*George Floyd: The Black Race, and The Greatest self-Haters!!! – By Reno Omokri

God created diversity. It is satan that created racism. How do I know? The first time racism occurred in Scripture (“Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married”-Numbers 12:1), God punished the racists.

Many people have asked why I am yet to comment on the George Floyd case, and the truth is that I am not as concerned about Blue on Black killings as I am about Black on Black killings. For every Black man killed by a White cop, there are over 20 Black people murdered by their fellow Blacks.

The death of George Floyd is a tragedy. Officer Chauvin AND HIS CREW must be charged as a lesson. But the Black race must learn our own lesson. Protests are good. But destroying infrastructure in Black neighborhoods doesn’t help George get justice!

Many Africans who have never travelled out of Africa are sadly unaware of the tragedy of Black disunity. They are shocked when they first get to London or New York and expect the Blacks they meet there to embrace them, only to be scorned!

When I first became a resident in America at age 9, the only people who ever called me ‘African butty scratcher’ or who told me to go back to Africa were my fellow Blacks. I lived in Albany, California, which was very White in the 80s. Not once did I experience that from Whites!

We Black people have to start loving ourselves. Then and only then will we be valued. To a large extent, we don’t love or even like ourselves. If a Black African goes to Europe or America, too often, it is Whites in those countries who are friendlier to him than his or her fellow Blacks.

I remember when I first went to school in England, I was stuck in the underground. Naturally, I was drawn to asking other Blacks like me. Not one of my fellow Blacks even listened to me. The first White man I asked entered the tube with me and took me to my school.

Look at the knife crimes in London. Who is killing who? Look at the murders in Chicago. Who is killing who? Even look at the abortion rate per race. Who is killing their unborn children? These are uncomfortable conversations Blacks should have
Right there in America, many East Coast Blacks don’t like West Coast Blacks. And many Blacks on both American coasts don’t like African Blacks. Caribbean Blacks don’t like African Blacks. How then can we expect others to like us if we don’t like ourselves?
We cannot behave as if #BlackLivesMatter only when a White person does the killing. If Black lives matter, it should matter above board. It should matter when Blacks kill Blacks and when Blacks hate Blacks and when Blacks discriminate against Blacks.

We Blacks are very reactionary to racism, and we should reject it. But do we love ourselves? In South Africa, did we love ourselves? How many Black people died at the hands of fellow Blacks in SA? We must reject racism amongst ourselves first.

In Africa, many of our well-known comedians have made tasteless jokes about dark-skinned Blacks like Lupita Nyongo. In America, Blacks sororities and fraternities reject fellow Blacks if they can’t pass The Brown Paper Bag Test.
Simone Biles became the most decorated American gymnast. While the world was celebrating her, we Blacks were denigrating her (Google it) for refusing to ‘fix’ her hair (chemically straighten it to make it less nappy). We have our issues.

In Nigeria, we have a President who favours his own Fulani tribe above other Nigerians. A man who killed 347 Shiite men, women, children and infants. What the White police did to George Floyd is not up to what General Buhari is doing to Nigerians. If a White President says ‘constituents that gave me 97% cannot be treated same with constituencies that gave me 5%’ and then goes on to exclude Blacks, there would be an uproar. But it is happening in Nigeria. And we accept it!

Recently, some young persons have been killed by the police in Nigeria. Ditto for Kenya and South Africa. Where was this George Floyd level rage? Or is it okay for Black police officers to kill Blacks and not okay for White police? Isn’t that racist?

In Nigeria, a Governor’s son (Nasir El-Rufai), labelled a whole ethnic group and called an Igbo mother a bed jumper that he would pass around to his friends. Tueh went the sound!
Many of those raging over George Floyd defended him.

A significant challenge with the Black Race is that every Black person wants to be Black when a White person kills or is racist to another Black person. But few of us are Black enough to be Black when a Black person kills or is racist/tribalistic to another Black. Right now, there is an episodic massacre ongoing in Southern Kaduna. Black herdsmen are killing Black pastoralists. If I put up the pictures on social media, Twitter and Facebook may ban my account. We should care about George Floyd. We should also care about Southern Kaduna.

In Southern Kaduna, you see the frontlines of Nigeria’s ethnic and religious divide.
A young man, Bello Shagari, put up a tweet saying (inaccurately) that the Southern Kaduna Massacre is a hoax because someone told him. I responded by listing 3 Northern Muslim journalists who confirmed that the massacre is real. It has not escaped my notice that Bello is of the same ethnicity of those suspected of being the perpetrator of the killings.
And we want to settle the George Floyd matter when we have not settled our genocidal hatred of each other.

