Pan-African immigrants feel obligated to be the all-American person from whom is never heard a discouraging word at both the work place and in their residential communities, whether it be an urban ghetto, suburbia, or an ethnically mixed community. One apparent reason for this ambivalence is that many first generation [African] immigrants to the United States of America have White sponsors, or relatives who were initially either sponsored by a White individual or a predominantly White Church (48).

The intention of this essay is to highlight some of the marginalizing experiences of Africans in relation to White people in Europe and the United States and to point out their similarities to women’s experiences of marginalization. It is also intended to briefly highlight the resulting psychological damage involved in racial and sexual marginalization which makes it imperative to confront the issue of marginalization with a view to overcoming it. In order to bring these issues of marginalization to the fore, a true story of the marginalizing experiences of an African woman is presented as a springboard for subsequent discussions. Since it is a “feminist belief that women can recognize and learn from each other’s experiences” (Essed, 1991; 6), the essay shares insights and reflections on marginalization. The hope is that it would sensitize others to such issues, to which people do not ordinarily advert, but tend to deny and push aside in a bid to get on with life, and yet, are known to undercut human dignity. Moreover, a story like this together with its accompanying analysis and evaluation would most likely stimulate others to engage their own similar or related experiences in constructive ways, which would hopefully contribute to the transformation of the human society.

The rationale for this essay is that “change is possible and people can help bring about that change” (McGinnis, 1981; 92). Therefore, it aims to evoke a change in attitude and motivation to work toward overcoming marginalization and developing more inclusive attitudes toward other people considered different from a particular racial or sexual point of reference. While this work is intended to benefit all people of goodwill, it is particularly hoped that it would serve African women who interact closely with White people in a variety of settings in Europe, Africa and the United States. To this effect, the first part of the essay articulates the nature and effects of marginalization resulting from racism and briefly highlights the psychological roots of racism and sexism as well as their similarities. The second part suggests some responses to marginalization with a focus on African women.

The Nature and Effects of Marginalization and Racism

Sexism, as used in this essay, is “discrimination or oppression based on gender” (Stoutzenberger, 1998, p. 143). On the other hand, racism refers to “any action or attitude, conscious or unconscious, that subordinates an individual or group based on skin colour or race. This subordination can be enacted individually or institutionally” (Ford, 1994, p.11). Subordination, in turn, consists in “being placed in or occupying a lower class, rank or position” (Stoutzenberger, 1998, p. 170). In this essay, the paradigm, marginalization serves to express the experience of subordination in the lives of women and Africans. Thus, as entailed in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism and the apartheid policy in Africa, racism has been a subordinating experience for Africans in relation to Europe and the United States. Since these historical realities have officially ended, there is a tendency to underestimate their long lasting effects.

Onyibor (1997) emphasizes the cumulative effects of colonialism, slavery and the apartheid policy which have led to the internalization of racism in all peoples, whether as members of a dominant race or as members of a subordinated race. As such, racism is a worldwide phenomenon, embedded in the human psyche and in the total personality. That is to say, no one is free from the effects of racism, irrespective of their place of origin. Onyibor, therefore, calls racism a sickness, which has infected all. Since racism is so deeply entrenched, it is literally so close to the skin that it is hard to see. Thus, contrary to impressions that racism is now a thing of the past in the United States, for instance, racism has continued to manifest. The only difference is that it has become more subtle than ever in the many and varied experiences of many people with darker skin in their daily contacts with White people.

Moreover, one often gets the impression that one is not free to discuss it or to use the word racism. The myth about racism is that the word applies only to extremist hate groups and “an insignificant section of the population” (Leech, 1999, p.132). This view is, comfortably, held by people who deny racism, or who through their privileged social positions are shielded from suffering the stringent effects of past and current racism. Perhaps, they have never tried to find an apartment in a racist society. Yet, the experience of many people with a darker skin who continue to suffer the marginalizing effects of racism is that racism is alive, active and pervasive. Especially, where the law forbids open discrimination, racism goes underground and becomes more subtle. Since people are afraid to be accused and prosecuted, racist attitudes and behaviors become more covert and intangible, though no less damaging.

