#Nigerian Civil War

[lightdancer1]

One must also note the role of Harold Wilson's government in that war:

Wilson very much channeled the spirit of Churchill and Nixon in cynically encouraging a genocide while openly professing adherence to human rights and making an already horrific situation much, much worse.

[the-wannabe-philosopher]

this is honestly really interesting because it's not just world wars- it's history in general. tell me why it's so difficult to speak to any "history buff" war fanboy about non eurocentric histories. I'll be talking about the Indian caste system or the open Nepali-indian border or the Zhao Jianmin Spy Case and they will quite literally CHANGE THE TOPIC to something eurocentric. There is more, so much more to history than learning about machinery used for warfare. and it's honestly devastating because learning about history is so beneficial to today, a time where misinformation is constantly rife, but people really don't care enough to listen to what doesn't directly relate to them. i am one hundred million thousand percent sure that learning about the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 or the Somali and Nigerian civil wars or literally any form of history that isn't moved forward solely by the motivations of the white man is more beneficial to today than like. guns from 1945. but okay Chad. do what you'd like.

why are straight white guys so obsessed with world war 2

[phaon1]

Learn about the Nigerian Civil War. Also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War.

[languagexs]

Exploring the Rich Culture of the Ibo People in Nigeria: A Comprehensive Guide to One of the Largest Single Ethnic Groups

Disclosing the Rich Tapestry of Igbo Heritage: An in-depth examination of Nigeria’s Dynamic Culture Nigeria’s Igbo people are an enthralling ethnic group with a rich history, colorful customs, and a significant influence on African culture. This essay explores the fundamentals of Igbo culture, looking at its traditions, historical foundations, and remarkable resilience in the face of adversity.…

[once-was-muses]

[ the worst thing they got wrong about Philip is making him a Northerner when the Everything about his backstory is so clearly in line with qualities of the Igbo people (one of the Sourthern cultures) ]

[ the worst thing they got wrong about Herman is that man absolutely snorts when he laughs at least sometimes ]

[booksperience]

(via Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)

Half of a Yellow Sun is a novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on Nigeria in the 1960s. It vividly portrays the struggles and tensions of the society in a nation that had barely started breathing in its nascent independence. The British had just left in 1960 leaving the country to be governed by its own people. However, the citizens are not united; there is a wide rift between the Northern and Southern regions as is often the case with almost any north-south geography. The North has tribes, mainly Hausa, Yoruba and the like, while the South and the East are predominantly Igbo people. The differences between the two communities are starkly pronounced.

Odenigbo and his partner Olanna are Igbos and teach in the Nsukka University in the South. Olanna’s sister Kainene oversees her father’s businesses in Port Harcourt, and lives with her English lover Richard who has come to Nigeria to research heritage arts, particularly Igbo-Ukwu art. The sisters come from an affluent family living in the richest area of Lagos, the largest city of Nigeria. Additionally, we meet Ugwu, Odenigbo’s houseboy, who initially appears insignificant, but keeps the plot moving as the author narrates the story in many places by describing the thoughts going on in his head tracing his observations and convi... (Read full text on booksperience.org)

[writingwithcolor]

Non-offensive Historical terms for Black people in historical fiction

@pleasespellchimerical asked:

So writing historical fiction, with a white POV character. I'm not sure how to address race in the narration. I do have a Black main character, and I feel like it'd feel out of place to have the narrator refer to her as 'Black', that being a more modern term. Not sure how to do this without dipping into common historical terms that are considered racist today. Thoughts on how to handle this delicately, not pull readers out of the narrative? (fwiw, the POV character has a lot of respect for the Black character. The narration should show this)

There are non-offensive terms you can use, even in historical fiction. We can absolutely refer to Black people without slurs, and if slurs is all one can come up with, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. I cannot say which terms are best for your piece without knowing the time period, but hopefully the list below helps.

Historical terms to use for Black people (non-offensive)

African American documented as early as 1782 (documented in an ad in the Pennsylvania Journal). Note the identity isn’t accurate for non-American Black people.

African could refer to African people or “from 1722 as ‘of or pertaining to black Americans.’”

The place of origin could also be used. For example, “a Nigerian woman”

Africo-American documented as early as 1788.

People of Color documented as early as 1796 (with specific contexts, usually mixed people)

Afro American documented as early as 1817, 1831 (depending on source)

Black American documented as early as 1831 

Black was used in Old English to refer to dark-skinned people. Black was not capitalized until recent years, so “She was a young black woman.” would make sense to say, though “She was a young Black woman.” is the better standard today, although not universally adopted. I personally prefer it capitalized. 

