This pancocojams post presents a compilation of selected comments from a discussion thread on the African American Forum on Topix. That discussion thread (which is still open for comments) is entitled "Are Papuans from New Guinea considered Blacks?". As of the date of this pancocojams post, that thread which began on February 15, 2008 has a total of #281 comments, with the latest comment added on November 12, 2017.
The content of this post is presented for sociological and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/seven-contemporary-papua-new-guinean.html for a recently published closely related pancocojams post.
I viewed those (and other YouTube videos) and published that post after I happened upon that Topix discussion thread because I wanted to see for myself examples of what Papua New Guineans look like.
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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE TOPIX DISCUSSION THREAD: "ARE PAPUANS FROM NEW GUINEA CONSIDERED BLACKS?"
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
I realize that any other compilation of this discussion would be different from this one. However, I believe that these selected comments are relatively representative of this discussion's comments.
Numbers for these comments in this pancocojams compilation are added for referencing purposes only.
WARNING: Some comments in this discussion thread contain profanity and/or sexual explicit language. Comments with sexually explicit language aren’t quoted in this pancocojams compilation and comments that contain profanity are given with amended spelling that is indicated by an asterisk.
Quotes from other commenters within these comments are given in italics (as they appear in the original discussion).
I've also added notes after a few of these comments.
From http://www.topix.com/forum/afam/TH69GECMVFGQN9856/are-papuans-from-new-guinea-considered-blacks.
1. Garrig
#1 Feb 15, 2008
"I have met a few and they look just like African Americans, but someone said they are Pacific Islanders? Is this true?"
**
2. Casual Thought
Youngstown, OH
#3 Feb 15, 2008
"Yes, they are Pacific Islanders.
Yes, they have melinated skin. Infact, many peoples in that area of the world have features similar to your stereotypical West African.
Though in some areas it seems, blond hair is quite common.
Genetically speaking though, they don't have any recent African ancestry. They are Asian, they just live in a tropical environment."
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3. Garrig
#5 Feb 15, 2008
"Michelle Kia wrote:
Yes..they share similiar genetic make-up to Pacific Islanders and some Asians..
But they look Black"
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4. Michelle Kia
St Louis, MO
#6 Feb 15, 2008
"Garrig wrote:
But they look Black
Phenotype and genotype are two different things."
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5. Fijian Lady in London
Stoke-on-trent, UK
#17 Feb 16, 2008
"Papuans from New Guinea are black and Melanesian. I am also Melanesian but I see Africans as brothers and sisters because we are all black people."
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6. #16 Feb 16, 2008
"Osibisa wrote:
"You have no idea what you're talking about, you f**king idiot. The people of Papua, New Guinea are Melanesians. They have almost nothing in common with Africans - genetically, culturally and lingustically. Their closest genetic links are with southeast Asians. A white Norwegian has more in common genetically with an African than a Melanesian does.
As for Columbus ascribing the term "Indians" to the native Americans, ALL the Portuguese and Spanish explorers of that era called the native peoples they met "Indians" or "Indio," Latin for indigenous peoples or, literally, "people of God." In fact, there was no nation of India or people called Indians on the Asian sub-continent during the time of Columbus. The India we know today was then divided into a number of kingdoms and sultanates with the people known to Europeans as Punjabis, Sikhs, Bengalis, Mughals, Kashmiris, and others.
So take your racist rap and stuff it, negro. The only thing truly recessive is your feeble brain.
this is white supremacy at work. Tying geography to ancestry to dilute the African presence."
-snip-
This entire comment is quoted as it was written in that discussion
“negro” (purposely spelled with a lower case “n” in contemporary African American conversation) is a derogatory referent.
