Capitalist Nigger E-Book

Chika Onyeani

• Herausgeber: Jonathan Ball
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 264

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Capitalist Nigger is an explosive and jarring indictment of the black race. The book asserts that the Negroid race, as naturally endowed as any other, is culpably a non-productive race, a consumer race that depends on other communities for its culture, its language, its feeding and its clothing. Despite enormous natural resources, blacks are economic slaves because they lack the 'devil-may-care' attitude and the 'killer instinct' of the Caucasian, as well as the spider web mentality of the Asian. A Capitalist Nigger must embody ruthlessness in pursuit of excellence in his drive towards achieving the goal of becoming an economic warrior. In putting forward the idea of the Capitalist Nigger, Chika Onyeani charts a road to success whereby black economic warriors employ the 'Spider Web Doctrine' – discipline, self-reliance, ruthlessness – to escape from their victim mentality. Born in Nigeria, Chika Onyeani is a journalist, editor and former diplomat.

Leseprobe

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Book Description

‘Provocative, daring, acerbic but truthful – Capitalist Nigger exposes the endemic frailties that debilitate and dehumanize the Black race – into dependency, complacency perennial low self-esteem and inaction – as if these were divinely ordained. Onyeani’s tirade is angry but affectionate; it is a tongue-lashing but genuinely concerned about the fate of his race. As usual in life, this kind of truth scathes the ears. After all the charity begins at home with one’s own race.’

Dr Michael C Malherbe

Professor & Chair, Africana Studies/Humanities Department

Hostos Community College of the City University of New York

CAPITALIST NIGGER excels as an explosive and jarring indictment of the Black race. The book asserts that the Negroid race, as naturally endowed as any other, is culpably a non-productive race. The Black race is a consumer race and depends on other communities for its culture, its language, its feeding and its clothing. Despite enormous natural resources, Blacks are economic slaves, because they lack the ‘devil-may-care’ attitude and the ‘killer-instinct’ of the Caucasian, as well as the spider web mentality of the Asian. Capitalist Nigger contends that only as ‘Economic Warriors’, employing the ‘Spider Web Economic Doctrine’, can the Black race escape from their victim mentality.

‘This is a book of passionate sense of outrage and collective self-reproach. The beginning of self-reform is self-criticism. This author manifests a combination of anguish, anger and patriotism.’

Ali A Mazrui. D Phil (Oxon)

Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities

Director of Global Cultural Studies, Binghampton University

Chika Onyeani is an internationally acclaimed journalist. A former diplomat, Onyeani is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the cutting edge and powerful African Sun Times, the only weekly African newspaper distributed nationwide in America.

Onyeani has received numerous awards for journalistic excellence. His incisive and explosive editorials and articles have proved prophetic on several occasions. A sought-after speaker, Onyeani has received wide media attention. He is an alumnus of several institutions of higher learning, both in England and the United States.

Title Page

JONATHAN BALL PUBLISHERS

JOHANNESBURG & CAPE TOWN

Dedication 1

“Itis not what you call me,

butwhat I answer to, that matters most.”

AnAfrican Proverb

Dedication 2

Tomyparents Abba and Oyidiya Onyeani

Who always believed and instilled in me

theidea of personal responsibility

Dedication 3

“Justas the Jew is hatedin Russia, because he is thrifty, so the negro meets noresistance when on a downward course. `It is only whenhe rises in wealth, intelligence and manly character that he bringsupon himself the heavy hand of persecution.”

Frederick Douglass

July 1892

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

I owe a great load of gratitude to several people who made writing this book a satisfying task. I doubt I could have written the book without the urgent insistence of Diahann Johnson, who immediately recognized the need for such a book as soon as I discussed the idea of the Capitalist Nigger, and even when I faltered with the so-called writers’ block, insisted it was my duty to the Black race to finish the book.

I must also thank Professor Michael Mbabuike, Chairman of the Africana Department and former president of the New York African Studies Association, who first read the draft of this book and pronounced it a provocative, incisive, insightful and a general success in the annals of socio-economic punditry; Desiree Agudo, Managing Editor, the African Sun Times, for taking a great load of work off my back by being there and ensuring nothing interferes with the paper coming out on time; my children Abba and Chika, for constantly asking when this book would be finished and expressing great pride in their father’s work and my nephew Uche Nwachukwu for constantly helping me in working out the computer glitches. I also want to thank Kenneth Ramseur, Esq., for opening my eyes to the American South I hardly knew about and making Justice Frederick Douglass’s speech to me.

