The United States is definitely Home Sweet Home for me. I love my country and given a choice to live anywhere else in the world, salve I do not think I would choose any other country on earth, but coming back home to the U.S. after spending almost four months abroad in South Africa has presented some challenges upon “re-entry”. Of course there are the typical things that can interfere with a smooth transition back into the “regular” American lifestyle I left behind for several months. There’s the time change: South Africa is seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. There’s also the tremendous difference in climate and culture: it is summer in South Africa and mid fall here in Richmond. However, that is not what was most problematic for me upon re-entering the United States. No. What was most troubling was a realization that most people here in the U.S. have very little real knowledge about South Africa and even less knowledge about the African continent itself. What many people think and/or believe they know is most often based on pure assumption or fantasy based upon Hollywood movie lore. It is stunning! Upon learning that I was just returning from an extended trip to Africa, people began to ask questions about how I came to go there, what it was like over there and did I see any lions or elephants? These are real questions. They wanted to know if they had roads in Africa? How did I get around and what kind of food did I eat? Was I afraid? Did they speak English? These were all common questions. It soon became clear to me how fundamentally un-educated, under educated and mis-educated most people are when it comes to having a mature discussion about Africa, the continent or South Africa, the country.
The mystique of the so-called Dark Continent is still alive and well and living in the USA. It is unfortunate that many, many people still do not know that Africa is a continent NOT a country. It is made up of 57 sovereign nations with distinct cultures, customs, politics and languages. On the continent, there are over 2,000 different languages spoken and most people, who are literate, speak at least two or three languages: English is commonly one of them. The African continent is HUGE, the entire continental United States could fit inside of the northern and central part of the African continent with some wiggle room. Some people actually believe that the U.S. is larger, because some of the most commercial maps used in the U.S. tend to intentionally exaggerate the size and importance of the United States within the context of the entire globe.
There are also misconceptions and misinformation about the U.S. and its citizens, politics and history in South Africa and many other places within the continent of Africa, but the U.S. is the place that is referred to as a First World Nation and touts American “exceptionalism” to the worldwide community. I recognize that most people do not have the ability or the privilege to travel to foreign lands to see firsthand how other people live…I wish people would examine the things that they have been “told” about other people, cultures and lands before they choose to adopt what they have been told as fact. This particularly applies to information that denigrates, satirizes or mystifies another’s culture, beliefs or country…. get some understanding…. recognize that poverty and crime are all over the world…and unfortunately so is ignorance. Educate yourselves…. and don’t repeat things as truth unless you KNOW it is true.
Dr.T
Tawnya Pettiford-Wates. Ph.D.
Artistic Director and Founder
The Conciliation Project
Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University
DrT@Margin2theCenter.com
www.theconciliationproject.org
Up Next Week: Stereotypes and Slurs: You can’t make what is wrong right!