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From http://www.topix.com/forum/afam/TH69GECMVFGQN9856/are-papuans-from-new-guinea-considered-blacks/p3
7. Blackinjun
United States
#64 Feb 16, 2008
"Black-Cuban_Mami wrote:
black is a term used to refer to a pretty much non-exisistent thought of race.
black has changed names throughout the years... it used to mean anyone or dark skin who was not african or a moor.
you need to school yourself a bit.
there is no such thing as "race." race is a man made constraint.
phenotypically we are different, however realistically we are gentically not really far from one another.
it's sorta like dogs. you have all sorts of dogs that make up all sort of breeds.. YET, these various dogs all are "Dogs" and genetically the are sorta different (not much).. but if you look at them .. well dogs are SO different).
in reality genetically they aren't that different. they just *look* different.
there is such a small genetic difference betwixt between we humans. when in reality we really have such a small difference. race is not broken down unto subsbecies.
when people really understand taxonomy then they will understand what race means. as far as humans are concerned.. there is no delineation
what about culture? what about the deep cultural structures that humans learned from their environments? Are all of them similar or the same?
Hint:
Why is the ballet a product of the european cultural mind and the African rhthyms a product of the African cultural mind? In other words, why do europeans hop when they dance and africans sway to the rhthyms of nature?
why is heavy metal music a product of the european cultural mind, and "R&B" a product of the African cultural mind?
why are Europeans mechanical in their movements and Africans again sway with the rhthyms of nature?
you get my point, i hope...."
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8. Black-Cuban_Mami
#70 Feb 16, 2008
Blackinjun wrote:
what about culture? what about the deep cultural structures that humans learned from their environments? Are all of them similar or the same?
Hint:
Why is the ballet a product of the european cultural mind and the African rhthyms a product of the African cultural mind? In other words, why do europeans hop when they dance and africans sway to the rhthyms of nature?
why is heavy metal music a product of the european cultural mind, and "R&B" a product of the African cultural mind?
why are Europeans mechanical in their movements and Africans again sway with the rhthyms of nature?
you get my point, i hope....
i get your point, sorta.. but the way people dance or the sort of music they can be credited for really has no bearing upon anything.
culture runs deep, skin colour does not."
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9. Sinajuavi
Harrisonburg, VA
#72 Feb 17, 2008
"Actually, skin color and other biological traits run deep...in the genes, though of course these can be modified by evolution.
Cultural is learned, and within one generation can completely change. A person can be raised in an entirely different cultural context from that of his parents, and will therefore have a different ethnicity.
Culture is in no way determined by the genes."
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10. Garrig
#75 Feb 18, 2008
"Osibisa wrote:
Right off the bat, your premise is screwed up. When I lived in the Pacific, I attended a Pacific-wide arts festival in Noumea, New Caledonia. There were groups from almost every island in the Pacific including a large contingent of Papuans. I'm sorry, but they didn't look at all like African-Americans to me. True, some of the younger performers were wearing western-style, hip-hop attire during the times they weren't on stage in their traditional garb, but even walking down 125th Street in Harlem wearing FUBU, there would be no mistaking them for Pacific islanders.
You people need to get out and see more of the world before making such crass statements.
I have met people from Papua who look exactly like Blacks.."
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11. renee
Williamsburg, KY
#77 Feb 20, 2008
"okay wait i don't understand, im going to admit i have only recently been exposed to Papuans and i thought they were black until i realized where they were, and I thought maybe there was African blood in their early ancestry but none in the resent. The part i donut get is how someone else can be loser to AA's in genotype. Especially if your saying they would be closer to Chinese which is understandable, but how close are Chinese to African genotype?
A side comment when i see someone dark i define them as Black until they alert me as otherwise. I am technically only one third African American but i look Black so therefore i am, and consider myself none other, not even multi racial because thats what culture i know. Also that is what makes the diaspora as a whole Black, and not Strictly African."
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12. Wasteman
UK
#79 Feb 29, 2008
"Race sucks a**, just a nother reason to fight. I am a very mixed person wid african,white,indian(not american) and southeast asian and from my own mixture i can tell race is lame"
-snip-
This comment is quoted exactly as it was given in this discussion thread.