Too often, the experiences of people with darker skin are denied, discounted and trivialized, leading to a sense of frustration and powerlessness. Consequently, Philomena Essed a Surinamese sociologist living in the Netherlands focused her research on this particular kind of experience encountered by so many people of darker skin colour in their contacts with White Euro-Westerners. She interviewed 25 women: 14 Surinamese living among the Dutch and 11 African-American (1991; 2) in the United States. She published her findings under the title, Everyday Racism to enable people who have similar experiences to recognize and articulate their own related experiences. As Essed maintains:

The notion that . whites, because of their skin colour and ‘culture’, are superior to other peoples, and on that basis, should also be able to exercise power and control over them, is a colonial inheritance. It has been passed implicitly from generation to generation. Feelings of superiority are included so naturally in the socialization of . whites, in their upbringing, their education, the media, politics - in short, in the entire organization and functioning of society- that many whites do not recognize the racism in their attitudes and behaviour toward blacks (p.43).

From my own participant observation, the experience of some Africans in the United States is that of the subtlety of racism in interpersonal relations with many White people. The marginalizing experiences range from exclusion from activities involving use of voice, prejudicially termed “accent”, to difficulty finding apartments. Some of the experiences include being belittled, being restricted to service type jobs rather than intellectually and socially stimulating ones; also being abused by students under one’s care; and in relation to education, low expectations from some professors and discouragement from pursuing higher educational credentials. Those who are assertive risk being punished with low grades. Their colleagues caution them with examples of those to whom such had happened. These are very similar to the cases described by Essed in relation to work situations, education and public situations in the United States (1991; 231-7). Among other things, she reports that

[B]eing both women and black, they meet with different forms of sexism than do white women, or the same kinds but to a greater extent. Since they are not only black but, also women, they encounter different forms of racism than do black men. And in their relationships with white men, the racism they are confronted with can be closely tied with sexism (1994; 36).

I am aware of other groups who also experience racism in Europe and the United States, like the Jews, Asians and Latinos, but my concern here is with the experiences of people who have a darker skin and are of African origins. The following, Kelechi’s story, is a true story, which highlights the inner content of experiences of marginalization related to everyday racism. Kelechi, 39, is a Nigerian woman and a Christian. An educator by profession, she graduated from the university and became involved with an international humanitarian organization working in different kinds of rural development projects in West Africa in the 1980’s. She is currently living in the United States. I received her story in a personal communication. As such, to respect and protect both her identity and those of the other characters involved, they are all given fictional names. At the same time, the integrity and freshness of the story are preserved in its original context by letting Kelechi tell her own story in first person singular. My own analysis and evaluation come afterwards.

Kelechi’S Story

My first experience of marginalization was in the mid- 1980’s in a small group residential setting, where I was the only African living with a group of four Europeans as volunteers in a West African country, outside my own. Before then, I never knew any experience of marginalization and I had no idea how to deal with the situation I met. Later on, when I learnt about dominant and minority groups dynamics, for a while I thought that was it. However, it still left a lot unexplained about what I went through in that small group. It would be several years afterwards, in the United States, when the extent of racism I encountered forced me to name and process my experiences. 

One of my colleagues, named Lisa, was very influential and had a great reputation for her dedication to the people among whom we lived and worked. Yet, she was very unkind to me. She often cut me down to size and ridiculed me. She was also in the habit of dropping negative comments at me. Later, I came to understand that those were stereotypes White people believe about Africans. She did it so insidiously; loud enough for me to hear it as aimed at me, but also indirect enough for me not to be able to catch her and question her. Others in the group, who were better disposed toward me, never stood up for me in her presence; but in her absence, they would be nice to me privately and talk to me about what Lisa was doing to me. At meetings, however, they would support each other, and I would be left on my own. Even if one of them felt differently, she would keep quiet and not say anything.

Lisa denigrated me no end, and continually picked at my English. It was quite strange to me because, my sense of myself prior to that was that I had a good command of the English language. I had only been enjoying the admiration and esteem of my people before I went there. So, that negative image, which she continually hauled at me, was utterly strange to me. It was the direct opposite of what I knew about myself before then. It was so confusing for me, because I had never seen anything like this in my life. I did not expect it, and I was not equipped to handle it.

Those who could have helped me did not know how to help me either, apart from advising me to pray and to offer it up to God. Pray, I did; but I still needed an explanation for what was going on. There was something inside me that rejected it as evil, though I had no word for it. I simply refused to accept that kind of spirituality, which urged one to accept evil and offer it up to God. Yet, I had no alternative spirituality of justice to support me. I just handled the issues from day to day as it occurred to me.

