Can insults ever ginger us up?

If Blacks, especially we black Africans living in the homeland, were a self-respecting people who are full of racial pride and are therefore touchy about slurs that hurt our dignity and personhood, the matter would not have been a small outrage that it turned out to be. First of all, it ought more rightly to […]

If Blacks, especially we black Africans living in the homeland, were a self-respecting people who are full of racial pride and are therefore touchy about slurs that hurt our dignity and personhood, the matter would not have been a small outrage that it turned out to be. First of all, it ought more rightly to have sparked an immediate, angry and appropriate response of the AU if that body was not the club formed to protect the interests of African rulers rather than that of their people. Then, it would have attracted a global attention because it is substantial enough to have done so if we had pushed it. The matter had to do with the coach of a Russian football club whose name I will not unwittingly promote by mentioning because of the crime of its racist coach against my race and my dignity as a black man.
The fortune of this club which was once champion of the Russian league has been steadily dwindling this league year. To shore up or restore its fortunes, it was suggested to the coach that he should perhaps sign more black players who are renowned for their flair, strength, agility, power and work rate. In response to this well-meaning suggestion, the coach is reported to have said that the club already has enough of those ‘’things’’, meaning it has enough Black players.  In other words, according to the warped thinking of that Russian coach, black players are ‘’things’’ whose additional efforts are not likely to help him out. Given the enormous contributions or input which many African make to their various teams, I am therefore not surprised why that Russian coach is failing; the problem squarely lies with him and not with African or any other players of any skin colour. But let us return to the issue that is ailing us here.
After expression of outrage by black players led by the current African Footballer of the Year, Yaya Toure, the coach offered a very tepid apology. This apology has apparently been accepted by the Black World and all is forgiven of that thoughtless Russian coach and all is forgotten about the gratuitous insult heaped on the black children of God. Life must go on. After all we blacks are used to such unwarranted insults. We are the underlings of the world and must therefore learn to bear with equanimity all manners of insult. It is our due, or so it appears, by our inexplicable reluctance to even confront even verbally those who cause us enormous pains by regarding us as sub-humans even when they are exploiting our God-given talents and energies. In the football world, Blacks, especially African players, sometimes command half of the price which their White counterparts of comparable abilities and talents get. Yet, we have said nothing about this clear injustice and unfairness.
While on the pitch, black players have banana thrown at them with chants hailing them as monkeys by White fans. In spite of FIFA’s best efforts, this very disagreeable behaviour has continued because of our nonchalant attitude towards such insults. It seems that we are just begging to live in this ‘’White’’ World and are therefore ready to accept any and everything.
But come to think of it: should I blame any other race whether white, Asiatic or anything else? Don’t we deserve what we are getting? There is no majority black country today that can be termed a developed nation. I hate to think so but the truth is that the development of the Republic of South Africa is not the product of Black ingenuity and expert social organisation. It owes its advance to White settlers’ superior talents and expertise.
Countries, even in Asia and Latin America that some African countries were at the same level of development with them some 50 years ago have become First World nations and those African countries have remained not much different from where they were a whopping five decades after.
Take Nigeria as an example. In the 1960s, Nigeria was at development par with South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Those Asian countries are today light years away from Nigeria. The father of the Singaporean nation, Lee Kwan Yew wrote a book celebrating his monumental efforts in taking dirt poor Singapore from a Third World nation to a First World one. In that book, he even mentioned Nigeria, as if to challenge our country to wake up from her long slumber. But see where we still are even when the world media keeps referring to us as the sixth largest producer and exporter of crude oil, the black gold. No subtle or flagrant insult seems to ginger us to get up and do something to show that God also imbued his Black children with intelligence and strength.
Go to the Nyanya-Mararaba axis of the Abuja-Keffi Highway in the mornings between 6 am and 8am and you will shake your head in self-pity for the Black man as epitomized by the apparent lack of Nigerian leaders to find a quick solution to issues that have become a reproach. This axis of the Abuja-Nasarawa territory at the aforementioned times is simply a study in organised chaos. Because of the terrible traffic gridlock on this route, you will see some cars and commercial motor cycle operators driving clockwise and anti-clockwise against the traffic. While some are moving North East; some are facing North West; while some are going in the direction of South West, others are going South-South.
In this bedlam, pedestrians are doing a hundred meters dash to cross the highway; wheel barrow pushers try to carve a niche of the road for themselves and the wares they are pushing and even a few cows shepherded by a small boy  struggles for a share of the road. In the face of all this organised confusion, you will see some drivers driving in such break neck speed that you will conclude that their mission is to dispatch either themselves or some people to hell as quickly as it can possibly be done.
Some mornings I take strategic positions at sections of this road to observe the Black man in action. And what I deduce for myself is that our thoughts and actions are often a reminder that God is still on his throne. For, if God is not permanently occupied with ensuring that Nigerians do not bring harm or destruction upon themselves, we would have self-destructed years ago. From what I observe, I always ask myself: is there a government in-charge at all? If there is indeed a government in-charge is it that some problems simply defy solution or our black brains can simply not factor any solution at all?
If we black ‘’things’’ cannot fix black-created problems can we possibly be seen as a people who can help a failing Russian coach fix the misfortunes of his club?