His Point of View

If you have read much of my blog you know that I have been around the world a couple of times.  I encourage all Americans, especially young African Americans to go beyond the borders of this country, and go farther than the Caribbean. When you travel you change.  When you travel you change the people and the land you are visiting.  When you see how the rest of the world lives you can have a better idea of how you fit into the world.  Not only will you grow and become a better person, but you will teach the people you encounter how diverse America is, beyond what they see on television (assuming that you venture beyond the traditional tourist areas, and you actually interact with the local citizens).  The majority of the world only sees the images that movies, music videos, and the daily news display of African Americans.  As we all know those images are not the complete picture of our culture or lifestyle.

Recently I was having a conversation with a woman I work with, who was born in South Korea.  Once she learned that I had visited her native land not only did we have a lot to talk about, but she also asked me how I was treated when I was there.  She asked because she knows that many South Koreans born in the last 30 years have not seen people of African descent in person and in many cases they have no knowledge of us beyond music videos.  Music videos…Music Videos… Music Videos…It’s terribly disappointing and sad that most of the world is exposed to African Americans via music videos.  Currently there are not many positive or accurate images African American culture i

When I was waling the streets of South Africa I was speaking to a local citizen and he made it clear to me that even many people of Africa think that most African Americans are gangsters and rappers.  The world in general has no concept of the middle class African American lifestyle and they want to learn just as much from us, as we want to learn from them when we visit their land.

There is a lot to see in the world, there is life beyond Jamaica, go and see as much of it as you can, before you can’t.  Not that I have anything against Jamaica…I am just saying that there are other options especially if you have been there a couple times.

August 5, 2009

I wanted to take a moment to thank the 1,935 people from 67 countries (update: as of Aug. 20, 2009 the count is 2474 visitors from 76 countries) who have visited this blog since I started it on May 22, 2009.  I never imagined I would have a global presence in such a short time.  But at the same time, I an never satisfied so tell a friend to tell a friend to come here and see what’s on my mind, and hopefully I can inspire you to strive for a better future, and add a little humor to your life at the same time.  The map above shows every place on Earth where someone has read my blog as of August 5, 2009.  The darker the color the more  readers I have had from that country.  So get the word out, I want to see a lot more dark countries on the map.   Please Contact me  and let me know what is going on in your part of the world, I would love to research more topics and post them for the world to see.  I want to use this site to expose all of my readers to the best that the world has to offer, and educate my readers on the things that exist/happen that do not get widespread media coverage.  Spread the word… I love new visitors and I love new subscribers even more.

And for those who like competition the countries in the top 10 are :

1. USA         

2. Canada

3.  United Kingdom

4. Australia

5. Germany

6. Netherlands

7. France

8. Belgium

9. Ireland

10. India

And tied for last place are:  Iraq, Mozambique, Pakistan, Cyprus, Bangladesh, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Israel, Peru, Moldova, Belarus, Lebanon, Lithuania, Venezuela, Peru, and Paraguay.  I am thankful for all of the people from these places who have visited, and I realize that access is a challenge in many places but let’s work to change that… let your presence on the internet be known.  When the world knows that there is a desire for cheaper internet services globally service providers will find a way to bring these services to you.

I know that we get this message all the time, but there is a good reason it must be repeated.  If you are making strides for success and you are reaching for a particular goal (or several) then its easy to become focused on reaching that milestone and miss out on other important things in life.  When we get locked into accomplishing a single thing we can forget to slow down and really take a day to experience life.  We only get one life to live, and we never know when our time will be up, so take a day once a month or at least once a quarter and go off the grid. go somewhere beyond the reach of your cell phone service provider’s signal and enjoy the pleasures and serenity offered by this Earth we reside on, and the presence close family and/or friends.

This past weekend I did just that.  I spent practically a whole day on a canoe trip and it was the first time in over a year that I spent a whole day completely unplugged (except for the GPS features on my phone that is…LoL) and one with nature.  Life is good, if you allow it to be good to you.

After all, what good is success if you can’t enjoy what life has to offer?

Let me start with a disclaimer:

I love rap music, I grew up in the 1980′s so it is a part of who I am.  I kind of, sort of like Soulja Boy and many of the artisit who rap about money and drugs while they “…say the word nigga like it makes their teeth white.”- (excerpt form an interview of Paul Mooney, not related to the topic at hand, or the rap industry at all)

Ok, so I like many of the people I am about to discuss… but I like their music, not necessarily their message.  I am a fan of good music yet some of the lyrical content is disturbing to me.

