Akata?

Well I should not have insulted you. I'm sorry. But then did you not insult me as well? I give has good as I get.

@chinani and food4tot
Hmnn,
I am not sure my aim is to convince anyone of anything, but to point out why I disagree with some things. Like I stated earlier, the word "akata" is the name of an insect, I believe something similar to a bee. An insect that is seen as very aggressive and bothersome enough to draw a parallel with the way some Africans perceive Afro-Americans, which is as a very stubborn and aggressive group of people.


@food4tot
Another reason I disagree with the pepper picker angle is that even though this is the former term for someone who picks pepper, it would rarely be used in such a way. That is, someone who picks pepper for a living would not be called an aka-ata/akata, a less formal term would be used for such a person, (maybe "eni ton kata" or something along those lines) but the term escapes me right now.

Nia,

Good observation. You do not survive 400 years in the whiteman's land without being stubborn and agressive.

Whether it is related to the insect or the animal, remains to be seen.

All my people vote for who won me or menike
At my thread champs from freestyle

is "agbero" derogatory.

That used to be bus conductor but not anymore

to break it up

a = (someone who, )
gba=( gathers/collects)
ero=(crowd)

But the use of the word is now different because bus conductors gradually turned touts. (people's point of view)

AGBERO = tout/thug

But even in english, is the word "thug" derrogative?

As a matter of personal preference, Drusilla, I'd rather not be assigned or called by any generic name whose meaning needs to be explained to me, and thus I refrain in polite company from using such species-specific nomenclature to describe other people or groups thereof.  But then this is just one person's insignificant opinion in a sea of many diverse ones.

food4tot,

It's not about banning. It's not about not calling names. African Americans love to play the dozens as well.

You know and I know, that there are things about Nigeria and Nigerians that if said in public company would make every Nigerian want to crawl in a hole and die. (Unless they are Black people.  )

So African Americans are not unarmed if someone wants to play the name calling game.

It is the pretense that this is not what is being said, that bothers me.

Don't piss on me and pretend you are giving me water.

food4tot,

I eat Akata for breakfast. 

I am Ghetto. 

In Warri, AKATA means abroad, overseas, foreign land, europe america. It has even gone further to AKATERIANS, meaning sumbodi just back to Nigeria from abroad.

You need to see benin- city AKATERIANS in Decenber, u go trip.

Thats what i akata to satnd for.

so you don't know Waffi people often import words from other parts of the country? I bet you don't know the meaning of TOKUNBO.

T2,

Ahh, that is interesting. I did not know it was in a movie. I think I watched sugarhill as a child, so I do not remember it to good.

this jakumo person is not a serious human being, 'yorubas call hausas gambaris' does he even know what gambari means, perhaps it is the yoruba word for a hausa person. does he also know that hausa people were the ones who grouped the different ethnic groups under the yoruba umbrella and called them yoruba? this is why yoruba people in benin, togo and sierra leone have a different name. this is why an egba man will say he is egba because his history is very different from that of an ekiti man. so in essence we the yoruba people were lumped together and called yoruba, i for one, am not complaining.

finally akata is not an english word, it is simply a word for african-americans, notice it is not a word for other black people, that is why jamaicans are called jamo or ajereke. im not saying that jamo orginated from nigeria but you get me. the reason a lot of people say it derogatory is the because there is a wealth of feeling and preconceived notions behind that singular word akata. the reason being that due to the media and first hand experience, a lot of nigerians perceive african americans are being unruly law breakers, living in poor situations, doing drugs, swaggering and other negative things so that when they discuss akatas they do so with a sneer and a curl of the lip. another person might discuss akatas with no intonation whatsoever.

now going back to other names we have for foreigners ajereke, saro, aguda, chinko, paki, waffi, mr. patel, these names are not in themselves derogatory, it all depends on what stereotypes have been formed about said group.  for instance, a lot of people call hausa people aboki in nigeria and when discussing these hausa people, they do so with a sneer because of ethnic tensions, stereotypes yadda yadda yadda. a person listening on this conversation will think aboki is degoratory, in fact someone confidently told me once that it was. but is it? hell no! it simply means friend in hausa. is an igbo man calling a yoruba ngbati ngbati degoratory, it could be. it all depends on perconcieved notions/stereotypes or it could just be a synonym for yoruba. the same way a yoruba person may refer to ibo man as okoro

moving on the US, the reasons above are the reasons why african americans may refer to one another as nigga, because there is no perconcieved notion of slave/master r/ship as a opposed to an european american man saying the same thing. ever since i moved here, i have become extremely uncomfortable with african american people referring to me as african. why? you may ask me,  have you ever heard the term african booty scratcher?. perhaps i am only imagining it but behind their words when they refer to me as an african, i hear 'you live in a hut, you are poor, your continent is riddled with disease, you are a monkey, you live in trees' now of course a lot people simply don't mean that, but some people do. this is why a african-american person might take offense at being called an african. so is the word african degoratory? it could be, but honestly if i hear one more akata call me african, i may be tempted to call him slave

in conclusion, i will continue to refer to african-americans as akatas if i feel like it, tho i prefer to use ghetto

and as for hero, if you had stepped to me at that party, i would have shown you some serious pepper lol

Giggitte I appreciate as a compliment your opinion that I am an "un-serious" person, as I do endeavor to inject as much humor as possible into my scribblings.  Gratifyingly you did not refer to me as a conceited and long-winded bore who fills acres of screen space just to make a simple point, though I would still have preferred even that assessment to being completely ignored, which you thankfully have not done.   

You are obviously quite proud and content to refer to African Americans with a categorizing label, so please do not let the idle mutterings of an internet stranger dissuade you for a second from your personal life choices. As for me, I write, you respond, and therefore I exist, which is good.

Akata is the yoruba word for Plantation worker.  The term started around the 1920's when America became a location for education amongst the Yoruba elite.  When attending Howard University, the then 2nd son of the Oba of Lagos wrote in a letter to his cousin and mentor the Cardinal of Apapa and using the word "Akata" to describe the  the Negro as African American were then called.

This is why I've always wanted to know the true meaning of the word.  I can't live with myself calling a fellow black man "Plantation Worker", knowing the evils of slavery.  It doesn't matter to me that the meaning has changed in recent times.  The same way I don't call any black brother "Nigger" in the name of hip-hop, I shall desist forthwith with any reference to African Americans as Akata, now that I know the true meaning.

Nairamar, Thanks a lot  for the infomation.