She said "andare a Nigeriane", which literally translates into "Go to Nigerian women". In reality it's an Italian expression that signifies "to and go and pick up a prostitute". So going by that expression, it is implied that all Nigerian women are prostitutes.
I was enraged when I read that line and I told the lady, "I am a Nigerian woman. I have lived in Italy for over a decade and I have never worked as a prostitute in my life. But because you lots are stupid bigots, I am being labelled something I am not?"
Life in Italy was one embarrassment after the other. I would be shopping and a man would try to pick me up. I would be walking down the road and a man would try to pick me up. Some even hurled obscenities at me while I was going about my business.
I remember the day I stopped a man to ask him for information. Next thing, this bastard tried to pick me up.
How was I supposed to let that phrase slide?
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Two days ago Adetutu called out the singer Simi for using a Yoruba expression "O ro pe mo kola ni", which literally translates into "Do I have tribal marks". But in reality the Yoruba adage means "Do you think I am stupid". Indeed it suggests that people with tribal marks are stupid.
What baffled me was the hoard of people asking Adetutu to let it go and grow some self esteem. That it's not a big deal. That she just wants to play the victim.
Guess who were saying this? People who don't have a single mark on their faces. The same people who would probably never even like Simi if she had tribal marks.
Someone even came out and admitted that they assume that every person with tribal marks is stupid. And you are still telling Adetutu to not get upset over that adage?
Imagine having to live in a country where millions of people interact with you for the first time and assume that you are stupid. They greet you as if you were stupid, they talk to you as if you were stupid, they deal with you as if you were stupid.
IT IS NOT JUST AN ADAGE, IT IS A BELIEF.
What respect has a stupid person got in Nigeria?
Adetutu had every right to call out a phrase that debases her, like wise I had the right to call out that woman for using that expression against Nigerian women.
Adetutu is not stupid. I am not a prostitute. Neither she nor I will sit back and let go. We won't keep quiet in the face of such disrespect.
You will not be allowed to be an idiot and get away with it. You would hate it if someone discriminated against on you on the basis of something as silly as a spot on your body, but you want to retain the right to call people with tribal marks stupid. You are mad.
Simi get sense. She understood the situation and acted accordingly. But unfortunately she lives in a country where people literally fight for their right to be idiots.
Wait for the day you will step out of Nigeria and into a white man's land. A white person will walk past you and use their hand to cover their nose, and you will be puzzled. Then it will dawn on you that he or she assumes that you are dirty and that you stink because of your dark skin.
That day you will appreciate what Adetutu did for people with tribal marks and start wishing for someone like her to come and save what remains of your dignity.
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