Last year I took a trip to South Korea. This year I took a trip to South Africa. You may ask, What’s the  common thread  here? And if you were to ask I would say the influence of American “urban culture” (the hip hop/rap culture).  When I stepped off the plane in Korea I had no idea that I would not see another person of African descent (aside from the one friend who I knew from college) for 3 solid days, furthermore I only recall coming in contact with two people of European descent for those 3 days as well. But that’s not the point of this post.  The point of this post is that despite being on the other side of the Earth I was surrounded by American hip hop culture and rap music… and all of it was not good in my opinion.

As I wandered the streets of Seoul, Gapeyong, Chuncheon, and Bukmeyon (surprisingly it appears that I spelled all of those places correctly on my first attempt… I am improving at this memory thing) I was greeted by young adult Koreans who could speak some English as a result of it being a required course in the public schools there.  I was not greeted as you may imagine, by a smile, a handshake, a hello, or Ahn Yong hasehyo…but rather with a dance.  What dance you ask??? The “Crank that Soulja boy dance.” The first two occurrences caused me to think that it was  it was interesting that they were familiar with our culture… But I was in Korea for 8 days and by day 3 I was thoroughly disappointed that the “Crank that” dance is the first thing that comes to mind when these people see a black man from America.   There was one particular day when I had to endure 3, maybe 4 live performances; in the bus station, on the side walk, in the mall…everywhere I went people would break out into the Soulja Boy dance before approaching me.  Once the dancing was over I had decent conversation… well after they asked if I knew Andre 3000, Soulja Boy, 50 Cent, and so on.  Ok, so  you are probably thinking that I am over reacting, or that its no big deal, or that its good that our culture is accepted world wide.  Well if only it were that simple. Outside of Seoul the Korean people were not familiar with African Americans aside from what they saw in music videos.  And that is the disturbing part.  Imagine that half of the world literally, knows nothing about you, your culture, and your experiences, except for what they see in music videos.  Well you don’t have to imagine, because that’s pretty much the truth.  The few television shows and movies that show a decent view or even a positive view of life as an African American are not translated or even aired around the world but music videos certainly are.

What about South Africa?  Well my experience there was somewhat different.  Well it definitely was not an issue with race, because mostly everyone there was black or coloured(in Africa there is certainly a difference between being black and coloured).  But there as I wrote yesterday there was a disconnect from what they imagined life in America was like compared to the reality of life here is for an African American.  But still the hip hop culture was pervasive.  They have a whole other genre of music in S. Africa, which is a blend of hiphop/rap style and African song styles and African drum rhythms.  This is in addition to the standard mainstream rap artists we have here in the states.  Unlike in Korea, I did not hear any American rap played in the bars or in people’s cars as I wandered around town.  But it was still clear that their Young urban class was heavily influenced by ours.

I decided to try not to make this post too negative.  I could have gone on about who needs to clean up what, and how our rappers and record labels are not considerate of how the world views “urban America”  but I think any reasonable person an connect the dots.  What will say is that if more of these celebrities took a day when on tour to see the real behind the scenes look of how their foreign fans live, they would not be able to continue to produce much of the stereotypical, garbage that is being promoted these days.  If they really got to see what is going on in the world when they tour or vacation they would have to be completely selfish and motivated purely by money if they did not change their ways.  That is not who I want representing my culture.

Richard Pryor was formerly the king of the word nigga/nigger but even he said that when he went to Africa he stepped off the plane and he did not see any niggers/niggas.  And upon his return to the states he was determined to stop using the word in his skits.   Travel should change who you are, if it does not, you are not stepping far enough outside your familiar routine and that is unfortunate.   But it is clear to me that many entertainers from the inner city are not exposed to what life is like outside of the bubble in which they live.  If only they had a clue as to the influence they have on the world. Few entertainers have the power to start or stop a trend on their own… but when 5 mediocre to average artists perpetuate a similar theme or stereotype, it infects the world just the same.

The generation that was raised on and still thrives on rap/hip hop is about to be in the world’s driver’s seat… we need to act like it.   If you must “Represent” at least do a good job of it, and make sure you put some real thought into what and who you are representing.

On another note… I came across this video today of a street poet & musician and I wanted to share it.  Check out the entire clip if you can, at the least just enjoy the music(starting at 0:48).  Click Here

Before I cover the pleasant and fun side of my trip to Cape Town, South Africa I want to discuss a conversation I had with a homeless man who I spoke with while on a walk there.   Aside from the Atlanta Braves baseball cap I was wearing I think I managed to fit right in with the local pedestrian crowd in Cape Town.  Unlike the Caucasian visitors who were constantly bothered by locals attempting to peddle goods, while walking blindly & trying to read a map with their cameras strapped across their chest, I was able to go about my business with little notice.  In fact I had a few problems with “native” Caucasians who on first glance were not pleased with my presence in their storefronts… until they heard my non native accent and realized that I was not a local(therefore assuming I had tourist dollars to spend in their establishments).  I am going to have to post another blog about the racism and hate that I experienced while in South Africa, because its a topic that will take away from the one at hand.  All that I will say about it at this time is that we as African Americans should be thankful for the fights our grandparents fought for us.  Segregation ended in South Africa in the year 1994, and although it is no longer legal, there are many remnants of it and a clear tension between the native Africans and the people of European descent.

