I was mocked for being black at US university – Davido
Written by MAX FM on August 25, 2020
Popular Nigerian singer, Davido, shared some of his experience with racism as a teenager who grew up in America. The Risky crooner said that he went to school in Alabama which was a predominantly white state. He added that being an African in a university that had only 13% of black people was not easy.
In his words: “It’s crazy, because I’m from both America and Africa, so I know how both sides think. I went to school in Alabama. I went to college at 15. I was very young. And Alabama was a predominantly white state. So being an African kid in a university where it’s 13% Black people, it’s amazing. It’s not easy. I had to learn a lot of things when I was like, “Yo, why you look at me like that?” And not even just being black, being African. They used to ask me questions like, “Yo, how’d you get to America?” I’m like, “What you mean? I came on a plane.” “Oh, y’all got airports?” Now every American wants to go to Africa. Everybody wants to know where they’re from. So it’s good to see the transition from not being appreciated, to being appreciated right now.”
Speaking further, Davido said that he just had a son who is an American citizen and that he plans on speaking to him about the discrimination blacks face and also to defend himself.
He also touched on the subject of blacks also killing themselves despite championing the Black Lives Matter cause.
He said: “Sometimes just because of the color of your skin, you might not get a lot of honesty from somebody. You feel me? So it was just crazy. This how I look at it: I just had a son and he’s an American citizen. So imagine my son telling me, “Yo, dad, I want to go to the mall.” And I have to explain to him like, “Yo, if the police stop you…” It’s crazy how we have to tell them that part. I don’t think growing up my dad ever sat me down and was like, “Oh, this is going to happen.” But I have to do it for my son. I have to teach him as a Black man. As a Black man, you have to be able to defend yourself, number one. You’re not going to get your way all the time and you just have to be a man and be strong. The other way I look at it, we’re screaming Black Lives Matter, right? But we killing ourselves too. So the conversation is both sided, it goes both ways.”
