On The ‘Capitalist Nigger’

I RECENTLY finished reading a book ‘Capitalist Nigger: Road To Success’ written by the acclaimed publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the African Sun Times, Chika Onyeani.

This book has been viewed by many as provocative and controversial and at the same time has received negative reviews due to the fact that in it, Onyeani depicts Africans as being “non-productive, lazy, unintelligent, beggars, etc.” Throughout his book, he questions black intelligence and characterises the black race as “a consumer race which produces nothing yet consumes what others produce.”He goes on to say that to solve the problem of being consumers and not producers, blacks should adopt his doctrine of “Capitalist Niggerism.”Although I don’t agree with all of Onyeani’s viewpoints, there are some notable quotes which stood out for me.Time and again I hear how our African leaders blame the former colonisers for the state in which the continent finds itself.It’s always “apartheid this, apartheid that,” “imperialist this, imperialist that.”As young as I may be, I’m very much aware of the pain and struggle that was endured to bring independence to the people, yet I cannot agree more with Onyeani when he says that “a Capitalist Nigger does not dwell on self-pity, he has no time for blaming the system of having denied him this or that”; he further states that he “hates the fact that wherever the black race congregates, the discussion is always about what crimes others have committed against them.When everybody is always talking about others, what time do we have to talk positively about ourselves?” Most African states have been independent for decades now, yet people cannot stop playing the “blame game.”Is it not time to start taking responsibility for our own destinies? Another point that Onyeani makes in his book is that “we (Africans/Blacks) like to parade the fact that Africa possesses a large percentage of the world’s natural resources; yes, maybe, but we have not found a way of extracting those resources.”He gives South Africa, Ghana, Namibia and a few other countries as examples of countries sitting on large deposits of precious stones yet are mere spectators when it comes to who controls the methods to discover, extract, import, refine and even put a price on those resources.My question thus is, will we continue to complain, whine and blame others for taking away our resources or are we going to push for economic liberalisation through hard work, self-reliance and entrepreneurship? I would recommend to all those who have not yet read ‘Capitalist Nigger’ to get themselves a copy and read this book, especially our leaders and politicians.Although Onyeani tends to repeat himself throughout the book, in the course of reading, the reader will begin to understand and make some sense of what he is saying.Daylight Namene Via e-mailThroughout his book, he questions black intelligence and characterises the black race as “a consumer race which produces nothing yet consumes what others produce.”He goes on to say that to solve the problem of being consumers and not producers, blacks should adopt his doctrine of “Capitalist Niggerism.”Although I don’t agree with all of Onyeani’s viewpoints, there are some notable quotes which stood out for me.Time and again I hear how our African leaders blame the former colonisers for the state in which the continent finds itself.It’s always “apartheid this, apartheid that,” “imperialist this, imperialist that.”As young as I may be, I’m very much aware of the pain and struggle that was endured to bring independence to the people, yet I cannot agree more with Onyeani when he says that “a Capitalist Nigger does not dwell on self-pity, he has no time for blaming the system of having denied him this or that”; he further states that he “hates the fact that wherever the black race congregates, the discussion is always about what crimes others have committed against them.When everybody is always talking about others, what time do we have to talk positively about ourselves?” Most African states have been independent for decades now, yet people cannot stop playing the “blame game.”Is it not time to start taking responsibility for our own destinies? Another point that Onyeani makes in his book is that “we (Africans/Blacks) like to parade the fact that Africa possesses a large percentage of the world’s natural resources; yes, maybe, but we have not found a way of extracting those resources.”He gives South Africa, Ghana, Namibia and a few other countries as examples of countries sitting on large deposits of precious stones yet are mere spectators when it comes to who controls the methods to discover, extract, import, refine and even put a price on those resources.My question thus is, will we continue to complain, whine and blame others for taking away our resources or are we going to push for economic liberalisation through hard work, self-reliance and entrepreneurship? I would recommend to all those who have not yet read ‘Capitalist Nigger’ to get themselves a copy and read this book, especially our leaders and politicians.Although Onyeani tends to repeat himself throughout the book, in the course of reading, the reader will begin to understand and make some sense of what he is saying.Daylight Namene Via e-mail