Sonari is Mixed

This is an interview I conducted for Vocalo.org some time ago, in which a Black man (NPR’s Sonari Rhodes Glinton) concedes he is “mixed”: Half African and Half African-American.  At first listen, the categorization sounds almost comical, but consider his viewpoint: one major factor in Ethnicity is culture… and no one can argue that Africans and African-Americans aren’t culturally distinct.  Above is a picture of dear Sonari (many moons ago):

Listen to a few minutes of his story below:

Sonari is Mixed

On a similar topic, the culture clash (and level of misunderstanding) between Africans and African-Americans has always tripped me out (i.e. Fela Kuti was not swinging on vines).

I discovered a blog recently that a very gracious African set up to address pervasive, negative stereotypes (plus, it’s really funny):

http://stuffafricanpeoplehate.com/

here’s a taste:

from “The Name Debacle”

Posted July 2, 2008 by stuffafricanshate

“Damn,” one of them said after hearing one of the names.

Behind me was a family dressed in traditional Nigerian garb that were hissing their teeth at what was becoming quite an uncomfortable and condescending situation.

“If that were a white person down there saying Juanita or DaShauna or Fredricka and laughing, black people would walk out in offense,” said one Nigerian woman behind me.

“Well, maybe he should have used an American name,” said another.

Pause.

I had to Zack Morris (step outside of) the situation and analyze what was happening.

Here on darkjive, there’s an earlier post in which Steve Walsh and I talk about the ad below, and why it “ruffles my feathers” (as opposed to “shakes my tailfeather” [okay. that was just silly]). Then, a Nigerian puts his two cents in.