Let's Do Lunch
Anyway so after slamming down my Briggs Stadium (corned beef, scallion cream cheese & lettuce on pumpernickel) & some the worlds best bread pudding (with Irish Whiskey Sauce) we decided to go check out our girl Zana @ her shop Spectacles to shoot that breeze for a while. When you go to Spectacles, it is always hard to walk out of there without something but today I was able to resist but Cousin Dee feel victim to one of Zana’s good buys (Zana always says everything in her store is a good buy so we always joke about this).
After socializing for a while with other regulars we bounced so that I could go visit my good friend Famara Touray at his shop and to buy some of his wonderful natural African Black soap.
“Black Soap or African Black Soap comes from plantain skin, which is a natural source of vitamins A & E and iron & mixed with palm oil and palm kernels. The skin of the plantain is gingerly dried to a precise texture under the hot African sun. It is then roasted in a clay oven. The heat must be constant in order to achieve a particular color, texture & smell.
The roasting of the plantains determines the color of the soap. The longer the plantains are roasted, the darker the soap."
While on the way to Famara’s we spotted a woman DGWB (Driving Ghetto While Black) & fucking could not believe it. Earlier in the day we talked about how we (Black Detroiters) can drive around with ghetto ass cars with plastic duct taped rear windows bumpers fastened to the car with duct tape & twine & anything else. With all this said, I had to take the picture.
CD & I were both like it is wet as hell to here today so wherever she is taking that pissy mattress tom it gonna be wet & stankin’ even more. The mattress was obviously dirty but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do.
So now we are at Famara’s shop talking shit & having a good time laughing yada, yada yada & Famara breaks out with Tafari, did you see me in the paper this week? I was like no & he then whipped out the article, which was on the African Brain Drain & Migration to Detroit. The Detroit News interview Famara on the African migration as well as other prominent Africans in the area. I found the article to be excellent & I was shocked to read:
“More Africans have immigrated to the United States since 1975 than the total of number of slaves who were forced into bondage here over parts of three centuries, according to The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, in New York City.”I get most of my African clothes from Famara who imports them from all over West Africa & I also get my Shea Butter from him as well for my Quench Essentials products. Famara & I have been friends for about 2 years now & we meet when I purchased my favorite indigo blue Dashiki from him at Detroit’s African World Festival. Over the past few months he got me hooked on the African Black Soap & it is so much better than any mainstream mass-produced soap IMHO.
Anyway, it was a good day full of shit talking, good food & laughter with friends.
-----------------------------------------------------------
African brain drain is gain for region
Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
Touray Kunda came to Detroit from Gambia for business opportunities. He stayed because Touray Kunda Enterprises, his importing business, boomed.
"If business is not good back home, you think, 'Let me go to America, home of the immigrant,' " Kunda said.
After she finished medical school in Nigeria, Kehinde Ayeni, came for more post-graduate work. The psychiatrist stayed because economic and social circumstances in Nigeria made it impossible to find work.
"Most professionals still can't find jobs there," Ayeni said. "I believe many people migrate for the same reason."
African immigration to Metro Detroit is at a historically high level, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, having grown by about 400 percent since 1990. The African brain drain is a brain gain for the region, observers say.
More highly educated than the general population or other communities of recent immigrants, Africans are influencing Metro Detroit professions, higher education, neighborhoods, religions and culture.
Evidence of a viable, expanding ethnic community is ample from growing congregations in churches and mosques, to grocery stores featuring African products, to immigration lawyers and social organizations established for Africans. (read more)
Related Article: The new African-Americans
Labels: Diaspora, Ghetto, Out n About
posted by Tafari at
1:21 AM
10 Comments:
what do most afro-americans think of the increased african immigration? i'd be intrigued to hear about that.
By
aulelia, at Sunday, February 18, 2007 8:50:00 AM EST
I just typed a 5 paragraph response & my damn browser closed on my & I am mad as hell.
Basically, from my own observation, we like the increased African population. The immigrants are bring goods and services to the community that we seem to not be able to live without.
There does seem to be some division amongst Africans, Islanders & us, there is not much intermingling as people tend to stick with who are from their country buy I guess that is a natural human thing.
I enjoy talking to my friend Famara especially when he shares stories from back home I feel connected.
Last year there was an article that dealt with African immigration & the division of the Black community that was pretty interesting on point (Famara was also interviewed for this piece as well).
“African import guru Touray Kunda, 42, of Gambia, has been a staple in Detroit for the past nine years and has strong views on certain neighborhoods undergoing this African transformation. He points to an area near Eight Mile and Lahser roads, affectionately known as "Little Africa" by some who live in the vicinity. Some of these immigrants own houses, others rent apartments. Africans from all parts of the continent have gathered and formed a community.
"We used to joke that when you first arrive in America and get to the airport in Detroit, if you tell the cab driver to take you to Eight Mile and Lahser you will be safe," Kunda says. "Someone will help you get to where you are going and probably speak your language too once you get there."”
