Ask An African-american A Question

You people who knock African-Americans for their perceived inadequacies are being silly.

People will be claiming that black Americans are not as hardworking or interested in education as Nigerians,what do you expect.The Nigerians are generally immigrants who represent a particular demographic in Nigeria.The average Nigerian is no more hardworking or interested in education than the average African-American.

Most Nigerians barely qualified from primary school,never mind going to University.Simply comparing African-Americans to what effectively constitutes Nigeria's elite demographic is dumb.

I dey ruin wetin?  See person wey dey yab Catholics over Anambra issue.    Na una provoke Girl22.

Lets face reality,if the average Nigerian is brought over to the US,we won't look so good.By the time our rural poor,whether Fulani herdsmen or farmers in Ado-Ekiti  and Abakiliki,come over,white and African-Americans go run leave the country for us. 

The last time we did something similar(slavery),it produced the current crop of people we spend time laughing at.

Na because say na mainly from Southern graduates most Nigerian immigrants are produced,una dey yab them.

You Catholiks sure hold grudges  One would think you wouldnt have forgiven your pope so soon for being part of the nazi party before his "pope-ship" 


E jo leave Ekitis out of this your madness or have you forgotten that we are the most educated of the "ngabti" people 

he he he he he he he!

What do you expect?

Why is it that that is the only skilly your guys have perfected. . . the art of eating the "apple and the banana"?

we've also perfected owning black owned fortune 500 companies,magazine,famous inventors,nuerosurgeons and motivational speaker,best black universities,athletes and performers.
We've perfected music genres hiphop,r&b,blues,jazz,krump music
break dancing,krumping and so forth

I rest ma nut case!



he he he!

You're an obvious ignoramus, not worth wasting time on--- though today a have a bit of time to burn, so I'll bless you with an answer.


Go to this link ( http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-40332.0.html ) and you'll see more powerful dynamic African-American fortune 500 and more company reps than you'd ever imagine existed. Despite what you may think son, over 76% of the African-American population are middle and upper class citizens of the US. Don't let the media's perception of us fool you, in the same way that it attempts to fool us into thinking negatively of Africa and African 24/7.


Once again you are showing your blatant ignorance. Motivational speaking actually does take an extreme amount of talent and world experience in social behavior, as well as many other fields. If it truly took no talent then any and everyone would be doing it,  because of the fact of that it pay extremely well. Though that isn't the case, in that to actually be an effective motivator in many areas of life you actual do need to know what the hell you're doing and achieve results and not everyone has that talent.


Detroit is in the position it's in for the same reasons that 85% white Appalachian region is in the same predicament if not worst, and many African nation are in the poor predicaments in which they are in. Brain Drain, Job flight and in turn extremely poor tax return to fund the area. The Automobile, shipping, meat packaging and grain hauling markets in which gave birth to the city and lead to tons of blacks to flood into the city over the decades from the crop-sharing farms of the south have all gone bust,  and in turn both  the black and the white middle and upper class fled the city to more prosperous locations around the nation.

Left behind was majorly the black poor, to a lesser extent the white poor, and in turn the city simply crumbled under share lack of tax funds being pumped into it by its dwindiling upper and middle class citizens. With faltering industrial and shipping importance and shrinking population, the State and Federal governments both cut allocated funds to the city as well over the years--- worsening the problem.

The City can easily be regenerated if a steady flow of talented middle and upper class citizens from around the nation began trickling back into the city, bringing with them increasing job opportunities, and with increased number of jobs come increased tax funds in which can be put toward restructuring the city. Detroit didn't become like it is overnight, but rather as an effect of an over 2 1/2 decade long drop in the cities industrial foundation in which it was birth on. These same problems have occurred within cities all throughout the Great Lake region.

I'm speaking of economics and social structures and this ignoramus is talking about race.  I'm disappointed in myself for even giving his dumb ass the time of day. Damn, that was 3 minutes of my free time wasted. 

yeah we go again. u still haven't answered my question. why are the people of detroit content with being unskilled.  a 25% graduation is very very embarrassing. keep on with the cycle of poverty

there are also white communities with low graduation rates. that's detroit' graduation rate.  that doesn't speak for all african americans.

so what is your thoughts on the white populated cities with low graduations rates are you going to say all white people are lazy?


and there are black owned companies with blacks with  the majority stake.
you can find them in Black Enterprise magazine Its one of my favorite magazines. It shows the positive blacks instead of the thug rappers and video hoochies.


