Hey, I think this is just low self esteem amongst black people around the world. Unfortunately, theres not a lot of good news that comes from many African countries, and given the history of racism, cultural biases etc... people dont like to associate themselves with anything "black" or "african."
You guys are in the UK, which is totally different from the US, although there are many similarities. As I see it, it is people who are Ashamed to admit who they are and where theyre from. It is somewhat understandable.
To give you a quick example of this Ill share a story with someone I used to know. To cut it brief, years ago I knew this white guy. As always with me, the conversation of food came up and we started talking about heritage. This guys family and grandparents were from Ukraine, and I asked him did ever want to go vist, and in short he said no and started listing all these negative attributes about Ukraine and was almost ashamed to admit his family was from there.
I believe MANY black people, or "multi racial" people have the same feelings when it comes to issues of "blackness" and heritage as it concerns Africa. They dont know any history, and most of the history they do know is veiled in darkness and shame, so they chose not to associate with it.
This is why I am very concerned and do not like "multiculturalism." I have no problem with diversity or celebrating heritage, but as I see it, modern multiculturalism is really not about celebrating diversity equally. All to often, the way I see it manifest itself, at least in the United States, is people DENYING their black heritage and trying to migrate AWAY from being black. All too often, I see people that look black, there is no question theyre black, and yet theyll start talking about Cherokee ancestors, or some great great irish granfather. Again, there is NOTHING wrong with anyone denying their heritage, as it something we cannot control. However, as I see it, people so quick to talk gleefully about their "diversity" and how they have ancestors that are not black with such earnestness. I never hear these people talking about slave ancestors with any pride, but they have alot of joy in their face when they tell you their great great great grandfother was Scotts-Irish.