My biggest asset then was my openness to search for appropriate responses to the situation. John Powell’s book, Fully Human, Fully Alive greatly served me to process my feelings of anger and hurt in the situation. There were a few blatant things with which I was able to confront Lisa. I went to her room and spoke with her. Each time, I made a point of just describing what happened and how I felt. She would apologize and make a gesture of reconciliation. I would think and hope that was the end, but she would soon do something else. I only went to her for anything that was quite serious. It was painful for me and took much courage to go; but I knew it was also humiliating for her to have to apologize to me so often. I was amazed at her emotional honesty. She knew what she was doing; only, according to her, she could not help reacting negatively to me that way.

Furthermore, some of our colleagues, her friends, who knew what was going on reacted to me with contradictions, denials and rationalization. They explained the whole thing away as personality clash and communication problem. They discounted my experiences. Again, it was a case of teaming up against somebody who was already hurting and alienated. It was all too confusing for me to make sense out of that situation. All I knew was that I was alienated and felt no sense of rapport with them.

As I learnt, over my meetings with Lisa, her own hope had been that I would be her pet and tutelage; but, far from that, I had my own mind. I knew what I wanted to do, and went about it purposefully in my work and other activities, which I initiated, young as I was then. I came home and simply shared about my day, just like every other person. She could not handle it. My failure to be subservient and assume the role of underdog incurred her anger against me and she made me pay for it. In the process, I learnt that it was something involuntary in her. It seemed she could not help treating me with hostility, as she did. I never understood it, but I thought it was quite strange and interesting. 

At any rate, my real eye opener came one day when we were having a formal meeting with our visiting supervisor, after each of us had met with her privately. During the open forum, Lisa made an interesting revelation. Among other things, she said she felt inadequate and threatened before me, because I knew what I was doing. Well, how was it for me? In a certain sense, I was relieved to hear her say that and to know the source of her hostility towards me. I felt triumphant. She had shown that my problem with her was not due to anything being wrong with me, as she had tried to impress on me all along. Yet, I could not understand it. ‘Why me?’ had often been my anguished cry, which I never gave her the benefit to see. I was so amazed to hear all that, because, to me, she was such a great person whom people respected for her achievements.

She used to drop words at me: “why not leave, if life has become unbearable for you?” Now, from hindsight, it would seem to me that that was precisely her goal; whether consciously or unconsciously, to make me so uncomfortable, so frustrated as to want to leave and go away of my own accord. Then, it did not occur to me that if one felt uncomfortable in any situation, one should just quit. For me a commitment was a commitment. So I was only looking for how to cope in the situation. (Personal Communication, 1999). 

Analysis and Evaluation

Looking at Kelechi’s story, a number of things stand out: the inner content of her experience of marginalization in her relations with the White people she lived with; her feelings, her own reactions; how she coped with the experience; how her antagonist, Lisa behaved; the actions and reactions of others; her immediate colleagues and the wider circle. As I see it, Kelechi’s experience of marginalization consisted in her being on “my own” while in the midst of “nice” people; the disappointment and unexpected-ness of being with people who had “a great reputation” for being good to the Africans, and yet having this experience of ‘contrariness’; and the fact that it seemed like her problem, until Lisa made that “interesting revelation,” which gave Kelechi a sense of validation and vindication. The worst part, I would say, was having her experience “contradicted” and “discounted” by others; and having little or no emotional support in the situation, except “privately,” in the absence of Lisa. How did Kelechi behave or react? It was evident that she could not even believe what she was seeing. This can be seen in the way she kept groping to understand what was going on, to be able to name it; to get a handle on it, so as to respond appropriately in a human way.

As for “a name” and a framework for dealing with this kind of experience, like Kelechi, many of us did not know either. With experience and contact with so many Africans who have stories similar or worse than the one under consideration, I am inclined to conclude that what Kelechi experienced was racism. The stories point to the very heart of racism, namely, belief in the superiority of one racial group over another, such that the culture, norms, theories and practices of the dominant group become enforced as the norm for both groups (Onyibor, 1997).

From the story, it is clear that racism is not about lack of nice-ness. In fact, nice-ness can even be a guise, which cloaks racism. In particular, “everyday racism” can be very hard to pin down. As Kelechi rightly sensed, it was “evil” and she was right in refusing “to accept it”. Racism is a systemic evil, which is so endemic that often many people do not recognize it. Only those like Essed, who have known this kind of experience, can appreciate the issue. “Everyday reality teaches us that many instances of racial and ethnic discrimination are difficult to ‘prove’. Yet, [they happen in often hidden and] seemingly impalpable [ways]” and their effects “may be even more damaging . than those of blatant discrimination” (1994; 2). It takes experiences of contrariness as in Kelechi’s case to know that “things are not right here”. Yet, there are a host of reasons why people who suffer racism may choose to suppress their own experiences or to be open about them and speak up.

