Years ago my mother told me, “Nuh mek nuh baddy tell yuh seh yuh is African. Me was bawn inna Jamaica, an mi maddah and faddah was bawn inna Jamaica. Is ownly di slave dem come from Africa an we nuh ave no slave innna wi family; nuh badda mek dem pieson yuh mine. Read yuh Bible, it nuh seh nuttin bout nuh Africa! We black!” She, was born in 1928.
Of late, a friend said, “I’m no African Canadian so don’t call me that, I’m Jamaican or black. I didn’t come from Africa.” He was born and raised in Kingston Jamaica in the 70’s and arrived in Canada as a teen. Another friend stated, “I’m not black, I’m brown. Africans are black.” Another, “I’m no Negro, that and nigger are derogatory terms used by the white man. I’m an African-Canadian.”
Well, I decided to read my Bible and in order to find my origin, I began at the beginning; Genesis. I read about my eldest ancestor Adam (first man) and Eve (first woman) and their appearance. I read about their first home; Eden. It told in great detail exactly where it was and so using an ancient map, I looked it up. Then it spoke of a new beginning by way of a great flood and how later God scattered man “abroad upon the face of all the earth.”
I have thus concluded that my ancestry is African and I am Jamaican by birth. I am colored, brown or black if one is to describe the pigment of my skin. Now that I’ve become a Canadian citizen, I would be described as a Canadian of African decent; African Canadian. If you were to determine my race I would be a Negro. If one were to describe my skin pigment and heritage then I would be an African Black. If I were to trace back to my first ancestor I would be a descendant of Noah via Adam and Eve, who lived in Eden; Africa.
Who am I? A Negro, Person of Color, Colored, Black, African-Canadian, Afro-Caribbean, Caribbean Woman; derogatory, offensive, outdated, inaccurate or politically incorrect, I am not defined by words whether positive or negative; I know who I am and from whence I came. In the end, God defined me; “In the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Written by Antoinette Forsythe Copyright © All Rights Reserved, Image Credit: world mosaic: a tribute to flickr portraits by pardeshi, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
