On 'Coming Home'

---During my stay in Ghana I have found that too many white folk have too many opinions on Africans and those in the African diaspora(excluding of course professors or other experts of Africana studies). I have listened to many discussions on the topic and how many Caucasians feel attacked as being white. Listening on a conversation, I noted one person say they felt ostracized from the "secret club that I can't even be a spectator of. I am the outsider in an enemy way." I could barely keep my jaw from smacking against the floor.
---Africans have gone through too much for others to be able to relate to. Learning about slavery, and the suffering and slaughter that Africans went through is not enough. Those not of African descent cannot understand. They cannot walk a step in an African's shoes.
---Many African-American's emigrate back to Africa, hoping to find some connection to their past, which may lay anywhere on the gigantic continent of Africa. (On a side note, many people, including myself, forget that Africa is a continent. A very, very, very, large continent.) Many African-American's refer to this journey as 'coming home.' After talking to a Ghanian I have been informed that this is "bullshit." As he explained it, 'white Americans' come to Ghana with their cup half empty, waiting to learn and experience anything and everything. Whatever expectations they may have can be altered, and then added upon. 'Black Americans' however come with their cup overflowing, expecting to be pulled into Ghana with open yearning arms. According to my Ghanian friend, this is nothing but the truth. Ghanians see 'black and white Americans' in the same light, as an obruni--a white foreigner.
---I could only imagine how harsh this could be heard by African-Americans, yet as I looked around to others listening to the conversation, the 'white Americans' were all nodding in agreement. Although many times I feel this 'coming home' aspect is pretty cheesy and unrealistic, I can't relate. Many of my fellow study abroad students try to compare their lives to that of the African diaspora, saying "I am not running around Germany or France calling it home and looking for where my great-grandmother lived. I don't understand why African-Americans need to." Again, I believe it is a feeling and an experience only those of the African diaspora can understand. To compare their experience to mine would be offensive. I know exactly where my family originated from, and I know they all came to America with their own will. As with all movements, there were push-pull factors that lead them to move, but they were not forced to leave their homes. Comparatively, Africans were uprooted from their countries, packed into cells, beaten, raped, and murdered, and then shipped to America, where they were lived the rest of their lives as slaves. There was no choice, no push-pull factor, only severe force and brutality. I could never imagine.
---Ghanians believe the saddest way to live is alone. I believe the saddest way to live is without a place called home.