Sibo Kanobana

You say, Yes, of course I’m a Flemish. Against all expectations, I am a Flemish and I’m even proud of that. I’m not proud of what the Flemish people have done or of fascism, certainly not of that, but in a way, I’m like what, that’s no problem to, to be a Flemish. Why would that be a problem? Now, you should know, I was raised in French, so in a French-speaking context, identifying myself as a Flemish is also pretty much, yeah, a, a difficult process. But I, I’m not embarrassed about that. Another thing I identify with, which is also quite, yeah, from the last fifteen years, is I, I identify as Black, now. Look out! But you are mzungu and mundelé! How can you be Black now? Yes, I identify myself as Black and that wasn’t always the case. So I’ve been hesitating for a long time, métis, mixed race, a mulatto if necessary, but that’s a bit of a problematic word. But I felt that I was always kind of getting into trouble, saying, I’m neither fish nor meat and by identifying yourself as mixed, yeah, you’re actually confirming that pure races actually exist, but that you don’t belong to them. And basically, throughout history and in recent years, I have increasingly begun to identify myself as a Black person, but then I also give my own meaning to it. Not like—so just like I say “Flemish”, but I give it my own meaning. Right? And I think being Black is just like, it’s not actually a category. Rather, it’s an attitude. A position that, that, that you take, of course, with regard to Africa and is also a form of embracing my African roots. And I embrace my being Black. Especially as a person who grew up in Europe, where I’m often identified as part of the African diaspora, I find it very logical to be Black and to give it my own meaning. So that’s not—there’s no pure blackness, right? We all know: Africa is the most diverse place on Earth, genetically, culturally, linguistically. Yeah, like the “African”, that’s simply a hyper-diverse—a, that, that is—the differences between Africans are bigger than between a Finn and an Italian, yeah? The only thing that Africans have in common is the racialization as Black, but there, and I’m inspired by the négritude here, we want, we can, we can draw an idea, to distill a real form of humanism where we don’t look at ethnic differences, religious differences, linguistic differences, no, really recognize our mutual humanity. And I’m inspired by Césaire, mainly, but also by Fanon, to rediscover and, and, and recognize that humanity through my being Black. So a Black Flemish. Yeah, so I’m a Black Flemish.