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Thursday 9 January 2014

Is it cus I'm White?

So as a first, sort of, post, I would like to write about something that has bothered me a little bit today. So the background story before the bother :P When I cam back from Ghana the first time I was very intrigued in learning about the language and not necessarily to be able to speak it fluently, just that I'd like to be able to do the basics and maybe even hold a small conversation so when I got back there it made things that bit easier. Which it did! But I had no teacher no lessons, Just learning whatever I could from whatever I knew already, using Youtube and also random sites online. So there was one site I used a lot and maybe even one of which that helped me the most! So I've come back from Ghana again after putting it all to practise and learning more words and sentences and feeling more confident in speaking it, I want to learn more. So today I go on the website and have a look about. The layout had changed since I was last on there, and I have an instant message pop up from (who I recognised from the last time I was on there) as an administrator... I think! Well this is how the conversation goes;

Administrator?: *something in Twi(the language in question)* 
Me: Men ti Twi (I don't understand Twi) Sorry I am still learning! 
A?: You don't look of Afrikan descent 
M: I'm not I'm here to learn Twi although my mum is South African 
A?: Ohhhhhhhh I see I thought so 
*I get signed off* 

So I thought "Oh that's strange!" But stuff like that happens so I go to sign back on to the website. But I get a message saying that my username or password was invalid. Which I thought was strange, I kept trying for about 5 minutes because I really didn't want to lose access to this website as it had been the biggest help to me. It becomes clear to me that I have been, for lack of a better term, been booted off the website. And I try and search for my profile and it has been deleted. And then my whole time on there became a lot clearer. I would look through a lot of profiles and a lot of the conversations! A lot of them would be in English as the common language between all the languages they would teach on this site. And it would appear that they were interested in sharing their information with people that wanted to get their roots back and wanted to find out about their native language or just wanted to retouch on a language. But if you weren't black then it's like you weren't welcome. And I feel as that is the only question that was asked as to whether I was welcome on the site or not. I have never wrote on the forums to have caused trouble but just wanted to learn. But at this point I hadn't wanted to jump to conclusions as it may be a fair mistake. So I go back to the site and sign on as a guest and ask him why my account was deleted. He said he deleted my account because I was not an Afrikan and the site was for Afrikan people by Afrikan people. I reply saying that I was not aware of that but that I was of African descent (My mum being South African) but I know that's not the answer he is looking for. He went on to ask whether my mum was indigenous or an invader. At this point I know exactly where the conversation was heading. After a few mixed points of views he tells me not to return to the website I left with an apology simply saying "I apologize for simply trying to learn about something and I also apologize to the people on this site for simply being interested. Med ase (Thank You). I'm not sure if I overstepped the line by not reading the terms and condition with this being the first thing on the T&C page;

"You agree, through your use of this website and associated Liberation Forum, that this site is a resource exclusively for Afrikan (Black) people and the upliftment of Afrikan (Black) people specifically and that you will not post any material which is false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually-oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of ANY law."

 I violated the rules because I was white. During the conversation I gave a few of my opinions one being that how as an entire race (The human one, that is) ever meant to move on from history if people don't grow and learn from our ancestors mistakes? He told me I was a waste of good air. Its safe to say I am pissed off! (For lack of a better description.) I would be okay if he had a legitimate argument but could not have a normal conversation/debate as the case may be. I feel that he was as small minded as the people he was describing as invaders. But as I write this I think am I small minded for not being able to accept that's just the way it is? I'm getting tired of people using our ancestors as an excuse for everything and the views that we have today. If we were able to look past the small minded people of the past and grow better as a race. If we looked up to our ancestors for points of view and opinions we'd still be burning witches at the stake. I just think we should move onwards and upwards with ours and try to be that generation or those ancestors the future will look upon and want to have some of our opinions. I feel I am started to get a bit carried away so I shall leave it here! But please do pass on your views.

“Until the philosophy which hold one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war.”

2 comments:

  1. I guess you succinctly described the problem of the world with your final quote. Let me mention that a lot of Africans have unearthed the cruelty that the colonial masters meted on our ancestors and the bitter truth it makes one provoked with rile.

    However, the truth is your experience in Ghana will show you how loving Africans are. The terrible thing remains that there is still a lot of racism, subjugation and complex issues in the world. I do not support retaliation but our culture must be guarded jealously.

    Your experience on the site is disheartening but I agree it must be Bourne out of some deeper complexity or more of myopic views.

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  2. The people were incredible and really went above and beyond to help me feel welcome and make me feel part of the community. I'm enviable of how proud people are of their cultures because unfortunately in the UK we are losing it, but I was also upset that this man was pushing people away from something he is so proud of.

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