When I was talking about an acoustic Kinyarwanda song I had heard, acoustic being the style in which I write as a musician, my dad asked if the singer was Rwandan (as opposed to American).
“I believe so. He didn’t look American,” I replied, adding, “Or sound American.”
In that moment, I realized I had thought and voiced a horrible stereotype: that American equals White. I did not address it then but moved on to address some other aspect of the song. However, I was convicted and later felt ashamed, especially because I had voiced this in the presence of my black American friend.
I know that Americans are composed of people from all different races and ethnicities: African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and of course Native Americans; Blacks, Browns and Whites; citizens originally from India, Lithuania, Nigeria and Paraguay — the list goes on. They are all American.
It sounds obvious when I say it, but do we think that way? Obviously something in me did not. Why was that?
Only 62.6 to 77.7% of American citizens are White, with 17.1% being Hispanic or Latino and Blacks and African Americans rank next highest at 13.2%. The rest of the population is composed of Asians, American Indians and Alaskan Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders and people of two or more races.
In 2013, at the time of these statistics, 41,777, 674 Americans were Black or African American. Let me spell that out, literally, so it sinks in: Forty-one million, seven hundred and seventy-seven thousand and six hundred and seventy-four Americans are Black. Not White.
I know that conviction from the Holy Spirit is good but that guilt and shame comes from the devil. Thus, now that I recognize how I was wrong, I know I should not dwell on what I so unthinkingly said. My thinking was wrong. Now that I’m aware that I have sometimes equated American to White, I must humble myself before God and humankind and pray that God will work to break the incorrect stereotypes I’ve internalized throughout my life. I pray He will fulfill them with something more complete.
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As an aside to answer my father’s question, the man in the music video was indeed Rwandan. His name is Luc Buntu, and he’s from Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. According to his Twitter, he’s a worship leader, song writer and recording artist. The specific song to which I listened is titled “Ntutinye,” found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZwmC4a8KRE.
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Map found at “Most common ancestries in the United States” by Applysense – Map from Blank USA by Lokal Profil.Information and colors from USMapCommonAncestry2000.PNG by Porsche997SBS, who sourced the info from Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.svg.Combined by Applysense.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Most_common_ancestries_in_the_United_States.svg#/media/File:Most_common_ancestries_in_the_United_States.svg
katelyn skye bennett 
