are likely to get your own radio or TV show on Fox or even a Disney affiliate. I have been made well aware in America & on my travels to Europe & even parts of South America that as long as your skin is Black, you will always be associated with Africa whether you like it or not. Africa to Europeans & Americans will always be as good as its people in their eyes & vise versa, so Global Africans need to wake up & accept that fact or figure out a way to change history! I am not calling for a new era back to Africa Garveyite movement because as Marcus Garvey himself said -”I have no desire to take all black people back to Africa; there are blacks who are no good here and will likewise be no good there.”

We need to practice & not just speak on this idea of unity amongst Africa & her Diaspora to help build & develop Africa in order for any African descendant to get any respect anywhere in the world. Generations of European, Middle Eastern & Asian immigrants have done so in their native lands, so why can’t we? In denying Africa, African descendants are only denying themselves. Only time will tell if America will ever accept African descendants as just Americans without reminding them of where & how their ancestors came to America- so until then I will continue to be a proud Ghanaian –American/African-American, who puts Africa first without it meaning that I hate America because I also am part of what made America.

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves. Be the change that you want to see in the world. ” -Mohandas Gandhi

Let’s start remaking ourselves by acknowledging & accepting our own evils & truths with our  greatness, by being the change we want to see if we really want to remake a world based on peace, freedom and equality!

Ghana VS USA 2006 World Cup Win

Repeat in 2010 for all those who failed to believe!