Crazitive African Magazine Issue 11: The Bestie Situation | Page 11

Racism Lives On. The title of this write up is quite disturbing but I'd like to let you know that certain factors and lots of thinking went into this before coming to this conclusion. What is Racism? According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, racism is the poor treatment of or violence against people because of their race. It can also mean the belief that some races of people are better than others. Welcome to the 21st century where there’s justification for everything, even ills that are supposed to be corrected are supported with flimsy justification. RACISM happens to fall under this category, it's a cankerworm that is eating deep into the society and the hearts of men. The irony of this thing is that, where the racism of the whites against the blacks is reducing and is being curbed drastically, racism among and within the black is increasing by the day. We're no longer made to feel inferior by the whites, we're made to feel inferior by our fellow black people. Imagine, just imagine, there's now a discernment as to occupation and things you can and cannot do as a dark skinned person because you’re not fair or you're not bleaching your skin so you can look ‘fine’. Gone are the days where employers recruit based on merits and qualifications, they now employ and pick based on skin complexion leaving out efficiency and capability to do the work. I came across something that went viral on social media where a Nigerian artist decided not to use a particular vixen and model in his music video because she wasn't fair in complexion. RACISM LIVES ON Like, is she supposed to kill herself because she was created that way? I also read of some Nigerian guy who went through lots of cyber bullying because he was in love with an Asian girl. Really? What happened to 'we’re one' or 'don’t judge me by my skin color' or ‘I'm human too’, what happened to all of those. So it's bad when it's been done to us but it's not bad when we show the same measure of wickedness to other people be it white, black or Asian. Whether you believe it or not, you're racist in one way or the other, yes you. If not, why aren’t you friends with that brother or sister? Why can't you allow your children play or have fun with those’ set of children? Why can’t you allow your child marry that dark skinned boy or girl? Why can’t you employ that dark skinned sister even when you know that she can do the work effectively? Its high time we took a u-turn, change and do things correctly for the benefits of all. Racism is a ticking time bomb waiting, growing and preparing to explode irreparably which brings me to why I said it lives on. Be like the PANDA, its Black, White and Asian.