I have lost track of how many times Nigerians and Kenyans, or Ghanaians and Ivorians or Northern Cameroonians and Southern Cameroonian have trended on social media because of their international beefs.
We do not like ourselves, and we expect others to like us, and when they don’t, we shout racism. Have we forgotten Whitney Houston’s song, The Greatest Love of All (originally by George Benson)?
Because the greatest
Love of all is happening to me
I found the greatest
Love of all inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all.

Let us be truthful to ourselves. The Black Race has not yet found this Greatest Love of All. The Jews have found it. The Arabs exude it. Caucasians have it. The Asiatic races have it. Latin America has it to an extent. However, we, the Black people, do not yet have this love.
And until we do, we will never truly fulfil our potential. We will keep on investing in arms to kill ourselves when we should be developing farms to feed ourselves. The worst is that we do not even take responsibility. It is the White man’s fault. It is the Arab. It is our climate. It is… No. It is our fault. And it is our duty to find a solution! And until we find a solution, there will be many more George Floyds in America and many more Southern Kaduna Massacres.
If it were not so sad, I would have found it amusing that those Nigerians who are rightly calling for the trial of the cop responsible for killing George Floyd are not angry that Buratai, who masterminded the killings of 347 Shiite men, women, children and infants, was not punished for his crimes. Rather, he was promoted by General Buhari to Lieutenant General.

I urge Nigerians and other Africans to do locally what they expect others to do globally. Only then will we have the moral authority to condemn incidences like George Floyd’s killing.

*Reno’s Nugget*

What about you???

What about you…..

1. I’m Slowly Learning That I Don’t Have To React To Everything That Bothers Me

2. I’m slowly learning that I don’t have to hurt those who hurt me.

3. I’m slowly learning that maybe the ultimate sign of maturity is walking away instead of getting even

4. I’m slowly learning that the energy it takes to react to every bad thing that happens to you drains you and stops you from seeing the other good things in life.

5. I’m slowly learning that I’m not going to be everyone’s cup of tea and I won’t be able to get everyone to treat me the way I want to be treated and that’s okay.

6. I’m slowly learning that trying so hard to ‘win’ anyone is just a waste of time and energy and it fills you with nothing but emptiness.

7. I’m slowly learning that not reacting doesn’t mean I’m okay with things, it just means I’m choosing to rise above it. I’m choosing to take the lesson it has served and learn from it

8. I’m choosing to be the bigger person. I’m choosing my peace of mind because that’s what I truly need. I don’t need more drama. I don’t need people making me feel like I’m not good enough. I don’t need fights and arguments and fake connections.

9. I’m slowly learning that sometimes not saying anything at all says everything.

10. I’m slowly learning that reacting to things that upset you gives someone else power over your emotions
You can’t control what others do but you can control how you respond, how you handle it, how you perceive it and how much of it you want to take personally.

11. I’m slowly learning that most of the time, these situations say nothing about you and a lot about the other person.

12. I’m slowly learning that maybe all these disappointments are just there to teach us how to love ourselves because that will be the armor and the shield we need against the people who try to bring us down. They will save us when people try to shake our confidence or when they try to make us feel like we’re worthless.

13. I’m slowly learning that even if I react, it won’t change anything, it won’t make people suddenly love and respect me, it won’t magically change their minds

14. I’m slowly learning that Sometimes it’s better to just let things be, let people go, don’t fight for closure, don’t ask for explanations, don’t chase answers and don’t expect people to understand where you’re coming from.

15. I’m slowly learning that life is better lived when you don’t centre it on what’s happening around you and centre it on what’s happening inside you instead.

16. I’m slowly learning that if you channel your energy, time and resources on God it will do you good

17. I’m learning fast that if God does not help you, nobody on earth will help you and that in all, He’d still be God regardless of your predicament.

18. I’ve finally discovered that thanksgiving, praises and gratitude to God is key if you must succeed in life

_Work on yourself and your inner peace and you’ll come to realise that not reacting to every little thing that bothers you is the first ingredient to living a happy and healthy life._
Culled from: Ogey Clay Ekpong

Ask! The Bridge From Your Dreams To Your Destiny!!!

A tombstone at Westminster Abby has the following written by an Anglican Priest from the 1500s.

It says;

” When I was young and free and my Imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world.

As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world will not change…so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country, but it too seemed immovable.

