Black Medallions, No Gold
January 18, 2010
Africa gets a pretty bad rap. In movies Africans are either the villains or charity cases, the general consensus is that its a land of violence and disease and it looks like the only attention Africans get is an extra pat down from TSA on the way through airport security.
Africans are more than email scams and unintelligible chattering in the front seat of a taxi cab. To bring some awareness to that fact Chace Infinite of Self Scientific got together with the folks at Good Wood to create these Africa Chains remeniscient of the Africa medallions cats used to rock in the early 90’s
Admittedly i have seen first hand the the negativity that has been bred in Africa along with the beauty and the majesty of the continent that flows through my blood stream and will be passed on through my lineage. The existence of that negativity does not diminish its regal past for the stories that have been told of this land have always been told through the tongue of the biased and seen through the eyes of the interloper. The story from the perspective of the indigenous is a whole different tale.
It all begins with awareness.
Good read! I wish people would learn to honor their ancestry. But lets deal with the harsh facts…too many of our undereducated brethren are fixated on other peoples ancestral home lands…How often do you hear I dream of going to Italy…or Paris in France…the land of love ?
What’s wrong with our ancestor’s paradise ?
If we would consult the historical record we would soon learn that these foreign european lands have become rich literally breaking the back and sucking the soil of our Motherland for ages…Reaching into our continent like its a bank account…making withdrawals but depositing NOTHING…Thats why its our responsibility to represent
I am going to cop a chain asap!
I just wish they would send me stuff too
i think what you said in your post is true ,i’m an african from cameroon living in france and the image i have of my continent is so wrong just keep remebing us the true way
thanks Emeka
A necklace may not be the best answer to this perception. The best way to change them is provide a counterpoint in action. I think its safe to say guys and girls like Emeka, Kelechukwu from Bloc Party, K’Naan, Nneka, Andy Allo, Memsor Kamarake, Joshua Kissi and many many many more live up to this call every day.
(Sidebar: there are a lot of red dashed lines in my entry, I need someone to program a dictionary that has African names pre-installed)
And don’t get me wrong, the pendants are quite fresh!
You wanna take over my blog from now on? that was eloquently stated
A necklace and be a beginning, but i can be a means to an end. Now a days culture has been commodified and compartmentalized and each culture is known for adding something beautiful to westernized culture. A wooden replication of the beauty which is Africa is a counterpoint to the horrid images that people have of Africa.
Thanks for mentioning this, the 419 guys are giving us Nigerians bad rap including other Africans as well. I do wish that things would change, but it will take years before it begins. By the way are you Igbo?