mekka okereke :verified:
@david_megginson Quick thread on why all these things are connected:
1) So many Black folk in tech are Nigerian
2) ChatGPT uses the word "delve" a lot
3) So many of the top 100 Scrabble players are Nigerian
4) So many Black doctors in the US are Nigerian
5) Why the most murderous terrorist organization in the world is not Al-Qaeda or ISIS, but one in Nigeria 😬
African history y'all didn't ask for, but are going to get anyway.
Like most messed up stories, this starts with the British...
1/N
Das
@mekkaokereke @david_megginson one thing about Nigeria remaining unified was the role (my limited understanding) of General Obasanjo who got respect from all sides (afaik preventing Hausa massacre of Igbo, he is Yoruba born).
He was the first (for a long time only) military head of state to hand over rule to a democratic government in the 70s. (Unfortunately the civilian govts were super corrupt and looted Nigeria).
The tribalism is super insidious
mekka okereke :verified:
Yeah, many Nigerians think that the Nigerian government is corrupt, and think that the US government is less corrupt...
But then I explain to them what US lobbying is, and they literally don't believe me. They think that either I'm making it up, or exaggerating.
Then I explain Pelosi's stock trades and Clarence Thomas gifts, and Super PACs. Crypto lobbying alone is amazing.
https://www.mollywhite.net/feed
And then I explain how no one goes to jail for voter suppression.
mekka okereke :verified:
By the 1960s, these types of conflicts led to pogroms, where Igbo people in the north of Nigeria were killed by angry mobs. So the Igbo civilians fled to the South East, in a caravan protected by an Igbo military general named Ojukwu. Real "Mad Max Captain Walker" stuff.
Ojukwu kept his troops between the Igbo civilians and mobs. Eventually, Ojukwu decided that the Igbos would secede, and form a new country called Biafra.
The rest of Nigeria said "Nope! You're staying!"
9/N
mekka okereke :verified:
The Nigerian civil war was horrific in a way that doesn't need describing.
The Biafran side lost, and Nigeria remained unified, for the best possible definition of unified for an African country with borders drawn by the British.
But to this day, there is a conflict between those that embrace western education and believe that knowledge can be used to fight injustice, and those that reject it, believing that it is inextricably tied to European capitalism and moral rot.
10/N
mekka okereke :verified:
This lead to Igbo and Yoruba people being in key positions to run government jobs when the British were kicked out.
🧔🏿♂️Why are so many of the judicial appointments filled with Igbo and Yoruba people?
👩🏿 Because they have the law degrees?
🧔🏿♂️ BS! We have legal scholars too! Islamic law is valid.
👩🏿True. But we voted, and chose British common law over Sharia law or tribal law.
🧔🏿♂️Why are all the major ports in Igbo and Yoruba land?
👩🏿 Um.. because that's where the ocean is?
8/N
mekka okereke :verified:
Black Panther also touches on the conflict by referencing a real historical event where Nigerian slaves observed how their slave ship was being sailed, and launched an ambitious plan to kill their slavers, and sail the ship back to Africa. They were able to kill their captors and take the ship, but couldn't figure out how to sail it. Rather than face recapture and enslavement, they chose mass suicide by jumping into the ocean tied down by weights.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nG5Tn49nPlg
6/N
mekka okereke :verified:
Now that you know the conflict / differences between tribal knowledge, Islamic knowledge, and what we call western knowledge but is really global knowledge acquired through assimilation, you can see the choices different tribes made.
No tribe is a monolith. We're talking about 10s of millions of people. But the leaders of these tribes made decisions that affected the masses.
Many Yoruba and Igbo leaders prioritized western education and built British style universities.
7/N
mekka okereke :verified:
Even before the arrival of the British, many African tribes, including those in present day Nigeria had a strong focus on education. The only difference, was the type of education.
1) Middle Eastern, traditional education. Math, Science, Agriculture,
2) Tribal education, oral traditions passed down from ancestors
3) Borg like acquisition of all knowledge through contact and trade with others.
One of the earliest slaves in the US was Omar Ibn Said, a Fulani scholar.
4/N
mekka okereke :verified:
The conflict between two schools of thought around adopting western education vs traditional African and Islamic scholarship, is hinted at in the Hollywood movie Black Panther.
M'Baku rejects modern technology and borg-like learning and scientific advancement at all costs, in favor of tribal knowledge, harmony with nature. He has a thick Igbo accent, and uses Igbo body language and idioms.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bDWJ2Xk1BOI
5/N
mekka okereke :verified:
The Igbo and Yoruba groups embraced colonialism as much as the Nigerian spirit can allow. That means they basically said, "These Europeans whupped us pretty good with that scientific method thing of theirs! There's a science behind everything. We know stuff that they don't know... but they know stuff that we don't know. We should learn the stuff that they know, and one day, kick them out. Basically, their education system is pretty good, even if they are amoral and cruel"
3/N
mekka okereke :verified:
Britain colonized, as they do, and created Nigeria combining ~300 minor tribes, ~30 bigger tribes, and ~3 main tribes. The biggest are: Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa/Fulani.
The North of Nigeria touches the Sahara. The South is close to the equator. Think of Nigeria as transitioning between 2 climate zones: The North, which is like California/Arizona weather, and the South, which is Florida / Georgia weather.
Much of Nigeria's oil deposits are under Igbo + Delta land.
2/N
mekka okereke :verified:
Anyway, that's how colonialism led to Nigeria having such good schools, such a strong focus on education, and a healthy combination of respect and distrust for the British. Same same in Kenya, India, Ghana, etc.
But Nigeria is a country of 200M people. That's massive. No country has more Black folk that face less racism.
So what you see when you look at Nigerians, says more about you as the viewer, than Nigerians.
Doctors?
Athletes?
Scammers?
Tech workers?
Musicians?
13/13
mekka okereke :verified:
So to the biggest terrorist organization...
"Haram" means forbidden in many Islamic countries. So adultery is haram. Blasphemy is haram.
"Boko" means "Western style education." Not quite a literal translation of "Book," but pretty close.
So "Boko Haram" means "Western education is forbidden."
Boko Haram is the name of the terrorist organization that killed more people than ISIS or Al Qaeda. They operate in Northern Nigeria and Cameroon. They mostly target muslims.
11/N
mekka okereke :verified:
I've spoken about Boko Haram on here before. And how being tribalist or islamophobic is not the answer. There are Hausa Christians. There are Yoruba and Igbo Muslims. There are atheists everywhere. Tribalism and religious intolerance are not effective ways of defeating terrorism.
https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/111493579351421079
The "Bring Back our girls," campaign, was an attempt to rescue Muslim schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram affiliates.
Islamophobia is not the answer.
12/N
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