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From http://www.topix.com/forum/afam/TH69GECMVFGQN9856/are-papuans-from-new-guinea-considered-blacks/p4
13. BritishBoy
East London UK
#96 Mar 21, 2008
"some of you may want to consider them black because you love to claim everyone just like some of you like to claim arabs as black. i dont claim anyone who isn't black. i cant belive how yall say they look like afrian americsns, they look like exactly what they are, which is pacific islanders, also aborigines look nothing like west africans, same to pacific islanders, maybe they are black, but it doesn't mean they are related o west africans."
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14. Garrig
#99 Mar 24, 2008
"BritishBoy wrote:
they are black people in my opinion but it doesn't mean they r related to west africans.
Yes. They are Black people but not imediately related to africans."
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15. AA Diasporan
#111 Mar 24, 2008
"BrooklynJoao wrote:
"Probably because you need to mind your own business and worry about your own culture. You are not Pacific Islander, so I clearly don't see why you are so passionate about this.
I see a double standard. Non-Pacific Islanders will post with views similar to yours and you don't question their background. Last time I checked "white" people aren't originally from the Pacific Islands and look nothing like the indigenous population. You are questioning my background, because we disagree. Anyway, I want to give you a serious answer. I am a diasporan black person that happen to live in America. During the slave trade we dispersed throughtout the world. My heart goes out for all black/negroidal people found anywhere in the world. It does not matter if you are Afro-Columbian, African American, Afro-Brit, or of ancient African stock. The common denominator is the continent you originally hailed from. A lot of African/Africoidal people have been mistreated for simply looking black. Look at the Dravidians of India and the Aboriginals of Australia. Look at the Negritos of the South Pacific. Look at the black people found in the Americas. Many ancient indigenous Africoidal people left the African continent approx 50,000 yrs ago and are now call Melanesians, Negritos etc... The culture and educational system in American is Eurocentric to the core. Most accomplishments by black/Africoid people are ignored or stolen by whites in the history books. Look at ancient Egyptian history. Of course, I have some resentment. Its seems like most black contributions to society have been convered up or white washed. I only recently learned that some of the earliest and most ancient civilizations were founded by African decent people like myself. I know for a fact that the original Pacific Islander people are of African origin. I'm not guessing or stating my opinion. This makes them my distant cousins. Unfortunately, the world has allowed a handful of Europeans with outdate racial myths to decide the racial classifications of all people. We accept their divisions and out dated teaching even when they are wrong. Somehow the world has been braishwashed into believing "black" is bad. This is why some Pacific Islanders who cleary look black are quick to deny any association with Africa. They bought into the divide and conquer mentality. It makes me sick. If you are interested I have proof that will clearly explain why I consider the Africoidal Pacific islanders to be my distant cousins. Thus they are my concern."
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16. Garrig
#113 Mar 24, 2008
Eddy Smegma wrote:
Shut up, you black fool, and let the Papuans have their own culture.
This is not about their culture but what they look like.
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17. Garrig
#114 Mar 24, 2008
AA Diasporan wrote:
I. The common denominator is the continent you originally hailed from. A lot of African/Africoidal people have been mistreated for simply looking black. Look at the Dravidians of India and the Aboriginals of Australia. Look at the Negritos of the South Pacific. Look at the black people found in the Americas...
That's true. Historically, we all have been treated similarly and looked down upon because of our phenotype. White prejudice makes no distincton for Black Pacific Islanders, or Aborignes for that matter. To them they are all simply blacks."
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From http://www.topix.com/forum/afam/TH69GECMVFGQN9856/are-papuans-from-new-guinea-considered-blacks/p5
18. asha
Falls Church, VA
#123 Mar 24, 2008
"Hijacked Journalism wrote:
Isn't Viyaj Singh, Trinidadian? Yes, he's Indian descent, but could be also,particularly since he's Trinidadian, that he might have some african heritage as well....but I've always seen him as Indian descent, carribean."
