They call us apes? Well what do you call yourself ?

Last summer, my family and I were travelling to the U.S from Nigeria for my elder sister’s graduation. We brought out our boxes, put them in the car, and drove to the airport (the usual ritual). The airport hadn’t changed. Only few letters of the ‘lighted” “Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport” logo were actually lighted. We walked in through the green doors of the airport. Something about this airport just stresses me out. Most of the officers are always so arrogant because they’re trying to prove (I’m not sure whether to you, or to themselves) that they possess a lot of “power.” Plus when you’re coming back into the country after being long flights, they check your baggage manually at every 2cm and I feel that is for the same reason too or they just want you to bribe them out of it.

         Anyways, we walked over to the baggage-check table, our baggage was checked and we checked in. We walked through security and went through airport screening procedures (and they check your passports at this point). Then we came to the desk (which is about two feet away from airport screening) where they check your passports again and this is where my title comes up. The officer took the green passports, opened each one and looked at the person in the picture and then looked up at us, trying to identify who was in the picture and after that, for some reason, he decided my dad needed to be taken to a room to be searched and so we stood and waited for him (my dad) to come back. While we were waiting, this Asian couple came up and he didn’t even look at their passports he just told them to go ahead. So my mom asked why he didn’t follow regular procedures with them. He laughed and said something that basically translates to the adage “all fingers are not equal”. I looked at the man behind the table in his green uniform and a mixed feeling of anger and sadness rushed through me. How can someone who is meant to be serving his country say that? How can you automatically place yourself and your people beneath people of a different origin based off on nothing more than the color of their skin? Then later complain that white people call you “apes”, well what do you call yourself?

         You’ll find Nigerians that decide to attend to the person behind you in a queue first just because he/she is not Nigerian. Even politicians that rob Nigeria tend to invest the loot abroad while there is a high unemployment rate in Nigeria.

         Africans talk about African time all the time as an excuse for being late to functions. However, they would probably be punctual to a function if it was strictly organized by Caucasians and a Caucasian invited them to the function. What then is African time? Selective punctuality?

         My friend from Douala, Cameroon was talking about the behavior of policemen in the U.S.A embassy in Cameroon. She went to the American School of Yaoundé and so she also has an American accent. She told me about how policemen at the embassy are always nicer to her, saying things like “ah sissy where are you from?” and treating her more favorably when she talks to them with an American accent.

         I’m not sure what led to this perception but African’s were certainly not born with it. When some parents tell their children things like "America ilu oba" (which suggests that white man's country is naturally the land of kings) they learn to see Caucasians as superior and treat them that way while simultaneously treating themselves as inferior.

If you ask a sick African man to choose between a highly educated African doctor and a non- African doctor with an average education to treat his ailment, he would probably choose the non-African doctor just because he’s not African.

It is not wrong to respect people based on their accomplishments and so I have no problem with Africans recognizing the achievements of Caucasians but not every Caucasian is Isaac Newton or Bill Gates. There are many things that make someone deserve one’s respect. The color of one’s skin is definitely not one of them.

         Inferiority complex has eroded the minds of many Nigerians. It is very annoying and demeaning to see Nigerians treat Caucasians or anything directly associated with them as superior. Having a different accent doesn’t make you more intelligent! It’s the words you say that count, not the accent in which you say them. But most Nigerians do not realize that. That’s why you’ll find Nigerians that “phonerize” (speak in a different accent). I hate how majority of Nigerians (maybe Africans in general) think Caucasians are superior. I just hope I never hear another Nigerian say, “All fingers are not equal” referring to the shorter fingers as Nigerians.