I have been seeing this narrative floating around recently. It sounds good to some and is low hanging fruit to put Nigerians down/respond to the superiority complex that many Nigerians have.
The proof of African docility and weakness has been presented by comparing their reaction to mistreatment to the reaction of Black Americans. Most recently the recent protests and of course historically the Civil Rights movement can be cited.
The fact remains that Black Americans are fighters and survivors. Regarding the narrative, something key is being left out. Americans in general are fighters and survivors. This includes the race of people who represent the majority of Americans. White people.
The way this narrative is parroted assumes that Black Americans fought the numerous battles and created the many frameworks of freedom autonomously/without the assistance of white people and other groups.
This is important because once you have white allies your movement becomes more humanized and the agitators are shown less resistance by the oppressors.
Nigerians don't have the luxury of white allies en masse protesting and dying with them. The Nigerian experience is the blackest of black. Spending time in Nigeria you will see vivid and constant examples of black life not mattering.
That is why if Nigerians had the audacity to March and in some cases destroy property in a human rights uprising the military will literally be deployed and murder them all where they March. There are examples of this happening in Nigeria.
There are no people who can humanize the Nigerian fight for human right due to their complexion or affiliation to the elites. Agitators are quickly labeled terrorists and exterminated by the police, military, or both.
The Nigerians who you see all over the world outside of Nigeria are simply Nigerians who believe that their life and the life of their children matter. They power the Nigerian economy by sending money back and investing in countless business ventures.
They visit Nigeria frequently and many return their to live and/or be buried.
For those of you who claim to be pro black and are running with this narrative, just know that the Nigerian experience is one of the most prolific disgraces to black human rights in world history. It is minimized in world discussions because of a simple principle: Black Life Does Not Matter.
Uprisings in Nigeria happen all of the time. They are simply minimized as savage African behavior etc.
If you would have spoken just on Nigeria and the narrative that is given, I would be in complete support of you. And I feel where you coming from and the frustration with it. But your comments on African Americans is literally the reason why many feel offended. African Americans only react to narratives given to us by Africans who say we are lazy or not as oppressed, yet come to America not realizing you have that privilege because of US. The people who were kidnapped or sold and forced to come to this hell hole country
I never like doing the comparitive narrative if we had it and have it harder than black people there. Do you know the hell black people have went thru here, of having our babies fed to alligators, burned alive, hung by trees, our women turned upside down in a tree with her belly ripped open and having their baby stumped on. Our women raped in front of us.. our sons being used as feet rest or led around by little white kids on a dog leash..I don’t have to mention slavery or mass Incarceration or any of that. Whatever is seen on tv is nothing close to the real picture. The same laws that oppressed us hundreds of years ago still exist. We cannot peacefully talk to police without threat of murder.
So I said that about my people without demeaning your experience. I didn’t have to demean the Nigerian experience to do so. So I feel you with being upset about a Nigerian narrative. But don’t speak on how we should feel From hundreds of years of being oppressed by white people, when people here would die to be surrounded by their own people, regardless of oppression.
So you don’t have to demean our experience just to make a point about your. Because yours was completely inaccurate. And even your statements on why black people have seen progress. It hasn’t been because of white allies. It was because of white FEAR . Black Americans single handily built the Grand Empire called the United States. And one every war for them. Including the Revolutionary War... Do you see how I said all of that without demeaning yours. That’s why black Americans and Nigerians often don’t get along. Because Nigerians come to America and bash who we are what we should be doing and acting like they understand us, when you are priveledged to even be on American soil or work here, shop here, but a home, because of the African Americans who laid that foundation and gave you and other Africans that priveledge. What have Nigerians done for AA? Nigerians have a habit of doing this more than any other African group. So wrong approach. None of what you said about us is anything close to factual or showed you understand what is actually going on here