Coming Back To America (the United States of America)

By Guest Blogger Dr. Wayne Branch

I returned to the United States on Thursday, October, 20th.  I needed to be in Washington, D.C., so my two and a half weeks in the States started there. My great friend, Paula, asked me how it felt to be back. I really did not have an answer. It was something I had never considered. I wondered how expats feel when they go back to the country of their birth. My response was inane. Maybe I said something like, “It is great to see friends again,” which is absolutely true. I enjoy my friends--no, more!--My friends are essential to my life. I had breakfast with Cora and Bill; dinner and almost dancing with Nasly; lunch with Gene; dinner at Karen’s; and breakfast with Beatrice and Maria. I missed Brian, Karenthia and Cynthia. Ufff!!! There is never enough time.

But what I did was avoid the crux of the question. It begged for introspection.

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Coming from America: The mis-education of a whitewashed Negro

By Dr. Wayne Branch, guest writer

This is a conversation long overdue. The truth is, there are times I feel like I was whitewashed. Perhaps it is being here in Barranquilla that gives me clarity or the fact that my employment no longer demands a certain demeanor! Or maybe it is the death of my poet hero, Gil Scott-Heron that gives me the courage, or a bit of all three! Whatever the reason, I am now able to say that my cultural mis-education has undermined my relationship with myself and the rest of the world.

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