Being an African American youth, It has not always been a smooth sailing for me. I believe I have had my fair share of struggles being from 2 different sides of the world. I am from A country in Africa called Ghana but I am also from NY. I believe I am a citizen of both places but that is not how the world see it. Last year at the end of my senior year our family decided to take a trip back to the motherland where we originate from. Me and my sister we extremely exciting because we have not been there in years. We talked about it so much, about the things we will be getting into, the places we will go and all the family back home.
But all this changed once were there. Don’t get me wrong we still had tons of fun but we were not expected to be looked at as different. We thought since we our colored people would not see us as different but we were. From when we first landed to when we left we had a lot of eyes on us everywhere we went. People even came up to us at tomes and asked” hey where are you from” I will then reply ” I am from Ghana” then they all go ahead and correct me saying”you are from America.”
The thought of not being seen equal to people you believe you relate to and that you originate from was new to me and my sister. Words like “Akatani” meaning African American and “Obroni” meaning white were yelled when we walked past. I found it hilarious due to the fact that I have seen how a white person looks like and I am far from that. This is really a time of my life where I really was confused and did not know where to stand when it comes to where I am from. This was quickly ended by my mother given me the knowledge and understanding that everybody will have an opinion about me and the best thing to do was ignore and keep moving. I see my self as an African kid from Ghana and as long as I know that that is all that matter.
OK — Good start. NOW turn this into a story with scenes, CSD, dialogue.
NEED A TITLE: ____
Being an African American youth, It has not always been a smooth sailing for me. I believe I have had my fair share of struggles being from 2 different sides of the world. I am from A country in Africa called Ghana but I am also from NY. I believe I am a citizen of both places but that is not how the world see it.
Last year at the end of my senior year [WHAT Year 2021? of high school] our family decided to take a trip back to the motherland where we originate from. Me and my sister we extremely exciting because we have not been there in years. We talked about it so much, about the things we will be getting into, the places we will go and all the family back home. But all this changed once were there. Don’t get me wrong we still had tons of fun but we were not expected to be looked at as different. We thought since we our colored people would not see us as different but we were [UNCLEAR]. From
From the time when we first landed to when we left we had a lot of eyes on us everywhere we went. People even came up to us at times and asked, “Hey where are you from?”
I will then reply, “I am from Ghana.”
Then they all go ahead and correct me saying, “You are from America.”
This was a totally new experience for me and my sister. We thought of ourselves as being equal to and even related to the people in Ghana, but that is not how we were treated. Ghanian people called us “Akatani” meaning African American and yelled “Obroni” meaning white when we walked past. [CREATE THE SCENE HERE: HOW did they say this? Was it derogatory? Were they putting you down? EXPLAIN they way they spoke toyou. DESCRIBE the street scene in Ghana, WHAT city? Were you in the street WHERE were you?] I found it hilarious due to the fact that I have seen how a white person looks like and I am far from white.
This is really a time of my life where I really was confused and did not know where to stand when it comes to where I am from. [WHAT questions went through your mind? GIve me the inner DIALOGUE? Being an African American youth, It has not always been a smooth sailing for me. I believe I have had my fair share of struggles being from 2 different sides of the world. I am from A country in Africa called Ghana but I am also from NY. I believe I am a citizen of both places but that is not how the world see it.
Last year at the end of my senior year our family decided to take a trip back to the motherland where we originate from. Me and my sister we extremely exciting because we have not been there in years. We talked about it so much, about the things we will be getting into, the places we will go and all the family back home.
But all this changed once were there. Don’t get me wrong we still had tons of fun but we were not expected to be looked at as different. We thought since we our colored people would not see us as different but we were [UNCLEAR].
From the time when we first landed to when we left we had a lot of eyes on us everywhere we went. People even came up to us at times and asked, “Hey where are you from?”
I will then reply, “I am from Ghana.”
Then they all go ahead and correct me saying, “You are from America.”
This was a totally new experience for me and my sister. We thought of ourselves as being equal to and even related to the people in Ghana, but that is not how we were treated. Ghanian people called us “Akatani” meaning African American and yelled “Obroni” meaning white when we walked past. [HOW did they say this? Was it derogatory? Were they putting you down? EXPLAIN they way they spoke toyou.] I found it hilarious due to the fact that I have seen how a white person looks like and I am far from that.
This is really a time of my life where I really was confused and did not know where to stand when it comes to where I am from. This was quickly ended by my mother given me the knowledge and understanding that everybody will have an opinion about me and the best thing to do was ignore and keep moving. {CREATE SCENE here of your mom and WHAT she said, WHERE this convo happened, WHAT you began to realize}
Now, I see my self as an African kid from Ghana [who lives in America and is also American???] and as long as I know that that is all that matter[S].ca and is also American???] and as long as I know that that is all that matter[S].