I ran into a Kenyan couple last weekend at a party in Chicago.  I thought I was being gracious when I mentioned to them how excited they must be to see Barak Obama do so well in the US presidential primaries.  To my utter amazement, they eyed me suspiciously.  So I persisted, “You know, he is half Kenyan.”  They vehemently responded, “No.  He is American!”  “But his father was Kenyan,” I stammered.  They huffed and puffed, “Well, he would do well to forget about that and identify as simply an American.”  I was speechless! 

I had never come across Africans who were so unwilling to claim a successful son of their soil!  For instance, I’ve watched Nigerians puff their chests with pride at the mere mention of Seal, Sade, or Akeem Olajuwon, even though some of these international stars hardly acknowledge Nigeria as home.  I’m sure folks from Benin and Senegal are equally proud of actor Djimon Hounsou and R&B singer Akon respectively.  So this encounter with the Kenyans was astounding.  Obama is no mere sports figure or entertainer.  He’s running – rather well - for the most powerful job in the world.  Why did this Kenyan couple not jump for joy at my suggestion that he was sort of one of them?

The man must have seen the shocked look on my face because he finally said, “Well, you know his father was Luo.  Those Luos are claiming him.  If Obama was nothing, they would not want to have anything to do with him.”  He said this with a very slight smirk.  His wife nodded vigorously. 

I now understood and was saddened.  This couple is Kikuyu.  Over the past year, we have seen the deeply rooted tensions between the Luo and the Kikuyu come to the surface.  The hostilities are so strong now that this Kikuyu couple would rather erase Obama’s Kenyan-ness than concede that he has Luo blood.  I insisted that Obama was part Kenyan but they refused to budge.  In their minds, the fact that his father was Luo expunged his Kenyan identity.  This is a fundamental African problem.  Many of us see ourselves more in terms of ethnicity than in terms of nationality.  This does not have to be a bad thing.  It could be a thing of pride and purpose if we could neatly complement each other.  However, our visions are fragmented and our destinations are paved with bitterness and hostility.

As I struggled to reason with this Kikuyu couple, I realized that this was an argument that would only frustrate and depress me.  I finally shrugged and changed the topic.