The myth that the streets are paved with gold in America still persists. Kyle and I were talking to a Liberian friend on Friday who genuinely told us he thought that the average person in America can earn $1000/day. People here know only of the rich celebrities of America, besides the international volunteers whom everyone assumes have money to give, and so believe that most people in America live the way the rich and famous do. They don't realize that a few miles from a celebrity's mansion are starving, homeless people, that most of the wealth in America is held only by a few. America remains the land of opportunity, of wealth and freedom. They think that if they can get there, they can get a job automatically - though Guy did point out that they usually can get jobs pretty easily because they are willing to take the badly paying McDonalds jobs and high paying construction/manual labor jobs that a lot of educated Americans/Australians/Canadians don't want. Still, $1000/day, it's hard to imagine.
Even the Cape Coast Castle museum, which followed the slaves' journey to America and then focused on the diaspora in the United States left a pretty simplistic and positive portrayal of the United States. There was about one sentence on the Civil Rights Movement, the glorification of a couple African-American leaders and performers, and no recognition of the fact that there are still a lot of problems to be addressed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
When I worked illegally in England the same sorts of jobs were available. I had an advantage in that I spoke the language and looked more English than the Morrocan hostel staff I managed. The immigrants in London were mostly from the British colonies but the feeling then (in 1978) was that you came to England for the dole (security) and the US for opportunity (to get rich). That may still be the perception today. No one leaves one country for another thinking they will be worse off when they get there. It seems one problem the liberians face is they know one awful reality and are holding out hopes for a better one elsewhere...but how to make that happen seems elusive. I'm not sure how many war veterans with PTSD would sign up for a return tour of duty, except to silence their own ghosts. And its more likely that they would end up speaking with them.
Post a Comment