This was an excellent weekend for me, as I'll be posting about it for several entries. But the first entry is about the black man and his family at Lucy Florence.
Lucy Florence is, of course, one of the premier destinations in Leimert Park Village. If you want to get a taste of gentility, and have a very civilized cup of tea on a Sunday afternoon, there aren't many places to match LF. Still, there are other reasons to go, poetry readings, community and political meetings, brunch and the art gallery.
Sunday, I was there for the tea. As I chilled and checked my email while sipping on a huge cup of chai spice with honey, a man entered with his wife and two kids. After some time we chatted about this and that. I discovered he was from Curacao and that he spent some time in Germany. Although it wasn't the first thing I noticed, I did recognize that they seemed particularly wholesome. The boys 12 and 9 were attired in similar polo shirts and the gentleman was clean shaven with glasses and a short conservative haircut. He reminded me something of a slightly nebbish Greg Morris. I thought to myself that this was the kind of family I'd like to hang out with some time.
I probably spoiled the moment as I started asking questions about whether or not Curacao was in the British Commonwealth as a prelude into questions about the politics there. He corrected me by informing me that it was Dutch and a shadow crossed his face as he considered the fate of the place. Still not quite independent I think.
As Shay mentioned in response to my post about the internal black culture wars, I have to agree that foreign born blacks are probably not integrating well with us black yanks. I can't say that we're making it easy, and certainly from the looks of things, they're not particularly interested in our drama either. And yet I cannot help but think that there will be class affinities between Africans, Caribbean and American blacks that will be expressed sooner rather than later.
Mine is only anecdotal evidence, but I have confidence that these bonds will emerge naturally. Simply to the extent that a 'looks like us' affinity works, I think real friendships will come of simple social interactions. From my experience, especially with older men from the Caribbean, many of these bonds will emerge over politics and religion. The conservatism is clear.
I too have recognized my own admiration for the cunning ambition of many Nigerians I have encountered here in the States. I think one day I may come to trust them too. America is a different game for West Africans, and for South Africans as well.
I suspect Americans of all sorts will have some difficulty parsing all that out. With so many of us thinking about Jamaica, for example, in stereotypical terms, we may find that many blackfolks will not out their own ethnicity. That will make for an interesting century.
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