This is not shade. I'm not being petty. Africa isn't an exclusive club that only select few can get into. But it is important to talk about this.

You were African. Yes, your ancestors were African. Yes, they took some of their African culture and created your culture — but that does not mean you are African. In the present tense, you are more Dominican, Jamaican, Brazilian than you are African. You have more of a connection to mangu and curry than you do to fufu and Jollof.

A lot of people claim to be African. Sometimes people say they're African because they want to claim blackness and to ease their conscious when they're saying “nigga” and getting box braids. Sometimes people say their African because they are keen to the fact that their ancestors were enslaved Africans who were captured and spread all across the Americas and the Caribbeans. And some people claim to be African because they learned about Lucy in their anthropology class and found out that the first ever humans came from Africa. But you’re not African. You were African. You came from Africans. But you cannot claim to be an African, in the present tense, when you are not.

I am not very big on telling people who they ought to be. However, I feel it is pivotal to analyze who can claim Africanness and why folks want to claim Africanness in the first place. The direct link many people have had to Africa has been severed. You have developed and changed in a way that is foreign to Africans. This is not a bad thing. It merely means that your ancestors had to change with the time and their settings as a mean of survival. Not because they no longer wanted to be African. However, I find it extremely problematic when folks want to claim Africanness and, ultimately, blackness because they want to be down with the current vibe and pan-Africanness.

It is very important to explore the current state of Africans and then one can determine whether they are impacted in the same way. Your continent was not divided amongst greedy Europeans. You were not slaughtered. You did not face genocide. You did not work your bones to death and then watch all your profits go to foreign nations. You did not have all the wealth in your country stolen and shipped away. Your leaders aren't robbing and killing your people. Your countries are not in a state of emergency as that in Africa.

You do not face the burdens Africans have to face because you are not African. The injustices you face are not because you are African. It’s an absolute disrespect to Africans when folks want to claim Africa but they have a safe haven abroad to run to when the ugliness within Africa rears itself. When shit gets real, you can just run to the American embassy and come back home while the Africans are trapped in their predicament.

You can't just decide to throw on a dashiki, eat dibi and say you’re African and think you have the right to steal our culture. Yes, your lineage starts there, but Africa isn’t just a label. Africa isn't just a feeling. Africa isn’t just music. Africa isn't just an aesthetic. You can’t claim the good when you don’t feel the pain. Once again: you were African; You are not African.

Folks need to be careful. I understand the desire to reconnect with the motherland. You can do that without engaging in the exploitation of Africa and the erasure of its vast ethnicities. You can’t just say you’re African and that's it. Where in Africa are you from? What ethnic group are you a part of? You can't just decide to sell cowrie shells and dashikis while Africa is being robbed of her resources. It’s not right. Don’t just claim Africanness without any education. Don’t play a part in misinforming the world on what Africa really is.