Finally, I must thank my wife, Loretta, an African-American, who initially opposed this book because she believed I hated “Black people” (African-Americans), but finally realized its import and has become a big cheerleader, and especially for providing the best hotel suite to stay and finish this book at the Reno Hilton, Nevada.

Power of a Word

POWEROF A WORD

“It is not what you call me,but what I answer to, that matters most.”

An African proverb.

“According to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, the word “Nigger” has now come to rank as “perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English ..... it is otherwise a word expressive of racial hatred and bigotry.” Ordinarily, according to the same dictionary, the word itself refers to a black person, having been used by such considered great writers like Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain and William Shakespeare. This word has caused all kinds of invectives between Blacks and Caucasians. Caucasians think by calling Blacks (Negro, Blackman, African-American, mulatto) “Niggers”, they are putting them down and putting them “in their place,” which would anger most Blacks. Blacks on their part have always obliged the Caucasians by doing exactly as they have anticipated.

“We are creatures of habit. We like to take advantage of every situation. And Caucasians have been taking advantage of the Black race in every situation from the enslaving of Africans and plucking them to America to the present time of trying to demean us by the word Nigger. What is really in a word? We make it what we want it to mean. By accepting what others want us to believe a word means, we are invariably giving them the satisfaction of feeling a superiority over us. But when we hardly notice such an appellation as meaningless, it not only makes the user of the word totally stupid, it also takes away his feeling of superiority.”

CAPITALIST NIGGER – pp. 18 - 19

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

In October 1960, Nigeria received its independence from Britain. By then, Ghana the former Gold Coast had been independent for three years under the great Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah. It was a time for celebrating Africa’s coming of age, as more and more African countries received their independence either from Britain or France. It was especially a poignant time for Africa, as then British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan articulated his now famous “winds of change” sweeping Africa. I’ve had high hopes for Africa, for the Black race, that the insidious imposition of foreign rule on us, the looting of Africa’s natural resources by our colonial masters and the disrespect and disdain that these colonial masters accorded us would be things of history.

That is more than forty years ago. Unfortunately, the promise of independence has not been fulfilled. Today, Africa has become more desolate; there is more starvation, diseases and non-provision of essential services than when we got our independence. There are all kinds of wars in Africa and millions of lives have been lost. There are more dictators in Africa than the rest of the world put together. The majority of so-called African leaders want to stay in power until the day their bodies are put in the grave. Through buffoonery, utter mismanagement and downright stealing of the wealth of the masses, these leaders have so impoverished Africa that we are now nothing but a beggar continent. We beg for everything; we are more dependent on our colonial masters than when we received our independence from them. Africa owes the West more money than we and our generations to come can repay.

I arrived in America in December of 1967 as an official of what we believed was going to be a dynamic African nation – the young Republic of Biafra. But Biafra was defeated and Nigeria remained one, as a giant of Africa. In that last 32 years, I have watched with horror and outright helplessness as the downward slide of the African race continues to escalate. But rather than address the problems, we resort to blaming the Caucasians, Asians and others for our misfortune. We are not men enough to accept responsibility for our actions.

Africans blame either the British, French or little Portuguese/ Spanish for their problems. Africans in America blame the Caucasians for all their problems, or any other ethnic group they have allowed to take over their neighborhoods, a frequently recurring phenomena. Africans blame the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Group of 7, the former colonial masters for the abject poverty in our respective countries. We blame the wars ravaging several African sectors on the interference of our former colonial masters on “our internal affairs.” Ha! – some kind of independence!

In the 32 years I have been in America, I have never had a discussion with any of my brothers or sisters without it resorting to the African (Black)/Caucasian (white) relationship. If we go to a restaurant, we blame the Caucasian or Asian owner for sitting us at the back, near the kitchen, or too much in the front, because he doesn’t want to antagonize his Caucasian clientele. When we decide to buy a house in a Caucasian neighborhood, we blame the people for refusing to sell to us because of their belief that we spend more time and money on visible luxurious and ultimately worthless items, than in maintaining our property, which to everyone but us is a major part of their investment and retirement portfolio.

