The "I'm not Black" Somalis

[Amira]

Who the f*ck are you barking orders to

Whatever it is you have my permission to say it here.

I just wanna speak to you privately in the DM. Just slide in my DM waryaa...

 

[Cognitivedissonance]

I just wanna speak to you privately in the DM. Just slide in my DM waryaa...

First off I am a Somali my mother tongue is Somali so why would I call myself black which is an English word?

 

[DuctTape]

First off I am a Somali my mother tongue is Somali so why would I call myself black which is an English word?

Because the white man had us in shackles just like all the other Africans

 

[Cognitivedissonance]

Because the white man had us in shackles just like all the other Africans

The white man & Jewish slave owners labelled the slaves black so they could wipe out their culture, language ethnicity, religion, civilisation. If a Somali calls themselves black then what they're saying is they don't know their culture or where they're from like the Africans who were taken as slaves descendants.

What people need to understand is that the power is in one naming themselves the minute you allow other to name you & label you then you give that power away.

 

[Mosaix]

Great question but you have to define what black is first. I have heard so many different definitions I can no longer assume we are talking about the same thing.

 

[Jjero]

The term black is for AAs that dont know their own ancestry
I know mine so i call myself by my ethnicity.
I am a Somali and i will call myself that until the day i die

 

[Edo Nene]

I'm not black too
I'm a horse.

 

[--Ajakis Lax Max--]

we need to push the somali race label. otherwise we will have young somalis calling themselves black. somali is its own race:siilaanyosmile:


african race is also acceptable to me. although the name africa is from the romans

 

[Amira]

Because the white man had us in shackles just like all the other Africans

The problem I have is that even though you'd rather identify as Somali than black, society will still you as black man. Say you and your west African friend are walking together, and an cadaan officer stops you guys...that cadaan officer won't look at you and think of this is a Somali Cushitic man...no...he'll think you're just another negro. I also believe you don't identify as black due to the negative connotations attached with black peoole. But what I say to you is: who cares? Don't let the media effect your opinion on being black and make you feel ashamed to be black. You are a black African man from the most beautiful continent in the world. Being Black is a gift from God, don't consider it a bad thing.

 

[DuctTape]

The problem I have is that even though you'd rather identify as Somali than black, society will still you as black man. Say you and your west African friend are walking together, and an cadaan officer stops you guys...that cadaan officer won't look at you and think of this is a Somali Cushitic man...no...he'll think you're just another negro. I also believe you don't identify as black due to the negative connotations attached with black peoole. But what I say to you is: who cares? Don't let the media effect your opinion on being black and make you feel ashamed to be black. You are a black African man from the most beautiful continent in the world. Being Black is a gift from God, don't consider it a bad thing.

You put too much stock into what "society" considers me or you or any of us.
So if a Middle Eastern looking Somali is viewed by society as an Arab, but identifies as black, is he Arab? He is still Somali like any of us. Many Somalis don't look like your typical "Black" and will be viewed as society as either "Brown" or mixed race. Does this mean that they are forced to identify as what society sees them as?
No, I identify as Somali only because I just don't feel any connection to Black people, nor can I relate to them outside of having the same skin tone. Where I live there has always been a gap between Somalis and black people, and they are never referred to as the same group, always distinguished. I don't give a shit about what the media says about black people. I think the "Somali" label is a much more beautiful and storied title than "Black", and I take pride in it. I have zero investment in the "Black" label, because I perceive it as either a colour or the word for African Americans specifically. Why can't you believe that? Why are you forcing me to view myself as black?

 

[ItsHanna]

I don't know who one is worse or more embarrassing the "we are not black" Somalis or the Somalis who claim they are Arabs.