As I grow into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it.

And now I realize as I lie on my deathbed, if I had only change myself first, then by example I might have changed my family. From their inspiration and encouragement, I would have been able to better my country.
And who knows, I might have even changed the world”

If you want to change the world, you start by changing yourself.

You change yourself by asking.

If you don’t like something, ask.(ask, seek and knock) how to change it.

Ask God, ask others, ask yourself.

With each question you will receive an illumination, an idea or the help, assistance that allows you to change in small ways.

“Every positive movement, every breakthrough, every extraordinary idea, every fortune made, always begins with Asking.”..

Mark Victor Hansen (in his new book, Ask!). It is only by learning How to Ask and What to Ask that you can create your most extraordinary life, manifest your greatest blessings, and cross the bridge from your dreams to your ultimate destiny.

Make that change!

Micah Ndackson, Lifesuccess Coach

Which is which; Social distancing or Physical distancing?

Which is which; Social distancing or Physical distancing ?

I had a serious and beautiful intellectual engagement with colleague Sociologists, all day. Want to share the fallout:

•Social distancing is NOT the same as Physical distancing and their usage must not be synonymous.

•Physical distancing,is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures taken to prevent the spread of a contagious disease by maintaining a physical distance between people and reducing the number of times people come into close contact with each other.It typically involves keeping a certain distance from others (Wikipedia)

•Social distance on the other hand refers to the level of acceptance people have of others outside of their own social group or class. This level of acceptance is defined by their general feelings toward others, and the amount of social interaction they have with people whose characteristics are outside of their social norm. Social distance is a measure of perceived difference (or distance) among groups. As a social construct, social distance is a familiar issue. Many common phrases refer to social distance, such as ‘out of your league’ and ‘birds of a feather flock together.

Some social characteristics that lead to social distance include race, ethnicity, age, gender, and economic class.

Some people for example, still exhibit extreme levels of racial social distance by not wanting to live or work with members of other ethnicities.This emerges from feelings and manifests in attitude which is a demonstration of Social distancing.

• Clearly then,the strategy to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is
“ PHYSICAL DISTANCING “ and NOT “social distancing”

• A very welcome development is that, the World Health Organization (WHO) has started using the phrase “physical distancing” instead of “social distancing” as a way to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus from people to people, a move widely welcomed by experts as a step in the “right direction”.

• Let’s observe Physical distancing to stop the spread of the corona virus.

• Stay safe, love life!

#copied

Remembering Ernest Okonkwo!

Remembering Ernest Okonkwo!!

