Niggeria

I actually don't think that this relates directly to my internship at CASA. But, I'm at work on a Tuesday evening and I'm imputing voter information into the computer so naturally I'm bored and naturally I'm listening to music.

The new NAS album "Untitled" or as he originally titled it "Ni**er" came out today so I'm listening it out online. The song "Ya'll my Ni**as" caught my eye, or ear rather. Actually, a specific line...check it:


"They got Nigeria and Niger
Two different countries
Somehow Niger turned to ni**er
And shit got ugly
The problem is we started thinking like the colonists..."


Now, I was born in Nigeria for those of you who don't know. And, to a very large extent I associate my identification and consciousness to the land whose name has Latin orgin and comes from the word "niger" which means black. Other variants include the Spanish/Portuguese word "neger" which also means black. The French, "neger," you guessed it, means black. The significance of the names Nigeria and Niger, given to my homeland isn't as deep as some may seem, it simply meant land of black inhabitants. Now, what is the significance of this seemingly non-related post...


it all just got me thinking I suppose. I proudly wear the colors green and white. I proudly identify as a Nigerian, West African. But, what does that really mean? Alas, my country will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2 years but it is much older than 50. The collected land and people that inhabit what is known as modern day Nigeria will be 50. The country gained its independence from the British in 1960. Just writing that sentence fills me with directed rage. I know that sounds like an oxymoron but just give me a couple of years to organize this J.D. degree and I'm going to wreak havoc...ugh, "gained independence..." I'll move on I suppose. The lines on the map that make up Nigeria will be 50...because truly that's all the country is...lines on a map.

Not all of the groups of people who now live and die in Nigeria once lived in such close proximity. They were forced to move closer by the Europeans during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and Colonialism/Imperialism. Gotta love that era! And, listening to Nasir Jones took me back, just like that movie I was watching last night did. It took me back to last summer, in Ghana, visiting the slave dungeons at Elmina and Cape Coast...

I can't even try to articulate all the sensations I experienced. It was as if everything was being stimulated at once, and not just my 5 senses, but the senses within the senses, and the ones within those....


conclusion: Europeans came to my homeland, raped my people and our resources physically, mentally, emotionally, economically, spiritually, religiously, politically and any other lly you can think of, and then they took a map and drew some random lines...

fast forward to 2008, I walk around a proud Nigerian without really knowing what that means. And, people have the nerve to question my state of mind, disposition, opinions, and emotions....


they don't even want to get me started!

Power!