For Dilibe Onyeama, a well scripted personally written epitaph again comes to global focus... his passing a few days ago points the searchlight to the humanity we share. 🤔
Dilibe Onyeama...teenage years |
By Nnedinso Ogaziechi
His father, an Oxford graduate who idealized about his child getting the best education Britain could offer at a time a fictional Okonkwo in Achebe’s phenomenal Things Fall Apart symbolized the resistance to oyibo colonialism and destruction of the African culture seems paradoxically instructive. Okonkwo’s suicidal life despite his personal achievements and huge efforts to stay away from what society thought was a loafer life of his Unoka father seems interesting. Unoka by the way was an undervalued entertainer that did his own thing. He was a great flutist at a time entertainment talent was denigrated. 😂
But I digress...😂
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And so, Dilibe’s highly successful legal luminary father, Daddy Onyeama registered him at birth in the very prestigious ETON College for boys in the UK in the mid sixties. What a great ambition the Supreme Court justice and a judge at International Court of Justice at The Hague had for his son!👏🏼Ironically, Dilibe failed the entrance and then made room for a Tokumbo Akintola to become the first black to register at the school. Alas, a Dilibe still made history being the first black to finish his high school at ETON as Akintola left before graduating at the then prestigious school for the royals and those wealthy enough to afford the fees.
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But his fame did not come from acquiring a certificate from ETON college. His writing about the awful ra.c.ism he experienced at the school as a teenager and other books he authored gave him both popularity and notoriety depending on the sentiments an individual expressed! His book, “A N.I.G GER AT ETON” opened a can of worms about the prestigious college and shook the establishment so much that he was banned from entering the school for years but was just apologized to and re-invited in 2020 by a new management of the school who agreed that r.ac.ism was and still unacceptable today.
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His initial book was changed to “A BLACK BOY AT ETON”, However, I don’t really agree with that move justifiable as it might appear for semantic purposes. History must be preserved in its rawest format. There could be social changes but political correctness must not be allowed to adulterate history!🤔
I grew up being somewhat obsessed mentally with the name, Dilibe Onyeama . I never knew why, never read his books earlier than now but somehow, his name intrigued me. The meaning, the sociological and linguistic import are profoundly coincidental with his life odyssey. Now reading up about him brings clarity and regrets, he would have been one great interviewee! His romance with journalism is profoundly engaging.
He is a great and brave human and writer! He did not shy away from being who he is! He turned his travesties to productive use! He reached into his inner core and brought forth the strength inherent in all humans in challenging circumstances! He opened the eyes of the world to the hypocrisies we all live with! The judgement of others based on mundane issues like skin colour, tribe or creed affect kids more.
He was a victor that triumphed in academics and sports to the envy of his b.u.l.lies. ♥️👏🏼
He had an admirable sense of objectivity and resilience! He understood and wrote about ra.c.ism but never tarred all whites with the same r.ac.ist brush. He understood the human behavioural attitude is a choice by each individual. He still enjoyed the love of whites that thought beyond skin colour. His publishers dared to give him a voice and today, things are better at Eton because he spoke up, he documented his experiences for prosterity!
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Today, the giant author and publisher sleeps having given prominence and eternal value to his father’s ambition for him to get the best education at Eton! Great parenting ambition actualized greatly in the force of a historic change a Dilibe Onyeama brought to the global story of ra.ce and ra.ci.sm in Britain.
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Today, I salute his humanity, brilliance, courage, his versatility, his resilience, perseverance and determination not to be harassed into silence. Kudos also to the new management that rescinded the ban of Dilibe Onyeama from ETON for daring to expose his sour and unacceptable experiences at an academic institution that ought to be home to all and a nurturing to all who came to seek knowledge.
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Progress has been made in ra.ce relations in Britain but there is still more room for improvement. A Dilibe has played his part and his voice will continue to resonate in the world. He OWNED his blackness and humanity!♥️👏🏼
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Fair thee well dear Dilibe...i dili ibe nezie! Adieu odogwu Enugu b’anyi. We celebrate your global impact. Generations would be empowered by your courage, a tool for survival! Ije oma!🌹🙏🏼
***This Dilibe’s teenage picture like all pictures says more than a thousand words!🤔🤔Most parents can read beyond the cringes on his forehead... you look out for such “Non-verbal” communications on visiting days and other school events that bring parents to meet children in schools. 🤔Sometimes, words are not enough! Read their countenance and dig deeper!🤔🤔
©Nnedinso
November 13, 2022.
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