 

[Cinnamon Spice]

The thing is, you can simultaneously be Black and Somali, just as a Swede can be White and Swedish. It doesn't wipe away your culture and heritage, nor does it replace your ethnic identity. You can self-identify and refuse to label yourself as Black, it is a social construct after all, however most people see us as Black people and we fit the definition (i.e., being dark skinned and (originally) from Africa). They may find it strange that we deny this label and may even see it as a form of self-hate (lol). After all Blackness is seen as a negative thing in most cultures. This is what prompted my scenario/question in the OP.

 

[Amira]

You put too much stock into what "society" considers me or you or any of us.
So if a Middle Eastern looking Somali is viewed by society as an Arab, but identifies as black, is he Arab? He is still Somali like any of us. Many Somalis don't look like your typical "Black" and will be viewed as society as either "Brown" or mixed race. Does this mean that they are forced to identify as what society sees them as?
No, I identify as Somali only because I just don't feel any connection to Black people, nor can I relate to them outside of having the same skin tone. Where I live there has always been a gap between Somalis and black people, and they are never referred to as the same group, always distinguished. I don't give a shit about what the media says about black people. I think the "Somali" label is a much more beautiful and storied title than "Black", and I take pride in it. I have zero investment in the "Black" label, because I perceive it as either a colour or the word for African Americans specifically. Why can't you believe that? Why are you forcing me to view myself as black?

I'm not talking about you or individual cases. Somali people in general are Black. Yes, there are certain Somalis that look Arab, mixed race, etc...but the vast majority of Somalis look Black.

I'm certain you live in the UK, and you're right. A lot of Black people in the UK do NOT consider Somali people to be Black. BUT it's not because they don't think Somali people are Black or we don't look Black...It's because Somalis isolate THEMSELVES from the Afro-Caribbean community in the UK and don't call themselves Black. They either stick with other Somalis or they hang out with Arabs and Asians. It's only UK Somalis that have a problem with being Black. There's a lot of self-hatred with you British Somalis.

I find it ridiculous that you don't feel any connection with Black people - then who do you feel a connection with? Arabs? The people who think your dark skin is inferior and will call you an abeed behind your back? How could you not feel a connection with fellow Black people? The people who look like you and share a continent with!

 

[DuctTape]

I'm not talking about you or individual cases. Somali people in general are Black. Yes, there are certain Somalis that look Arab, mixed race, etc...but the vast majority of Somalis look Black.

I'm certain you live in the UK, and you're right. A lot of Black people in the UK do NOT consider Somali people to be Black. BUT it's not because they don't think Somali people are Black or we don't look Black...It's because Somalis isolate THEMSELVES from the Afro-Caribbean community in the UK and don't call themselves Black. They either stick with other Somalis or they hang out with Arabs and Asians. It's only UK Somalis that have a problem with being Black. There's a lot of self-hatred with you British Somalis.

I find it ridiculous that you don't feel any connection with Black people - then who do you feel a connection with? Arabs? The people who think your dark skin is inferior and will call you an abeed behind your back? How could you not feel a connection with fellow Black people? The people who look like you and share a continent with!

I feel a connection in terms of culture, not in the way we look. Have you even met any Arabs? Seriously? We have far more in common with Arabs culturally than we do with Nigerians. And we are both muslims. How is that self-hatred? People on this website like to label anyone feeling anything that isn't hate for Arabs as self-hate. What did Arabs do to you? Arabs in my experience (because that's what we're going by here, experience), have never been racist to me, and the Arabs I've met have been great people. I'm not going to go around saying they're all saints though, because that wouldn't be true.
We have about as much in common with West Africans culturally and ethnically as we do with Europeans. Why do I have to be forced to feel a kinship with them just because we come from countries that are on the same massive landmass, and share the same skin tone?

