I'm not a black, I'm an African

By Sicebise Msengana

Isidima nobukhosi base Afrika mabu buye. Translation: African dignity and royalty must be restored.

 I remember there are people who complain about being called Africans. After all, no one would identify with a region filled with savages, cannibals and jungles( which is not supported by facts). Africa is a psychological chain of great shame for the African Diaspora.


Ayinde argues: "The word negro is Spanish for black. The Spanish language comes from Latin, which has its origins in Classical Greek. The word negro, in Greek, is derived from the root word necro, meaning dead. What was once referred to as a physical condition is now regarded as an appropriate state of mind for millions of Africans."

 Africans had to be "black" to serve the interests of the European enslavers and colonial masters. One author assert "...The answer, I think, lies in the ideological justification for slavery. White people had to dehumanize people of African descent in order to convince themselves that Africans could do nothing useful except perform enslaved labor..." The author adds "...If a people has no homeland, they have no history, no culture, no civilization. They are not really “a people. Hence, their “racial category” is not named after their continent, but after their ‘race,’ -  “Negro.” (‘Negro’ is the English term for the Spanish word “negro,” which means “black.” Spain was the first European country to institute the trans-Atlantic slave trade.)..."

Being called "black" is an insult. The word black has racist connotations. Further our African ancestors including the ancestors of Africans in America, Europe and Asia didn't see themselves as black people. Even they saw themselves as blacks but it was was different from the modern use of black.  I'm not a black, I'm an African.