One in every two people is likely to disagree on what constitutes an authentic African. Since there are many possible responses to this question, the majority of which are valid, it is typically open-ended. When asked this question, many people immediately think of concepts like primal nature, primordialism, tribalism, atrophy, skin tone, etc. People with Arabic, Asian, or European ancestry, the diaspora outside of Africa, and often those with mixed ancestries are left out of what is considered to be African, so this may be a very big mistake. Answering this question can be done in a number of ways. Valid arguments can be derived from evolutionary stages, from times when western civilization was prevalent, or from earlier revolutions. Although these opinions are true in each instance, they also have a very complicated justification. This is unquestionably a serious commitment.

African Views focuses on the inextricable continuum that places African elements and heritages everywhere. To put it simply, an African is a native or citizen of any African country. This includes people on the continent and in the African diaspora who can trace a part of their ancestry to Africa at any point in time, as well as emigrants and people with mixed heritages, which include all those who are related either by genotypes or phenotypes. 

The diversity of people of African ancestry is magnificent. "African" typically refers to a person or thing that is from or related to the continent of Africa. Africa is the second largest continent in the world. It is home to the largest cultural diversity  in terms of cultures, languages, and ethnic groups, each of which has its own history and customs.  This includes the indigenes, inhabitants, and relatives connected by genotype or phenotype who constitute the Africans anywhere in the world. People or groups with more than one nationality are often written with hyphens, like African-Americans. This is helpful in many ways, but it's not the most important thing about being African. The question comes up, though, when an African who was born in Africa but has full European ancestry and is now a naturalized citizen of the United States of America is brought up. Is this person now an African American? Many would argue that is incorrect. If this person is patriotic to his or her ancestors, he or she may want to claim Africaness or struggle to separate their character and mentality from their Africaness. 

This is why it is critical to define what is African and who is African in a clear and parallel context.

 African people have a common history of being colonized, struggling for independence, fighting against exploitation, racism, and human rights, and trying to build stable, prosperous societies. This condition creates a common impulse that could trigger a spirit of determination or dismay in others in different settings.

It's clear that we can't understand humanity until we realize that the spirit perfects the body and gives it life in line with the spirit. This is the meeting ground between the inner and outer realities. The principle of sufficient reason states that every being has its own reason for existing. The principle of contradiction or non-contradiction affirms that the same thing cannot both be and not be. The same thing cannot be both affirmed and denied at the same time in the same context. According to the principle of the excluded middle, a thing is either true or false. There are no intermediaries between being and not-being, existence and non-existence. Between contradictions, there are no means. The principle of agreement asserts that things that are identical with the same thing are identical with each other. Two things that agree with a third thing agree with each other.

All these values are basically inextricable from the unique quality of Africanism. It would be expected because Africa is a place where people who are indigenous will, by nature and acculturation, possess or embody these qualities. This makes the African system great, predominant, and attractive, among other things. These sets of values become part of the nature that is inherent in most African born citizens, and it is usually those values that many immigrants in Africa embrace. This is what distinguishes Africanism and the African spirit, and it is what has ultimately endured. It is what is known as the African way of life.

In his presidential address to the APA convention in Chicago in May 1957, Francis J. Braceland said, "In light of history, this new Freudian psychology marks the end of a purely mechanical view of man. ""No one approach to psychiatric disorders can claim a monopoly on wisdom, understanding, and therapeutic effectiveness."

We marry a comprehensive form of psychiatry, and integration is the word that guides our work." In the context of Africanism and the African spirit, a person is not void of his or her primordial modicum of existence. We can argue about evolutionary improvement or the advancement of civilization. The Afro-Arabs, or Americans of European ancestry, cannot escape that primordial existence any more than African Americans can due to the influence of colonization and slavery, as well as the post colonial and post slavery eras, which gave rise to the concepts of negritude and blackness. Although the initial course, mode of transportation, and goal of the American migration may have been different, the overall genealogical outcome is essentially the same. The cultural heritage of European Americans is mixed, just like that of African Americans, Asians, or people from the Americas, while the African context remains the fundamental basis. A person of Jewish ancestry can be used as an example. That primordial existence adheres to the rules of culture. This allows a Russian to be Jewish in the same way that an American or an Israeli is. So, in the context of what is African, an African American is not much different from a Brazilian of African ancestry or from an Algerian, a Zimbabwean, or even a Nigerian, a Haitian, a Ghanaian, or an Ethiopian, for that matter. The difference is nationality and some degrees of culture. That primordial existence is, in short, African. Note that the same primordial existence applies to all hyphenated Africans everywhere as well.

Perhaps only when interpreted in light of the human event timeline can one truly understand who we are. Here, the only goal is to defend what is thought of and seen as African from a collective African point of view. Many people with African ancestry have long struggled with identity issues, not just in the West but also in Africa and other parts of the world. It's important to see this problem as a big obstacle to bringing together the right groups and people to make progress. Because of this, African Views takes part in a conversation that can be defended and shows how sensible we are when it comes to racial healing, solving ethnic conflicts, and keeping peace and harmony between different cultures. Our goal is to reach a consensus based on a complete set of facts and a common understanding that will support maintaining peace in both private and public life as we converse.

See observing African in the context of Race in the Heritage menu, under cultural sustainability