Why is it so ridiculous to feel more of a connection with Arabs than black people? FYI, Arabs can be "Black". Sudanese people exist. There are many Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula that are very dark skinned and would be labelled black in the West. Even without a dark complexion, I can relate more to an Arab than I can to a black person who likely isn't muslim. I don't base my relation with people solely around white people treat me. You're pretty much expecting everyone to relate to the same people that you relate to. People with differing opinions exist. This entire discussion is based around a concept that is so damn abstract, we have had to keep redefining the same category over and over again. This is moot. I can relate to who I want to, and you can't "convince" me otherwise. Do you expect me to just give up and say, "Well, I guess you're right. Time to start relating with black people more than I do Arabs."

Stop calling everyone who doesn't hold the same opinion as you self-haters

 

[OmarLittle]

This nigga @Endriam

Connection with other blacks? What? By skin tone? When did skin tone translate the fact were going to be good friends?

The only people I have a connection with is Somalis from experience, everyone else has been kinda foreign to me.


Warya, stop projecting you love for the BBC onto us

You're also from Canada, the land were people talk about being "woke"

 

[DuctTape]

This nigga @Endriam

Connection with other blacks? What? By skin tone? When did skin tone translate the fact were going to be good friends?

The only people I have a connection with is Somalis from experience, everyone else has been kinda foreign to me.


Warya, stop projecting you love for the BBC onto us

You're also from Canada, the land were people talk about being "woke"

This nigga equates me saying I can't relate to blacks to me saying that they are all sub-human and beneath me
If skin tone was all we needed to relate to each other then Arabs and Europeans would be best of friends

@Endriam the world is not based around how cadaans treat us, just like Indians and Chinese don't feel any connection despite both being Asian, I as a Somali feel no connection to a completely unrelated group like Ghanaians or Senegalese. Even other Horn Africans and Arabs are still very very foreign to us, that's how separate we as Somalis are from everyone else culturally.

 

[--Ajakis Lax Max--]

amongst africans nigerians r cool to be friends. among arabs its the marocans while for europeans its the ukranians.

This nigga equates me saying I can't relate to blacks to me saying that they are all sub-human and beneath me
If skin tone was all we needed to relate to each other then Arabs and Europeans would be best of friends

@Endriam the world is not based around how cadaans treat us, just like Indians and Chinese don't feel any connection despite both being Asian, I as a Somali feel no connection to a completely unrelated group like Ghanaians or Senegalese. Even other Horn Africans and Arabs are still very very foreign to us, that's how separate we as Somalis are from everyone else culturally.

even qowdhans dont want to relate to us and he is talking about jamaicans and nigerians

 

[OmarLittle]

This nigga equates me saying I can't relate to blacks to me saying that they are all sub-human and beneath me
If skin tone was all we needed to relate to each other then Arabs and Europeans would be best of friends

@Endriam the world is not based around how cadaans treat us, just like Indians and Chinese don't feel any connection despite both being Asian, I as a Somali feel no connection to a completely unrelated group like Ghanaians or Senegalese. Even other Horn Africans and Arabs are still very very foreign to us, that's how separate we as Somalis are from everyone else culturally.

This all being pumped out by the "woke" community and others similar, they want a one black united country aka the whole African continent. These niggas want an empire and revenge on whitey loooooool.

 

[DuctTape]

This all being pump out by the "woke" community and others similar, they want a one black united country aka the whole African continent. These niggas want an empire and revenge on whitey loooooool.

People who know almost nothing about the continent of Africa or its people wishing for a united continent
If Europe has far less cultural disparity than Africa, and still hasn't formed a super-union (that isn't the EU), then what makes you think there will be an African State? These people think that being dark-skinned is all you need to feel solidarity for each other. If that's the case then why are Somalis being killed in South Africa and being targeted in Kenya?

 

[OmarLittle]

People who know almost nothing about the continent of Africa or its people wishing for a united continent
If Europe has far less cultural disparity than Africa, and still hasn't formed a super-union (that isn't the EU), then what makes you think there will be an African State? These people think that being dark-skinned is all you need to feel solidarity for each other. If that's the case then why are Somalis being killed in South Africa and being targeted in Kenya?

Yeah, I don't know man, but it sure is an interesting time to life