AFRICA PODCAST

Izzy, a Nigerian man living in Chicago, discusses the division between African Americans and Africans. He believes the division stems from a lack of understanding and judgment from both sides. He suggests that bringing these two groups together requires respect, education, and patience. Izzy emphasizes the importance of sharing knowledge and information to bridge the gap. The host agrees with Izzy's perspective and thanks him for his insights. Welcome to Vashti's Vibrant World and today I'm here with... Israel, I like to go by Izzy. So today I'm here with Israel, who likes to go by Izzy. Today we'll be talking about or going in-depth about the division between African Americans and Africans. Now Izzy, tell us about you, like what's your ethnicity and everything? I'm a Nigerian, I was raised in South North Chicago. I left Nigeria when I was the right age of one and I've been living in Chicago since. Oh, okay, you've been living in Chicago since. Okay, so tell us why, I want to hear from you personally, why do you as a Nigerian man who grew up with the culture think that there is a division between African Americans and Africans? I don't want to say necessarily people feel like one culture is better than the other, but I feel like it's just the lack of understanding one another and stuff like that. People always use, I don't want to say everybody, but people use the word African people and it would be like, you know, Africans are dirty or whatnot. Hello? Hello? Oh, I can hear you, Africans are dirty and whatnot, keep going. Yeah, and then like, also like, also like African people get judged for like the, I guess you could call it like the language barrier as well, because not everyone speaks perfect English. Like people are just very rude and stuff like that. You're okay. Okay, yeah, people are very rude. And like, they don't like to respect one another, they like to judge. Instead of, instead of, people like to judge one another instead of like having an open mind and just being like, okay, like, even though they're different, like we all, maybe we have some similarities. And I feel like that's a big problem, like people don't, that's like, that's the major problem, people don't come into this world with open minds, they're just very judgy. And I feel like if people weren't judgy, they were willing to learn other cultures and stuff like that. That's what everyone could get along. Instead of one culture feeling like they're better than one another. That's what I feel like. Okay, well, I can just say I 100% agree, actually, I never looked at it from that standpoint, I actually came into this podcast ready to talk about the fact that I don't like how Africans look down upon African Americans for not knowing their culture, but they don't put in the time or effort like to teach, they would rather just judge. But now that you say that, I can see that the judgment definitely does come from both ways. Because I am aware and I know that there are people, African Americans specifically, who do maybe look down on Africans or like talk about them, like you said, the language barriers, everything like that. So I would definitely say it is, they go hand in hand, like, one needs to stop, the other needs to stop and vice versa. So how do you think, if you had any ideas, if you don't know, that's okay, too. But how do you think it could be like, solved? How do you think African Americans and Africans could possibly come together in the future? Honestly, like some ways I think they could come together just by like, trying to be more respectful to one another, like, overall, I'm sorry, let me just get back to that question. Okay, so pretty much, I believe that like, ways that we could come together and be one again, because by trying to educate one another, just having patience with one another. And I know it sounds easier said than done. But you also just have to like, you have to find a group of people that are willing to learn. And once you find like, let's say like, I'm African, I'm Nigerian, right? Let's say I find someone like you, like, that doesn't really know everything about their heritage and stuff like that, I can inform you about it. And then you can just go and inform that information on to another person that you know, that might not have like all the education that they need. And pretty much I feel like as that goes on, like your information will just keep on getting passed back and forth. That's a beautiful answer. I agree with that whole heart of me. Well, thank you Izzy for joining me today. Say bye to everyone. Thank you guys so much for having me on your podcast. I hope you guys have a lovely day.