Moor was used as early as the late 1400s for North African people, but had a somewhat flexible use where anyone visibly Black / Of African descent or the Afro Diaspora might be referred to or assumed as a Moor. Note, it has other meanings too, such as referring to Muslim people, but that doesn’t mean the person using it is going by the dictionary definition. Not really the way to go today, but okay in a historical setting (in my opinion).

Biracial (1860s), mixed race (1872), multiracial (1903) and multicultural (1940s) are also terms to refer to people of two or more races.

Occupation + description. Throughout history, many people have been referred to as their occupation. For example, the Carpenter, The Baker, the Blacksmith. Here’s an example of how you might go about using occupation and traits to identify a Black character in history. Here’s an example I came up with on the fly.

“You should go by Jerry’s. He’s the best blacksmith this town’s ever seen. Ya know, the real tall, dark-skinned, curly haired fellow. Family’s come here from Liberia.”

Offensive and less-sensitive terms for Black people 

Blacks was used in plural more, but this is generally offensive today (Even writing it gives me **Thee ick*)

Colored was mostly used post-civil war until the mid 20th century, when it became unacceptable. This is not to be conflated with the South African Coloured ethnic group.

Negro/Negroes were also used as early as the 1550s. Capitalization became common in the early 20th century. I'm sure you know it is offensive today, though, admittedly, was not generally seen as such until around the 1960s, when Black replaced it. It does have its contexts, such as the trope “The Magical Negro” but going around using the term or calling someone that today is a lot different. 

Mulatto referred to mixed people, generally Black and white, and is offensive today. 

The N-word, in all its forms, is explicitly a slur, and there is absolutely no need to use it, especially in a casual manner, in your story. We’ve written about handling the N-word and alluding to it “if need be” but there are other ways to show racism and tension without dropping the word willy-nilly.

Deciding what to use, a modern perspective

I’m in favor of authors relying on the less offensive, more acceptable terms. Particularly, authors outside of the race. Seldom use the offensive terms except from actual direct quotes.

You do not have to use those offensive terms or could at least avoid using them in excess. I know quite famous stories do, but that doesn’t mean we have to so eagerly go that route today. Honestly, from teachers to school, and fellow non-Black students, it’s the modern day glee that people seem to get when they “get a chance to say it” that makes it worse and also makes me not want to give people the chance. 

It goes back to historical accuracy only counting the most for an “authentic experience” when it means being able to use offensive terms or exclude BIPOC from stories. We’ve got to ask ourselves why we want to plaster certain words everywhere for the sake of accuracy when there are other just as accurate, acceptable words to use that hurt less people. 

Disclaimer: Opinions may vary on these matters. But just because someone from the group cosigns something by stating they’re not offended by it, doesn’t mean a whole lot of others are okay with it and their perspectives are now invalid! Also, of course, how one handles the use of these words as a Black person has a different connotation and freedom on how they use them.

~Mod Colette

The colonial context

Since no country was mentioned, I’m going to add a bit about the vocabulary surrounding Black people during slavery, especially in the Caribbean. Although, Colette adds, if your Black characters are slaves, this begs the question why we always gotta be slaves.

At the time, there were words used to describe people based on the percentage of Black blood they had. Those are words you may find during your searches but I advise you not to use them. As you will realize if you dive a bit into this system, it looks like a classifying table. At the time, people were trying to lighten their descent and those words were used for some as a sort of rank. Louisiana being French for a time, those expressions were also seen there until the end of the 19th century.

The fractions I use were the number of Black ancestors someone had to have to be called accordingly.

Short-list here :

½ : mûlatre or mulatto

¼ or ⅛ : quarteron or métis (depending on the island, I’m thinking about Saint-Domingue, Martinique and Guadeloupe)

1/16 : mamelouk

¾ : griffe or capre

⅞ : sacatra

In Saint-Domingue, it could go down to 1/64, where people were considered sang-mêlé (mixed blood for literal translation, but “HP and the Half-Blood Prince” is translated “HP et le Prince de Sang-Mêlé” in French, so I guess this is another translation possibility).

-Lydie

Use the 3rd person narrative to your advantage

If you are intent on illustrating historical changes in terminology consider something as simple as showing the contrast between using “black” for first person character narration, but “Black” for 3rd person narrator omniscient.

