On Race

When I walk down the street, people will smile at me and wave at me and tell me hello. Well, not everyone, but that is the general attitude. Some of them may even call me obruni, which means literally "white person," but also more generally means foreigner. Even an African American can be called obruni once he or she opens his mouth to reveal an American accent. The Ghanains will laugh and say, "Hey, obruni!" I will say back to them, "Hey, bibini!" The word bibini means "black person." The Ghanain will laugh and smile when I say this because I'm speaking Twi and because they think it's cute I suppose. This whole interaction is so friendly and terms obruni and bibini seem almost like terms of endearment and not terms meant to point out some radical difference between us.

In the United States, this sort of interaction could never take place. More than likely, both parties would be too afraid, awkward, or confused to have such a random and upfront statement about their colors. There's a sort of awkwardness that takes place between these races... no matter how racist or how liberal I may be, in America, I look at a white person and I look at a black person, and I can't help but see the two differently and act towards the two differently. I don't want to, but the idea that we are so different has been engrained into my mind.
It just doesn't seem like people here act so fundamentally different towards different races. Now, I won't deny that white privilege can be found here in Accra. A taxi driver is more likely to talk to me. A random person is more likely to call me out for a conversation. I'd probably be more likely to get help in distress than a fellow Ghanain... but these reasons reflect the idea that a foreigner has money, which for me is true. The privilege doesn't seem to stem from some strange distorted notion that I am superior in any way.

In my Documenting the African City class, we watched a student film on African Americans in Ghana. I hadn't considered the topic too much, but now I'm extremely interested. The general impression the documentary gave was that the same stereotypes that exist about African Americans in America exists here in Ghana as well... lazy, uninterested in education, always getting in prison, etc. On the other side, the African Americans the student interviewed expressed somewhat of an unfulfillment to coming to Africa. People here couldn't understand and sympathize with their oppression because they simply had not experienced that. The African people have been in an entirely different world system... tribal life, colonialism, underdevelopment. I'm going to leave this here for now. I'll maybe say more once I have been here longer.