in my online international business class one of the discussion questions pose to us was, “should africa have a common currency?” (similar to the euro in europe). some people said yes it would help to unify the continent and benefit trade, and so on. while others said no because of the still developing economies and the government instability. i agreed with the latter group but the answer of whether or not there should be a common currency was not where the issue lied.

in response to the question a fellow classmate stated that not much wealth has been created by blacks in south africa since democratization. for some reason i was really hurt by this statement and shared that are we to believe that of the entire population of south africa 10% are solely responsible for the wealth creation. another student defended the other student saying he had not meant it as a racist comment, and i hadn’t taken it as one. i felt it was rather a comment said in ignorance. well as expected the first student came back in defense asking why i would deem his comments ignorant and that he stats to prove his point. first i apologized if he thought i meant he was ignorant and clarified that i believed the statement was said in ignorance, meaning without knowledge or understanding behind it. and though he might have stats showing the wealth created by the population of south africa he must look beyond the numbers. it would be ignorant to believe that being striped of your citizenship rights in your own country and the fact that the white population had accumulated wealth prior to democratization, otherwise known as colonialism, than their black counter parts.

i mentioned in my previous post that recently i have been confronted with indirect racial issues and two questions arose for me: when do we say slavery is in the past? are blacks truly limited by the effects of slavery and other forms of discrimination in history?

i have always shyed away from racial topics, not wanting appear to be toting a black power sign over my head (and i have a fro, i might as well be a black panther). one thing i keep realizing in life is we are not meant to fight every battle, so we must know when to pick and choose. in a battle like that of race i find it most difficult because how can you choose a side without appearing biased. does the other person look at me and think she only says that because she is black or it’s because she is from africa. should that make me not voice my opinion? well let’s face it i am black and i am african. just like a latino american person might be more sympathetic to the plight of latinos and they are valid to do so having a greater understanding than i do, a non-latino. why do i then make myself feel guilty for doing so, so concerned about what others might be thinking.