One of Fela’s most popular songs when I was a child was :”Yellow Fever” – released when I was 6 years old, in 1976. I LOVED that song. Still do too(see Youtube video below)! He was basically challenging skin-bleaching black men and women, who wanted to become “white” by force, out of an inferiority complex, to change their ways.
Click to watch on Youtube here.
Apart from his fierce defence of human rights, as being each person’s “personal property’ and therefore NOT to be “given” to us by others, Fela also launched “lyrical” attacks on corrupt governments/individuals.
And of course he constantly challenged the individual African to treat him/herself with respect.
I named my first child “OLUFELA” in 1999, in honour of Fela! Just like his daughter said in this pictured poster, he was – and remains – a major influence on my thinking about how to be a PROUD AFRICAN.
Sadly, many hypocritical parents/adults focused on his weed smoking as a convenient excuse to ignore his wise – and prophetic – counsel.
Most of Fela’s songs, always carried clear and powerful messages to either the common people, or the government of the day, or “colonial” powers.
As an adult African, and parent, today, one of the things that bothers me the most is the apparent self-hate that Africans/black skinned people seem to have for their skin colour…and hair.
Today, I travel around quite a bit, and I see that the problem is worse. Women especially, African WOMEN in particular, continue with this sickening habit.
I look around me and it appears every time I see 5 normal skinned black persons, at least ONE rainbow coloured skinned woman passes by as well!
In Lagos-Nigeria and Cotonou-Benin Republic, where I currently do most of my traveling, this skin “bleaching” trend is like some kind of competition!
And all sorts of crazy skin creams are arriving the markets, to feed this madness!
The sad thing is that they NEVER end up better off…as Fela points out in his lyrics.
He starts by explaining that there are 2 kinds of Yellow “Fever” – the Original one (i.e. the actual sickness) and the artificial (skin bleaching from black to lighter tone in an effort to look white)
===
Original and artificial he dey!
Bom bom bom, tell me now…
Original catch you
Your eye go yellow
Your yansh go yellow
Your face go yellow
Your body go weak
I say but later if you no die inside
The yellow go fade away
Artificial catch you
You be man or woman
Na you go catch am yourself
Na your money go do am for you
You go yellow pass yellow
You go catch moustache for face
You go get your double colour
Your yansh go black like coal
You self go think say you dey fine
Who say you fine?
[Chorus]
Na lie, you no fine at all!
At all, na lie!
My sister, who say you fine?
[Chorus]
Na lie, you no fine at all!
At all, na lie!
Yellow fever
[Chorus]
You dey bleach, o you dey bleach!
You dey bleach, o you dey bleach
African mother
You dey bleach, o you dey bleach
====
Read the lyrics to the song here (http://www.lyricsbay.com/yellow_fever_lyrics-fela_kuti.html)
Add to that the thirst by the same women to wear imported long straight hair, that the God they claim to BELIEVE in, never thought it wise to give them at birth, and you discover a pandemic of unimaginable proportions!
This need to avoid a loss of identity, as an African, is one of the reasons I have vowed to coach my own kids to be comfortable with who they are, and what they look like.
That is, to have what sane human beings know as SELF-ESTEEM.
It is why I’m publishing my new book titled “Kukuru Danger™ about my own childhood search for self-discovery and purpose.
I too suffered a need to belong, and to be accepted, right from my early years and even in my later adult years. But by listening to Fela’s lyrics, and also reading books about self-development, I learnt to believe in myself, and never feel inferior to any other human being.
Today, that mental attitude serves me well in my dealings with people – regardless of who they are, how important they are (or think they are) or where they come from – even if from MARS!
More Africans need to realize that the world appreciates them for being the way they are, MORE than it will ever appreciate them for trying to be what they are inherently NOT.
And if we ever needed proof of the above stated fact, well Lupita Nyong’o’s example perfectly fits the bill. And luckily for us, she herself shared a familiar story that proves she knows what others with her skin complexion pass through.
But she arrived on the world stage and discovered it was willing to accept her, if she accepted herself.
Today, she is celebrated by virtually everyone who is anyone in her industry…yet her complexion remains the same, and so does the hair on her head!
How I wish African women and their men (some tell me their women look “more beautiful” after bleaching!) will wake and rediscover the pride and essence of being who they are.
Some try to make it sound less nasty by calling it skin toning, and they refer to those with money (e.g female black celebrities) who “successfully changed” skin colours as justification for doing it too.
How lame! Goes right back to the lack of identity and self-esteem I started this article with.
“Look, white skinned people get sun tanned skins by spending time in the sun, or using sun tan lotions. But the effects are never permanent. If they stop, their skin changes back to it’s natural white. But a black skinned person cannot get a white “tan”, you see. That’s why when a black skinned person goes “yellow” or “white”, s/he never changes back. Now, you can say it’s “toning”, if you like, but THAT, is what I call SKIN BLEACHING (to borrow Fela’s very apt terminology).” – Tayo K. Solagbade
By the way, last time I checked Oprah Winfrey remains globally acknowldged and respected, and I have NOT see her undergo any noticeable skin colour changes.
Should Oprah not be the role model we should all try to emulate in that (and other) respects???
The truth is that the world will be a much better place for us to live in, when we start respecting ourselves.
Only then will others really take us seriously and respect us as well. But if we keep acting as if we’re inferior (and we have NEVER been), then those who relate with us and who see that, will naturally treat us that way.
The choice is yours. What will you do? And what will you TEACH your child to do???
I know what I already do, and I have begun teaching my kids to do it as well. In my family/clan will always be black and proud sons and daughters of Africa!
Lupita ended her wonderful acceptance speech on black beauty with the following words…
“And so I hope that my presence on your screens and in the magazines may lead you, young girl, on a similar journey. That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside.”
I now offer those same words, as a parting message, to my fellow black skinned African women and men who may be tempted to “bleach” their God-given complexions lighter, to feel better about themselves.