The blame game has become a permanent part of our lives to the exclusion of any other solution that could be more viable in solving our problems. It has become the most productive part of our lives, because without it the African cannot really point to much that they are in charge of producing. It is better to blame others than to confront the truth of our being responsible for whatever has happened to us as an African race.

I decided to write Capitalist Nigger to open a debate on the state of the African race. But in doing so, my intention was not to treat my own contribution to the debate with kid gloves. It is to tell it like it is, the truth and nothing but the truth. My observations are bound to infuriate a lot of my people. Even the title of this book is bound to make a lot of people angry. Many people will be angry, to say it mildly, when I question the intelligence of my people compared to the Asians (Indians, Pakistanis, Malaysians, Filipinos) and others who attained independence at the same time as most African countries. If the book generates the kind of dialogue, debate or argument for or against the position I have taken, so be it. But it would even be more relevant if in the process, solutions are offered to help extricate Africans from being a consumer to a productive race.

I decided to write Capitalist Nigger also as a doctrine of making money and creating wealth. I am not ashamed to say that I am also purely motivated by the same greed that motivates Caucasians with “killer-instincts” and “devil-may-care” convictions. I see myself as an Economic Warrior for my people and not a victim. As a predator and not victim, I have decided to confront the truth of my misfortune and when I look in the mirror I see the culprit standing right in front of me – it is me. As the saying goes, truth shall set you free. Truth has set me free. The Truth in being a Capitalist Nigger is that it sets you free. Being a Capitalist Nigger puts you in control of every aspect of your life – you are in charge and nobody else.

You want your children to have good grades in school? Then practice Capitalist Niggerism because then you will not blame the teachers for failing your children or blame the nationwide testing services for using non-black questions in their testing. You will be in control because you will totally understand that everything that happens to your child at school is a result of the learning environment you have provided him or her at home.

If you want to have a good job, practice Capitalist Niggerism, because you want to beat the people who expect you to fail because they believe you are stupid. You will succeed because you work harder and twice as hard as the average Caucasian. You will not gripe or whine about it because you are a Capitalist Nigger, you know you are in charge in every aspect of the process. Because of your belief in Capitalist Niggerism, you set out to learn all there is to learn about your job and excel and shame everybody else. I remember in the early seventies when I joined Endo/Dupont, the pharmaceutical division. There was not another African in my division and to the amazement of the Regional Managers, I was always the number one winner when it came to sales contests. But the British Divisional Manager who recruited me knew that I could do it because the only question he had asked me at my interview was whether I was Igbo from Nigeria and I had replied in the affirmative.

You want to succeed in creating wealth, join Wall Street. Don’t make excuses that Blacks don’t know how to invest their money. Go after the Caucasians. Use their guilt to your advantage.

Another important point which I raised in this book concerns the long study I have conducted regarding the economic behavior of East Indians and Pakistanis. It is an economic doctrine I have christened the “Spider Web Doctrine,” because I believe we all understand how spiders behave. They build a web, and if an ant or fly dares enter the web, they are not allowed to come out. The spider closes its web. That is exactly how the Indians have employed the spider web doctrine to become a major economic force worldwide. The Indians have created a virtual economy in the communities they live. When a dollar comes into the community, because of their spider-web mentality, that dollar does not leave the community. They reinvest it by buying from other Indians.

Indians have studied the art of being a major economic force in America without antagonizing any particular group. You don’t see them in hostile neighborhoods, where they could be held hostage by the anger of that group. They are mostly in businesses which cater to every group – newspaper retailing, taxi/limousine, gas station ownership, and motel/hotel operators.

The Jews have used to some extent this “Spider Web Economic” doctrine, but not on the scale of lndians. The Indians are its best ardent practitioners. It is the only and best economic method I have seen which can easily catapult an economy like ours out of its indolent state.