I recommend reading to get another perspective: http://tinyurl.com/2nhpy4
Peace,
Bygbaby
By
Bygbaby, at Sunday, February 18, 2007 11:00:00 AM EST
Aulelia, I can tell you sadly the majority of Africans I've met in Denver have been very standoffish...one reason why I discovered is because they feel we don't appreciate the opportunities we are offered in the States, and take things for granted...I know a few women who married African men but the marriages didn't last...I know a few who dated African men with the hope of marrying but it didn't last...it's an interesting situation in many aspects...I have NEVER seen a Black man in Denver dating or married to an African woman...NEVER! now that I think about it...hmmm..very odd...
I hate to generalize, but basically we get the feeling they don't like us...even when we buy from their stores, things like clothing and products, it's almost like they resent selling to us...(((HUGS)))...
....just me...daez
By
daez, at Sunday, February 18, 2007 9:50:00 PM EST
Hey Daez, I have noticed that when a Black Americna woman is with an African man, people usually say I cannot believe you are with an African. The statement is put out there because supposedly African men are aggressive & demanding with down home beliefs.
It is few & far between when you see a American Black man with an African woman. I think that her Brother & father etc would not have that.
I have heard statements like you need to marry an African and not one of them Akatas. An Akata is a term that I believe Nigerians use mostly to describe Black Americans. It means Cotton Picker.
I have a post about this divisive term here http://tinyurl.com/2ob7j9.
Peace,
Bygbaby
By
Bygbaby, at Sunday, February 18, 2007 10:16:00 PM EST
Interesting Tafari...I'm shocked but not surprised considering the reactions I see locally..(((HUGS)))
....just me...daez
By
daez, at Monday, February 19, 2007 1:04:00 AM EST
bygbaby and daez, thanks for your insight.
i find it particularly interesting that daez separated black and african as separate. i think many africans do see black americans as different to them but lol i must be one of the only africans who sees black africans and black americans as black. i don't look at black americans or west indians as separate: i see them as black just like me. i don't know whether that is because of my pan-diasporic attitude or because my boyfriend is west indian.
There are many differences between different types of black people (Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Afro-American etc) yet I think the fact that we share the same root should be the unifying factor. And astonishingly, when I was in Martinique and even my travels in the US, I see so many reasons why we have similarities too.
I once heard some Kenyan man at Nairobi aiport talking to an white American and telling him ''there is nothing african about black americans''. this comment incensed me just the way Akata does. why do black people live on this disunity?
I am sure if I married my Caribbean boyfriend, some African people would have a great deal to say about that because then I would be breaking the African bloodline within my family. Maybe I would be labelled a traitor because I didnt marry an East African. However, these are just the stalwart traditionalists who came straight from Africa and their opinions are dying out anyway.
It is so interesting that you say that Black American and Black African relationships in USA aren't common because in the UK, it is the same thing with black african and black west indians - you hardly get those relationships. I never felt self-conscious about my boyfriend because I loved that he was from the West Indies -- bringing the continent and her islands back together lol one relationship at a time :)
--A
By
aulelia, at Monday, February 19, 2007 5:15:00 AM EST
Aulelia, you are so right, Black is Black no matter were you are "direct;y from". You will be treated the same no matter what by "them" with no exception & no matter how well you speak (the articulate Negro) or how well present.
I liken that whole intra-racial mixing/relationships to that of inter-religious mixing. Most Catholics stick with other Catholics & mixing with a Baptist is a big no no; good bad or indifferent.
By
Bygbaby, at Monday, February 19, 2007 8:18:00 AM EST
Aulelia and Byg,
A few weeks ago on this blog we had a brief discussion about how/why we 'name' ourselves Black/ African American etc...I stated then I go back and forth between the two in conversation and writing, but I am BLACK all the time, because that's what people SEE when they look at me..
In my statement above I was separating AMERICAN from AFRICAN cultrally, not racially?...I'm so sorry Aulelia if I offended you, that was NOT my intention...it's simply MY ghetto lazy Americanized way of writing...normally I wouldn't apologize, because I know what I was saying...but I have mad respect for you and Byg, and would never want to make any statement that came off unclear to the point of sounding racist against my own black skin color...which is totally undeniable, clearly visible..and which I love!
I have never understood the differences in all of our cultures, except the African and American cultures, because that's the culture I know I came from...I've never delved deep into Afro-Cuban and Brazilian...I'm just not that deep...(((HUGS)))
....just me...daez
By
daez, at Monday, February 19, 2007 8:00:00 PM EST
Daez -- i wasn't offended at all! i enjoyed your comment and just picked up on something that in fact many Africans themselves think: that black americans are different to them. I definitely don't agree with that and I know you and Byg don't either so we are all on the same page :)
The Afro-Brasilian culture has always interested me because I have heard that they have kept many rituals that were originally Angolan such as capoeira in the same way that Liberians have strong cultural links with Afro-Americans. As much as ignorant people like to live in their cocoon, Africa's links with her diaspora are stronger than we think.
Just look at hip-hop -- when my mother told me that old women in her village used to rap, I was so shocked but then I realised that all black people just have this *link* that the oceans and borders can't divide.
--A
By
aulelia, at Tuesday, February 20, 2007 5:23:00 AM EST
Cool...I'm smiling again knowing you get me!..(((HUGS)))..
....just me...daez
By
daez, at Tuesday, February 20, 2007 8:34:00 PM EST
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