It is also noteworthy that Lisa once said to Kelechi: “why not leave, if life has become unbearable to you?” For me, this points to the goal of racism; to eliminate people of a darker skin, so that the rest of humankind would feel more comfortable (Benoist 1999). goes straight to the point. “Racism can lead to a desire to banish others, to set them apart .To the extent that it is a phobia, racial xenophobia is not concerned so much with domination of the other as with its removal, as its disappearance from everyday life” (16-17). Grayraud and Cone similarly believe that White people see the Black race as “an ontological evil, that needed to be . blotted out before the face of God” (Angus, 1997; 48).

From a psychological viewpoint, I think Lisa’s antagonism towards Kelechi was a case of shadow projection (Jung, 1979). Considering, the “negative comments” she used to drop at Kelechi, those negative stereotypes about African peoples, and the very opposite of Kelechi’s observable qualities, Lisa’s behaviour was possibly, an indication that she herself had those negative qualities. She was not in touch with them. She was not conscious of them as her own and so, projected them on Kelechi as her target. Hence, it was validating for Kelechi, when Lisa openly withdrew her shadow projection from her by admitting the cause of her negative reactions as due to her feeling “inadequate and threatened” before Kelechi. Quite an interesting drama! And not everyone has such luck in being so vindicated.

I would say in this connection that Kelechi’s personality and carriage, in the way she did her work diligently, effectively and with much initiative, probably contradicted everything Lisa, prejudicially, thought of an African. This probably challenged Lisa’s self-definition as “superior” and “competent”. One can see that the conflict arose from a clash of perceptions of identities; her’s and that of Kelechi whom she perceived as “other” and therefore “inferior;” though only in her imagination, not in her reality. As Benoist (1999) pointedly put it, “it is not so much the perception of differences which provokes racism, as the feeling of the disintegration of identities, which then leads to recreating identities in pathological ways and from the perspective of racial xenophobia” (48). This disintegration of identities in face of new accruing contradictory evidence easily explains why “nice people” can be so nice and still behave in racist ways to the likes of Kelechi. One has reason to believe that the story under analysis is the experience of many Africans who interact closely with White people in professional situations, but they tend to suppress their experiences in order to keep their jobs.

Moreover, from a systems’ perspective, one need not wonder about the other members of the group, who looked on, while Lisa “picked at” Kelechi “the whole time”. As Tom Hamill would say of a situation like that, whatever she was doing to her, she was doing on behalf of the whole group (Seminar, 1997). Similarly, the others manifested what Essed (1994) refers to as passive racism. For her, “active racism, or at least active discrimination, refers to all acts that consciously or unconsciously - emerge directly from the motivation to exclude or to inferiorize blacks because they are black. Passive racism is complicity with someone else’s racism” (25). Thus, in that situation, Lisa representing a sub- system, the White population, was inferiorizing Kelechi, who stood for another sub- system, the darker skinned population. Systemically, therefore, a reality larger than the two or five of them was being played out.

Incidentally, it has been noted that for many White people, the only way they know of relating to Africans is through patronage. This is a cumulative effect of all the negative images, which have shaped White people’s imagination about Africa and Africans. Whites have been implicitly socialized into believing that they are superior to people of a darker skin colour. Consequently, many Whites have no respect for Africans. They have no idea of how to relate to Africans as friends or colleagues, equal in dignity and humanity. In face of those Africans who come across as independent, competent and self- contained; and who do not seek nor invite patronage, some White people are at a loss as to how to relate to them. In some cases, as illustrated in the story, they become even aggressive, threatened by the very presence of those Africans; as if their very self- definition, as “superior”, has been demolished. It then becomes a counter attack. While many White people are oblivious to their racism, it is as clear as daylight to the people who experience its marginalizing effects on a regular basis.

A parallel dynamic may be deduced in cases where women are put down by men. It is a similar pattern of conflicting and disintegrating identities laid on the shaky foundations of privileged birth and location on the globe; precariously supported by oppressive ideologies and prejudiced traditions. In face of evident contradictions of its claims to superiority then, the construction comes crashing down in sweaty trepidation.

