People & Money

A Tale of Two Countries: A Nigerian Immigrant’s Perspective on Racism in America

By Otito Iwuchukwu

Let me start with a disclaimer. Racism in America is a complex and multi-factorial issue. I do not claim to have any answers. I am only offering my opinion based on personal lived experience. I have lived in the United States of America for 15 years. I immigrated here to study, seeking to pursue my PhD without the economic frustrations I was bound to face in my home country. I give this background because it strongly influences my perception of America. As a Black person born outside America, my experience of racism is interesting because my full consciousness of it came from shared storytelling either in person or through the written word. You experience a thing and you tell your friends and they report the same experience and you do this a thousand and one times and you begin to realise that there is something here and it is not just me who is being hyper aware or overly sensitive.

Yet, my experience of racism differs from the African American’s. The key difference is that being born in a country where race identify is not an issue, I came to America with a strong sense of my identity as a person with knowledge, skills and abilities that puts me at par with anyone no matter their skin color. I arrived without any expectations to be doubted and triple-checked. But I also do understand the conundrum of race relations in America because you see I come from a country that by the current definition of racism, could be said to be racist too. But we won’t call it that because we unconsciously recognize that race is a social construct of the White people. In my home country, we have a different term for the – “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group”.  We call it tribalism. I remember an individual asking me what my experience of racism was since I wasn’t born in America and I explained my deep familiarity with the concept of antagonism against a group of persons and of stereotypes. I guess I passed the test, because I was admitted into the racial reconciliation committee.

As an Igbo girl born in Benin City, who lived in Sokoto and then Lagos before going to Ibadan to complete my university education and returning to Sokoto for my NYSC, I have experienced many parts of Nigeria first hand. I can tell you that the people I met were lovely, good, and kind people. Many of them are still my good friends today. I would never dare to call any one of them tribalistic and I am sure they could say the same for me. While I can say with all certainty that I am not tribalistic. I cannot categorically say the same for my parents because their lived experience is not mine. There is deep dissension between various tribes in Nigeria that goes all the way back to the Civil War before I was born and I know it’s there because I hear the stories (and assumed stereotypes) from that generation. I would urge you the reader to think of racism in America to be a greater sum of the experiences of tribalism in Nigeria. Someone may look at Nigeria and think everything is fine, why are they complaining? But I would advise that you judge or comment only according to the limit of your lived experienced.

I have heard the argument that Black Americans are the most prosperous and freest Black people in the world. To that, I say Yes, but relative to what? That statement is akin to saying the Israelites were the freest people in Egypt because they ate leeks and onions. Relative prosperity yes, because the systems that exist in the Western Civilizations cannot exist in isolation and totally exclude black people. People here understand that if we pay taxes for roads and electricity, it benefits everyone and so in that sense one cannot argue that Black welfare and even prosperity in America do not exist. People in my home country on the other hand with no accountability for taxes and systems and utilities will rather buy Bentleys and drive them in pothole ridden roads and only tar the strip leading to their beautiful mansions built in the midst of squalor. There are arguments and points for both sides. We can learn to be objective and relative at the same time. Some situations call for one or the other. The issue arises when you try to force objectivity into what should be relativity.

There is a saying in the education sector that a person has to “Maslow before they can Bloom.” Maslow and Bloom were two prominent American Psychologists whose theories have influenced the fields of economics and education. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs tells us that a person has to meet lower order physiological, safety and belonging needs before they can self-actualize. Bloom’s theory of learning from the cognitive and affective domains form the basis of teaching and learning used in many areas of education today. The idea of Maslow before Bloom is that a person who is hungry and thirsty cannot learn adequately and adequate and deep learning is a prerequisite to self-actualization in its truest form. So when a person says that Black Americans don’t pursue education as a path out of poverty, I say how can a person whose primary focus is on the lower needs order be able to see the way into self-actualization? I am still searching for the answer to that. The issue of race in the USA is a very complex one that cannot be solved in a day. We also cannot hope that the other side would be convinced in a generation to change its mind and make way for all the changes needed. But it doesn’t stop us from learning and continuing to try. Incremental change is better than the status quo when it comes to changing structural systems that perpetuate systemic ‘isms’.

Dr. Otito Iwuchukwu is Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Fairleigh Dickinson University 

 

This is the second in our series of guest commentaries on “Race & Progress in America: Nigerian Perspectives”

 

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One Comment

  1. Very well said Otito. You’re right-our view as immigrants/economic migrants certainly differs from the African American’s and we should be open to listening and learning, changing and growing. As someone said to me a while ago: every day is a school day!

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