The dilemma of a black man

I'm an African, my skin is of a darker hue than most and I'm 6ft 3in tall and have always been lanky. This to many makes me a big black man. I have been at the centre of a few racial issues in my time which made me more intrigued by the topic and since we have seen race play a major role in many political spheres around the world this year, it's only pertinent for me to give my slant.

I grew up in a University campus in Nigeria where there were a few Caucasians lived and so was used to mingling with anyone irrespective of race very early on.

My first exposure to discrimination was when I was teased and taunted at primary school for being dark skinned ( by other Nigerians) and was nicknamed Baba Dudu which in my language translates dark father. Very early on, I realised there was something about the hue of my skin that bothered others. I was bewildered since I could not do anything to change it. Those were confusing times. This taunting carried on to my boarding school where many in supposed good jest continued to allude to my dark skin as if it was a sin. My sharp tongue gave as much as I got and fenced off some of the intensity but I always wondered why it mattered to others. My going out with one of the most beautiful girls in school helped to restore much needed confidence and helped to balance me as an individual.

A little later I noticed as many rushed after light skinned women, even when they were not that beautiful. I could not understand this penchant for lighter skins. Then the bleaching creams flooded the African market in the 70s and many went for it. I saw so many dark skinned ladies transform into very lighter versions in an instant and in full glare.

I grew up a very confident individual and navigated my way through life as I discovered the many talents God had bestowed upon me and explored them to build my fortunes. My first job in Nigeria was working at IITA an American research institute in Nigeria where many of the indigenous people no matter how educated were subservient to the Caucasians who worked there , many of them with qualifications equivalent to technical colleges. In IITA i witnessed how Africans clearly played the second fiddle in their own country and couldn't understand why.

Fast forward to my late twentys I relocated to the UK and the issue of racism confronted me almost daily. People looked at you differently and many were clearly frightened at sight, a few clutched at their handbags at seeing you and many just broke into a run for no rhyme or reason. It made me very angry at first but quickly found ways to cope with it. Several years later , I found myself working under people who are clearly not as qualified and who are constantly threatened and do everything to jettison you at the earliest opportunity. Later, I found there was tension between Africans and Carrebians. I became even more flustered as I experienced racism from Asians. That was when I started researching the issue of racism and discovered that dark skinned people are discriminated against in every continent of the world.

More recently, I observed 8 years of one of the most prominent citizens discriminated against principally because of the colour of his skin. That was when I realised it doesn't matter your education or achievement, racism has become innate in many and wonder what will help.

So you have many Africans trying to behave like Caucasians and looking down on dark skin, and pretty much every other person taking a shot. So what is a very big dark skinned guy to do? Maybe keep smiling, keep achieving, keep succeeding and waiting on the world to change someday.