I took a break from the Relationship Series last week and created this Racism healing tool kit so please use it and share it! I just want to add that even though the nation is finally openly acknowledging racism and prejudice as an issue, let this indignation not just be a trend. Let’s truly do our work to change personally, how we relate to others, how…
Being a parent is difficult. Nobody really teaches you how to be one, you learn on the job. As adults, we understand this (hopefully), but you know who doesn’t understand? Your young children! When they are young, they think you are the most wonderful thing that happened to them, then they start to grow up and they have thoughts and opinions. Then they have dreams that…
Do you remember the stories your parents told you when you were a child? I remember the times in Cameroon when the lights went out and we had to entertain ourselves. Sometimes we told African folk tales. I'm sad that I can’t remember the details of many of them, they are vague memories. African storytelling is something cultural that was passed on from generation to generation.…
It was sometime in the afternoon on a sunny day in Yaoundé, Cameroon. I was about 10 years old (maybe younger). My mom was driving, it was just both of us in the car. I don’t think I was supposed to be holding her work papers while sitting close to a half-opened window. All I remember is seeing the papers fly outside of the window. Fortunately,…
After the 5-week series on what colonization to our psyche, we need some fun. There's this expression we used to say as kids in Cameroon, "All work no play makes Jack a dull boy!" The cool thing about the video below is that it is African inspired and created. The producer who is the founder of YouNeek studios is Nigerian (my naija brother) and wanted to…
For Black history month, we've been talking about the effects of colonization on Black people. You can read all four posts here. Although it's the last day of February, we don't have to stop here, let's continue the conversation with friends and family.Since we've talked about the problem, it makes sense to discuss what we can do about it. As I stated in my last post,“I…
Between the years of 1997 to 2002, I went to an all-girls boarding school in Cameroon made up of 98% black girls, I mean brown-skinned-Wakanda-looking African girls. We had a few girls of mixed raced (a white and a black parent) similar complexion to Trevor Noah, hence the 98% instead of a 100%. Every year, we would have what is comparable to what Americans call their…
Have you heard of the Bobo doll experiment? When kids of various races and ethnicities were asked which doll was the nice or pretty doll versus the bad or ugly doll, most chose the good qualities for the white doll and the bad qualities for the black doll. This was the case even if they identified themselves as looking like the black doll. In some cases,…
February is black history month in the U.S. Sounds like a good month to examine African history and its effects on us today. When I say "us" I mean black people, not just Africans, but all descendants of Africa. In addition to our genetics, we are products of our history and our environment in more ways than we are aware of. During the month of February,…
It’s a strange time to be African in the U.S. or should I say, it’s a great time to be African in America. I was sitting in Starbucks in Philadelphia and heard them playing “On the low” by Burna Boy and I looked around like, “Where am I?” Oh yeah! Africa is IN now… African music, African clothing, African dance moves, visiting Africa, going to live…