One would then wonder: “Why does the issue of marginalization or racism meet with such denial and defensiveness when brought to awareness?” It can be guessed that humans by nature want to be known as good and fair, even when we actually act in ways that are less than ‘good and fair’ to our fellow human beings. It seems then that, to preserve such a “good and fair” image in oneself, the immediate reaction is to put the blame on the person who has been offended; a phenomenon known as “blaming the victim” (Essed 1994; 33). It is a means used by offenders to relieve themselves of their sense of guilt. Moreover, Essed underscores the fact that Whites are more preoccupied with looking good and maintaining a non-racist self-image than with actually dealing with the issue of racism itself. From experience, therefore, I agree that this attitude in many White people blocks them from listening to and hearing what people who suffer racism have to say. I think there is a similar attitudinal block in men who are chauvinistic.

Psychological Origins of Racism

Similarly, Sivanandan (1969) believes that the Christian tradition contributed to the dehumanizing effect of colonialism and racism through its huge role in demonizing people with darker skin. It goes without saying that this same mythological construction is equally responsible for the inferiorization of women and the projection of evil onto them. Furthermore, the notion of God and the angels as blonde white figures, and of the devil as black, had undoubtedly contributed to a mythology in which blackness was linked with the forces of darkness and evil (as cited in Leech 1999; 136). Thus, the arithmetic is clear: white=good and black=bad.

Unfortunately, consciously or unconsciously, many people with darker skin have internalized these myths and have also come to interpret blackness in a similar way. This has led to self-hatred and self-rejection; and a concomitant rejection of anyone or anything that reminds them of that much-hated self. That is, anyone or anything from Africa. This self-rejection, mirroring the society’s rejection is evidenced in measuring one’s self worth by a Western frame of reference; “. this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity” (W. E. B. Du Bois 1973, 29-32, as cited in Onyibor, 1994; 31). I had an unpleasant experience of this notion of ‘black is not good; white is better’ in an encounter with a group of African-American and Latino students in a high school with a predominantly white staff in the U.S. The students never gave me a chance to teach them.

Internalized Negative Consciousness About Africa Among the Youth

Racism and Sexism: Some Similarities

Thus, there is clearly a strong correlation between the inferiorization of women by men, and of Africans by White Europeans and Americans. The marginalizing experiences include patronizing attitudes, denigration and inferiorization by the respective dominant groups. All these are the results of shadow projection coupled with successive generations of socialization, re-enforced by Western Christian mythology of good and evil. Each case involves an implicit claim to superiority and an assumption of the right to exercise power and control over the ‘other.’ For the recipients in the case of sexism and racism, the experience of marginalization includes feelings of anger, hurt, helplessness, powerlessness, self-doubt and confusion; and either a resolution or a paralysis. On the part of the perpetrators, the reaction is characterized by unawareness, insensitivity, denial, defensiveness, discounting and trivializing the experiences of those who suffer marginalization.

Response to the Challenge of Marginalization: Suggestions for African Women

the Individual Level

Self-Awareness

Therefore, I recommend as a first step, a conscious awareness of this sad reality and an equally conscious self-affirmation, by deliberately going against the tendency to prefer Western products or “White goods”, even when African goods may be more beautiful or of a higher quality. Other areas to watch for and counter-act this negative tendency could be in choosing spiritual/retreat directors/directresses, resource people for lectures and seminars etc. Similarly, regarding level of confidence, feelings and attitudes towards pilots, dentists, engineers, doctors and other professionals of African origins, we may need to reassess our conscious and unconscious reactions in the light of ‘negative consciousness about Africans’ pointed to earlier. Furthermore, there is a myth that women tend to trust men more than their fellow women who might be as qualified, or perhaps even more qualified than their male counterparts or that Africans do not trust each other. It will be good to try to reassess this, and ask: “whose social construction is this? Is it even true? And if it is true, how does one avoid playing into the self-fulfilling prophecy? And who benefits, if the prophecy comes true? To whose advantage will it accrue if women should truly distrust fellow women, and Africans truly distrust fellow Africans?”

The other popular myth is that problems are created when faced squarely and named, especially, in the areas of racism and sexism. This must be recognized as part of the ploy, which keeps the systems in place and unchanged. Therefore, it is important to note that not adverting to these things does not make problems go away or become less harmful.

