By Reno Omokri
If you lived or schooled in England, as I did, you would know that the use of the word ‘native’ in the old Nigerian National Anthem, written by a White European woman, Lillian Jean Williams, is a well-known racist slur. It is another N-word, which would not be allowed to be used in almost any other country by their government.
Some Upper-Class Europeans (not all) derogatorily refer to Black Africans, Brown Asians, Latin Americans and Indigenous Americans as ‘natives’. It is still a code word used to this present day. It is meant as a slur.
In fact, when those bigoted few want to insult a member of their class who has, for example, married a non-Anglo-Saxon, such as Prince Harry did, they accuse that person of ‘going native’. Please Google ‘go native’ and study the meaning.
Racism and imperialism are not as widespread as they once were. I have a number of friends, associates and acquaintances who are members of the British aristocracy, and I do not refer to them nor wish to offend them. However, I am a Black African from the geographical location known as Nigeria, and I must do my patriotic duty to my country and its people.
The word ‘native’ should never have made its way into the National Anthem of the largest and hopefully the greatest Black nation on Earth. And having made its way there due to colonial imperialism and the lack of awareness of our Founding Fathers, it is gobsmacking and outrageous that we ourselves have chosen to return to it, after the Obasanjo Military Government realised the error and did away with it.
I urge ordinary Nigerians reading this to please fact-check me and research the racist origins and use of the term ‘native’ as it is used in our revamped National Anthem.
I appeal to those close to President Tinubu to impress upon him the error we have made as a nation. No matter how far we have gone in the wrong direction, to keep moving in that direction is not progress. One can still support the President, disagree with him as well as tell him the inconvenient truth.
Peoplesmind