My Societal Narrative has often Viewed Africa with a Lens of Violence, Poverty, and Underdevelopment - American rapper Diggy Simmons
Diggy
Multiple award-winning American rapper Daniel Dwayne Simmons III, popularly known as Diggy Simmons or Diggy, has shed light what he has learnt on his recent trip to Ghana.
In December last year, Diggy, alongside when top Hollywood stars including Boris Kodjoe, Idris Elba and top model Naomi Campbell among others, visited Ghana for the week-long inaugural Full Circle Festival.
The Full Circle Festival was established to honour our ancestry by celebrating our heritage and generational legacy.
According to Diggy, this trip was an eye opener but ‘as heartbreaking as it was to stand on those grounds, my takeaway—apart from feeling both inspired and devastated—was a galvanized sense of pride.’
He said noted that the media and societal narratives ‘has often viewed Africa with a lens of violence, poverty, and underdevelopment,’ causing generations of Africans to abandon their own heritage and traditions.
Diggy shared a photo of him in Ghana garbed in Kente cloth with a long caption:
“Perhaps I’m ignorant. Perhaps I have been for some time now. Many of my perceptions, or misperceptions rather, were overdue to be rightfully shattered. It’s a shame—as one with many friends from Cameroon, Nigeria, and other countries throughout the continent of Africa—that I have remained so unaware. These friends raved about their homelands, and somehow their praise fell upon deaf ears, in part due to that as a child, Africa, to me, seemed branded as less than alluring. The media and my societal narrative has often viewed Africa with a lens of violence, poverty, and underdevelopment. This portrayal has caused generations of Africans to abandon their own heritage and traditions. During my trip to Ghana, I can’t say I’ve ever felt more comfortable in a space. I don’t think I stopped my Shaku Shaku from the time I got off the plane. Every stereotype that’s been perpetuated never pointed to me feeling this free. I was also fortunate enough to visit the slave dungeons in Cape Coast—small quarters where over a hundred of my potential ancestors were held captive on any given day with no nourishment, suffering in their own faeces and urine. As heartbreaking as it was to stand on those grounds, my takeaway—apart from feeling both inspired and devastated—was a galvanized sense of pride. I felt as if I gained a more authentic and emboldened sense of self, furthering my own understanding of endurance through my ancestors’ plight.”
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