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19. true soldja
Englewood, CO
#129 Mar 28, 2008
"skip over the bullshyt white anthropologic horsesh&t* and ask the people themselves. are they pacific islanders? yes because they are in the pacific on some islands, are they melanesians? yes because the are in melanesia. are they black? do you really need to think twice? hello take a good look at the shades of black and the kinky hair. whats this whole bullshyt about people not being black if they arent african american. lol thats a joke. sure they share genetic resemblance to asians. DID WE NOT ALL COME FROM BLACK PEOPLE?!! wake up people, do u REALLY know where asians come from? its not the melanesians who came from asian ok. i SWEAR all u hooked on racist cultural anthropology and these other bullshy white supremacy categories would never be able to point out a melanesian walking down the streets of brooklyn. LETS BE REAL,. askin about if they black. what a joke. the planet was populated by african people so ofcourse they dont have "RECENT" AFRICAN genese, they left thousands of years ago stupid.thats why they were born there and not in somewhere like nigeria! hello!! not to mention African is the most genetically diverse(need we mention birthplace)"
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this comment.
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20. asha
Falls Church, VA
#138 Apr 1, 2008
"Eddy Smegma wrote:
Sorry, but Vijay Singh is of full Indian ancestry and was born and raised in Fiji. Different islands, different ocean from Trinidad.
No need to be sorry...I don't care if Vijay is full indian or not...just wasn't exactly sure of his background b/c he is from an island country and there has been some mixing between Carribean black and carribean indian populations so I thought there could be some possibility that he was mix."
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21. aliyah
New York, NY
#141 Apr 1, 2008
"well yeah they melanesians, pacific islanders. but i do believe there is an african component there, although the scientific world would be quick to dismiss that. many africans were seafaring in the ancient past, the Mande people especially were reported to have traveled as far as the phillipines. and there are alot of people who have these black african features in places like borneo, samoa, indonesia, the "negritos" of the phillipines, and of course Papau New Guinea.Many practices of these people bear similarity to the Mande ( Mandinka, Mandingo) people of West Africa"
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22. Essence
Las Vegas, NV
#147 Apr 1, 2008
"Eddy Smegma wrote:
""Many practices of these people bear similarity to the Mande ( Mandinka, Mandingo) people of West Africa"
Maybe they do. But they also bear similarities to the practices of ancient southeast and east Asians. In fact, they bear similarities to every ancient culture that's ever lived including white Europeans and native Americans. The material aspects of a culture may differ according to environment, but the methods are the same.
As for the Mande seafarers, there's no evidence for that whatsoever. Africans have never had a maritime culture.
E. Africans did have a maritime culture. A simple google would teach you alot."
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From http://www.topix.com/forum/afam/TH69GECMVFGQN9856/are-papuans-from-new-guinea-considered-blacks/p6
23. Aqeel
East Norwich, NY
#151 Apr 10, 2008
"I am an Pacific Islander and I can say one thing for sure that Papuans are not African 100% However they are African 50% and 50% Asian including south Asian Indians"
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24. Charles R
#154 Apr 11, 2008
"Garrig wrote:
I have met a few and they look just like African Americans, but someone said they are Pacific Islanders? Is this true?
Yes to both questions. They are people of african ancestry who migrated to the Pacific Island centuries ago. Yes, they are as black as a brother from Detroit. No question about it."
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25. Garrig
#160 Apr 22, 2008
"YourMomsHole wrote:
This is the problem, according to some it does, according to others it does not. So heads will always butt on the issue, what then, is the point?
