Hello,

Today I will talk about something that I have observed in my travels in the World but have rarely heard discussed. Today I will talk about 2 groups of people:

a) Indigenous people/ Native people : Within this category I will talk about 2 groups, Aboriginals and Native Americans.

b) Africans born in ‘Western nations’: Here I will talk about African Americans and black South Africans

Native Americans and Indigenous People

If I have ever seen a beat up group of people in my entire life, it is the Aboriginal community. For a lot of Aboriginal families, if not most, their day begins and ends in a drunken stupor. The rate of illiteracy, teenage pregnancy, crime, child abuse, disease, depression and suicide is through the roof.

If I were to make an educated guess, it looks as though the Aboriginal community is slowly drinking and driving themselves to extinction. That may sound dramatic, perhaps it is, but it is my gut feeling. For a bit more perpective on the matter please listen to this interview with the Young Australian of the Year, who is half Aboriginal and half Scottish, Tania Major.

I have never spent significant time in the US, however from what I have observed the Native American is a pretty marginalized group. So marginalized in fact that it is only by a stroke of luck that I even knew they were affected by Hurricane Katrina.

In addition to that, I don’t know where I learned this, but changing over to the Western diets is having drastic effects on Native Americans with their obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle disease statistics shooting through the roof. If anyone has any more to add on the Native American communities, please do.

Africans Born in Western Nations

As opposed to beat down, this group is just straight up STRESSED AND ANGRY. In my entire life I don’t think I have seen a group of people with the levels of anger that South Africans and African Americans have.

When we visited South Africa in 1997, we never had so many in-your-face arguments about the most ridiculous things in our lives.

So we go to a hotel and ask for milk for a recently born baby. The milk comes and it is too hot for the child. We go back to the counter and ask for colder milk, they tell us in the most get-the-hell-out-of-here-tone , ” If you think you are too good for our milk. Leave!”

Fair enough she is having a bad day. I am sitting in an arcade just minding my own business. A cleaner comes to clean my seat and asks me to move in Zulu. I tell him I don’t understand Zulu. He explodes and cusses me out for the longest time IN ZULU. Believe it or not there is actually more and it’s actually worse. Not to mention the rates of crime, murder and rape in S.A. Weird thing is now that we are all here together in Oz, just like it is with the Indian community, we are best buds. We can chill, hang out and be cool with each other. But a South African in their native habitat….Wow!

African Americans, I think I don’t need to go into too much detail about. Watch hip hop videos, Jerry Springer, Maury Povich (actually don’t, these two shows have been known to cause tumours to the brain with their levels of empty, demeaning content) and I am sure every Kenyan in the States has stories. I have certainly heard my handful. From lovers who said threaten to kill their partner if they leave them. To the man who was held at gunpoint for accusing some girls of stealing his bath soap.

Anyway, this post is far from comprehensive or all-encompassing. It is pretty much a way for me to get some thoughts out there and get a dialogue going on some things I have observed about our fellow brothers and sisters on this Earth.

The love sickness has struck me to a point I have difficulty writing, this is my fourth attempt at writing an article today, but rest assured I am putting an end to it soon enough, I have to otherwise the Displaced African will become the insane-african-formely-known-as-the-displaced-african.

I appreciate you putting up with my rambling. I hope especially the audios I have attached are illuminating to you and I hope you will join in the discussion by leaving a comment below.

Be blessed and bless others,

Mwangi

PS: As is the case from time to time, this article has not been edited and has gone straight from the tip of my fingertips to your eyes.

Bonus: Michael Eric Dyson interview (Just because I am a raving fan of his)