The Legendary Ernest Okonkwo. Golden Voice over Nigeria’s Radio Airwaves.*
Could anyone remember hilarious clichés like these?
_“He beats *Christian Chukwu!*, he beats *Christian Madu!*, he beats *Christian Nwokocha!* . . he beats three *Christians* in a row!, who is this man?”_
_“He must be a Moslem; Oh! it is *Shefiu Mohammed* sending a diagonal pass to *Baba Otu Mohammed.”*_
*On another account he quipped.*
_“The lanky ebony black goal-hungry *Ranger* is ranging alone in the goal area of the *Water Corporation Football Club of Ibadan*. Can the one-man riot squad make it four for *Rangers*? A hat trick, that is one, two, three goals are already in his kitty”._
_“ *Ifeanyi Chukwu* means *’Nothing is insurmountable to God’*. Four goals are also not beyond the ability of *Ifeanyi Chukwu Onyedika*”._
_“It is a goal! Goal number four for the indomitable *Rangers International Football Club of Enugu*, all scored by *Ifeanyi Chukwu Onyedika*”_.
*His apt description*, _“After ninety minutes of play and extra time, the match has ended one goal apiece, but a winner must emerge”._
Another,_
_“Five players have on each side been selected to take the penalty kick. The players are praying to their God to give them this day, but it is not who prays more but who plays better.”_
_“ *Okey Isima*, with a short pass to *Sylvanus Okpala*, they both play in *Portugal*. They can communicate in *Igbo*, they can communicate in *English*, they can communicate in *Portuguese* and they just communicated with *the ball*.”_
_“ *Etim Esin*, he shilly-shallies, he dilly-dallies, and he tries to beat one man, but only succeeds in beating himself.”_
_“ *The Super Eagles* are gathered in the centre of the circle, they seem to be saying, *”Oh! God give us this day!.”*”_
Those are the fond memories of the quintessential *Ernest Okonkwo* whose voice lighted up every football game then.
Names and coinages were his trademark; *Emmanuel* _‘Man Mountain’_ *Okala*, *Aloysius* _‘Blockbuster’_ *Atuegbu*, *Christian* _‘Chairman’_ *Chukwu*, _‘Mathematical’_ *Segun Odegbami*, *Kelechi* _‘Caterpillar’_ *Emetole*, _‘Midfield Maestro’_ *Mudashiru Lawal*, _‘Justice’_ *Adokiye Amasiemeka*, *Uwem* _‘Harmattan’_ *Ekarika*, or *Sylvanus* _’Quicksilver’_ *Okpala*, _‘Commander’_- *Louis Igwilo*, *Sylvester* _‘Bahama’_ *Oparanozie*, *Benedict* _‘Surugede’_ *Ugwu*, *Idowu* _‘Slow Poison’_ *Otubusen*, _‘Shortish’_ *John Benson*, _‘Diminutive’_- *Amaechi Otti*, *Nnamdi*_‘Polic
eman’_ *Anyafo*, *Davidson* _‘Okada Air’_ *Owumi*, _‘Penalty Specialist’_- *Christian Madu*, _‘Masters of Long Throw’_- *Moses Otolorin*, and _‘The Man with Bullet Shot’_- *Emmanuel Osigwe*
_Those were days when people would put their television set on mute and prefer to listen to Okonkwo’s commentary on radio._ He was a creative mind who had a unique style of commentating, giving appropriate qualifying adjectives to each of every persona, be they player, administrator or referee. He was indeed a heavyweight in the broadcast industry when he ran commentaries on the radio for Radio Nigeria in his days.
He was the soul of every game and Nigerian league was alive with his voice running like wild fire describing both the ball and the players on the field of play. Someone once thoughtfully asked whether Ernest Okonkwo died with the league football commentary because ever since his death the country has not producer any other that can surpass his style.
So many argued and still argue that if *Ernest Okonkwo* is to be from a different clime, he would have been immortalised. To immortalise him of course is the sports community’s expectation from the federal government.
Undoubtedly, he popularised the term _“Intercontinental ballistic missile.”_ He was witty, intelligent, and never was there a dull moment when he is on the commentaries during a football match.
How can anyone that knows something about football in Nigeria forget the one and only evergreen *Ernest Okonkwo* with his very vivid and spirited commentaries? He was a genius, a class act and Mr. Total football.
When you remember memorable matches like *Rangers* versus *IICC Shooting Stars*, African Cup Winners Cup Semi final of *1976*. *Rangers versus Mehalla of Egypt* where came the phrase, _“Mehalla saw wahala”_ Green Eagles versus Tunisia in 1978, where *Godwin Odiye* scored an own goal and Nigeria failed in their bid for the ‘78 world cup in Argentina, Green Eagles versus Morocco in 1988 semi final nation’s cup penalty shoot-out, what readily comes to mind is the memory of *Ernest Okonkwo*.
*Okonkwo* looked like a colossus in his chosen career, particularly in radio sports commentary from 1957 when he joined the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) till *August 7, 1990* when he breathed his last, having given illustrious *33* years to broadcasting.
He started his journey in the media at the *Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Enugu* in *1957* as programme assistant,but was later trained at Australian Broadcasting Commission between 1964 and 1965. He later became Head of outside Broadcasts at the *Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN)*.
He was from *Nando* in Anambra-East Local Government Area, Anambra State. As a sport commentator, *Okonkwo* made his debut at the _1976 African Nations Cup in Addis-Ababa_ and later went on to cover many other international sport competitions, including the All-Africa Games, Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. On the home front, *Okonkwo* was there running commentaries on the local sport competitions, particularly football matches, in addition to analysing matches involving the national football teams.
Remarkably, *Okonkwo* distinguished himself with his witty and flowery language and deep sense of analysis. Like *Moses Kpakor* described, _“The speciality of this man which surprised me was how he knew all the actions that would end in goal! He would readily tell you this action would lead to a goal and it would be so.”_
He brought verve into radio commentary and interestingly many were entertained, enlightened and informed by his art. In essence, during his days many fans and footballers alike would record his commentaries as every outing was a masterpiece. According to *Yisa Sofoluwe*, “He was a master on the job who is greatly missed by all of us. I used to ask that his commentaries be recorded for me and always listened to them after matches.”
*Ernest Okonkwo* who could be rightly described as a man with the special gift of the garb might have gone, but obviously his legacies in Nigerian football remains, especially memories of his exceptional works.

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