Well if we are not going to base race on phenotype, what will we base it on? Apparently Melanesians and Australian aborigenes represent one of the first groups of modern man to leave out of Africa. Being that the migrated along the tropics through India, Southeast Asia and into the Pacific Isles, their original African phenotype has changed very little. With that in mind, it seems strange to call them a different race, merely because they moved to the other side of the globe"
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26. Garrig
#163 Apr 22, 2008
Eddy Smega wrote:
"Well, for the same reasons, why not call EVERY culture in the world "Africans"? Because it's ridiculous and based on the assumption that every culture that migrated "out of Africa" was black.
It's not just because they came out of Africa, it's because they maintained the phenotyical continuity whereas other groups diverged.
See, that wasn't so hard...:D
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27. Garrig
#167 Apr 23, 2008
Eddy Smegma wrote:
"What "phenotypical continuity"? Phenotypes are based on observable traits as opposed to genotypes which are based on the acquired DNA and may or may not be visible. The fact that you think Aborigines and Melanesians LOOK like Africans is a subjective observation and has no bearing on reality.
Because of my many years living in the Pacific islands (and being one myself), I happen to think Pacific islanders look nothing like Africans. In fact, genetically, culturally and linguistically, Melanesians are closer to Southeast Asians than black Africans."
The belief is that Melanesians have pretty much kept their orignal phenotype since they left Africa. And sure they may have some linguistic and cultural commonality with Southeast Asians, but surely a Papuan looks nothing like a Vietnamese. And where are you from btw, if you don't mind my asking?
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28. Garrig
#172 Apr 23, 2008
Eddy Smegma wrote:
"I'm from Guam too.
Whereabouts you at in Troy?
Guamanians in upstate New York, how interesting. Of course if the native pacific islanders you describe are actually your fellow Guamians, then you are right they don't look African at all but when you go to the Solomon Islands Papua that's a different story.”...
-snip-
This comment also included the statement “This is what Melanesians look like” along with five hyperlinks. Unfortunately, those links are no longer active.
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From http://www.topix.com/forum/afam/TH69GECMVFGQN9856/are-papuans-from-new-guinea-considered-blacks/p7
29. Alejandro Valentino
Columbia, MO
#183 Jul 3, 2012
"I agree with Osibisa on this, I am Hispanic, Papuan, and East indian, and ignorant people out here in kansas city, mo think that if you are brown skined then you are "african" and then people are like "look at your hair?" I'm like, "and?" Read a book, that's like saying that native americans and East indians are whaite because they have streight hair. People need to get educated."
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30. Nesian girl
Kent Town, Australia
#186 Apr 26, 2013
"Omg!!!! You guys r honestly f&&king* in sane !!!! Let me put it out ther for you loud an clear coming from a Papua New Guinean . I'll just hav u know that we are not African , yes we have black skin but we r very different , our features r more softer than the Africans and our ancestors by the way aren't from Africa their from Asia that is why we are different .png culture is very diverse this includes our features for example a person from the highlands has an Afro black skin , built body and big noses and thighs . Unlike a central from the coast who which are Polynesian have long black hair and light tanned skin. You guys hav no idea what you are talking about and what may also prove it is for the fact that you also think aboriginals r malenisian . Just cause their black and live next to the pacific they are still a totally different rac , and that is an australoid .obviously they look nothing like us malenisians you see they are more likely to be have closer facial characteristics to a person from South Asia ."
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this comment.
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31. Mint cookies
#187 Apr 26, 2013
“They look hella african to me”
-snip-
“Hella” is African American Vernacular English word that means “a hell of a lot” (i.e. “a lot like”)
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32. Analyze_
#192 Feb 12, 2014
Casual Thought wrote:
"Yes, they are Pacific Islanders.
Yes, they have melinated skin. Infact, many peoples in that area of the world have features similar to your stereotypical West African.
Though in some areas it seems, blond hair is quite common.
Genetically speaking though, they don't have any recent African ancestry. They are Asian, they just live in a tropical environment.
Can you explain to me this: if these people migrated out of africa, how the hell are they not related to africans? Last time I checked, A lot of Asians have african ancestry.
