Zulu girl

A young Zulu lady came into my shop the other day. She had been an au pair in New York for a year. She made friends over there but none of them black. She said the fact of her being an African, that her mother tongue is Zulu,speaking the Queen's English and her different racial features [ she has prominent cheekbones as per her Nguni heritage ] seemed to form a barrier between her and the very people, one would have thought, a natural affinity would exist. She tried but was unable to overcome this barrier. She opined that had she embraced the American twang and changed her outlook i.e. had she become someone she wasn't, she might have hit it off. She refused to be anything other than what she is." Could you live in America?" I asked her. "Never!" she replied. Any comments?

[Grumpy]

It is very difficult to judge or comment without meeting the girl. It makes me feel sad that she felt very alone in NY but expect most of us would coming from a different culture and living in such a crowed city with no family or friends nearby Au pairs do work long hours and have little time to themselves so that would make it hard for her to get out and about and make new friends but am sure she could have made a few internet friends in that area at least

[Sharon]

Such a shame she had this experience but at least she did make some friends I am glad she was not prepared to be anyone other than herself me neither. Beauty comes from within and some people just cannot see it

[Kriz1]

maybe they were jealous that she is a true African...some black Americans seem to be in a limbo land...not American not African...that is why we have the silly term African American....I only used Native American myself because I see a need for that term...but to me if you are born in the USA you are American....

I agree. Teddy Roosevelt said there is room in America for Americans and no one else. I find it strange that Americans hyphenate. My people moved down from Scotland to England 107 years ago but I would never describe myself as a Scottish Englishman. I suspect it is because of the ubiquity of the English speaking culture. People feel the need to differentiate themselves..

[Sabite]

Excellent idea. And as FS has Zulu UCT built into the software everyone can use it even if they dont know the conversion.

[lxh11]

She would not have been lonely in New York, there is a large South African expat community there, as well as Nigerian and Kenyan population.

Just because she is black, does not make her in any way shape or form similar to American blacks. In the very same way that just because we might be white people from the UK, does not give us an immediate connection to white people in the US.

In the recent documentary of Obama's recent trip to Ghana, they interviewed an African American woman whose ancestors came from Ghana, and so she visited there, felt so at home and decided to stay there. She has not been able to assimilate with the local population, they do not accept her.