This is a week late, but I still wanted to post my thoughts!
It was very interesting when Muhsana in her documentary asked the interviewees to say who they thought she was. This could have been in light of how they knew her or what they perceived based on what she was wearing. It was funny to hear all of the different responses. I’ve had some experience with this in people thinking that I’m Mexican. I’m not even Mexican, only ¼ hispanic in fact, but growing up I identified with them because I was constantly being seen that way. I’ve seen that my phenotype has made me accepted within the Mexican or Hispanic community and I want to be accepted. When Muhsana was talking about how she wanted to be accepted in Senegal and accepted as an African, I knew in part how she felt because I’ve experienced that growing up. However, she is African American. I am a racially mixed person. Yet we both feel so compelled to fit in, but why? For me it was a desire to belong and know that I was authentic.
I remember going to Amsterdam and experiencing the Dutch culture and realizing that I didn’t even know what my culture was. I felt like I was on a little boat going from shore to shore, but I would never be landing anywhere. Then it hit me that it’s not a bad thing, it’s exciting.
In traveling across nations or cultures, the differences do come to the surface. The interesting thing about my experiences is that I’ve seen how quickly people do judge a person based on phenotype and how it is very powerful. At the same time, I see how we are not all that different. That was a quote from the documentary:
“We’re more alike than we are different.”
If I remember correctly, the man was saying this in the context of people traveling to different parts of the world and how in doing so a person finds out that they are not so different from others. He mentioned the experience of going to another country and wearing the clothing and eating the food. I think that this is a beautiful thing because when you go to another culture and truly seek to learn from it, it’s like you’re a little child again. This is especially true if you try to learn the language. You’re learning everything anew and it’s humbling.
This past weekend, I was volunteering at a conference put on by a couple who are crazy lovers of Jesus. They go to Roma (gypsy) villages in Bulgaria, Turkey, and other parts of Eastern Europe and bless them by giving them food and gifts and treating them with dignity. In this video clip about this couple, the narrator says a similar statement to the man in Muhsana’s clip. He talks about how he realizes that he’s not that much different from the Roma people.
This couple has a vision of going to communities like the Roma people or going to people living in garbage dumps and loving them. They do this knowing that they are no different from those people, because who isn’t poor or struggling in some way. Who doesn’t want to be loved? It is in this state that God finds us all and meets us with His strong love. Here’s the link to the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX1o8pbZLUU
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