Christopher Odetunde

First, let me congratulate President-Elect Barack Obama for his historic election and for breaking the absolute ceiling of intolerance in America. We need to understand here that it is easier to win an election than to govern. I must also warn that the racial intolerance is not yet off the table. Having said this, however, we will be moving in the right direction if we put all issues in the right perspective and re-litigate, as a people, the reasons why we stood by, prayed for and wanted Barack Obama to win. Hopefully it is not because we expect him to aggressively pursue issues that favor blacks at the expense of those for Whites.

Now, beyond the ascension of Barack Obama, how has Africans in general and Nigerians in particular help change the mindset of African-Americans and help usher in Barack Obama as the President – elect? A bit of history of the sojourned Africans to the new world is in order. In the late fifties and early sixties (post independent Africans), many Africans left the shores of their lands and became peripatetic.  Though, these new freely arriving Africans were neophytes, they knew what they wanted, the best for themselves and for their countries.

These early African travelers arrived in the new world with a “can do attitude” and confidence which, by and large, were lacking with our African – American brothers and sisters. Africans came in and bucked the status quo which kept African – Americans into believing that they were inferior as defined by relatively few but powerful White Americans. Many African – Americans were directly or indirectly viscously dragged along like a resistance to flow in a fluid or semi-fluid by the attitudes and actions of the Africans. Many black Americans got their confidence back and began believing in themselves taking cues from their black Africans colleagues. I used the metaphor of viscosity because: a) viscosity, on one hand, retards fluid’s progress; and b) On the other hand carries the slow fluid molecules along kicking and screaming to their final destination. This is the way politics must work for all that believes in democracy. The world is a stage and Africans made their minor impact in America and such efforts indirectly led to ascension of Barack Obama on the world stage. African – Americans, aside from appreciating the contributions of Black from Africa must also recognize the courage and tenacity of many Whites that matched with them, bled with them, died with them and got disparaged with them. Without these courageous White men and women, America wouldn’t have been celebrating this new American political courage.  It is bitter sweet.

Let no man be fooled about the election of Barack Obama. It will be foolhardy to view the election of Barack Obama as a panacea for racial purity in America. What the election of Barack Obama has done is to open a forum for debating issues that are common to Americans in a unifying sense. Just because one black American is elected cannot immediately remove affirmative action just as many Americans and some hydra–headed thinking Africans who may want to maintain the status quo would have Americans believe that all of a sudden, America is no longer partly a racist country. 

Let us note that there are far too many White CEOs who have been given opportunities to bankrupt their companies at the expense of hard working Americans. You and I know, through the performance of our colleagues and even our children that blacks are capable of leading companies as CEOs and are likely to perform better than or at least equal to those who have failed us corporately. Tom Brokaw of NBC expressed it best in a very candid and honest way that, “if he were a black man, he wouldn’t have got the breaks he got in life.” What the election of Barack Obama has done is to open progressive possibilities. We are not yet in a post-racial America.

But what can African leaders and African people learn from this historic election of Barack Obama? I guess, for me, Nigeria must follow these possibilities by making Africans and Nigerians dreamers again. It was the dream of the pre-military sojourning Africans that aided Africans such as Barack Obama Kenyan father to leave their lands for America. Lack of dream and open opportunities is what is missing in our politics. We need to regroup and fight the thugs that have allowed the world to see Nigerians through the prism of fraudulence. A revolution is necessary to move Africa and Nigeria forward. Power does not concede easily. Our election in Nigeria, unfortunately, has always been a referendum on the people rather than on leadership. We must make our election a referendum on our leaders’ performance, reduce the effect of zoning which brings unqualified and rouge politicians to lead us into the ditch, and reduce the effect of selfishness, and stealing. Our politics must, from now on, be about service to our nation and about leaving the next generation a better nation than we met it.

Nigerian-Americans need to redefine their God designed purpose for arriving in America. The purpose of arriving in America, at least for Nigerians, ought not to be about acquiring worthless material properties (mansion, expensive cars, bragging right on their temporary “good jobs”, etc.) but for acquiring the best America can give and using same to influence the developments of in Nigeria. On the other hand, America must move away from “us versus them” policies, and the “make them poor for our benefit” attitude. If that is the case, America will continue to waste valuable resources to prevent aliens from coming in and shadow box real and perceived enemies. 

In America, Nigerians need to work together. If marriage is a covenant, mothers and fathers must shed the idea of selfishness (my car, your money, my extended family versus yours, etc.) because when it is all said and done and children are brought to this world, everything should be about children. Parents must lead their children by precept and by examples. At no time should any hatred coming from any parent be transferred to the children nor should a spouse think of killing another for material reason. Such new found positive marital attitude may ultimately bring about growing wholesome, happy and hopefully reality as the benefit of marriage. Selfishness ought to have ended at the water’s edge of marriage. This is because many marriages are about how to look good for a day at the church in front of friends and family and not about how to micro-manage issues that come with all marriages. We can have smartest children in this world, if there is no enduring character attached to the smartness, we have just all wasted our sojourn to the New World and all we acquire will mean absolutely nothing.

In America, Nigerians need to work together. If marriage is a covenant, mothers and fathers must shed the idea of selfishness (my car, your money, my extended family versus yours, etc.) because when it is all said and done and children are brought to this world, everything should be about children. Parents must lead their children by precept and by examples. At no time should any hatred coming from any parent be transferred to the children nor should a spouse think of killing another for material reason. Such new found positive marital attitude may ultimately bring about growing wholesome, happy and hopeful reality as benefits of marriage. Selfishness ought to have ended at the water’s edge of marriage. This is because many marriages are about how to look good for a day at the church in front of friends and family and not about how to micro-manage issues that come with all marriages. We can have smartest children in this world, if there is no enduring character attached to the smartness, we have just all wasted our sojourn to the New World and all we acquire will mean absolutely nothing.

Nigerian PDP and the present crop of politicians must be fired just as the Republicans were fired on November 4, 2008 in order for our nation to finally develop. The PDP is party where the human and civil rights of the majority are usurped by the tiny minorities. Doing anything short of revolution of ideas would be uncivilized. Being fired from a job can be tough but if one looks at losing a job as a way of re-tooling and as a purifying experience, such experience would be an advantage to the world. Nigeria must immediately move beyond ascension of Barack Obama and towards true revolution of ideas. When we finally recover our full faculty as a people, we will be able to tell the world that the general perceptions of black folks are erroneous ad we are equally smart and capable as Barack Obama proved. Mr. President – elect, congratulations again, we wish you success.

Robot  # 1 | 07.11.2008 00:07

Christopher Odetunde First, let me congratulate President-Elect Barack Obama for his historic election and for breaking the absolute ceiling of intolerance in America.We need to understand here that it is easier to win an election than to govern.I must also warn that the racial intolerance is not yet off the table.Having said this, however, we will be moving in the right direction if we put all issues in the right perspective and re-litigate, as a people, the reasons why we stood by, prayed for and wanted Barack Obama to win.Hopefully it is not because we expect him to aggressively pursue issues that favor blacks at the expense of those for Whites. Now, beyond the ascension of Barack Obama, how has Africans in general and Nigerians in particular help change the mindset of African-Americans and help usher in Barack Obama as the President – elect?A bit of history of the sojourned Africans to the new world is in o...Read the full article.