I know the question might seem a bit heavy and possibly ridiculous, but I’m a fellow diaspora African who doesn’t really have anyone to discuss this with; please let me know if this is inappropriate for the sub.

I don’t relate much with my parents’ country (other than food/music/celebrating some holidays), but despite being born and raised in the U.S., I still feel a general detachment from being “fully American”. Life in America is all I really know, but it’s too obvious that others see me as “different”.

In the recent year and a half, I’ve become more knowledgeable about my parents’ country and Africa as a whole, and this knowledge has kinda fucked me up. Perhaps it’s because people generally become “more aware” of life in college, but regardless, I’ve been feeling really low lately. I can’t help but compare the West to much of Africa. I hate to say it, but I’ve developed some type of complex, and I‘ve started to feel “less than”, for lack of better words.

I don’t desire to be anyone else or part of another group; I just strongly detest Africa’s current state and global perception. (Although I acknowledge that Africa is not just one giant region that’s the same throughout, many countries seem to suffer from roughly similar issues. Please excuse me for such generalizations.)

This post is longer than I intended, but the central question I have for other diaspora Africans—has living in the West given you a sort of “complex”? If so, how do you get over it?