Students with African roots urged to learn about each other

It had never occurred to Jones that she could look anything but African.

She wondered what image Africans have of African Americans.

Jones, treasurer of the African American Students Alliance, realized African students and African American students don't know much about each other .

Despite similar social and political experiences there isn't much interaction. In fact, there are two separate student groups- the African American Students Alliance and the African Students Association.

"I saw some of the misconceptions that we have about each other. All we see (of Africa) is the National Geographic films," said Jones

Jones said she realized from socializing with African students at the university that there is more to Africa than nature films.

"I enjoy having African friends. They have fresh and different points of view," she said.

Despite those sentiments, students from both groups said an effort needs to be made to interact more.

The two associations finally came together early last week in a forum at the Martin Luther King Center. Their aim was to question, learn and discover.

African students also admitted that they too know little about their African American counterparts. Their concept of African Americans comes mainly from movies and rumors.

Josephat Zimba, a mining engineering senior from Zambia and vice president of the African Students Association, said both African and African American students must make a greater effort to socialize.

"Without the effort, our only commonality could remain our skin," Zimba said.

Students discussed issues related to their different cultures and traditions.

Answering a question about the African tradition of initiation, Zimba explained Africa has many different cultures and that traditions vary from country to country.

He said that many Africans had lost traditional practices such as initiation due to urbanization but that some norms like respect for elders and friendliness are still very much alive.

Students found continental similarities between rural and urban lifestyles.

Marcel Nzeukou, a statistics graduate student said that in the cities of Cameroon, people do not greet each other. But in the countryside everyone says hello to everyone else.

Lisa Inman, a doctorate student in higher education, said that the same is true in the United States.

"Down south you greet everyone, but if you do that in Manhattan they will think you are crazy," she said.

Johannes Doku, a biological sciences junior from Ghana, said the main difference between Africa and America is that Africans are very "positive minded." He said Africans treat everyone with trust unless they prove untrustworthy whereas Americans treat people with mistrust unless they prove trustworthy.

Tyronne Henry, a KFFN sports radio host who graduated from the UA last year, said African Americans here should make African students feel at home. He said when he lived and studied in Russia, Russians invited him to their homes and made him feel welcome.

"If we can't invite people who look like us to our homes and make them feel welcome, then there's a problem," Henry said.

Chikonga Gwaba, a mining and mechanical engineering senior from Zambia brought up the issue of slave trade. He had heard it said that African Americans felt their African brothers had sold them into slavery.

African and African American students must move beyond pointing fingers of blame. Instead they should work on promoting togetherness here and now, said Roderick Rawlings, an MIS and African American Studies student.

"Nothing in life happens by accident," Rawlings said. "There are reasons and purposes. We are here to learn about each other in order to reinstall the innate pride and love for one another. It's time to put the slave mind in 'time-out'" he said.

The meeting ended on a thoughtful note with Professor Julian Kunnie of the African American Studies Department urging African American students to strive for an accurate knowledge of Africa.

"It's inexcusable that African American students in this country don't know African history," he said.

He urged African and African American students to stop referring to each other as "we" and "they" and to reach out to each other.

Doku invited the American students to visit Ghana and learn more about their African history and heritage from places like the Martin Luther King Library in Ghana and the universities where African history is taught.