I feel totally liberated. I feel free. I feel I am in charge. I am in control. From here on, whatever happens is because I allowed it to happen. I have made what I believe is my own major contribution to the debate on the state of the Black Race. Whether you agree with me or not is immaterial. The only important point is that we must stop the blame game and accept responsibility for the present state of the Black Race. Truth shall set you free, it has set me free.

The Black Race

THE

BLACK RACE

Rape of A Race

1

RAPEOF A RACE

I want to be called a Capitalist Nigger. I know it is a phrase which is going to offend a lot of my group. I don’t care. If this is offensive, then people should take time and thoroughly read what is written here. If it makes people wake up from their stupor, then I will have achieved my goal as a Capitalist Nigger. I am tired of hearing the Black race always blaming others for their lack of progress in this world; I am tired of their whining and victim-mentality. I am tired of listening to the same complaint, day in day out – racism this, racism that. I am tired of talking to people who have one mind-set – talking of who did this and that to them. I recently attended a conference on investing, where there were a lot of Blacks. The discussion degenerated to the same issue – blame the others. That’s why I want to be called a Capitalist Nigger because I have been looking at the mirror and I know the culprit of my “misfortune”; I am looking at him and while I am pointing a finger at another person, I have realized that the four others are pointed at me.

I have written a great deal about the state of the Black race economy. I am here using the term “Black” to refer to Africans, whether they are from continental Africa, from the Diaspora or from anywhere in the world. I am afraid to say that the Black race absolutely has nothing to offer compared to others in the world. We are slaves, economic slaves, I have to say even worse than when the Caucasian came to Africa to raid our villages and take our people into slavery. I am quite frightened for my people, because I believe that in the next 20 to 50 years, the Black race would descend further into the abyss of the world’s totem economic pole unless we do something about it right now.

I know I am opening a can of worms or the so-called Pandora’s box, when I bring up the fact that the docility of the Black race has been questioned and his intelligence debated when measured against yardsticks of success in different categories. But we are quick to point out our successes in the fields of sports and music, and attribute our failures in most other areas to the persecution we have suffered in the hands of first the Caucasians, and lately to the Chinese, the Japanese, the Indians or even the Koreans. We have answers to every charge of failure we have incurred on ourselves: the answer is blame others for our failures.

Let’s take slavery for instance. We attribute everything that has happened to the Black race to slavery. We delude ourselves about African Kingdoms which had thrived before the onslaught of first the Arabs, and later the Caucasians. We talk about the Pyramids of Egypt, the great empire of Mali and the learning capital of Timbuktu. Yes, I am constrained to agree that these were great legacies that our ancestors left us, but one cannot deny the fact that in the Middle Passage of the 19th century we stopped functioning as a people with intelligence and the instinct to defend ourselves.

In the 17th century, more than 36 million African men and women were taken into slavery and brought to the shores of America. Of that 36 million, more than 18 million died in the Trans-Atlantic crossings. Listen, don’t get me wrong. We are talking of over 36 million African men and women who were rounded up by a handful of Caucasians and our ancestors could not do much to stop the onslaught. This is just a small group of Caucasian men coming into our midst and we ran helter-skelter, without any much defense to stop the rape and incarceration of our Kings and Queens. Am I supposed to take delight in telling this story, which we as a people have done nothing to stop from happening again, and which is in fact even happening at a greater frightening speed than in the 17th century?

The Black race is a slave – pure and simple – an economic slave. I am frightened and disgusted at the same time, at a people who produce nothing and consume everything that others produce. We are always ready to make excuses about the inventions and products our people have perfected in long gone eras, but which have been stolen from us, and the ones who stole them have gone on to become very rich. This is nothing but another excuse for our failures. As I am always pointing out to a friend of mine, who has taken my vision and articulated it to a wider audience, “It is one thing to invent the best mouse trap, but if it is not taken to the market, nobody will beat a path to your door.”

We consume everything others produce and produce nothing that others could consume. Right now, I am using this Apple computer – Macintosh LC 575 – invented by one Steve Jobs, who has gone on to become a multi-billionaire. I don’t know what the hell is in it, and this is the 20th century, it is not the 17th century. I am sure someone from my group is liable to point out to me that a Black man had the idea of the invention of the computer in his brains. Of course, it stuck in his brains and couldn’t come out. Before the computer, I used the typewriter to write, and before then as now, I used the pencil and pen. I want you to point out to me where it says that these products were produced by a Black person.