The Need for Healing

Therefore, it is important to have a support person or a group where one can have one’s feelings validated by others who understand, because they have had similar experiences. I know from experience that it is most helpful and healing to talk with people who show that they understand what you are talking about and that it is real; and that you are not making it up. In addition, one should avail of counseling, if possible. One should also learn to use some personal facilitation skills, such as journaling and focusing. For example, Eugene Gendlin’s book Focusing is one of the invaluable tools for self-help. Likewise, Piero Ferruci’s What We May Be is very good for nourishing and cultivating one’s inner self and spirit.

As personal healing sufficiently takes place in people, on-going personal growth would require risking openness and willingness to engage with “difference” and with the “other.” By this, I mean, that after healing sufficiently from experiences of being hurt by White people, for example, one would still be willing to risk re-engagement with them. This amounts to being on the cutting edge of life and being available for contact with those who have been instrumental to one’s hurt. It requires a kind of faith in humanity, that we are basically one family. It also requires realism; that is, without playing down one’s own and others’ experiences of racism, one can say, “if they really know what they do, they would not do it.” In other words, one makes allowance for what might be termed sincere ignorance. Nelson Mandela easily comes to mind here, when he said of the White population in South Africa, “They are not evil. They are ignorant”. This attitude is a healthy basis for the art of cultivating relationships with persons from a group that has been experienced as oppressive

Building Confidence Level

In a world that has internalized the denigration of women and Africa, in particular, one needs an extra dose of self-confidence and self-esteem to carry on. One practically needs to make bouquets of self-affirmation to remind oneself of a sense of worth, power and support. In face of all, which threaten to erode one’s self-confidence, this might mean documenting one’s success stories and achievements. One can review these affirmation bouquets, periodically, to boost one’s level of self- confidence.

Self-Responsibility

Furthermore, it is important to value one’s experiences, heritage and history. I think that, one needs to learn to make acts of self-acceptance, just as some of us learned to make acts of faith, love and hope in God. I think it is valid to do this, because love of self and acceptance of self are prerequisites for genuine love and acceptance of others, including those who have been instrumental to our marginalization.

Self-Definition and Affirmation: Some Concrete Steps

Another means of self-affirmation is by taking pride in our own goods, our own food, clothes, language and culture. I know too well, the stigma and stereotype attached to being African in the United States, for instance, especially when one dresses in African clothes: “What does she know, any way?” For new immigrants, this obstacle might be too great to surmount and the people one is dealing with may not be able to get beyond the stereotype and relate to the person right in front of them. Therefore, I propose that those who have already established themselves in the dominant society might be in a better position to begin to confront those stereotypes. Those who have made it academically, financially and otherwise, will do well to identify themselves clearly, by name, exact place of origin, their achievements and profession, and by wearing African clothes and displaying other cultural products of the African heritage. This will provide younger people of African origins something immediate and within reach with which to identify and be proud. It will motivate them to associate themselves more with their culture of origin through their identification with these distinguished persons of similar origins as themselves.

Focusing on women has a great deal of motivating impact because, in my experience, when a woman takes on a public role, other people, both men and women, feel encouraged and challenged to step forward for more active participation. Some would reason this way, ‘If she can do it, I too can do it.’ This will go a long way toward stimulating personal growth in communities.

Interpersonal Response to Marginalization

Identifying Potential Allies

Here lies the challenge of marginalization. We do not want to deny our own experiences. Yet, we do know that by virtue of our common humanity, we are called to mutual relations on our planet earth, and not to settle for the status quo, which keeps the world divided as black and white, women and men. We know that as long as these divisions and marginalization remain, humanity remains less than its self, and in need of healing and coming to wholeness, with the full acknowledgement of the equality and full human dignity of all God’s children. Lived experience indicates that the onus often rests on members of marginalized groups to take some awareness-raising actions to challenge the dominant groups to move them toward changed attitudes and toward giving up their power and privileges, and sharing them with the marginalized group; for no privileged group ever hands over power willingly without anyone ever asking them. Bridge-persons as already mentioned can be very helpful in collaborating towards common projects. Lived experiences confirm the value of such collaboration in resisting the forces of marginalization and pushing back of the boundaries of imposed limitations.

However, it is not easy to recognize allies and bridge persons. They may come across as pretending or vacillating in the eyes of people who are marginalized in a group, who may then write them off hastily as insincere or not genuine. Yet, as I discovered, such potential allies may be vulnerable and fearful of being accused of selling out by members of their in-group. They may also experience a feeling like walking on eggshells, not knowing when and for what they might be accused by the marginalized group, or by their own in-group. Consequently, going by what I have seen work, my suggestion in this regard is to recognize and accept whatever level of goodwill shown, no matter how little or how much; to welcome ii and to work with it.

