I'm planning on traveling to Greece and I would like to know if there's a Black Diaspora over there? I know that Greece has one of the strictest laws of Immigration and can't find any information on Afro-Greeks anywhere.
Greece - 8 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
There are plenty of Black Greeks, rest assured. There is no such term as Afro-Greek. You are either Greek or not. Most of them are children of Greek marring black people. And the from the several I know (one of them is big Sofo http://www.bigsofo.gr/site/index.php ) there is no such thing as "Black Diaspora" since they do not identify them selves as Black that are Greek, but like Greeks that happen to be black. The reason is that once Blacks (or whatever kind of other people) are accepted into the Greek society, Greeks become colour blind. To give you an example: an immigrant is always black, Albanian, Arab whatever, until he/she gets accepted in the society, then they are Greeks and that's that. In a village close to me a girl married a guy from Kenya. For about two three months people were looking at him with half eye, let alone nasty comments and jokes. After that (especially after he learned some Greek) he just clicked in. I'm not talking about "acceptance" he's like he was always there. So if you come to Greece do not be surprised if people call you black or niger, since these terms do not carry any kind of racial connotation. Yes I agree that the immigration laws are extremely hard and right now it is close to impossible to get Greek citizen impossible.
2 :
I agree with Kimon's answer in part, and disagree in another part. I agree that once a non-Greek has been accepted, especially when he speaks Greek, then he isn't really considered as an outsider any longer. This is true not just about Greek society, but about most societies (Western ones at least). But I would say there is a "Black Diaspora" in Greece. In Athens at least there certainly is an African diaspora. While many of them speak Greek (especially the children who were born and raised here), they live in their communities, speaking their own languages and keeping their own traditions alive. As for immigration laws, most member states of the EU [are supposed to] follow the same set of laws (Schengen agreement), but Greece is definitely strictest in enforcement of the laws. If your citizenship is non-European, then you'll have a hard time immigrating to Greece legally. Trust me, I know...
3 :
We are ! Greeks belong to the black race. We are unstable compound of ancient nomadic Ethiopian tribes, mixed with Slavs, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Vlachs, Ottoman Turks, Albanians and especially Gypsies. So, Greek diaspora is our Afro-Greek diaspora.
4 :
Greeks are by Abyssinian origin. Just look at our tan ! The earliest mummy found in the Ancient Egypt; http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh137… A Pharaoh :http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/egyp… At the core of the debate were two questions: were the ancient Egyptians a Black African people, and to what extent was the civilization of ancient Greece indebted to learning borrowed or stolen from ancient Egypt. Although the debate was cast in terms of Black Athena (Bernal) vs. Not Out of Africa (Lefkowitz), the true debate was between the Afrocentrists and the Eurocentrists, for much of what Bernal had to say in Black Athena on the questions at issue had been stated long before him by the Afrocentric scholars of this century, notably James (Stolen Legacy), and Diop (African Origins of Civilization and Civilization or Barbarism). Key figures on the Africentric side of this larger debate were notable by their absence, for example, Ivan Van Sertima, Theophile Obenga, Charles Finch, Molefi Asante, Maulana Karenga, and Marimba Ani. On the other side, some of the well-known and very active detractors of the Afrocentrists were present, notably Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, supported also by Frank Yurco, who contributed from "off-line". These were supported by a number of less well known but nonetheless notable scholars attempting to "hold the line" for the received Eurocentric claims that were under attack. There were certainly enough professional scholars on both sides of the debate to make of this a remarkable cyber-event. The debate was a great victory for the Afrocentristic side. This probably explains why so little was heard of this remarkable cyber-event. There exists a site in southern Egypt that is the oldest astronomical site in the world. This site, called Nabta, was created some 6500 years ago by a Neolithic people who were concerned with the progress of the year. The circle of standing stones allowed the people to determine when the solstices occurred as well as rainy seasons. This sub-Saharan culture is likely to be the predecessor of the Egyptians. The site was excavated by Fred Wendorf and John (Kim) Malville. http://hej3.as.utexas.edu/~www/wheel/afr… The red haired mummy myth debunked : http://www.archaeology.org/interactive/h… he burial place of king scorpion (dynasty o) dating back to at least 1000 years before the first dynasty has been discovered with proto ancient Egyptian writing. This proves once more along with discoveries at Ta Seti that Egyptian civilisation developed writing well before Mesopotamia as previous thought. There was so much evidence presented (I saw this programme today on British aka Eurocentric channel 5 - with hawass commenting on the findings). Eurocentrists should therefore stop this nonsense that writing or civilisation began in the Middle East. Such talk is dish-honest- an attempt to cling on a dying if not already dead Caucasian myth.
5 :
No.
6 :
Whole Balkan neighborhood consider Greeks as Gypsy people.
7 :
Greks are blacks !
8 :
There aren't any afro-greeks =/ There are only Greeks that are whiter, some of them are tanned Other people, who have immigrated from other countries are black. They're not too many, don't get scared!
Read more discussions :
