Racism: More About Colour Than Citizenship

In recent times, as it has always been, the world was rouse to the case of racism, especially in the United States among other western countries where racism is prevalent. In this interview, we will be using United Kingdom as our case study. We have our guest, a man with dual citizenship, United Kingdom by birth and Nigeria by origin who have experiences of both the white and the black sides of racism, in person of Dr. Kehinde Ayoola.

ARKore Writes: Can you tell us about yourself in a few words sir?

Dr. Ayoola: I'm a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. My areas of competence are Applied Linguistics and Discourse Analysis.

ARKore Writes: Kindly share a few of your experience(s), as regards being a black man in a white man’s land, despite being a UK citizen.

Dr. Ayoola: The white world is tolerant of black females; hence they are not often hounded by the police.

Most employers prefer to employ native Britons but if they don't get, they hire Indians. Interestingly Indians and Black people of African extraction are usually better educated than their white counterparts. The black man from Africa has a good chance of being employed when there are no qualified whites or Indians contending for the position. Even among Blacks there is a hierarchy. Caribbean, East African, Ghanaian and at the bottom are Nigerians.

Nigerians are highly respected for their intelligence but British employers are often suspicious of them because of the reputation of Nigerian fraudsters. 

The British population is an aging population. There are more elderly people than youths. Many of their well educated youths have gone abroad because Britons are welcome everywhere on earth. The few youths they have are not highly educated. So there are employment opportunities for doctors, nurses, engineers, computer scientists, etc. It is a land of opportunities for educated immigrants.

Britain is a class conscious society. It is divided mainly into two: Working class (63%) and Middle class (35%). The remaining 2% is the aristocracy and upper class. Many middle class people from Africa can only fit into the working (lower) class. This means that although you will live a higher standard of life over there, you will experience class demotion. Your colour demotes you but a few can fight their way into the lower middle class.

ARKore Writes: It looks like racism is already etched into the system of the whites with these  facts you've shared so far, sir. But, recently, the story of George Floyd served as another eye-opener to the cases of racism. Can you tell us your view on the reaction of the US government towards the protests against racism?

In addition to this sir, what do you think influences racism and what are the ways you think it can be curbed or possibly stopped?

Dr. Ayoola: Nepotism, ethicism, genderism and other manifestations share the same features with racism. African magic, for instance, prefer to cast light complexioned actresses for obvious reasons. 

Racism in UK or US is sheer opportunism. People use it to reduce competitors for scarce resources. But, in an industry like sports, it is reduced because victory is more of strength than colour.

Any black man that does not want to be discriminated against should return to Africa. Here in Nigeria we discriminate on ethnic, religious and sectional basis. Racism is a human thing that cannot be washed away

On George Floyd.

The police officers are biased because too many black people are unemployed and unemployable in the US. Hence to survive, they go into crime. In view of this, officers are used to seeing them as law breakers. 

The solution is for black people to get well educated and aim high. Obama has shown that in spite of American racism, a black man can clinch the number one job.

ARKore Writes: Your words to Africans aspiring to settle abroad and those who are there already?

Dr. Ayoola: I don't blame young Africans to going abroad in search of greener pastures because things are pretty hard here. However, they need to know that the developed countries they run to were built by the citizens of such countries. It is not in the best interest of Africa for our youths to be emigrating in droves to build foreign countries.

Nigerian youths should rise to the challenge of building their country. They will never be accepted in a foreign land. They are better off staying back home to help proffer solutions to their country's socioeconomic problems. They need to realise that all that glitters is not gold. The developed countries have their own challenges too. By the time they live there for some years, they will realise that they have entered "one chance" and it will be too late for them to return home. 

Even if they decide to return or visit home, their children will not return with them. They will be shocked to discover that they are not necessarily better in status and materialwise than those that they left behind at home.