Billions and billions dollars of wealth have been created in the computer industry – Bill Gates of Microsoft Corporation, $100 billion, and many others in the billions as well. Point out to me the Black person who has benefited from this exploding industry, without which, we can hardly function in this world any more.

Billions are being created through the computer by every other group except the Black race. Apart from Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, an inordinate number of people are getting rich and wealthy inventing and assembling the computer. For a while, it appeared as if the Japanese had taken over; but Americans (translate that to Caucasian Americans and others) seem to have snatched the pendulum. I am yet to see a Black person who has started a computer company, and taken it all the way to the market in an initial public offering. What is holding us up: certainly not money. Most of these computer companies were started in the garage of these new age moguls – Bill Gates and Steve Jobs both started their companies in their garage or kitchen, if you wish. We cannot blame anyone then but ourselves. Other groups have gotten as rich, albeit in a smaller way than the above mentioned men.

In 1987, David Sun and John Tu, both immigrants, started their Kingston Technology Company in Fountain Valley, California with hardly much financing other than their savings. Nine years later they sold 80 percent of the company to the Softbank Corporation of Japan for $1.5 billion. The company is still going strong, and they still control 20%, after pocketing $1.5 billion. In 1997, former President George W. Bush was asked to speak to a group of officials of Global Crossing Ltd., a telecommunications company, at a fee of $80,000. Since the company was supposedly short on cash, he was asked if he would prefer to take his fee instead in stocks of the company. In early February,1999 the $80,000 stock had skyrocketed to over $14 million. Who says some people are not more intelligent than others. That was before Global Crossing decided to merge with U.S. West, Inc. and the stock went even higher. But wait! The man who started Global Crossing Ltd. in 1996, with $14 million has seen his investment go to over $6 billion. The Loews Corporation, controlled by the Tisch family, invested $20 million in the same Global Crossing. In just a period of three years, that investment today is worth $1.9 billion. Are these Caucasian people from Mars, and are we from what place?

According to the New York Times of Sunday, May 30 1999, if you had invested $100 in 1972 in the initial public offering (IPO) of the stocks of the Intel Corporation, makers of the chips that go into most computers, that $100 would have amounted to $162,338 by today, or $1,623,380 if you had invested just $1,000.

The saddest part of what is taking place today is that the one man who had the same vision of playing in the big leagues like the Caucasians and others died suddenly. Of course, I am speaking of Reginald Lewis who took his hard earned savings of less than $50,000 and parlayed it into a $1.5 billion company when he purchased Beatrice Foods. Now, for whatever unfathomable reason, his Filipino wife has dismantled his empire and the company is a shell of itself.

This is a tale of two groups of people. According to Fortune Magazine of June 1999, General Motors raked in a staggering revenue of $161 billion in 1998 making it No. 1 on the Fortune 500 list of largest American companies. Black Enterprise Magazine also in their June 1999 issue listed the largest No. 1 Black company as The Philadelphia Coca Cola Bottling Company with revenues of $389 million.

You know, so much has been written and said about profiling of Africans by Caucasian police officers. The cars which have caused all these havocs against our people include BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Lexus and Honda. According to that premiere magazine of Black business publishing, Black Enterprise of June 1999, the foreign car companies in America including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar, Saab, Audi, Volvo, Toyota, Volkswagen and Honda commanded a 36% share of the $1.1 trillion U.S. auto market. Of that, nearly half (46%) represented purchases by African-American buyers, who bought luxury models in particular. But you know what? Most of the foreign automobile companies have no Black dealerships. But Black people, especially Africans, are buying their products in billions, and most of them are going to jail for it. In fact, in Nigeria three out of every five cars are Mercedes-Benz.

It is May 29, 1999 at exactly one o’clock that I decided to start this no-holds-barred discussion of the Black race. In fact, I should be happy because the most Black-populated nation in the world – Nigeria – has started the road to democracy, and it is promised to be the forerunner of the resurgence of the Black race. I think I have become delusional, because I have come down to my basement to begin the writing this book. I say delusional because I look around this basement, or any of the other areas of my house, and there is nowhere that I can point to one thing that was produced by any of my people, with the exception of the African art that I bought in Nigeria.