-Marika

Add a disclaimer

I liked how this was addressed in the new American Girl books it’s set in Harlem in the 1920’s and there’s a paragraph at the beginning that says “this book uses the common language of the time period and it’s not appropriate to use now”

-SK

More reading:

NYT: Use of ‘African-American’ Dates to Nation’s Early Days

The Etymology dictionary - great resource for historical fiction

Wikipedia: Person of Color

[geisterland]

yeah lol! you know it’s bad when even the UK isn’t defending portugal

new favorite video

[werewolfetone]

Reading king leopold's ghost so I can read heart of darkness so I can read chinua achebe so I can read about the nigerian civil war so I can read half of a yellow sun so I can understand what my professor was talking about in that one lecture several months ago when he randomly started explaining his ideas about historiography by referencing something chimamanda adichie said about hating conrad in a ted talk which nobody there had seen

[lightdancer1]

For the last day of Black Military History, the various ongoing and one very recent wars of Africa:

Today, for the last day in Black Military History, the ongoing wars in Africa. There are a grand total of 35 wars, so only a few are being focused on. I covered the events in the Congo and in the Sudan in greater depth before Black History Month and will be returning to them again because I refuse to allow these histories to exist solely in the shadow of Gaza....or of Ukraine, for that matter. Suffering is not an Olympic sport, there are no gold medals for 'best suffering in a genocidal catastrophe.' Leaving the Congo and Sudan wars for last because those are the ones with which people are the most familiar, I begin with the conflict that is why I can never take Hannah Nikole-Jones' Hotepian posture seriously and why no-one over the age of three should.

This is the one in the list that is not, actually, ongoing but is relevant all the same as an illustration of factors that play into the ones that really are. It was a war launched on a small scale by an overmighty oil corporation that stole land from the Ogoni people and operated to smash them with genocidal violence. It is why anyone who takes money from Shell is morally compromised on 'ability to unambiguously claim genocide is in fact a crime.'

And Hannah Nikole-Jones has done precisely this, because the suffering of the Ogoni people does not count, because her sense of empathy is very specifically defined ways that would do tremendous damage to her posturing on who and what she is if more people cared about what companies like Shell get up to in countries like Nigeria.

[mapsontheweb]

Nigerian Civil War

by atlasmapper

Context- In 1967, following two coups and turmoil which led to about a million Igbos returning to the south-east of Nigeria, the Republic of Biafra seceded with 33-year-old military officer Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu at the helm. The Nigerian government declared war and after 30 months of fighting, Biafra surrendered. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included ethno-religious violence and anti-Igbo pogroms in Northern Nigeria, a military coup, a counter-coup and persecution of Igbo living in Northern Nigeria. Control over the lucrative oil production in the Niger Delta also played a vital strategic role.

[jellybeanium124]

Chidi Anagonye was raised in Senegal

As Kamilah tells us in season 3, "Chidi" is an Igbo word meaning "God exists" (double checked with Behind the Name)

Chidi's father, Emeka, also has an Igbo Name

The Igbo people are from Nigeria

Nigeria is not close to Senegal. They are about 2,500km/1,550mi apart.

According to Wikipedia, there is not a significant Igbo population in Senegal

Chidi's mother, Ndeye, does have a Senegalese name. (x) (x) (x) (it's not on Behind the Name but several other websites agree that is from the Wolof language in Senegal, so... here's hoping they're right)

Ok so now I have SO many questions about Chidi's family. Did Emeka immigrate to Senegal? Why Senegal? Chidi's birth year is set to about 1982/1983, and the Nigerian government was having crisis after crisis at the time. Colonialism looms large over this entire story for obvious reasons. Nigeria gained independence in 1954, and Senegal in 1959. Nigeria had two coups in 1966, followed by civil war from 1967-1970. There was an oil boom in the 1970s, but obviously the people did not see much of the profits from that as the military government had no interest in raising the standard of living. There was another coup in 1975, and then another in 1976. From the early 80s to 1999, the Nigerian government was a corrupt military dictatorship before democracy was reinstated (x).

In comparison, Senegal had a much more consistent government committed to democracy, diplomacy, and human rights. There was violent conflict and border tensions, but broadly things were more stable, and Wikipedia claims Senegal had "one of the more successful post-colonial democratic transitions in Africa" (x).

All this stuff could never be explored in the show for obvious reasons: it's a comedy (showrun by a white man and made almost entirely by Americans), but I'm still left wondering about it. What was it like for Emeka to move so far away from home? What was it like for Chidi to grow up both Wolof and Igbo, with an Igbo name? How did Emeka keep him in touch with his roots that were thousands and thousands of miles away, or did he encourage assimilation instead? Was this challenging at all for Chidi, growing up?

