What are We??

[nafta]

Salaam Nomads,

 

Well i don't know if this topic has been covered before or not, cuz lately a lot seems to be repeated but i'll ask anyway.

I have this question for any of you nomads out there that thinks they can answer it. First let me tell you how came i up with the question. A couple of days back i had this conversation with couple of African girls about Africa and ones culture, so to make a long thing short, one of the girls said that they didnt consider us Somalians as African. She said that because we don't have, and i quote "the nigger nose" or the "the jareer hair" or are amazingly "dark skinned" we must be arab-asian. We had a really heated discussion about who's what and so on. I was really disturbed by this as I consider and see myself as an African and I've always been proud of this. I even asked my mom and dad the same question and they replied that nobody really knows what the original somali people are as a lot of countries and people have colonied and co-habited in Somalia. Besides some people even say that we come from the early pharao's :confused: :eek: ...So this seems all puzzeling to me. I mean we're not even seen as Africans by other Africans although we're supposed to be the "Horn Of Africa".

 

So my question to you nomads is How do you see yourself and Who do you think You are in terms of African and non African and do you agree with the notion that just because we don't have all the characteristics of a "regular african" we arn't real Africans?

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Salaan...

 

Originally posted by nafta:

...i had this conversation with couple of African girls about Africa and ones culture, so to make a long thing short, one of the girls said that they didnt consider us Somalians as African. She said that because we don't have, and i quote "the nigger nose" or the "the jareer hair"

They are slightly right. First, they are a bit confused about the difference between being an "African" and being among with "black race."

 

But first, what and who is African? Is being an African synonymous with being skin-coloured black? Is an African in fact inseparable from a black-coloured person?

 

In a way, a lot of Soomaalis themselves do not consider to be African or associate themselves with the black race. First, because some assumption--or rather misassumption--of African itself being synonymous with "black," hence "jareer" and "boon." Even if some Soomaalis are dark as dhuxul.

 

Soomaali people equate black person to be "jareer." In order to distance themselves from jareer or black, they rather would not even want to do anything remotely that is African, even if Soomaaliya is located in the African continent. Then again, if Soomaali people never cared, these words might have never been everyday Soomaali vernacular: boon, bilis, jareer, nasab, laandheere, etc.

 

Those insulting words are exclusively called to those people Soomaalis consider to be non-Soomaali original, and who have distinct facial features, with jareer hair. A simple fact: Xabasho from Itoobiya are considered to be jareer, while Oromos and Tigreys from Itoobiya too aren't.

 

Some Soomaali people say if we are talking about geographical sense, yes then Soomaaliya the country is classified with the African continent. However, they also ask, would the whites from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia considered to be African in the black sense? Is Egyptian an African? A Moroccan? An Algerian? Is a Berber an African? Many of those Egyptians, Moroccans, Tunisians do not either consider themselves to be African in black sense.

 

I don't even know whether Tigreys, Oromos and Cafars themselves consider to be African either. Some of the "Carab" Sudanese do not consider themselves to be African in the black sense, just same mentality like Soomaalis.

 

I know, it is a bit complicated. And it sure will be as long as African and black can be assumed to be synonymous.

 

Recently, a lot of people who grew up in Western countries are extremely aware the political correctness and say loudly they are "black, African" with an attitude of who-cares and whatever. But back home, Soomaalis do still classify with boon and bilis formula. Even if a "real" Soomaali looks like a jareer, he is still nasab and not "black."

 

And if you want to know my personal opinion of who I consider to be myself, that is easy. I am Soomaali in first, second, and third senses.

 

That is my ten taano.

[Delilah]

Ok i'm not sure but this is what i know to be true......

 

you see Somalia has always existed, back in the ancient times it was called Punt. I don't know if any of you guys know anything about ancient civilizations, but in the Egyptian civilization there was this Queen named Hatsh. She sent these specuator to the Land of the Punt to see what was out there in the sense of resources. When they got there they found a small group of black people living in the area ( of course!!), but they also found that the country was rich in raw materials. Anyways when the Islamic Empire was expanding some of the Persian people camed to Somalia to make them into Muslim, which i think explains why some SOmalis are lighter than other.

 

I personally don't consider myself black, i'm more of a " brown" girl. What i'm trying to say is everyone from Africa isn't neccesarily black, some are white, brown....etc. Anyways why should we all classify ourselves with something so negative. The reason why i consider myself brown is because of all the negative connotation that goes along with being " black". I mean the "black" people struggled through slavery, but where does that put us East Africans, i mean we weren't invovled in the slave trade, should we consider ourselves something we're not??? But i do, however, agree with the person avove when they said Somali is an African country. True say, we are African, but not for long; it seems Somalia will be breaking off from the continent of Africa pretty soon because of the shifting of the plates underneath the Earth!!! Anywho, cheers!!

