UJU ANYA - GHOULS OF AN EMPIRE PAST
We may not forget history, but we must not let it poison our souls.
I was driving back home from my parent’s home when news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death was announced over the airways. Initially, it was reported that she was gravely ill, but still alive. My wife noted that the queen was most likely dead, and true to her words, about an hour later her passing was confirmed.
Despite the sad event of the Queen’s passing, it didn’t take long for Twitter ghouls to emerge, and prominent amongst them was Uju Anya who tweeted out.
“I heard the chief monarch of a thieving, raping, genocidal empire is finally dying, may her pain be excruciating.”
The first thing that stood out when I saw that tweet was her name and I sighed, o God! she’s Nigerian. I later discovered that she was a professor at an American University.
It made more sense to me now, she was American. She may be of Nigerian descent, but her woke soul is American. She got a lot of backlash, none the least from Nigerians on Twitter for being so insensitive as to wish pain on another human being in their final hours.
What manner of hatred, would spur a person to utter such vile statements? Some may argue that she lashed out in memory of British atrocities on the continent of Africa. Their economic rape, military subjugation, political sabotage and religious imposition on the continent are not things to easily forget.
And she would be right in stating those atrocities. Yet the fact of that did not justify her comments. Despite the backlash, Uju Anya seemed beyond remorse and pitifully continued to stand her ground.
I don’t particularly care for the monarchy, they hold no value for me in any real sense, but I do care for another human being, and wish that their final days be as peaceful as it can be, so whatever ills Queen Elizabeth may be guilty of, she still deserved the decency of a peaceful exit.
This was, after all, Britain’s longest reigning monarch, and objectively speaking her reign saw the most progressive developments Britain has had in relation to her former colonies. Most British African colonies got their independence during her reign, that has to count for something.
The United Kingdom hosts a large diaspora of Africans, particularly of Nigerian descent, who have bettered their lives economically and otherwise. The UK seems to be a prime destination for many Nigerian migrants and upwards of 49,000 Nigerians have emigrated to the UK on study visas within the past two years. This has to count for something as well.
My sense towards colonialism and its effect today was captured succinctly by one of my friends on Twitter when he tweeted,
“Were the colonial masters evil? Yes. Have their evil days come to an end? Yes. Are Africans solely responsible for the evil they currently suffer? Yes. I’m ready to die on this hill.”
I agree with him to a large extent, ideas I expressed as well in my crime fiction novel Hotel Shendam which features a debate on race and colonialism. The point is, the past cannot be undone, the present can be worked on to shape a better future and that responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of African leaders and their people, not the erstwhile colonizers.
We may not forget history, but we must not let it poison our souls. The likes of Uju Anya, revel in opening old sores, never wanting them to heal, they thrive in a Marxist world of oppressor vs oppressed, their lives are validated by the existence of a villain on which they can consistently cast their problems, and who—in Uju’s world view—is a better symbol for such villainy than, “the Chief monarch of a thieving, raping genocidal empire.”
Uju was far from done after her initial tweet, she immediately followed with her second act—playing the victim. She accused Amazon founder Jeff Bezos of inciting his followers against her and putting her in harm’s way. Jeff Bezos supposedly put her in harm’s way by responding to her tweet with.
“This is someone supposedly working to make the world better? I don’t think so. Wow.”
Her claims against Bezos are as ridiculous as her comments against Queen Elizabeth are vile. Whatever threats or backlash she has received was entirely of her own doing, her tweet was more than enough to generate that level of backlash without the interjection of Jeff Bezos.
She “clapped back” at Bezos by saying.
“May everyone you and your merciless greed has harmed in this world remember you as fondly as I remember my colonizers.”
Now, this is a tad hypocritical as Jeff Bezos is a huge donor to the university she teaches in. In essence, he pays her salary, yet she has not done the honourable thing of resigning in protest, she is just as complicit in Jeff Bezos’ merciless greed.
To crown it all, she invoked the almighty charge against any straight white male, the charge of racism laced with misogyny and homophobia. See, not only is she black, as she goes on to state in an interview, she is also a woman—whatever that means these days— and a lesbian and Jeff Bezos being the racist, misogynistic homophobe that he is, attacked her for those reasons. In her words she states.
“Those attacks, especially by Amazon Founder, Jeff Bezos, are laced with racism. Bezos rarely tweets in his own voice, so for him to quote-tweet me to his more than five million obsessed followers was an attack on my blackness. For all his followers, he attacked me. He didn’t say my words were objectionable or things like that but he attacked my profession. He is insinuating that I should not be a teacher because of my tweet, and he did this as the second richest man in the world. This is simply because I told the world how my people suffered under the British monarchy. This is because of racism and misogyny. He knew that his followers would attack me. If you saw what happened to my email inbox after Bezos did that, you will not even think I was a human being with the things they were saying to me.”
Apparently, wealthy people cannot be critical of anyone, now add being a straight white male, you shouldn’t even have an opinion, because, oh your wealth. What was more surprising, is the fact that she felt hurt by words? How could she? The same words she had used against a dying person. The nerve. The double standard. The cognitive dissonance. But it all makes sense—and this is not a dig on Americans—but she is American after all, and she confirmed this by sprinkling all the buzzwords words that define contemporary American social discourse, racism, misogyny, homophobia, and calls for reparations.
Uju Anya crystallizes and embodies everything that is wrong with being possessed by a hateful, vengeful ideology and worldview, where certain people based on immutable characteristics of ethnicity, race, and sexuality are condemned as the scourge of the earth.
Charles Ekokotu (Pharm. D.) is a bibliophile, prose fiction writer, poet, and playwright. His first self-published novel, Hotel Shendam—a crime fiction novel featuring a debate on race and colonialism—is available on Amazon. A very fun read! Grab a copy now!
Charles, for the most part I agree with your take. My one quibble is how is the concept of "oppressor and oppressed" a Marxist precept?
This is the best discussion I have read of the entire unfortunate incident. You pithily summarize it so well - "We may not forget history, but we must not let it poison our souls".