Also, and I'm going to preface this by saying I am in no position to write this arc/plotline, but I think there's something to be said here, and it could've fit really well into the story if there were west African writers in the writers room who wanted to explore this. Chidi's whole thing is about choice, and he is someone from two different cultures. They could've written a story about Chidi learning not to see himself as two separate halves, but one whole person. But tbh? I don't think they cared to. I'm not sure how much of this is intentional, how much of this implied story of an immigrant leaving his home for greener pastures, falling in love with a woman, and having a baby who then finds making a choice between two things the biggest challenge in the world was intentional, versus how much they just googled "African names." I know Chidi's name is somewhat intentional, given how they explicitly bring up its etymology in season 3, but do they care that the Igbo people are not from or in Senegal? They did seem to forget that Chidi says his native language is French in season 1. Plus they are sorta forced to gloss over the fact that Chidi's actor is American and has an American accent. Or maybe this was 100% intentional and hidden in there for people who either know all of this already or bother to google stuff. I don't know. I just remembered that the Igbo people are from Nigeria and Chidi has an Igbo name, and was pretty sure Chidi didn't say he was Nigerian, so I googled him and went to his fandom wiki page and fell down the rabbit hole from there.

(I am not west African nor do I know much about the histories and cultures of west Africa, so all my sources have been linked in this post, which were Wikipedia and name websites, my apologies if there are any errors in this post, and if there are, please feel free to correct me.)

[book-girl4evaaa]

So you're Nigerian and white; what's the white side of you?

My mum is white (born and raised in Britain), my dad is black (born and raised in Nigeria) but I live in Britain because Nigeria is currently not super safe (civil war and such) plus my mum is very monolingual

[eretzyisrael]

by Melanie Phillips

he outspoken chief rabbi of South Africa, Dr. Warren Goldstein, has once again given voice to crucial truths that others have shamefully ignored.

He accused both Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, of being indifferent to the murder of black Christians in Africa and the terrorism threat in Europe while being “outright hostile” to Israel’s attempts to battle jihadi forces led by Iran.

“The world is locked in a civilizational battle of values, threatened by terrorism and violent jihad,” said Goldstein. “At a time when Europe’s very future hangs in the balance, its two most senior Christian leaders have abandoned their most sacred duty to protect and defend the values of the Bible. Their cowardice and lack of moral clarity threaten the free world.”

Goldstein’s blistering accusations were on the mark.

Christians in Africa have been subjected to barbaric slaughter and persecution by Islamists for decades. Two years ago, Open Doors, an organization that supports persecuted Christians, observed: “In truth, there are very few Muslim countries—or countries with large Muslim populations—where Christians can avoid intimidation, harassment or violence.”

In January 2024, a report for Genocide Watch confirmed that, since 2000, 62,000 Christians in Nigeria have been murdered by Islamist groups in an ongoing attempt to exterminate Christianity. In addition, more than 32,000 moderate black Nigerian Muslims and non-faith individuals have been massacred.

According to a report in 2020 by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, Christians in Myanmar, China, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Vietnam are being persecuted.

These facts were reported in June by Peter Baum for The Daily Blitz. Yet the mainstream media all but ignore these atrocities. There are no marches in Western cities to accuse these countries of facilitating crimes against humanity. There are no NGO-inspired petitions to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to declare these countries and groups guilty of genocide.

Instead, the media and Western elites demonize Israel as the pariah of the world for defending itself against these genocidal Islamists. This unique and egregious double standard is the hallmark of classic antisemitism.

The attitude of the church leaders is even more astonishing. The hundreds of thousands of victims of this persecution are their flock. The goal of this onslaught is the wholesale destruction of the faith they lead.

Yet from Welby and the pope have emerged little more than occasional expressions of measured concern. And even then, they usually refuse to call out what’s happening by its proper name—the Islamist war to eradicate Christianity and destroy the West.

The 10-month war against Israel by Iran and its proxies following the Oct. 7 pogrom is a crucial front in that onslaught against Western civilization. Yet as Goldstein said, the pope and Welby have stood passively by while African Christians are “butchered by jihadi groups with direct ties to Israel’s enemies in Gaza and the West Bank.”

The jihadi ideology, he said, was also a clear and present danger to Europe. As a result of open-border policies, immigrants poured into the United Kingdom and across Europe, many of them “brandishing a violent jihadi ideology deeply hostile to Christianity, liberal democracy and western values.”

The result has been surging antisemitism leaving Diaspora Jews living in fear. Yet on the ideology fueling this civilizational onslaught, Welby and the pope have been silent. Instead, they have recycled the Islamists’ propaganda that demonizes and delegitimizes Israel with lies.

[captain-price-unofficially]

Nigerian ZSU-23-4 now part of daily life during the Sierra Leone Civil War.