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33. Analyze_
#193 Feb 12, 2014
Garrig wrote:
"Well if we are not going to base race on phenotype, what will we base it on? Apparently Melanesians and Australian aborigenes represent one of the first groups of modern man to leave out of Africa. Being that the migrated along the tropics through India, Southeast Asia and into the Pacific Isles, their original African phenotype has changed very little. With that in mind, it seems strange to call them a different race, merely because they moved to the other side of the globe.
My point exactly ! Your race does not change just because you migrated out of your country of origin.
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34. Most definitely not
Cleveland, OH
#197 Apr 4, 2014
"If they look black there black."
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35. panamanian
Dallas, TX
#198 May 11, 2014
GOD is of all colors, it Doesn't matter what our skin color is. Calm down, who cares what people think you are...just embrace who you know you truly are and pass that knowledge on. This thread saddens me, I just wanted to know if the guinea ppl were of Africa descent.
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36. lol
London, UK
#203 Apr 15, 2015
"Oh great, a bunch of self hating black americans desperate to claim anything with a tan as black.
Sorry losers, buyt they are not black."
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From http://www.topix.com/forum/afam/TH69GECMVFGQN9856/are-papuans-from-new-guinea-considered-blacks/p8
37. bantu
Bothell, WA
#206 Apr 15, 2015
"no paupa new gunieans are not black neither are australian aborigines."
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38. Ingwe Temujin
#213 Jun 4, 2015
UruEuWauWau wrote:
"Nah, they dun really look the same. ;-) PNGeans are not really Melanesians, but Melanesians are part of PNGeans. ;-) Australoids are very diff. in phenotypes, not all have nappy hairs, not all are dark, some look mo' Asian, some look mo' Austronesian, some mo' Polynesian, some Melanesian, some Aussie abboes, some mixed of all these groups, & so forth. ;-) & there are PNGeans who look like some archaic nappy Arabs w/ light skin & are hairy. ;-D There are faces amongst PNGeans ya wun find anywhere else in the world. ;-) So, nah, overall, they aren't 'blacks', no matter what Yank or Anglo whitey-mighty believes. ;-)
You got a lot that look mixed with malayo-polesian but there are many that look African.
I met a Pupaun diplomat in DC and thought he was African. I couldnt really tell."
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From http://www.topix.com/forum/afam/TH69GECMVFGQN9856/are-papuans-from-new-guinea-considered-blacks/p9
39. Moses
Johannesburg, South Africa
#232 Sep 11, 2016
Garrig wrote:
"I have met a few and they look just like African Americans, but someone said they are Pacific Islanders? Is this true?
They are ASIANS not related to black Africans!!!"
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From http://www.topix.com/forum/afam/TH69GECMVFGQN9856/are-papuans-from-new-guinea-considered-blacks/p9
40. David A Pugh
Decatur, GA
#244 Jan 24, 2017
"Papuan people are Black people. Even the name implies it. Papua means island of fuzzy hairs and tje name New Guinea hot its name because the people look like people from Guinea in west Africa."
