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He speaks of his country and the welfare of it’s people with a passion reminiscent of the Martin Luther King Jr. civil rights movement in America in the 60s.
King fought for the liberation of the blacks from the oppression of racism, segregation and inequality that was quite rampant in that era.
He mobilised his fellow blacks and awakened in them a new consciousness of pride and self-discovery that ultimately gave impetus to the struggle for freedom from all forms of prejudices.
Needless to say that he got the white supremacists of that generation to listen to what he had to say. And what he had to say ultimately had a significant impact on the outcome of his concerted fight to rid the black American population of the toga of second class citizens.
King did one more thing. He ensured that African Americans earned the same respect, rights and privileges that their fellow white countrymen and women were accorded.
Today, King — cut down in his prime by assassin’s bullets for his seeming audacity — rests in his grave, supremely satisfied that he achieved exactly his mandate of rescuing his people from the oppression of being discriminated against solely on the basis of the colour of their skin.
His labour of love would eventually pave the way for a succession of great black achievers like Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jackson, Tiger Woods, Barack Obama, Eddie Murphy, Sammy Davis Jr., to mention but a few, who have continued to demonstrate that skin colour is insignificant where natural endowments is the yardstick.
King’s passion has since found expression in different forms and in different climes decades after.
A Nelson Mandela going to jail for 27 years just to make the point that racism and segregation has no place in human equation is one copious example.
Henry Okoduwa is a journalist based in Lagos.