[Reality Check]

The african americans in america come in all different shades ranging from almost white-dark brown. So does that also NOT make them black? Also, weren't they from Africa originally?

 

In any case, whatever we mixed with millenia's ago is irrelevant now. Just because you happen to be lighter than most doesn't mean that you aren't African (whether somalia is breaking off this millenium or not).

[- diamond princess -]

"Black" is used as a negative word. People take it to the next level making anything thats black seem "ugly", "dumb", "ruthless". Obviously you and I arent as black as a blackboard. But why are you pushing yourself away from being called or considered "black". Don't let the negativity of a few people determine how you face reality. Reality is black is beautiful.

 

Now, as to where we came from, we are AFRICANS, we are now as we were a million years ago and we will be even if "plates shift". Africans shouldn't be determined by those who know NOTHING about being African. Did you know as Africans we were the first to find out how to treat a laboured women by cleansing the hands, while in Europe women die of birth to a child. Africans were Musliims before it branched off to other religions and because of that Africans learned how to do many things like build pyramids (Yes Eygpt!). Where do you think the "famous" philospers learned their theories? Where do you think they learned science and math? All from Eygpt.

 

Hannibal an African man took his elephants to Rome to take over the Romans, 15 years he ruled over Rome and Romans were deadly afraid of him. When Africans took over Spain in 800 BC Africans overpowered it for 600 yrs! They created beautiful buildings that still stand TODAY! There are so many things history proves that Africans were mistreated/misunderstood.

 

Im babbling on...I must go. I'm just saying although I wasn't a slave to the Europeans I am proud to be black and be African. But first and Foremost Somalian.

 

.:peace n luv:.

[Baashi]

Outline of Human Racial Classification:

 

I. Capoid or Khoisanid Subspecies of southern Africa

II. Congoid Subspecies of sub-Saharan Africa

III. Caucasoid or Europid Subspecies

IV. Australoid Subspecies

 

From these four racial classes, This guy looked at us and probably scratched his head and say umhhhhhhhhh…let me see…and finally figured out and said aha! These nomads are hybrid! They don’t fit quite nicely the four classes so the exception card had to be played…how convenient!

 

One important question we always should ask is what is his credentials and above all is this a science (verifiable through empirical methods accessible to all scientists) or it is a subjective science? There is food for thought!

 

II -> C. Aethiopid race (Ethiopia, Somalia; hybridized with Caucasoids) Caucasoids which happen to be the III class.

 

For those who are easily satisfied by the hypothesis issued through western higher learning institutions then BINGO! There you have it they all agree the blood infusion theory! Would u now give a lil bit of attention of what our old grandpa/ma had to say or had been saying consistently for ages!

 

Here is the link

[Delilah]

Africans werent even Muslim up until the Islamic Empire. Most African civilizations were still worshipping their little idols, when the Ottoman Empire got established thats when all the conversions happened; thats when great Islamic African civilization came out such as the Mali Empire with Mansa Musa.

 

Anyways i think your being too general here ( diamond_princess) to say that Africans invented math and science. I mean there are so many different maths and sciences, and i don't really remember any of them being invented by "africans". I mean we usually credit the Arabs, the Greeks and the ROmans, i never really heard of the Africans and their many inventions of math and science!!!!

[SomeAlien]

yr african and yr black, thats not to say were the same people as west africans whom, because of their representation in north america and the west indies, people immediately consider the "face" of africa, while dismissing the MANY different ethnicities africa is a mother to. were black, our skin is dark and were from africa, you may see that as a limited title, and you may be right, but there isnt just one type of "black" i.e "brown".

[- diamond princess -]

the Greeks and the ROmans, i never really heard of the Africans and their many inventions of math and science!!!!

Where do you think they learned that from? Eygpt. Do you think that the pyramids fell from the sky? It took alot of accuracy to make a pyramid that is perfect square at base. The knowledge of Pie (mathematical term) needed to be known. And last time I checked Eygpt was in AFRICA. Girl if you don't believe me check back in History, and I mean really dig deep, cause there's alot of misconception. Roman's and Greek's take alot of credit. And I'm not saying Africa was ALL muslims but those few taught the rest many things (etc. how to be clean, how to have lasting agriculture). Well anywayz I'm not here to change your mind about anything. So you do what you gotta do and I'll do the same.

