"Go Back to Africa"

It is evident that, when comparing African Americans and Africans, there is a slight difference in DNA. This is clearly seen through physical characteristics, including the varying hair textures and skin colors that are seen in these individuals. 

Photo Courtesy of Soul Travel Multimedia

During the Atlantic slave trade, “nearly 400,000 Africans [were brought] over to the colonies and, later, the United States.” Furthermore, the slaves who were women were typically raped by their white slave master, essentially creating what are now considered African-American babies. Such behavior was typical for many slave homes, thus it eventually led to a mass creation of a new race in our society. 

Why does this matter? It is quite common to hear whites telling blacks to “go back to Africa,” which is honestly nothing more than a racist, ignorant statement. Think about that. Go back to Africa? Does that imply that I previously lived in Africa or that I belong there because of the color of my skin?

Just last March, at a Donald Trump protest, a white man screamed “go back to Africa” to a black women.

There are honestly two major problems that I have with this statement: it demonstrates that the person saying it is extremely dense, and that he or she is not aware of the fact that the majority of us in America do not actually originate from here.

I know that many of you already know this, but I figured I put it out there: we all originated from Africa. That’s right, “all living human beings are descendents of a small, innovative and ambitious set of people on the African continent.” Therefore, when I hear that Africans and blacks are the only ones associated with this continent, I cannot believe the stupidity. Not only are we all from Africa, but we are all NOT from America. Unless you are Native American, you are not able to call America your true homeland. 

Conveniently, our society likes to forget that the vast majority of blacks in this country are descended from people who were brutally ripped from their homeland and forced to be here. Moreover, whites saying this somehow believe themselves to be the 'natives' while thinking blacks are guests, or even intruders. 

Photo Courtesy of Buzzle

It will be immensely difficult to end the discrimination and prejudice against African Americans that has been instilled in so many institutions. I hope that you all have enjoyed my passion blog, Black Reality. I personally find it beneficial to sometimes step back and try to understand life in other people’s perspectives, and that was my main objective in centralizing on the idea of how it feels to be African American.

In all honesty, I was nervous to write about this topic because talking about racial issues in our society can be uncomfortable. Despite this truth, I hope that one day race is more openly discussed, and I would love to see interracial friendships and relationships become more normalized, especially here at Penn State.