Africa Speaks Reasoning Forum

I am new to this site and I must say it is excellent.
I just finished reading an artical on Indian Arrival day and Emancipation Day in Trinidad and while the article was thought provoking, I also reflected on my own life and how Colonialism has impacted me.

I am African, Italian and Spanish. However, I look Italian.
I remember growing up in a ethnocentric Italian family with my mother who is Italian. I remember how I was made to feel ashamed to be Spanish or Mexican as I was labeld at the time.
As young as 5 years old I was the victim of racial slurs by those that loved me. And as bad as being Mexican was to my Italian family, my African heritage was never spoken of because of the shame it would cause my mother and grandparents.

My great grandmother on my father's side was African who lived in the West Indies and my great grandfather was a Spanaired. Growing up disconnected from both my Spanish and African heritage and left me feeling ashamed of who I was. The Irony is that African-Americans and Italian-Americans has many several social commonalities, which I will not get into at this time.

The first time I felt excepted was when I was fourteen and I was brought to an African-American Church. The acceptance and love was something I never felt from my own family. This sense of self gave me the courage at a young age to travel to the West Indies and find my Great Grandmother before she had passed. She shared with me oral history, culture, geneology and most importantly love. Sitting with her for hours and days, I felt alive, reborn but at the same time I felt angry and cheated because I was robbed of who I was for so long.

As I grew older, I never did become ethnocentric with any part of my heritage but I did have a strong tie to my Afro-latin roots. Consequently, I married a African-Trinidadian and I have relatives that are Rastafarian. Currently, I am working on a book entitled "The Miseducation of Michael Christian Santiago" were I will be doing an analysis of colonialism on my life in the areas of  education, media, religion, and social policy.

Mr.Tyehimba I do cannot say why reading work triggard these thought that I shared with but thank you. I look forward to enjoying the website and future work.

Respectfully,
Michael Christian Santiago, MSW

Greetings in the name of the Most High,
    Mr. Santiago, thanks for sharing your story. I am very glad to see that you were able to make such a positive transition in your life. Good luck with the book!

Cedric