 

.:peace n luv:.

[PlayMaker]

I really don't give a damn what the other ppl think of me, I simply tell them I am somali, Offcourse I am black and from africa and if that is not enough for other africans or arabs or whatever other race then screw them, I don't have to explain myself to anyone. I am just somali Simple as that..

[SomeAlien]

there are so many different maths and sciences, and i don't really remember any of them being invented by "africans". I mean we usually credit the Arabs, the Greeks and the ROmans, i never really heard of the Africans and their many inventions of math and science!!!! [/QB]

ummmm, you sound a lil condescending to other africans. ever heard of timbuktu? their used to be a saying (or so my abbeh tells me), you write/get yr books in alexandria, read them in iraq (big city in iraq im forgetting right now) and study them in timbuktu. i think that says something about our fellow africans (west africans) and yes part of that has to do w/ the islamic revolution (what do you think somalis were like prior to islam?), but i think it says alot more about how a civilization thrives when it is in open communication with other nations. europe owes alot of its strenght not only economically but technologically to the fact they put themselves in a position to explore. therefore hteyd be aware of whats going on in china, other european countries, india and used that info/knowledge ot their advantage (and closing off all the darkies).also, during their rise, most, if not all, european countries were at peace w/ one another (they worked in kingdoms, all the royals married) so all the "thinkers" would be free to "think" together. arabs prior to islam were in a bad state as well and then they went out to seek knowledge and what did they do? they travelled, explored, went to large universities in diff countries/cities (timbuktu), and the same goes for africans when thay got the message and YESS, they most definitely participated in shaping math and science today... literature too (i just found out pushkin was an african). dont believe everything yr history books tell you, especially considering who wrote them, and this hwole idea that were not african is a lil upsetting to me, morrocans, algerians and white south africans arent black and arent real africans (some consider themselves african most dont) cause their ancestors MIGRATED their! WE are nomads, but we didnt migrate from a diff. land, we were ALWAYS there. so what, we look different. a black south african looks different from a black west african, and the same for an east african. you guys are dismissing the fact that africa is a mother to THOUSANDS of ehtnicities, some more obvious than others.

[- diamond princess -]

You tell'em Girl!

 

.:peace n luv:.

[MrsRoboto]

First of all there is no question that we are african. Our country is found in AFRICA, therby making us African. Secondly, we are black. Thanks to Western ideas of "blackies" and "the dark continent" people have these ridiculous notions of what Africa and Africans are supposed to look like and act like. Like somealien said, Africa is not homogeneous, we come in many shades and our cultures are different. Just because somebody from our country may not necessarily look like somebody from Burkina Faso doesn't make us any less African. As Patrice Lumumba said "Until we Africans write our own history we will never be free." As long as people keep clinging to the colonialists history books, then the truth of our history will never be told, because they will never allow it to be told.

[- Femme -]

"Yawn"

 

 

I THINK ALL OF YOU GUYS SUFFER FROM AN INFERORITY COMPLEX. THIS IS THE LONGEST RUNNING DUMB QUESTION OF ALL TIME (NOTHING PERSONAL NAFTA). YOU ARE SO ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES THAT YOU WANT TO BELIEVE THAT YOUR GREAT,GREAT, GREAT, GREAT........................GRANDFATHER HAD SOME ARABIC BLOOD.

 

I THINK THIS IS A SICK QUESTION AND IT IS CALLED THE "SLAVE MENTALITY".

 

1)ALL OF YOU SHOULD GO TO THE MIROR AND STRIP NAKED. WHAT COLOUR ARE YOU? ARE U WHITE SKINED? NO, THEREFORE YOU ARE NOT ARAB.

 

2) LOOK AT A FRIGGIN MAP AND SEE WHERE SOMALI IS

 

3) STOP TRYING TO BE WHO YOU ARE NOT.

 

 

GOD!!!! THE AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO HAVE A LEGITIMATE RIGHT AND A GOOD REASON TO WONDER WHO THEY ARE SINCE THEY WERE RIPPED FROM THEIR COUNTRY AS SLAVES AND THEIR CULTURE, LANGUAGE AND HISTORY WAS LOST. BUT SOMALIANS?? GET A LIFE MAN. U ARE D.U.M.B.A.S.S. BLACK AFRICANS AND YOU MAKE ME ASHAMED WALAAHI.

[Curly]

Does it matter?!

 

As long as you are yourself, why do you care what others think?!