Check out this piece by the Sudanese Mohammad Ali Salih and the great responses to it at Sudanese Online.
I too, found it troublesome that Muhammad Ali arranges the way he sees himself as follows:
When I came to Washington , D.C. , in 1980, I was ambivalent about the racial divisions in America . After I became a U.S. citizen 10 years later, I started searching for my identity. I didn’t want to be part of the “white guilt - black victimization” syndrome. It took me 10 more painful years to realize that the color of my skin is not part of my identity. And that faith (Islam) is the core of my identity. Then my culture (Arabic) and my citizenship (American).
A catastrophic problem in Sudan is that the vast majority of us place citizenship last. There is hardly any loyalty to the country itself.
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
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While I can see why you may see it troublesome in context of the conflict in Sudan, I don’t see any wrong in the view presented. My own dad places his cultural identity as an immigrant before his identity as an American, simply because he is who he is and not what his government is.
I pretty sure most immigrants place citizenship last on their list of priorities simply because they were asked to renounce their old ties, especially if they come to the USA. It doesn’t relate to their obeyance of the law or anything like that.
Post-Racial World?
Really?
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