Thats a lie that syas blacks are only good for entertainment. What about the lawyers,doctors,engineers,physcists

What about one of the top neurosurgeons who is black. some of the most prestigous lawyers are black. it was an african americans that helped with rockets taking off into outer space because he was good at science.

anyway hero stop paying attention to to these people. they're jealous. bottom line.

when push come to shove black americans have accomplished alot

we've invented thousands of inventions
we've invented hiphop,blues,jazz,krump and r&b
we have successful black owned businesses(although we still need to improve in that area)
we have famous black owned clothing lines
we have famous television shoes
we have some of the top scientists
we have some of the top lawyers
top doctors
top universities
that the media chooses to ignore.

africans are always complaining that african americans don't know anything about africans. that there are successful africans but the media and history book doesn't document it.

its the same thing with african americans we are very notable people who are doing great things but  the media only shows video girls and ignorant rappers.

black americans have accomplished a great deal in eduction and corporate america.

we are good at everything not just at entertainment and sports. yes the african american community has their problems but who doesn't?

african americans have a 50% HS graduation rate, white have an higher rate. it's worse when it comes to college graduation rate.  u are in denial. and please we know africa is fucked up, so don't bring that up.


fortune 500 companies??


jesus of nazarreth, Wernher von Braun don become african american??? u guys would claim everything. next thing we know, Beethoven's is african american


and how much were u guys compensated for the imaginary thousands of inventions.  stop daydreaming jare 



ha ha BS, please can u state the journal were this was stated. excuses excuses

the article is about nicotine, what does have to do with crack,heroine etc.  von braun is still known as the father of rocket. without von braun there won't be NASA. stop trying to take credit for the man's work.  no one is downing the achievements of AA's but please other ethnic groups can boast of inventors and pioneers too.


what did u gain from all these accomphlishments. i believe graham bell invented the telephone, would u guys take credit for the telegram too.

major contributions were from german engineers. let's not go overboard here. the black scientist u talk of wasn't as big as von braun and co.


who did he steal it from. enlighten me here.

here u go again claiming stuff. what AA made cellphones.  lots of technology have been realized through the NASA space program. udefinitely have identity issues.

There are too many people to quote, so I am not going to quote anyone or my post will be too long. However, Girl22, Eliza, Uche2nna, 4play, Hero/Exo-something (sha the other Black American that people suspected was Hero) take note:

In my view African Americans and Nigerians have their fair share of problems, but unfortunately, African Americans (at least the ones that have partaken in this thread with the exception of Ms. Lurker) have more serious problems. And I do not say this because I am Nigerian. There are some things that I have read (and I read all 11 pages) that I need to clear up.

1. Girl22, it is the height of foolishness for you to ask why a country of more than 250 different languages bears the name picked by a colonial leader's wife. A sensible person would figure out that the debate as to what language Nigeria should be named in would cause too much conflict.

2. European nations DO NOT pick our presidents. I don't know where you're getting your information from, but you should follow the next Nigerian election more closely. If western nations and europeans control our resources as you claim, then why are all of you in America dying over the price of gas?

3. White people and Indians are a minority in Nigeria, and they are not economically stronger than us. I am yet to see a white millionaire in Nigeria. Individually, the white people and foreigners in Nigeria always seem to at least earn a decent living because only those with enough money in their countries are able to AFFORD to come anyway, and besides, a foreigner has to be gainfully employed in Nigeria by a company in Nigeria in order to reside there or operate a bank account, so BOOM! There goes the source of their income.

4. Nigeria has a spectrum of wealth. There are the very rich, the very poor, and EVERYONE ELSE is in between. All this business about majority of Nigerians being poor is bullshit. MOST Nigerians are able to eke out a decent life. My mother is not rich by any means what so ever, and she doesn't have a boyfriend or anyone else giving her money, but I have been educated to the highest standard possible. I attended Loyola Jesuit College, which is far and away the BEST secondary school in Africa. My classmates were the children of presidents, senators, governors, ambassadors, you name it, they were there. We also had the children of people who were just above the poverty line. And NO, I was not on any form of scholarship. Like I said, I am not rich by any means, but at nineteen, I have traveled the world (not everywhere, but most places), I go on vacations, I have a great time in Nigeria, I have worked with big Nigerian-owned companies as an intern (and that was before I entered university - I turned nineteen in March), I am well read, well educated, I speak English to perfection in addition to Igbo, Hausa, Spanish and French. I used to speak Yoruba as a child but we moved to Abuja and I lost contact with my Yoruba friends.