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41. Rick
Durham, NH
#245 Feb 3, 2017
"Hello everyone,
I'm from West Papua (Western part of New Guinea island). I've been living in New Guinea for 18 years before moving to the US. People from New Guinea in my knowledge as an indigenous people of Papua, we're considered to be Melanesians. The word "Mela" is a Greek's word which means "Black/dark", and because New Guinea is one of the pacific islands, we're considered ourself as Pacific Islanders/Melanesians. Western part of New Guinea is now under Indonesian's rules and administrations which has been disgraced by a lot of the indigenous people. We're proud to say that yes, we are pacific islanders and black at the same time. However, the word "black" that we use doesn't share similarities with the word "black" used by a lot of people from western countries. Black is the color of our skin, Black is just a color, and to be honest I don't understand anything about the relationship between the words "Black" and "Africa". Don't get me wrong but we look at other people with dark skin as our brothers and sisters. From the point of view of Melanesian, if you think "Black" means Africans then you have problems in interpreting the meaning of that word. Melanesia itself contains the word "Black". Thus if you ask "Are papuans Black?" Yes we are because we live in Melanesia despite the fact that we have a lot of different skin tones and type of hair and we are proud of that, but if by saying "black" you're asking "are there any connections between melanesians and africans?" I'd say I don't know because my ancestors have been living in this islands for thousands of years, we have our own cultures, stories, myths, religions, languages, etc that are different from Africans' but closer to other oceania countries'. Our cultures are not even close to South East Asian countries'. I can say this because politically speaking I am Indonesian which make me Asian politically but melanesians geographically and historically, and we don't share any culture and tradition with other Indonesians."
-snip-
This discussion thread is still open for comments (as of the date of this post’s publication). The last comment in this discussion thread is dated November 12, 2017.
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UPDATE #1: (January 11, 2018 11:16 AM) I joined that forum in order to post a comment to that discussion. I didn't save that comment, and it doesn't appear to be added to that discussion. The main points of my comments were that
1. "Black" and "African" aren't the same thing.
2. Given that Africa is the birthplace of all people, it's a given that Melanesians originally came from Africa.
3. However, usually nowadays when people refer to the African Diaspora we are referring to the spread of Black people out of Africa since chattel slavery in the 16th or 17th century and not tens of thousands of years ago (when people first began to spread out from Africa).
4. [This is the point that I think is most important.] Most of the commenters in this discussion answered the question as though it was asking "Do Papua New Guineans look Black"? However, such a question doesn't take into consideration that All Black people don't look alike. The skin color of African Americans, for example, run the gamut from white to very dark brown.
5. That said, many of the Papuans in YouTube music/dance videos that I've watched do look like many brown skin African Americans to me.
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UPDATE #2: (January 11, 2018 12:10 PM)
Here's another blog post on this same subject that I just found:
From http://theracecardproject.com/black-papua-new-guinea-curious-adopted/
Black, Papua New Guinea, curious, adopted
Brittany Barnes
Reno, NV
"I am adopted. I was born in Irian Jaya, Indonesia, now known as Western New Guinea. I don’t really tell people where I was born, because I don’t find it necessary in conversations and it never really comes up. People look at me and automatically assume that I am African-American and this is not the case, but I don’t really correct them. I consider myself black just to make it easier for people, but what would you call me if someone were to label me. I have done extensive research and I have found that I am Papuan if I were to label myself, but then our government has those stupid boxes to check what race you are. I now put other Pacific Islander because Indonesia/Papua New Guinea are considered to be Pacific Islands. I am a person of mixed cultures given the circumstances and the environment I was raised in. I don’t talk “black” or act “black” and people always say oh you’re such a white girl, or oh you’re so white washed. It may sound like a joke especially when it comes to friends saying this, but it’s like, why does having a skin color have to limit someone’s ability to talk or act a certain way. I feel that my friends judge me all the time because of the way I sound or act and it’s tiring. I want to tell people where I come from, but I hate explaining my life story. So for whoever is reading this, tell me…what do you think? Are people who are born in Papua New Guinea considered black? Pacific Islander? Is there anyone else out there that was born in Papua New Guinea? I need someone to talk to about this. Even just to hear opinions about this. Thanks."
