Ok, lets first be transparent. America is basically unexplainable. It is so far from being one culture, one country, one people. We pretend like it is, but I dare you to encompass Connecticut, Detroit, Texas, Los Angeles, New York, Mississippi, Miami, Montana, Iowa, Utah, Alabama and how about Eugene, Oregon in one concise explanation. Not possible. Sorry. My personal life experience consists of Idaho and Oregon. Thus, I am not well versed in the different Americas. I did play on the football team at the University of Oregon though. Thanks to Oregon not being a football talent rich state, I had teammates from all over the country. That gives me almost an ounce of american experience credibility… maybe.

Now that we have got the disclaimers covered, I can write this blog post.

The highlight of yesterday, other than skyping with my girlfriend’s new puppy (very possibly the cutest freaking puppy in puppy history), was a conversation that occurred in my work’s parking lot. As I left, I heard my name and turned to see one of my new work friends, Kwame, moving quickly towards me. He asked how work was going for me, and then we started talking about him. He graduated from the the University of Ghana this Spring, the premier university in the country, with a degree in Bio-Medical Engineering. Upon that revelation I asked, “Uhhhh, dude what the heck are you doing at a communications agency?” He laughed, explaining that this was basically his summer gig while he figured out where he was going to graduate school. The two leaders in the clubhouse are the US and Germany. Then the conversation got interesting (thanks for reading all of that before I got to my point).

Kwame explained how he would prefer Germany because in Germany he can just be a black guy, but in America he has to deal with American black people. In America he will always be an African black person, and he adamantly refuses to become like American black people. Whoooaaaa what?

Me: “Man, I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Kwame: “I have a TV, I watch movies, I listen to music. We are inundated by black American culture here.”

Me: “Ya, still not totally following you.”

Kwame: “You know what I am talking about. American Black people are all like lil’ Wayne and Ludacris.” (I promise that’s a real quote)

Me: “Laughter”…. “No, no they aren’t. Just like all of America, black Americans are all very diverse and can certainly not be defined by Lil Wayne.”

Kwame: “I dont believe you. I have eyes and ears”

That conversation was hugely paraphrased, but you get the point. It went on like that for awhile as I tried to explain the concept of the invisible black middle class. He never really bought in to anything I had to offer, and eventually I had to run to catch the tro-tro home.

The one-hour tro-tro ride, which I spend trying to not think about how uncomfortable I am, was spent reviewing that conversation. The people on this trip have spent so much time talking about the constructed Africa. What about the constructed America? My friend Kwame is in the top 5% of educated Ghanaians and his vision of America, especially black America, is grossly generalized.

I dont have any wise or dramatic insight. I only aim to highlight a conversation, which reveals how the construction of every place we dont know first-hand is likely more stereotype than reality.