5. When you make statements like "The first black, whatever" please add IN AMERICA at the end. A lot of you black americans in America are so insular it drives me nuts. You don't ever leave America, you know nothing about other countries, and you sit in your houses (should I say that? You guys have the lowest home ownership rate) and assume, assume, ASSUME. Nigeria has billionaires, and not just two (Oprah Winfrey and the other dude). We have MANY billionaires. Granted, a number of them did get their riches through underhand means, but an equally large number of them amassed their wealth in a largely honest manner. How did Aliko Dangote land on the Forbes list? What about Dehinde Fernandez? He's been on Forbes' list for as long as I can remember! Otunba Mike Adenuga,  the CEO of Globacom,  there are so many of them, so stop saying what you don't know.

6. Whites and Asians have lower HIV/AIDS rates in Africa because they are a MINORITY, which is the way it should be. Did you NOT learn about proportion in high school? On the other hand, a question that puzzles us Nigerians is how you black americans, upon being a MINORITY manage to have the HIGHEST HIV/AIDS rate. So the question you asked just displays once again your ignorance and lack of common sense.

7. In relation to my answer numbered 1: You have again displayed a lack of common sense by asking why English, Portuguese, etc are the official languages of most African countries. I hope that you know that MOST African countries speak at least TWO languages. It would not be prudent to randomly select any one language and raise it above the others as the official language of the country. Speakers of all the other languages will immediately feel underrepresented. I am only nineteen, and I know this. Why don't you?

8. Why should we demand reparation for colonialism? They did a bad thing, we made them stop. We've moved on. We are not like you who use every opportunity to decry the injustice that the white man has wreaked upon you. Yes, even when you're sitting at home eating a bowl of cereal, you will still find a way to say that the white man that made the cereal was being racist by not dyeing the marshmallows in your Lucky Charms black. Nigerians have more important things to do such as nation building and powering our growing economy which is what you ought to be doing than sitting at home and whining.

9. So what if our curricula are based on English curricula? There is nothing wrong with learning what needs to be learned from another person. We have modified the English curriculum as we see fit. I will have you know that we do not learn British history in Nigeria, except for what part of it that had to do directly with Nigeria's own history. Everything we learn in Nigeria is about Nigeria and Nigerians. The British structure of our curriculum is simply an exoskeleton for the Nigerian content. Do not be fooled or ignorant. How come you on the other hand (who changed your title from Black Americans to AFRICAN Americans) cannot realise half the time that Africa is not a country but a continent with 52 very distinct and disparate countries, each with its own collection of cultures? Because you don't learn anything about the Africa that you are supposed to come from and that you are so desperate to identify with.

10. Particularly to ELiza: Nigerian girls are PROUD. We don't beg. If a Nigerian girl has nothing and expects her boyfriends or men to give her money it is because Nigerian men shoulder their responsibility squarely and provide for their women no matter what, unlike a lot of lazy, uneducated black americans that mooch off their women. A Nigerian man's pride will never allow him, and we have come to expect a certain standard from our men. The poor girls must have been awfully disappointed with what they found to date. No wonder they ran from man to man in bewilderment.


As for EXPONENT (Ah, I remembered his name) who said that we Nigerians/Africans have "ROUGH" looks. Here is a picture of me:

Rough? Rough? I really hope you don't think I look "ROUGH". Better check yourself and your loser genes! Sucker!

Oh yes, and Shaniqua is NOT an African name. And no, it does NOT mean Princess of the Sun. Stop stringing letters together and forming names and pinning them on poor old Africa. If you want an African name that badly then abeg tap the nearest Nigerian, Ghanaian, etc to help you out.

Just my two kobo on the matter.

The serious problem I am referring to (other than a lack of education, a bad attitude, laziness etc) is the habit of african americans of blaming their woes on other people.

Also, Nigerian women are not brought up to be dependent on men. We can take care of ourselves quite well thank you, but we are raised to expect the man to do all in his power to handle things. Our part is just a bonus, but not any less important mind you. Nigerian men know this, and they set high standard for themselves accordingly. A lot of African American men on the other hand do not even TRY. They are lazy, have no future ambition, and cannot be coaxed or cajoled into working hard. In other words, they are a disgrace. I don't blame any Nigerian girl that dumps one.

If you don't have the above serious problems I mentioned, then prove it to me. Make educated and well informed posts instead of floundering and supporting Girl22 in her scatter-brained emissions.

