Month crosses cultural boundaries

Benedict Oladele, an international scholar from Nigeria, often
has lunch with his friend Gary Moore, who drives a campus shuttle.
While eating lunch and taking breaks from their busy schedules, the
two share experiences from their different backgrounds.

“We both share stories about our cultures and experiences,
and while we are doing this, we learn more about each other,”
Oladele said, adding that he values the time he spends with his
friend from UCLA’s African American community.

The experiences which Oladele and Moore bond over are reflective
of the common bond shared by UCLA’s African America and
African communities.

Though thousands of miles separated the communities for hundreds
of years, both embrace their common history and the significant
role Black History Month plays in each respective community.

Scot Brown, a professor of African American studies at UCLA,
believes the history of the African American community is greatly
integrated with the history of African people ““ both groups
share roots in the same community, both at UCLA and beyond.

“History has divided Africans and African Americans, and
the university experience of interaction should strengthen and
solidify the bond between us,” Brown said. “The
university experience provides an opportunity for blacks throughout
the community to meet and draw relationships and
alliances.”

The inception of the month itself evolved out of Carter G.
Woodson’s Negro History Week in the 1920s and has roots in
acknowledging African history, Brown said.

UCLA’s African community is mainly composed of visiting
scholars within the Global Fellows Program, which exchanges
scholars from different countries and allows them to research and
teach at a participating institution such as UCLA.

Francis Nesbitt is one such scholar. Nesbitt is originally from
Kenya and holds a doctorate degree in African American Studies from
the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. This is his first year in
the UCLA program and he said he feels connected to the African
American community.

“I feel an intellectual connection with African Americans
here at UCLA, in Los Angeles and around the country,” said
Nesbitt, who teaches a seminar in the history department titled
“African Intellectuals in Exile: 1945 to the
Present.”

Nesbitt added he has greatly benefited from the expertise at the
Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA and
several of the faculty have already reviewed his work, including
books he has written.

Nesbitt believes those in the African community should celebrate
Black History Month because the month also recognizes the migrating
of Africans into the United States and the struggles they faced,
which Nesbitt said he learned about during his time as a student in
Africa.

“I remember taking classes on African American history and
the Civil Rights Movement in the University of Nairobi,” he
said.

Oladele, a Fulbright scholar, said he looks at Black History
Month as a celebration by all in the black community, mainly
because it recognizes the achievements blacks have made throughout
the years.

“It should not matter whether one is African or African
American because we are celebrating the same recognition and (we)
come from the same origins,” Oladele said.

The scholars work out of the UCLA James S. Coleman African
Studies Center and act as cultural academic ambassadors because
they share their culture and knowledge with the UCLA community,
said Azeb Tadesse, the assistant director of the center who is
Ethiopian but has lived in the United States since she was 14.

For Tadesse, black history is not just a celebration in
February, but a celebration of black achievements throughout the
year.

She praises the diversity in the black community because it
allows for more cultural awareness within the community. Student
groups such as the African Student Union are places where students
can identify with different cultures within the black community as
a whole, Tadesse said.

Aweh Wami, a fifth-year African American Studies student, said
she has a close connection with the African community because her
parents came to the United States from Nigeria in order to have an
opportunity of higher education.

“There is a lot of interaction between the two
communities, mainly because we share the same identity and have
similar lifestyles ““ even though we come from different
backgrounds,” Wami said.

“Africans’ role in Black History Month is important
because it is the fight of black people from the African diaspora
in general,” Wami said. “The fight for black rights by
African Americans has been for everyone who came after so that they
would be able to have these rights.”

Even though both communities share similar roots and some of the
same struggles, there are still distinct differences in their
respective cultures.

For Nesbitt, the main difference is Africans in the United
States are still strongly connected to their native countries.
Through modern technology, they can continue to speak their native
language, attend traditional ceremonies, and enjoy African music
and food, Nesbitt said, as he referred to a Kenyan scholar who has
called Africans in the United States “American Africans
instead of African Americans.”

“This was not possible for African Americans or the
historical African diaspora. … They lost their languages and
ethnic identities but are actively seeking to reconnect with
African history,” Nesbitt said. “I see this desire in
my students both at San Diego State University and UCLA.”

And it is these differences that disconnect some in the African
community from the African American community at UCLA.

Obinna Okwara, a fourth-year sociology student who was born in
Nigeria, believes Black History Month should be celebrated every
day by both communities, but said he cannot personally relate to
the African American community.

Okwara said the difference lies in what he believes are distinct
struggles facing each community. While he believes the African
American community struggles to prove itself in American society,
his family in the United States struggles to take care of the rest
of his family back home in Nigeria.