I wish you guys would check out my topic "Are you African if you are not born in Africa" coz many of the arguments relating to our history and what it is to be black or African hold true to that topic.

I consider myself African because black is a colour and says nothing about a persons history or heritage. I would even go so far as to call myself African Caribbean as that again says something about my peoples journey and ancestry. Black says nothing but gives white people a way to classify me just a s they did my ancestors, quadroon, sambo, octoroon etc

Get outta here!!
Is this for real ?

Why you trippin about Valentines day Its a western money making scam. If you must involve yourself in it, have fun wid yo friends and party it up! If you got kids, make dem your valentines. My man is cool an all but mi nuh play dat valentine ting too much. If he gets me sumting, dats nice, but it aint necessary. More pressure man, just like christmas!

Bawomolo, (it didn't take long for the insults, is that par for the course then)?

You made one good point (not all African's are black, we could have debated the origin/ancestry of those you mentioned and whether they should be considered African merely by dint of where they where born, kinda like my Chinese colleague, the people you quoted probably have European born parents/grandparents, as he has Chinese so may be considered by many according to where their parents come from, like my colleague seems content with). How unfortunate that it was overshadowed by you ignorant rant of physical beating for people who's opinion differed from yours!
How can you threaten to slap people coz you don't agree with them and include their children in the slapping? What kind of person are you This is not the kind of debate I'm after. Take your insults elsewhere!

Sapphic, very insightful response. Thank you for your time in giving me deeper understanding. My husband is African (Ghana) and so are our kids. They can connect to their heritage, but sadly I have the long and painful route home. I rejoice though that there are many Africans that can sympathise with what I experience and are happy that I see myself as African (this is one of the things that my husband loved about me when we met. I don't think he thought there were blacks born outside Africa who thought like me).

I love whatever it is that unites all African's whether on the continent or outside of it.

Lets keep this positive please and fun please. Why make it unnecessarily unpleasant?

, by the way, in Ghana its an offence to offer you left hand to shake someone's hand or to eat you Gari etc coz your left hand is considered dirty (as that is the hand most people use to wipe there butts   ) HOWEVER, I use my right, so if they insist on having me shake with my right and serve their food with my right, who am I to quarrel LOOOOOOL  

Rise up, ye mighty lefties!!!!

I myself am left-handed, but as I came from a culture where it was frowned upon, I was encouraged to use my right hand as a child. Unfortunately for those that tried, attempts to make me a common right-hander failed. I am currently basking in the wonder & beauty of my youngest child showing very strong left handed tendencies. She even swaps her pen/pencil/spoon over if given to her in her right hand  
I'm happily ambidextrous in every way except for when I write. Then I'll use my left hand only (but to paint and draw and, I use both )!!

We're genius and very creative. If I'm not mistaken, we also use more of our brain mass than your average right-handed person.

On behalf of all left handed 'superhumans', I warmly welcome Pres Obama into our fold. Damn, why not just make him our leader??!

Ahhhh, so much to love  

Jeeeeeeeze. I can't believe this is even a topic LOOOOOOOL

If we must chat bout armpits (LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL), sorry,  then lets look at the damage that the Aluminium in these deodorants cause. They've been linked to Alzheimers and some cancers. You should try looking out for aluminium free deodorants. And to the guy that wears stick, then roll on, YOUR SKIN CANNOT BREATH MAN!    Be carefulooooooooooo!!! See if you can find solid salt crystal deodorant. You wet it and rub it under your pit, or use new breed of deodorants without aluminium. Anti-perspirants do what they say, stop you perspiring/sweating and God no mek your body for dat.

why you nuh do hotmail? you can make plenty friends'oooooo. Or you must have friends at home? U cant mek am?
hotmail address is free and international and then u can speak to ppl via msn.

Hold your head up and be proud of YOU everyday of your life.

I most definitely do. I feel quite strong in myself, but its my children I am worried about. I don't wish for them to become confused by others opinions. I'm trying to raise strength of character in them and part of that strength is knowing who you are.[quote][/quote]

I was born in UK and so was my friend. My friend went to USA and there, was treated like royalty by those with an interest in her background. They (as she put it), perceived my friend as being a 'real' Africa as her parents were born in Nigeria. She was a English as could be, but now considers herself to be a 'real' African, Naija sista (can't cook the food, don't speak any of the languages and was not particularly into the culture etc). However, she now sees me as a 'wannabe' African as my ancestors came through slavery in the Caribbean as peoples kidnapped from Africa and alluded to this during a conversation and I was very hurt. It was only 150 years ago that my family were directly African (doing my family tree; bitter sweet).
She has the blessing of now being able to immerse herself in aunts and uncles that bring her culture to life. My father sits in his home in Jamaica lamenting the history we have as Africans. I know many Africans in Jamaica who feel the same. I wonder how they would feel to be told by brothers and sisters on the continenet that they were not considered African but Jamaican?
(I know there are also many that do not consider themselves to be African in the Caribbean)

How come my friend and even my Chinese colleague, who is more east London that Eastenders (if you've seen the programme) can consider themselves Chinese or African and me? I'm just a 'wannabe'. I and my family believe that 'if you're a black man, you're an African' or is that only the privilege of the first generation of Africans in the Diaspora?

Who defines who and what you are? Ancestry? Parentage? Where you were born or what you believe to be true for you? And are you African if you were not born in Africa?

Becomerich, you show your ignorance and total unwavering support of the old colonial masters education system. I myself have diplomas and degrees and have met a fair few idiots in university I can tell you. The degree does not hold the cache it used to. A degree makes you academic, not necessarily intelligent in a holistic manner. By the way, many millionaires do not have degrees, off the top of my head I can name Richard Branson and Sir Alan Sugar. My point? A degree does not a rich man make. Characteristics like tenacity, vision etc definitely help.

Any takers?,

Many moons ago, a guy I was dating and came home and was anxiously rumaging thru his pockets. "I saved this for you all day" he said. He took out a small wrapped sweet and handed it to me. It was his last one and he wanted me to have it. He had money and could have bought me anything. He wanted me to know that not sharing his last sweet with me was unthinkable, coz he loved me so, he loved me and I understood the gesture immediately. It was over 10yrs ago but I've never forgotten it. If your lady loves you and you love her, let her know sincerely and anything you do from making her breakfast to cleaning her shoes on that day or any day will never be forgotten.

Later for money grabbing, life is deeper than that.

Do you guys know 'Ije Love' by Zhyon? Dat tune sends shivers down my spine, ohhhhhhhhh so sweet'o