It is YOU BLACK AMERICANS that are calling the AA girl nasty and shameless. There is a difference between a gold-digger and a girl with high standards. Yes there are Nigerian gold-diggers too, but most of us have high standards, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

There are too many people to quote, so I am not going to quote anyone or my post will be too long. However, Girl22, Eliza, Uche2nna, 4play, Hero/Exo-something (sha the other Black American that people suspected was Hero) take note:

In my view African Americans and Nigerians have their fair share of problems, but unfortunately, African Americans (at least the ones that have partaken in this thread with the exception of Ms. Lurker) have more serious problems. And I do not say this because I am Nigerian. There are some things that I have read (and I read all 11 pages) that I need to clear up.

1. Girl22, it is the height of foolishness for you to ask why a country of more than 250 different languages bears the name picked by a colonial leader's wife. A sensible person would figure out that the debate as to what language Nigeria should be named in would cause too much conflict.
You misunderstood what i said. why can't africans pick an african landuage that could be official? if the ethiopians invented ahramic and the black americans can invent pig latin, hell even the kids on the television show Zoom invented a language.

2. European nations DO NOT pick our presidents. I don't know where you're getting your information from, but you should follow the next Nigerian election more closely. If western nations and europeans control our resources as you claim, then why are all of you in America dying over the price of gas?
they played a major role in picking them example. Rothschild's had a hand in thabo mbeki's, george bush sr. had a hand in mandelas,american government had major say so in liberias,cia picked mobutu. research it
happens all the time. just like the europeans give the african leaders guns to kill each other. 
the movie shooter explains well. research that
 I attended Loyola Jesuit College, which is far and away the BEST secondary school in Africa.
jesuit is not african



6. Whites and Asians have lower HIV/AIDS rates in Africa because they are a MINORITY, which is the way it should be. Did you NOT learn about proportion in high school? On the other hand, a question that puzzles us Nigerians is how you black americans, upon being a MINORITY manage to have the HIGHEST HIV/AIDS rate. So the question you asked just displays once again your ignorance and lack of common sense.
black in europe are the majority but thay have the highest aids rates

7. In relation to my answer numbered 1: You have again displayed a lack of common sense by asking why English, Portuguese, etc are the official languages of most African countries. I hope that you know that MOST African countries speak at least TWO languages. It would not be prudent to randomly select any one language and raise it above the others as the official language of the country. Speakers of all the other languages will immediately feel underrepresented. I am only nineteen, and I know this. Why don't you?
again what europeans have an african language deemed official in europe? what european have you've seen practicing
an african religion?

8. Why should we demand reparation for colonialism? They did a bad thing, we made them stop. We've moved on. We are not like you who use every opportunity to decry the injustice that the white man has wreaked upon you. Yes, even when you're sitting at home eating a bowl of cereal, you will still find a way to say that the white man that made the cereal was being racist by not dyeing the marshmallows in your Lucky Charms black. Nigerians have more important things to do such as nation building and powering our growing economy which is what you ought to be doing than sitting at home and whining.
because jews gor reparations,indians got reparations,asians got reparations. why shouldn't you?
jews got reparations,asians got reparations,indians got reparations. why can't you?
to this very day jews get advantages in germany because of the holocaust. to this very day indians don't have to pay taxes,go to college for free and if they committ a crime,even murder and flee to a reservation they can't get charged. if the indians got reparations then african americans deserve something. asians also have gotten funding for being held in those concentrations camps.9.

don't africans think that its odd they never got anything. even to this very day people are benefitting from something that happened 40-100 years ago?

So what if our curricula are based on English curricula? There is nothing wrong with learning what needs to be learned from another person. We have modified the English curriculum as we see fit.
i didn't say anything was wrong with it.
How come you on the other hand (who changed your title from Black Americans to AFRICAN Americans) cannot realise half the time that Africa is not a country but a continent with 52 very distinct and disparate countries, each with its own collection of cultures? Because you don't learn anything about the Africa that you are supposed to come from and that you are so desperate to identify with.
maybe because most blacks are mixed with 4-8 different tribes from africa and expands different regions all across central and western africa. it would be foolish for someone to say im yoruba when they're also akan,wolof,hausa, ,fulani. Or for them to say im Nigerian when they're also,ghanain,angolian,senegalese,cameroonian.
african american makes more sense. also unless you take an dna test how will they know what part of africa they come from?10.



Just my two kobo on the matter.
what the hell does kobo mean? does it mean cents? like just my two cents?