Don't Call Me Nasara

Throughout the course of history- almost every attempt to classify people based on color, race, or religion has culminated in something that we as humans try very hard to forget. Notable examples of this include (but aren’t limited to): slavery, the crusades, the holocaust, the trail of tears, racial profiling, and many, many more. There are very few people who examine those periods of history fondly, grin to themselves and say, “ah those were the days”. So then, why is it okay to do it here?

I’ve heard people try and soften the blow by saying that nasara refers to any outsider but more often than not- nasara is a word for white people. But why differentiate? Why call someone le blanch? Why call someone nasara. Chances are, they themselves know that they are white, or not native to the country.

I’ve tried various ways of dealing with this problem and it’s a (sort of) downhill problem. My first response was to just ignore it. This didn’t solve the problem- just made me more irritated. The next solution was to call someone le noir or nisabalaga every other word until it started to annoy them and then go from there. This had about a 50% success rate and the other 50% seemed to think it was funny and didn’t get the point. Misfire two. My third (and best strategy so far) is to just ask who is nasara? And then when that question is met with a blank look I say (in moore) that was a question. I then try another one and say “what is my name?” (this is also asked in moore). These are for the most part rhetorical because whether they want to or not, inevitably I will tell them that nasara is not a name, nisabalaga is not a name, and if you want to address someone you can go up and ask their name just as easily. Because, in this culture- it’s considered rude not to get to know someone- and asking a name is a part of that.

The other day a nurse asked me why I do that. And I told her, I don’t like being typecast. All white people are not the same, just as everyone else is different. So I asked the nurse when the first whites arrived in Africa, what did they see and what did they do? Did they immediately think everyone was equal? The whole idea of slavery started because someone looked at the color of someone else’s skin and said we’re different and I’m better….because I say so. That logic doesn’t work- it never has and it never will- so if it exists places in the world today- shouldn’t we help to get rid of it- and see people as names, and people- not as a skin color?

Ou Bien?