-snip-
Here are two selected comments that were written in response to that post by two other Papuans:
Sean McCarthy, 2014
"Hey bro, i understand what you mean. I am a papua new guinean, born In Rabual, East New Britain Province. I've lived in australia since i was 3 and as far as i can remember, people were always dropping lines about eating chicken, and kool-aid and other stuff like that. even now, I'm 15 and matured a lot more,i even transferred from a state high school to a private, but there is always that segregation and racial stereotypes and all that, just because i have brown skin, everyone considers me a black american. i think all of this happens mostly because of the stereotypes African-Americans set.Like I mean no offence to any african-americans reading this, but because America is considered the 'centre of the world' everything from the stereotypical chicken eating, the Rappers, the gangsters (bloods - Crips etc.) the robbing of stores, all that kind of stuff reflects from america all over the world, making everybody think all coloured people are like that. as i said before, i mean no offence, and i know that ony a small percentage of black americans are like that, i know so many of them are successful and happy people, some of the nicest i've met in my life."
**
amaiuwaro, 2016
"Hey men l,m from Papua New guinea I came to america when i was 14 and now I,m 18 and people still treat me like I,m and African american its common for them to treat you like that if you want some advise,just flow with it let them call you what they want to call you, cause everybody expect you to be an African american cause your black and it doesent matter what they call you as long as you know where your from than your fine"
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UPDATE #3 (January 11, 2018 1:04 PM)
Here are a few excerpts from a 1995 Los Angeles Times newspaper article entitled "Destination: Papua New Guinea : Pacific Embrace : African American tourists are greeted as family in this remote land
June 04, 1995|MERLE ENGLISH | NEWSDAY http://articles.latimes.com/1995-06-04/travel/tr-9393_1_african-americans
..."Faces beaming, the villagers piled into our bus, which had stopped on the road leading to our lodge, 7,000 feet above the town where we had gone for dinner. They extended their hands, eager to get close to us. We were the first black people they were meeting from outside their island world of Papua New Guinea.
We were a group of two dozen African Americans taking a tour organized by Simmons African Museum in Brooklyn, N.Y., which runs cultural trips to Africa and South America, and were three days into our second South Pacific adventure. We had visited Fiji, Vanuatu, Western Samoa and Tonga two years before in our quest to make contact with some of the millions of black people living on the islands known as Melanesia, and with the people of the Polynesian archipelago.
[...]
All activity ceased and traffic halted in one town when we stopped at a bank to change dollars into kina, the local currency. Few had ever seen blacks other than themselves. Wantok , a village leader greeted us in pidgin English, his native language.
One of the few who spoke English, he explained what the word meant: "You are family. We are one skin. We're the same."
[...]
From http://articles.latimes.com/1995-06-04/travel/tr-9393_1_african-americans/2
(Page 2 of 3)
[...]
"We think we are the only black people. We don't know about you," one village chief told us through an interpreter. "We are happy you are our brothers and sisters. The dress is different, but the color is still the same. When you go back to your country, talk about us. Say you saw some of your family in PNG."
[...]
From
http://articles.latimes.com/1995-06-04/travel/tr-9393_1_african-americans/3
(Page 3 of 3)
[...]
Some in our travel group asked Lumbia what other visitors had told them about African Americans. "Those of us who have been to school, we meet many Americans, but very few of them have good thoughts about African Americans," he responded. "They say you are troublemakers, aggressive. I saw you coming. I say our wantoks are coming, same color, friend.
"We learned about your unfortunate history a long time ago and always felt sorry for you, how they went and got your ancestors and took them out. It could have been us," he added.
Mato told us, "We saw you in the films. We see that you are very good sports people. They don't show you're doctors and lawyers."
He also told us he'd read about the 19th-Century African American educator Booker T. Washington and was impressed. "You people have determination. We don't agree with what they did to you. If they'd come this way, we would have been slaves."
Our tour leader, Stan Simmons, told them: "We're very interested in the culture of our people around the world. We want you to learn about us, because the [limited] information you got about us is misinformation."
This same educational quest had taken the group to Fiji and other islands of the South Pacific, but none of our experiences had touched us as much as our contact with the Papua New Guineans. Our river voyage ended at Madang, a coastal town. We said our final goodbys during an impromptu stop at an elementary school, where the children and their teachers had abandoned their classes to crowd around us."
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