Monday, July 22, 2013

My Husband's Grandfather was Born in Africa

My husband's grandfather was born in Africa.
He grew up speaking Swahili and English.
He ran around the jungle half naked as a child.
He went to college in England and Canada.
He became an OB-GYN.
He married, and moved to the United States of America.
He raised a family in Michigan.
He was an African-American.
His parents were the first Methodist missionaries to Africa.
He was born in Africa, grew up in Africa, but
he had white skin.

My neighbor calls himself an African-American.
He was born in the United States of America.
His mother and father were born in the United States of America.
Their parents and grandparents were also born in the United States of America.
He has never even visited Africa.
What makes him African-American?
He is an American, like I am, except
he has brown skin.

I once worked at a yarn store.
A black woman with an English accent came to shop.
The shop owner asked her,
“So, do you call yourself African-English?”
She was insulted, and replied that she was English.
She was born and raised in England.
Her skin color was immaterial.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I moderate comments only to keep fools from gumming up my pages with repetitive idiotic spam.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.