Come visit Interrupting Privilege at the Northwest African American Museum! Click here to learn more about the exhibit

Interactions Between Black People and African Americans

In this clip, a Black student describes the trauma of slavery on Black Americans who were stripped of their connection to their ancestral homelands and how that history impacts current interactions between Black people and African immigrants. She observes how, from her Black American perspective, she carries pain, scars, and envy toward people who have a connection to their African roots because she doesn’t have that homeland to return to. She recognizes how this array of experiences and traumas can lead to competition but she thinks that competition is completely unnecessary because Blackness is not a monolith. The variety of experiences and perspectives is what ultimately makes interactions complex and collaborative.

Blackness isn’t just one array because Africa is a continent and there’s not just one country within Africa there’s multiple. You can’t expect people who come from one area and another area to be the exact same. You can’t expect somebody from Seattle and New Jersey to be the exact same.