My Two Cents

The term "Cowboy" has undergone many metamorphoses in American culture, yet many people are in the dark about the true nature of its origins and evolution as well as its relationship to the history of African-Americans. It is no coincidence that "Cowboy" is also taken as an adjective for "reckless" and developed in the early 1900's. The term "Cowboy" is sometimes used today in a derogatory sense to describe someone who is reckless or ignores potential risks, irresponsible or who heedlessly handles a sensitive or dangerous task. TIME Magazine referred to President George W. Bush's foreign policy as "Cowboy diplomacy," and Bush has been described in the press, particularly in Europe, as a "cowboy". In the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand, "cowboy" is still used as an adjective when applied to tradesmen whose work is of shoddy and questionable value, e.g., "a cowboy plumber". Similar usage i...

We all came from Africa...... On the question of the origins of Black people in North America, let's not discount the African explorers who came centuries before Columbus supposedly "discovered" America. While most African-Americans are descendants of Africans uprooted by European slavery, some came prior to Christopher Columbus of their own free will.  We cannot know for sure the movements of people on earth when it was a singular land mass called Pangaea or Pangea, a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras approximately 335 million years ago, and thoughts regarding culture, race and identity during that era would be irrelevant and misplaced anyway. Pangaea assembled from earlier continental units but began to break apart about 175 million years ago. Post-pangaea, it has been proven that human migration did emanate form the Omo valley in East Africa, but human migration, within the context of culture and history must be more ...