I have already talked about the computer I am using to write this book. It was not produced or even sold to me by a Black person. Certainly, a few Blacks work for the Apple Corporation which produces and markets the Macintosh products. But before I came down to the basement, I had to turn on the electricity so that I could see. My children had pointed out to me that the filament for the electric bulb was invented by a Blackman. I said great. What happened to him? Where is this product he invented? Is he or his descendants collecting some form of royalty from this invention? What I see on the electric bulb is General Electric, a multi-billion dollar company involved in everything, including producing military products and owning the NBC-TV network. That is what I see on the bulb. If we could just stop deluding ourselves. I have no doubt that the descendants of the original company are not my people.

I am sitting here and looking at my nephew’s great stereo. It was made in Japan by the Aiwa corporation. In fact, since Africans love music so much you would have anticipated that they would control the production of all products pertaining to music. Yes, we can sing, we can dance. That is just about it. In fact, it has been shown that Black people spend more money on purchasing musical equipment than any other group, but do we produce any of these products? The answer is a resounding NO! Do we even have a factory owned by a Black person where these musical products are assembled. The answer is a resounding NO!

In fact, Africans consume more Japanese products percentage wise than any other group, yet the Japanese have nothing but scorn for the African. Even two of their former Prime Ministers publicly made the observation that Black people were inferior in intelligence. If they said this in public, you wonder what they were saying in private. Mind you, these are Prime Ministers – heads of the Japanese government, a reflection of the totality of the Japanese mind. Yet, when you enter the New York Subway, the people you see with Walkmans on their heads and ears are 95 percent Black people. It is a shame and a crime. It does not happen only in the subway system of New York. It happens in Africa, it happens in the Caribbean. The simple fact is whether it is stereos, televisions, or radio, or anything pertaining to music, the products come from Japan, and Black people are their biggest consumers. We buy the best, the top of the product lines; we are the most loyal to brands. Yet the Japanese have the greatest scorn for Africans. This is where the intelligence of the Black race comes into question.

I could name one by one all the products in my house or in my office in New York City, from the chair upon which I sit, the table where I write, the different computers, the radio, the fax machine, the typewriter too, of course, the ubiquitous telephone, there is nothing produced by my people. Technology is moving so fast that by the time we wake up to the reality, we will never be players in the coming technology age.

AT&T, the giant colossus, decided to divest itself of so-called Baby Bells. Even though millions of Blacks held AT&T stock, none of the Baby Bells was divested to a group headed or controlled by Black people. Whichever way you look at it, the telephone has become the most important product in the life of people. In fact, when I think of the so-called information age, I am even more frightened for my people. The total control of this area will do the greatest damage to Black aspirations throughout the world. And from where I am, there is no remedy for what has happened. The telephone, inarguably, controls everything we do today technologically. The fact is not only that Black people don’t have any meaningful stake in this sector, even the so-called Black nations depend on the Western world (read Caucasians) to supply them with anything they need. AT&T has now invested more than $1 billion in constructing a fiber optic telephone system around Africa.

Let me talk about the reality here. Let’s assume that you live in Lagos, Nigeria and you want to make a call to Cotonou in Benin Republic, which is less than hundred miles away. You pick up the phone and dial. In most cases, the phone will not have a dial tone, and then the call may not go through. But if you were successful in getting through, you would first have to go through Paris, France before being connected to Cotonou in Africa. Africa, the poorest continent on this earth, with the most natural resources, consumes everything as well and produces nothing. We embrace technology and hardly understand how it works. Unlike the Japanese and Asians who buy products from the West, disassemble them, find out how these products work and go on to build a better one, most of us hardly know or understand how these products work.

Everywhere you go now in Africa, the craze is for cellular phones. The saddest thing is that people don’t know or understand how they work. No country in Africa manufactures its own telecommunications products. They haven’t even attempted to ask the Western companies to license them so that they could start assembling these products. But tor a people who are intelligent, the best way of proceeding would be to take these products, disassemble them, find out the components, and put their engineers to work to attempt to replicate the original product.