February is Black History Month and the Talon was interested in getting the opinion of native African, Dr. Adeyinka Fashokun, on his experiences in Africa and in America.

Q: Where are you originally from?

A: I was born in Nigeria, a city called Ilesha.

Q: When did you decide to come to the U.S. and why?

A: I decided to come to the United States when I was 27 years old for what I called an educational adventure. 

Q: When you came to the U.S. what shocked you?

A: Everything looked strange. People talked differently, even the logic people used was different. It’s like learning to walk for the first time. 

Q: How does it feel to be a minority coming from a majority?

A: I felt like a penny in fluid, there was nothing I could relate to. I was a metal around fluid so to say. 

Q: Have you experienced racism first hand?

A: Yes, I was in college, not quite three months, when I arrived in this country. I enrolled in a class called Graphic Design II.

The first incident of racism that I felt was when each of us were given an assignment to bring back to class. We displayed our work and the professor came in and he was always applauding my work. “It’s beautiful and great.” And when he looked back and asks, “Whose work is this?”

I would raise my hand. You could see some rejection and disappointment in his face, you know, he looked mad. “Why should I be praising you?”

This happened four or five times. At the end of the semester when he graded all our work, I got a C. The rest of my classmates, who respected my work, they would get an A.

I had to report this to the dean of the college. My professor never saw past my race when it came to grades. 

Q: Have you chang-ed from this exper-ience?

A: It made me aware that people would do this because of your race and not so much of what you [did] in terms of character or your performances.

It gave me awareness because where I come from you earn a grade and [are] not “given” a grade. Your grade solely reflects your performance. In terms of performance,that grade my professor gave me was subjective, not objective. 

Q: How does it feel to be one on the few blacks to work at Clayton Valley

A: I feel very unique– one out of the many and that’s not to brag.

Q: What are your views on Black History Month?

A: It’s a necessity. It’s necessary to celebrate the goodness of the group, and have the opportunity to revisit your history and relish in it, It’s an opportunity to look back over in history and say, “Yes, we’ve done this and this is how far we’ve gone in terms of accomplishments,” and appreciate the people who led the way. 

Q: Do you feel stereotyped?

A: Yes, the first thing they think about is all these things attributed to somebody like me. I might not be that, I might actually be the opposite. For instance people will see so and on and me he look like a football player, a line backer. No, I play soccer. 

Q: Do you celebrate Kwanzaa?

A: Yes, I do. Kwanzaa happens to be a celebration. The African Americans adopted it, black origin during the Christmas period. I believe a professor in Southern California State University developed it. It’s something similar to Hanukkah and Christmas. It goes on for seven days with different themes.  

Q: Who influenced you in your life, and how?

A: My father, the closest person I ever had when I was young. I always admired him. More so when I grew older, we became almost equals. He was not so much a father but a friend. I could share everything and anything, he was well educated.

Q: Is there racism in Africa?

A: Yes, it’s a different type of racism, if I had to give it a name I will call it tribalism. You can’t call it racism because you have people of the same race. It’s not racism or genderism but it’s similar. I want to call it rankism, because you have people pulling rank on each other.

In Nigeria there are three major languages spoken, one is to the north, one to the west and one to the east. Culturally each tribe discriminates against each other because when you look at a culture the differences is used against them.

Mind you, we all look alike and live in the same area of the continent. The difference among each tribe is played off so much so it works its way into the politics of the country and maybe social economics. Not in terms of race but culture. 

Q: Do you feel “African American” is a politically correct term?

A: Yes. If your ancestors were born in Africa or you were born in Africa, you have the right to use the word African Amer-ican, in whatever choice of nationality you want to call yourself. Every person can call themselves African Am-erican too because anthologically, every person came from Africa, so everybody has the right to call themselves whe-ther you are black or white. I believe you have the choice.

Q: Have you experienced racism at CV?

A: I’ve had a kid say the KKK towards me.

Q: How would Af-rica seem different if you went back now to live there permenantly?

A: It would be different than living here because you are living in a different cultural and geographic zone. I will have to leave by friends of 20 odd years to start reactivating old friendships and making new friends. It will be fun and exciting though.