Thread by @elnathan_john

Increasingly I try not to make any generalizations about Nigeria. Just a little bit of study can shock you. I like the look on the faces of Nigerians from the south when I tell them that actually there are millions of Northern Nigerians who do not understand a word of pidgin.

I am not even talking about the ones who don't know that in places like Kaduna there are DOZENS of ethnic nationalities who are not "Awusa". The first time I heard Nigerians make sweeping statements about Nigerian pidgin I was wondering do these people know Nigeria at all?

Nigerians are allergic to reading about themselves. About their history. The more history I read, the less I try to say things that make me sound like I "know" Nigeria. The less I begin sentences with "in Nigeria".

Another example: "colorism started with Europeans and colonialism". All you have to do is read a little. And you see that skin color has mattered as a class identifier for hundreds of years at least. Simple example: this part of the book Baba of Karo about the period 1890-1904:

In parts of the north at least (I am only speaking of places I have researched well), for a long time, fair skin has been connected to the aristocracy, to beauty, to class, to privilege, to power. To be black like "Gwari" means something as does to be fair like Fulani.

So if you think of "race" broadly, skin color in parts of Northern Nigeria has in fact been linked to race. The aristocratic Fulani being seen as a privileged race and the nationalities who were enslaved by them seen as less.

Second example from Baba of Karo. I believe this speaks for itself. Still from the period 1890-1904

I'll just add one more. This made me laugh the first time I read it. I feel like they cried more because she was light skinned. (Yes shape of nose is often as important as skin color. Making a strong argument for it mattering in a "racial" way).

So yes. "Nigerians" in many places have thought of themselves as black for centuries, in relation to Arabs, in relation to Fulani, in relation to "Berbers". They have used the word black not just as a skin color but as a racial identifier for a long time.

Black people in many parts of what is now Nigeria have known without a doubt thay they were "black" for a long time. They have called themselves black. Have known they were black relative to others. This is documented. It is in letters. In history.

We have also had anti black racism. Before the Europeans came to "Nigeria". There is a reason black broad nosed people were seen as ugly in parts of Nigeria even before the British sauntered in. Just read a bit of Northern Nigerian history. It is there. Free to read.

To say that people don't make assumptions of wealth etc based on skin color in Nigeria is not just flat out false, it is ahistorical. At best it is a fallacy of hasty generalization. Even now skin color is a big deal. And being of mixed race, say shua or half Arab means something

And on a lighter note, pun intended, there is reason a certain bank filled their banking halls with light skinned women.