Thread by @enobong

Its been two days and I am still being roasted for my tweet on African America culture. I am not insensitive of their plight nor am I ignorant. Yes there is racism in America grevious things done against them but can I be allowed to use my brain alternatively in a free world?

Sometimes, I feel that maybe not all painful history should be taught so much; it can be crippling and aid the already systemic racism to keep crippling the Black American. There is a reason the average African American feels their govt specially owes them something

There is a reason why they mostly said Obama did nothing for black people; Obama was the President of America, not President of Black people. Bringing it home to my own reality as a minority Nigerian; if we were taught in details our dark history

So much so that it becomes our culture; perhaps, we would grow up victims and feeling inferior to the Hausas and Yorubas; do I feel other tribes are systemically excluded in Nigeria?Obviously yes, do I know the reason? yes. But, the Nigerian is born and raised to survive ANYTHING

Keyword; the Nigerian. We know when to be Nigerian and how to play the tribe card when necessary. Minorities me included support Goodluck Jonathan because for the first time in Nigeria’s history, fate forced a minority on Nigeria, an accident very unlikely to happen again soon!

Quick disclaimer! Goodluck Jonathan was a failure, an utter failure, but a BILLION times better than this DISASTER Buhari.
Do you know how horrible you have to be to be worse than Goodluck Jonathan?
This comparison is actually an insult to Goodluck Jonathan, apologies!

Anyway

This awareness in Nigeria is what makes minorities strive even better. The Igbos are not Jewish African for nothing, they know the owners of Nigeria(Hausa&Yorubas)do not want them in power, we all know it. And us? the irrelevant tribes, so irrelevant that we did not make WAZOBIA

Yes, we know a little about Biafra war, but, knowing what I know now, I would not have it any other way!! I already know my tribe is irrelevant; I do not need it to become my identity to preserve history!Evidently it creates victimhood;go through life leaning on this as a crouch

Govt must do for me because of A, B, C and D done wrong in the past is what caused Niger-Delta militants to pick up arms against oil companies. As a Niger-Deltan, grevious injustice is done daily to us both by oil companies and Nigerian govt. but everytime I can, I tell my people

We already know we are enslaved, but we must not make that our identity and we must thrive harder to be in positions Hausas and Yorubas rotate amongst themselves and that‘s ok too, so please, do not tell me, I dont know about exclusion; I am a minority Nigerian.

In Nigeria, the police will shoot and kill for 50 Naira&nobody will even be tried in court. If a police stops an African descent child in rough America, he knows, he is taught at home not to even try any aggression at all! When you are disadvantage fight the system strategically

My granpa told me, his parent told them, the only way him and his two brothers can get good jobs too in Exxon Mobil is good education; Yoruba people will still leave their zone and come to Ibeno to oppressor us minorities in our land, but education is our advantage!

However, you cannot be on food stamps, child-support, drive gang cultures, kill each other and wonder why the odds are against you! Minorities must try harder yes, it is unfair, but life is unfair, it will never be fair, period!

I went to a white dominanted college in Chiswick, West London for my A-levels, yes, I knew I was the second black person in my class, the first was even mixed race; I was an African but, as long as I do not feel inferior, you cannot make me inferior

All I knew was, yes, the white students have the advantages, heck the mixed race boy was more advantaged than I was, but, my grandpa is spending his pension to send me to a good school, I better try my best and even harder because, I am the foreigner here and not on govt aid

To me, nobody is more disadvantaged than a Nigerian; our govt is USELESS(my generation has NEVER known a good govt) the world automatically profiles us as criminals without reason, but, there is a reason why if you smuggle a 5 year old boy from street of Obalende into New York

As an illegal immigrant; give him 15 years; he will go to school, enter Wall streets or work in the UN. Does he face racism? Of course he does, he is black and beyond that a foreigner! But why does he go to America with all this odds and still do better than the African American?

Is it possible that the African immigrant who goes to America and succeed is so because as Africans, we do not have that mental block? Is there anything else responsible for this variance than the obvious?

If Biafra war was taught to us in schools and all the evil things Hausas and Yorubas have done to minority tribes was allowed to be built into our education and to become a culture; minority tribes in Nigeria will be like the average African American!

Not all history should become a way of life; some histories will cripple the people and create victims culture. There is a reason African immigrants go to America, use their educational system and come out on top in their top industries in their own country!

The best doctors in America are Nigerians, black people in top wall street are Nigerians, the top black people in the UN systems are Nigerians in the same America!
Africans are black too, more so are foreigners, but they do well in same America, why?

Not saying you must agree with me, all I am saying is, just because history has been carried on for decades does not mean it cannot be questioned. If for nothing, at least to stimulate different conversation, stop attacking people who see things different,pause and think

The slave masters who kidnapped and bought human beings from Africa as slaves lived in the 17, 18 and 19th centuries, why do we still want to be enslaved to dead people?Other side of the story is Africans sold Africans to white people;but why is that part of slavery hidden?

Negative history becomes a culture and a culture not checked becomes a way of life that cripples not motivates. Africans go to American and thrive regardless of racism for a reason!

And, not everything is racism!!

Sellah!

Unroll @threadreaderapp