Racial And Ethnic Hatred: The War That Will Never End

Editor’s note: Ikhuoria Obemeata Anetor, Naij.com guest author, points with great sadness that nowadays people tend to choose the path of “us and them”. In a world where any information is at our disposal, a great number of people still display ignorance by sticking to the unfounded ethnic and racial biases. Even science in a bid to explain natural history ended up citing differences in anatomical attributes to justify racial hatred. The article attempts to draw a link between what history has taught us and the people’s reactions on the social media platforms to various issues in every sphere of life. The pessimism expressed is simply to sound the alarm that we as a people must vigorously reject the attempts to take us down to the abyss.

I have come to a conclusion that the expression of racial, ethnic and religious sentiments will never end in this world.

Let us take a quick look at what history has taught us.

As old as the hills

Consider Neanderthals, who inhabited the European continent about 40,000 years ago. They were classed as either a subspecies (Homo Sapiens Neanderthals) or a separate species (Homo Neanderthals) of the human race. There are numerous theories with regard to their extinction.

One of the arguments posits that the cause of Neanderthals’ extinction was “competitive replacement”. This argument is based on the study of their fossils by Karen L. Steudel that showed the anatomical differences including the impeded running ability, a more muscular form, larger brains, and great appetite for food. Basically, the study states Neanderthals were all brawn and no brains, and it is argued that this attribute was the greatest obstacle on their way to survival. Homo Sapiens employed more brain and less brawn to win the war to the top of the food chain, and they won the competition.

In the early 1920s Eugenics – a social movement that aimed at improving human capacity, but suffered a decline in reputation when the German scientists used it to prove the existence of a pure Aryan race to support the Nazi ideology – gained huge popularity. Black people were put at the bottom of that order based on several “analyses” in the colonial Namibia.

These are the instances of employing scientific analysis to prove the superiority of one human species over the other.

Slavery has exerted a devastating effect on the black race. Unfortunately, after over a century of abolition, slavery is resurging in much more ways that our society could even imagine. The usage of domestic help is a mild form of slavery. Baby smuggling is now rampant in Nigeria with dedicated “factories” aimed at meeting this “need”. Human trafficking of the people seeking a better life in the West is the major issue now in the world. Perhaps, this account for the continued perception of the people of colour as disadvantaged and having less ability to achieve success. Such arguments are expressed today on the social media platforms.

Prejudices going online

Social media is a great tool for communication. It has completely emasculated the ability of the conventional media to influence public opinions on various issues. Mainstream media are now feeding from the pulse of “share it”, “like it”, “tweet it”, downloads and uploads to fully understand what makes the news and influences decisions at all levels of our life. Unfortunately, a cursory look at the reactions shows that the media have also become the hotbed of expressing utterances bordering on ignorance. It is frightening to note that they are patronised by the young and youngish people making such ignorant statements.

Since the change in the Nigerian government the social media have been awash with all kinds of ethnic sentiments. The core eastern Nigerian block lost in the elections. A quick look at the opinions expressed on the social media suggests that Nigeria is now much further away from unity than at any time in the history. Take some time to read the responses of the blog posts readers. For example, the Imo state governor is referred to as “OkoroHausa” as the only APC governor in the East. Other respondents recount how some people, allegedly from the North, allowed Igbos to drown in the Niger river during the civil war. Some disagree completely with the former president Jonathan’s conceding of defeat in the poll. The unfortunate perception is that the PDP as a party failed to outrig the APC.

Hatred is the root of separatism

Since the election, MASSOB and the clandestine Radio Biafra have been calling for self-determination. It is unfortunate that this call for unity is based solely on the failed secessionist movement, the supporters of which – mostly young people – know nothing about the Nigerian Civil War, albeit they are witnessing over two million of internally displaced persons from the North East roam across the country as a result of the war against Boko Haram.

READ ALSO: The Phenomenon Of Nnamdi Kanu: Why Are Nigerians So Exposed To His Spell?

The Chief Olu Falae kidnap episode is another sad chapter. The pan-Yoruba group declared that it would secede if the issue of the Fulani herdsmen’s encroachment on the Yoruba farmlands was not addressed. Femi Fani-Kayode invaded the matter describing the Fulani herdsman as the “murderous Tsetse flies”. We must be cautious when such eminent personalities touch upon very sensitive and explosive issues, because other countries were consumed by such utterances. In 1994 in Rwanda a radio broadcast became a prelude to the genocide resulting in the killing of over one million people within 30 days.

READ ALSO: How I Was Abducted, Tortured, Released — Olu Falae

Black does not equal disadvantaged!

A few weeks ago the social media users discussed the incident that involved a Caucasian male who posted a selfie showing a little black boy named Cayden Jace in the background. The comments such as “I’ll feed you after this selfie shot” were really disheartening. One person even wanted to know what refugee camp the boy was from. However, the point is the picture was taken in America, the four-year boy was neither homeless or hungry, nor abandoned by his parents. The trolls simply responded to the prejudice that black equals disadvantage (which I completely disagree with), and exhibited their foolishness by lapping it up. The good news is that they live in a society recognising that the highest standard of behaviour should be accepted by everyone despite all imperfections and inequalities. The institutions in America, both public and private, expect that the people representing them must live by the highest standards, hence, the individuals who trolled the picture were fired by the companies they worked with.

I have resigned myself to the plots of two books: Animal Farm and The Lord of the Flies by George Orwell and William Golding respectively. Both authors portrayed the characters that achieved freedom (one by design and the other by accident) and desired to live in a more egalitarian community. Evil is surreptitiously bringing the “us and them” divide to the fold, and rage is arising between those perceived to be weak and those who claim to be strong. The question today is: will this war ever end?

Ikhuoria Obemeata Anetor writes from Lagos.

This article expresses the author’s opinion only. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Naij.com or its editors.

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