Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi has showered encomiums on the Director-General, Centre for Black African Arts and Civilization, Hon. (Mrs) Olubunmi Amao for organizing a Symposium on Black and African Peoples, Resurgent Racism and the challenges of development in the 21st century: Afro-phobia and the dynamics of race-relations, held recently in Ile-Ife, Osun state.
Oba Adeyeye described the quality of the programme as out of the world as it gets him emotional.
In her opening remarks, The Director General of the Agency, Hon. (Mrs) Olubunmi Amao said that the struggle against racial and ethnic oppression and the strategies of resistance to exploitation that have characterized Black and African peoples for centuries seem all the more relevant as contemporary ethnic and racial conflicts pervade the world.
Amao, who was the former Special Adviser in Oyo State, noted that such event is relevant as recent events have shown that the issues of systemic racism and racial injustices against the black race can only be dismantled and won when there is a deliberate effort by Black and African peoples to redirect their focus and attention into building synergies.
She stated that little attention has been paid to the issues of segregation among Black and African peoples with huge emphasis on horizontal racism, adding that efforts being made to chart a common cause for the Black race, as a people divided against themselves cannot speak with one voice would be undermined if such vices are not put to check.
The DG expressed a more pathetic state when lives are taken indiscriminately without any recourse to the essence of live itself.
“The struggle against racial and ethnic oppression and the strategies of resistance to exploitation that have characterized Black and African peoples for centuries seem all the more relevant as contemporary ethnic and racial conflicts pervade the world.
“This is more so as recent events have shown that the issues of systemic racism and racial injustices against the black race can only be dismantled and won when there is a deliberate effort by Black and African peoples to redirect their focus and attention into building synergies.
“Unfortunately, while attention is focused more on horizontal racism; that is, white versus black, little attention has been paid to the issues of segregation among Black and African peoples.
“By this, I mean issues of xenophobia, tribalism, nepotism and more recently clan against clan. It is even more pathetic when lives are taken indiscriminately without any recourse to the essence of live itself.
“These vices, if not put in check, will undermine effort being made to chart a common cause for the Black race, as a people divided against themselves cannot speak with one voice,” she said.
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