Roots

Identifying, rejecting and the illusion of superiority

It often happens that one can get offended by people’s assumptions or interrogations about one’s origins. I thought about this recently as someone thought it was absurd a Jamaican getting offended by someone asking if they were African.  Things like saying “Isn’t Portugal part of Spain?” or “Are you African?” can be ludicrous when knowing that first; Africa is a huge continent and second; the person might be Caribbean or American, who often don’t consider themselves as being African.  Bottom line is these kind of social interaction tend to cause awkward moments or even very angry reactions among people. But, is this just a result of being proud, sense of belonging or could it be a rejection of your past history in order to feel superior to others?

It just seems like people are trying to compete to see who’s got the best Ancestors, not knowing that one can be mixed with many different surprising backgrounds.  I keep saying to my friends over and over again ‘people are just people’. I love Regina Specktor’s song ‘The ghost of corporate future’ where she states ‘People are just people; they shouldn’t make you nervous…’ The message is clear; people are all the same no better or worst then what you make of them, and they definitely shouldn’t make you nervous due to their own insecurities. What’s wrong with someone not knowing that Portugal is not part of Spain (in fact it never was since it used to have a different name when it belonged to Spain – Condado Portucalense). This only shows that the person making these questions/assumptions is not very updated with history or geography. Not that they are ‘racist’ or trying to make you feel bad about your roots. Or maybe part of racism is making sure you know the least about other people’s culture. Who knows!? But, situations like this serve as a good opportunity to give them a lecture about your history.  And don’t forget our brain holds on to a few pre-concepts as a form of organising our reality and saving energy. We assume all Africans are black for example or that all Muslims came from Arabic Countries.

We often try to be politically correct (out of fear of being rude or hurting someone’s feeling) or strip off all the pre-concepts to see people as whom they are. But sometimes forget that these origins influence us profoundly. There is this sense of belonging to somewhere that makes us more comfortable about who we are, where we came from and where we are going. But being aware of your roots and feeling like you belong to some group of people from past history is not enough to develop a strong sense of belonging. In my point of view it has to do with how much you accept it. Not everyone accepts their genetic origins either as they might feel like their heart belongs somewhere else.

As someone who’s originally from Sao Tome and Principe but born and raised in Portugal, my heart has always spoke to me as a Santomean and not Portuguese, regardless of how much I love Portugal, the people and the culture. On the other end, this could be very different for other people who have a similar life journey. I know friends who are much more connected to the places they grew up or even just moved to as an adult. And like so, many misunderstandings may arise. From people not understanding why you’re black and say you’re Finnish or one’s getting upset for being called an African when they were born in Jamaica and know nothing about Africa.

There’s a fine line between genuinely accepting what relates to you regardless of your roots and actually rejecting your roots.  You might think your heart belongs somewhere different from your direct ancestors or simply not acknowledge where you belong because you feel self-conscious about it. Also there’s no way to know it as an outsider, it’s up to each person to figure this out. In fact, you might be one of those people who call themselves world citizens (no borders), which I truly understand since I most times feel like that too. However, there’s always something within us that tell us where we are from, what we are made of. There’s nothing wrong with a sense of belonging, as long as is not followed by excessive patriotism and sense of superiority. After all, community relationships are probably one of the most important things in life.