Back to the homeless gentleman who noticed my hat and approached me to inquire of where I was originally from.  His first guess was Canada, that leads me to believe that many black people from Canada travel to S. Africa.  His next guess was New York, and I then told him I was from Atlanta.  Surprisingly every local I met immediately associated Atlanta with “the place where all the good music comes from” but again that’s not the point here.

As we walked toward my hotel the gentleman thanked me for coming to S. Africa.  I asked him why he would thank me for visiting his country, and he said that “it shows that people like you, in America have not forgotten about us”.  He went further to say that there are some Africans who have disdain for African Americans because we do nothing to help improve the situation in Africa despite our much greater financial resources, and further that we do not even come to visit.  He said that visiting does two things.  First it brings tourism money (a major economic engine in S. Africa is handmade goods made and sold by locals, to the tourists) the second thing visiting Africa does is that is shows African Americans the reality of what life is like and it shows that we are thinking of them.

My response to the gentleman was that we have not forgotten about our people in Africa, but there are two major reasons why more African Americans don’t visit Africa.  First it is an expensive trip, and although our resources are generally far greater than theirs, most African Americans still can’t afford to spend $1000+ US dollars on a round trip plane ticket.  (I must add that even the poorest Americans have it quite a bit better than many  South Africans of African descent, so I understand why they may feel that we have so much, and we do so little.)  Secondly its not that we have forgotten about our people in Africa literally, but we have no idea of what is really going on in Africa.  Just as their image of America is derived from the media, so is our image of Africa.  We don’t see any images of Africa that do not include either corrupt government, mass starvation, or tribal wars.  None of those images are attractive to vacationers.  With the exception of what little promotions we get about Egypt there is no promotion of African tourism in the US.  Until I started doing research for my trip I had no idea of the vibrant night life, the world class beaches, and the celebrity hot spots that exist in cities like Cape Town or Casablanca.  I think that African Americans would flock to certain cities in Africa, if we had a clue of what really goes on in some of these places.

To illustrate the extremes of just this one city in Africa see the images below.  I took these photos  along the same stretch of highway just outside of Cape Town,   the first set of photos is of the Khayelitsha settlement, which is the largest “informal settlement” in South Africa…( an informal settlement is a town which consists of only shacks made of debris with no running water)  the second set of images  is of one of several beachfront communities which line the very same road as the Khayelitsha settlement.

I am sure you can see the difference a few miles can make.  This scenario is no different than in many places in the world, including many cities right here in the US.  But my point here is that I would bet money that most people in the US first think of the shanty towns or dusty village images when the word Africa is uttered.  Only those in the know, or those of us who have been to Africa have any idea of the glamorous side of the Continent.   The lower set of images is one of the several trendy parts of town, where many A-list celebrities, singers, and actors have homes.  For some reason celebrities have managed to keep their antics in Africa out of the mass media… or perhaps the mass media is ignoring what goes on in Africa, unless its a message of “gloom and doom ” or the occasional charity event or child adoption.   There is no media representation of anything positive that exists in Africa aside from the Pyramids, which sadly people have created a false sense that Egypt is almost not a part of Africa to make it appear as if all the accomplishments of the advanced civilizations of North Africa’s past were not accomplished by Africans.  But again that’s another topic all together.

Even though I made a great effort to stick to one topic, I could not help but to change course because there is so much I have to say about Africa, and so many issues are closely related.  I have waited so long to write about it because so many of my thoughts and feelings were so detailed and complex that I struggled to condense them into bite sized blog ready snippets.  I have more work to do in clarifying my thoughts, but I can promise that if given the opportunity I will have much more to say about my experiences in South Africa

Africa is definitely a place to experience, Cape Town is an excellent place for “first timers”, as if has all the amenities Americans and Europeans are used to, but it gives you a touch of what Africa is like.  Anyone who has been to Cape Town will remind you quickly, that it does not represent the rest of Africa very well, as it is heavily influenced by Europeans.  To get a “real” African experience you have to go back, and see other parts of the continent.  Having said that… I will return to Cape Town  provided I continue to have the means to do so.  And yes, I will see other parts of Africa as well… eventually…

Sooo…. What comes to mind when you think of Africa? And why?

July 15, 2009-Update: Follow the link to this article at cnn.com for a closely related topic.

All images and text are the copyright of Glenn Gibson, 2009