B.White of Zamunda

Today was my first day at work. I didn't have to teach a class but I did have to head a one hour speaking activity where you essentially sit with your students and casually converse with them. Since I'm a new teacher they had many questions for me. They showed a considerable amount of interest in the fact that I was American -- A good majority of the teachers are from either Canada, South Africa, or England. 

The students started asking where in the US I was from and I told them NY. After I told them that, they continued to ask where my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents were from. Every time I answered the "America" they kept replying "No, no, no!" and laughing like I telling them a joke. Then one of the more advanced speakers asked me where my family immigrated from. I told them my family has been in America for hundreds of years repeatedly but they simply wouldn't believe me ... (I later found out that this is because they have virtually no knowledge of the American slavery system). 

Honestly though it was the end of the class and I just got tired of trying to convince them. So rather than trying to give them a small history lesson (which would have been the right thing for me to do), I decided to tell them my family was from the African country of Zamunda just to shut them up.

Now, if Zamunda sounds familiar to you, its probably because you've seen the classic 1988 film Coming to America. Its the name of the fictional country Prince Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy) comes from -- But unless you're living under a rock or extremely White, then you already know this. So you understand the level of pure, unadulterated ignorance that I was spreading among these unsuspecting Turks. 

AND In doing this, I know I just committed what would be considered a mortal sin in the eyes of the African American Studies department but Molefi Asante n 'nem could just take a seat cause your girl got ignorant jokes that need to be told. 

Maybe one day I'll give them the real story but let me just ride this wave for a while without judgement.

Side Note

Lets give a shout out to James Earl Jones (the actor who portrayed Prince Akeem's father) for playing Mufasa, the greatest fictional African king in American cinema.