Living in America as an African is quite different from living somewhere in Africa. If anything, Americans will make you forget your own insignificance on earth.
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When Americans look out on the world, they see nothing but dark and menacing strangers who appear to have no sense of rhythm at all…
—James Baldwin, ‘Notes on the House on Bondage’
Disclaimer: The author has altered some characters and locations in this essay.
Boulder, United States
Instances of racism need not be overt like that of the KKK. The grandeur of racism today, in fact, lies in its subtlety. Listen, I have testimonies. A woman told me it was stupid to blend my vegetables rather than dice them like Americans do. I told her that is how most people do it in Nigeria. In the heat of the moment, the woman snapped, ‘It is just stupid!’ A woman told me it is people like me that make my race look bad because I didn’t hold the door for her to come in. My friend, Kwesi Thomas (University of Toronto), has philosophically demystified what makes such pronouncements racist. But I don’t want to philosophize, I want to give you a narrative!
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