CAPITALIST NIGGER: THE ROAD TO SUCCESS-A Spider Web Doctrine
Author: Chika Onyeani is an accomplished journalist of international stature. He is the owner, publisher and Chief Editor of the African Sun Times, the largest weekly African newspaper that is distributed throughout the United States of America.
A former diplomat from Nigeria and an erudite scholar by define. Chika has received many awards for his outstanding journalistic performance. A gifted speaker and an alumnus of several institutions of higher learning.
Helicopter View:
Chika Onyeani is one of the very few Africans who immigrated to the Unites States of America more than three decades ago, and made a name for himself in the media industry.
He is however writing this book, not to celebrate his achievements. On the contrary, he is bitter and outraged by what he considers to be sheer indolence and subsequent lack of productivity by the Black race in general. He feels betrayed by his people regardless of their qualifications and considers them to be a race of absolute consumers of other nations’ produce. He argues that the Black race while endowed with the same intelligence as others, they continue to be lazy to exert themselves with the result that they are looked down by other races, especially the Japanese.
To address this perceived handicap of the Black race, Onyeani proposes what he calls, “A Spider Web Doctrine”. Like a spider web that traps every prey that passes by, he asserts that the East Indians and the Pakistanis have consolidated their economic strength even to the point of dominating the economy of the US by systematically buying and controlling unitary segments of the economy. These range from newsstands; taxis; property ownerships, petrol stations and motels. He also argues that he admires the way the Jews have used their intelligence and thriftiness to dominate the world economy over the centuries.
He therefore proposes that if the Black race has to survive both in Continental Africa as well as in the Diaspora, it has to observe, learn, copy and customise that which the Caucasians and the Jews have done to remain at the apex of the global economy. Much the same way that the Chinese are alleged to have copied secret scientific information from the US laboratories and sent it home to improve their own country’s scientific invention, he believes the Black race could also do well by modifying and adopting the available “mousetrap” alleging that the owner of the “mousetrap” had also stolen the very idea of the “mousetrap” in the first place.
Tenets: The Canon For the Capitalist Nigger
What follows is a paraphrase of the Canon or list of principles that Chika Onyeani proposes for the Black race to cultivate in themselves if they are to take their rightful position among other races in the modern corporate world. While the writer mentions more points, I settled for these since I found some points to be a repetition of others.
1. A Capitalist Nigger is an economic warrior of the highest order. He believes that the world is a jungle where only the fittest will survive.
2. A Capitalist Nigger must embody ruthlessness in pursuit of excellence. In his drive towards achieving his goal of being an economic warrior, he must abandon the notion that the Caucasian Race owes the Black Race anything.
3. A Capitalist Nigger must demand his wealth from himself and nobody else. And for him to achieve that , he need strong discipline, perseverance and unwavering belief in himself.
4. A Capitalist Nigger is a worthy man and must act like one. He is courageous and will move mountains if needs be, to achieve his goal.
5. A Capitalist Nigger believes in knowledge and power, and for that he invests in his education. He is a visionary who knows and values the importance of money. He loves money and makes no apology for being business minded. The battle for the accumulation of money and wealth is a battle that needs the greatest amount of preparation and the possession of enough knowledge to ensure victory
6. A Capitalist Nigger is not complacent and does not dwell on the accomplishment of others. He does not dwell on self-pity. Instead, he believes that he is the sculptor of his future.
7. A Capitalist Nigger is prepared to learn from the intelligence of the Jew and the tenacity of the Caucasian. It is better to die in the sustained effort to reach your goals, than to die from fear of not even venturing
8. A Capitalist Nigger must develop the mental attitude and the same killer instinct and death –wish of the Caucasian to be albe to climb the corporate ladder. He owes his success to the future generations of the Black race. He must not harbour anger that might distract his concentration and focus.
9. He loves money not for selfish reasons. He loves money to afford himself a better life. Furthermore, he believes money can change the poverty and the state of economic servitude of the Black race.
10. A Capitalist Nigger believes that the Creator has endowed him with the highest level of intelligence. Through which mental faculty he is capable to change the course of Black economic slavery to that of Black economic independence.
11. He acknowledges that the Black race in Continental Africa as well as in the Diaspora is under economic slavery. Thereby confining them to the status of a consumer race rather than a producer race. He believes that as a Capitalist Nigger he has it within his power to change that.
12. He is very thrifty and patronizes first, those businesses that are controlled by his people of his race, who plough back into his community to alleviate poverty.
13. He is determined to claim back his community and country from foreigners and economic oppressors systematically: (One person; one block, or one neighbourhood at a time.)
14. He must employ the same success formula and tactics of oppressors to attain the same amount of success as they have over the years.
Quotable Quotes:
1. “This world is nothing but a jungle-whether it is that of animals or that of men. It is the survival
of the fittest. The strong shall inherit the earth, the weak shall perish”
2. “You must possess great discipline and an iron hand if you are to succeed in this world”
3. “imitation is the best compliment”
4. “Get it into your skull and understand that nobody owes you anything and nobody is willing to part with anything he or she has stashed away. If you want it , you have to fight for it”
5. “Africa has been a disgrace to most of its greatest admirers”
6. “You cannot achieve political a true political independence without vat the same time achieving economic independence”
7. “Africa is the richest continent in the world. It has the greater share of the world’s natural resources. Yet Africa continues to be declared the poorest continent in the world by the United Nations”
8. “Those who dare to rise above mediocrity and beyond the use of racism as an excuse for their failures, are those who will survive in this world”
9. “It is one thing to get a degree and quite another to exercise the use of that degree”
10. “The question really is, how could Africa have millions of educated men and women, yet have to import experts in all fields to manage areas of economic development, engineering and others for which Africans had gone to the same school”
11. “African elite has been a total failure, they cannot raise their heads in the community of scholars or the intelligentsia”
12. “The persuasion, effectiveness and ultimate survival of a race, depends exclusively on their ability to communicate effectively in the language of their culture and history. What makes a race formidable and distinct is the effective use of their language”
13. “The so called educated African in America is tragically damaged psychologically between his concept of his own importance and the reality of American life”
14. “The concept of economic independence has a major relationship to the individual as a free person”
15. “We are not educated in the areas which could help us solve the multitude of crises facing the Black Race in this millennium”
Verdict:
If Freedom of Speech is anything to go by, this is one of the writers who have taken that licence and liberty and used them for better or for worse. He speaks openly and unreservedly from the heart, even to the point of outright insult. He is bold and explosive in what he says, yet vivid and articulative.
There are many possible responses to a book. But I believe there are essentially only two classic responses by a reader: Reading the text from “within the Box or reading it from outside the Box”. The former approach has its ramifications of possible pangs and bruises depending on the subject matter. The latter approach offers the benefit of reflection and the opportunity to see the bigger picture.
For one to appreciate this book you need to step out of the box.
So, love him or hate him, but you are still bound to admire Chika Onyeani for the courage and audacity to bring to the fore a scintillating perspective on the human race. It is very candid of him to acknowledge that his own two children cannot speak Igbo, his native language and are therefore robbed of their rightful exposure to their culture. Something that he admits he regrets. He also deserves a credit for deconstructing the derogative concept “Nigger” and using it in new ways to usher in a paradigm shift for the better. Wasn’t it Bloke Modisane who wrote “Blame me on History?” And, if Chika has been living in the US for as long as can be, where did the NASA history of space exploration escape his critical eye? It is pardonable for him to omit by intent or by default the outstanding accomplishments of Afro American astronauts like Mr Leland D Melvin ( who has been to the moon not once but twice, and whose legendary profile speaks for itself) and many others?
By Segomelo Ken.
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