Italian-Nigerian singer, songwriter and businessman, Charles Onyekachi Onyeabor, has called for a more honest conversation about racism and wickedness in African societies, urging fellow Africans to stop placing the blame solely on white people.
Onyekachi, who is the eldest son of legendary Afro-funk musician William Onyeabor, in a post on his social medi page, said while history cannot ignore the atrocities committed by white colonialists and slave traders, it is also true that wickedness is not exclusive to one race.
“Wickedness is not a white thing, it is a human thing,” he said. “It is selfish and misleading to say only white people are wicked. The reality is that the human race is wicked and racist.”
He challenged the widespread belief that white people are inherently more evil, arguing that Africans have simply chosen to ignore the strategic way in which other races operate, especially in protecting their own.
“They value and protect their own people. They act with unity. They think about posterity and the long-term impact of their actions,” he noted.
“Meanwhile, too many Africans think only about the present moment, not the future or how today’s choices affect tomorrow’s children.”
Onyekachi went further to illustrate examples of everyday wickedness within African communities:
“You buy a piece of land, and another African shows up claiming ownership. Did a white man do that? Your neighbour poisons your food because of jealousy. Was that the white man’s doing? Our leaders stay in power for decades while their people starve and suffer. Is that the fault of the white man?”
He also addressed the role Africans played in the transatlantic slave trade.
“Don’t forget, it was black men who sold their fellow blacks into slavery in the first place. The whites didn’t just walk into Africa and start picking people.”
On the topic of racism, Onyeabor pointed out the subtle ways Africans exhibit racial bias even among themselves.
“Just a few days ago, a friend greeted me and said: ‘How you dey? How’s your Oyibo wife and Oyibo son?’” “If a white man said, ‘How’s your Black wife and Black child?’ we’d immediately call it racism. So why don’t we see it as racist when we do it?”
He also criticised the way mixed-race individuals are treated both in Africa and abroad.
“A mixed-race child is often not fully accepted in either world. In the white world, they’re seen as black and face the same prejudice. In the black world, they’re called ‘Oyibo’ and treated like outsiders. In the end, the child belongs everywhere yet is made to feel like they belong nowhere.”
He added that African women sometimes disregard black men who marry white women, refusing to see them as fully married:
“They treat him as though he is still single. Why? Because of the prejudice in our own hearts.”
Touching on tribalism within African societies, Onyeabor, whose headline event tagged “The Charles Onyeabor Show” comes up on October 24, in Florence, Italy: said, “We scream about racism, yet here in Africa, a Yoruba person says, ‘God forbid I marry an Igbo or Hausa.’ Parents fight their children for loving someone from another tribe. Hatred flows between us daily.”
He described this as “hypocrisy at its peak,” calling for self-reflection.
“This world is not divided into wicked and racist whites and innocent blacks. It is divided into wicked and racist humans and good humans. Wickedness and racism exist everywhere, including in Africa. Until we admit our own faults and stop being hypocrites, we will keep pointing fingers while ignoring the evil in our own backyard.”
