Wax and Gold
A reflective meditation on African identity, ancestry, racism and antisemitism, exploring the tangled roots of language, history and the different weights carried by words.
The Root
They call it racism when my skin is profiled.
But the water my ancestors crossed was deep, and I do not know its name.
They call it antisemitism when the Semite is targeted.
But the Semite speaks Amharic, Hebrew, Arabic and all three run in my blood.
I hear the moans of my ancestors.
Some crossed the Red Sea. Some crossed the Middle Passage and are still at the bottom. Some steered both shores.
The Ethiopian is Semite. I may be. I may not be.
Etymology runs deeper than the tongue.
They have a word for this hatred: antisemitism.
The word was invented for a very deep wound, but the root is older than the wound.
They have a word for this hatred towards me: racism.
But racism does not ask what language my grandmother prayed in.
The word was invented for a ghastly history.
But history is not a single thread. It braids >
The Red Sea. The Atlantic.
Both waters. Both blood.
But only one root was given a word.
So I stand with the African.
We are discriminated against.
But the words assigned to us
do not hold the same weight.
Wax
I am discriminated against. That much is seen.
Gold
The gold beneath is this:
The Ethiopian is Semite. I may be. I may not be.
But we all bleed red.
And the words we are given
do not hold the same weight.
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This is a great learning resource.
Very informative and easy to understand.