Thanks Rebecca for sharing this real life experience across the Atlantic. You have lots of company in this club. I will try and keep this very short.

In the early 1990s while undertaking Fellowship training in Hannover, Germany, I (a Nigerian from the USA) was advised by a helper - Caucasian - to stay away from a neighborhood because it was inhabited mainly by Africans particularly from a country (which will go unnamed) and by other non-Caucasians.

This very complex ongoing existential social scene of humanity requires a one week yearly symposium until Africa provides the answer "YES" to this article I wrote on this platform on January 11 this year.

"Does Underdevelopment in Sub-Saharan Africa Undermine Racism Mitigation In The African Diaspora?"

The question should of course be extended beyond the African Diaspora to the whole world.

Having been fortunate to live on four of our major six continents, and now in my golden years, I have come to some irresistible conclusions.

1. As long as your skin is dark and your cephalic features are reminiscent of African origin, you are automatically pegged into the bottom of the human ladder, unless the person(s) know you well.

2. By and large, and unfortunately, the quality of people's humanity and its measure are determined by the color of the covering - the skin - of that complex container, the human body.

3. Until Africa extricates itself from its self destructive proclivities, perpetuated by the woeful post-independent leaders who have decimated the continent, her sons and daughters and descendants all over the globe will continue to be stereotyped, scorned and degraded.

4. The good news is that Africa has everything it needs to accomplish this monumental task, namely enormous natural resources and plenty of human resources. The challenge is the leadership. That's the elephant in the room we are facing.