Developing Healthy Survival Skills

Because there is that implicit craving for acceptance into the larger group, the oppressed group tends to accept narrow and limiting range of criteria. Eventually, those who do not give in to these criteria are labeled, isolated, rejected or humiliated . some kind of unhealthy defense mechanism may be developed by the minority group in order to survive in the larger group. [Some] may be forced to withdraw . and allow their rights to be trampled upon . feelings [may also be] bottled up in order not to ‘rock the boat’. Others may begin to act ‘sweet’ around members of the majority group and depend on them for everything, including taking decisions that have to do with the minority (1998; 5).

It will surely be more helpful for everyone to be more honest and open about the reality of racism and not give in to the forces of denial and co-dependency, which compel people to keep silent. African immigrants and missionaries can borrow a leaf from some of these African-American women who are very clear about the racist situations in which they live and they raise their children to know what to expect, how to be strong and how to survive in the system. For example, they urge their children to get the highest possible education as the key to their survival. Moreover, they tell themselves that in order to survive in their workplace, they have to be three times better than their colleagues in order to keep their jobs. Knowing that somebody else might make a typographical error, for instance, and it might pass unnoticed, but in their case, the mistake would be blown up out of proportion, they tend to be extremely careful in everything they do in their work places. African women immigrants and missionaries should also be better informed and prepared for these harsh realities; just as these African-American women inoculate their young ones as to “how to resist oppressive circumstances” (Essed 1991; 235), and not to take anything for granted. They know that contrary to impressions, things are not as normal as might be expected in the society in which they live.

Developing Awareness and Critical Thinking

Creating Support Groups: Telling One’S Stories

De-colonizing and De-masculinizing Women’s Mind

For instance, Elizabeth Johnson (1991) insightfully observes that Christianity’s predominant use of masculine imagery about God, and the suppression of feminine and other biblical imagery of God has led to the false assumption that God is male. Insisting and believing that God is male implicitly denies women [as females] the possibility of ever experiencing themselves as truly made in the image of God. She believes that this is highly damaging to women and is largely responsible for the perennial sense of inferiority and low self-image which plague most women regardless of high achievements.

African women should, therefore, cultivate the habit of relating to God through the feminine images of God, which abound in the scriptures; especially, the feminine divine figure, Wisdom [Hokmah in Hebrew, or Sophia in Greek]. Therefore, recovering and using both feminine and neutral biblical images of God, alongside the traditional ones, will help to heal the wounds of women’s inferiorization. The following are useful examples of the feminine personification of God: Wisdom 7: 22-30: 7: 25-26; 9: 1-12; 6: 12-22; Ecclesiasticus 15: 1-3; Proverbs 9:1-6; 8: 22-31; 1: 20-21. By undoing the effects of predominantly white and masculine images in language about one’s self, others and God, we as African women can begin to “de-colonize” our minds as African and “de-masculinize” our minds as women.

Conclusion

The marginalizing experiences of Africans in Europe and the United States reflect patronizing attitudes, denigration and inferiorization by White people. The experience of some Africans is that their attempts to resist inferiorization by Whites are met with snobbery, aggression, denial and further marginalization. These are also the experiences of many women in relation to men. Thus, for the recipients of racism and sexism, the experience of marginalization includes feelings of anger, hurt, helplessness, powerlessness, self-doubt and confusion; and either a resolution or a paralysis. On the part of the perpetrators, the reaction is characterized by unawareness, insensitivity, denial, defensiveness, discounting and trivializing of the experiences of those who suffer marginalization. In the case of women’s marginalization, sexism is cloaked in religious language and attributed to divine ordinance. Consequently, many women - because they tend to be religious - are beguiled into accepting without question gender and social constructions, which militate against their full humanity. For this reason, the final part of this essay has focused on women and offered some practical suggestions for initiating reversals of the harmful effects of the collusion of religion and culture especially on African women. Considering the correlation between the marginalizing experiences of Africans in relation to Europeans and Americans, and of women in relation to men - traditionally rationalized as God’s will – one would agree that “racism has acted like a litmus paper test, or like a barium meal, revealed the flaws in the whole organization” (Leech 1994; 140).

References

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