Emmanuel Acho, NFL analyst has stirred a controversy for comparing his Nigerian cultural upbringing with that of African Americans. The Nigerian born American said that being raised in a Nigerian household in America with Nigerian culture precluded him from Black American “generational trauma”. Speaking on Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay’s Higher Learning podcast, the Nigerian American analyst, Acho said “When white people say, ‘Well, racism doesn’t exist,’ I know why they say that. Because I’ve been in them rooms when they’re saying that, when I kick it with Black people and they’re like, ‘All white people are racist,’ I know why you’re saying that. All the while, I have the privilege and luxury of not having generational trauma, because my parents were born in Nigeria. So my method is removing some of the sting, because I don’t have that sting, and trying to deliver it in a manner that people can receive it.”

.@EmmanuelAcho I’m not sure what you intended to convey by stating your Nigerian background frees you of “generational trauma” and takes the “sting” out of your convos with white people. But it feels like your purposefully othered yourself from the descendants of slaves. Why? https://t.co/5jPKwXITDs pic.twitter.com/TGfulKtFUx

— Van Lathan Jr (@VanLathan) January 26, 2023

 

Van, the entire conversation was a public set up. Your producers lured me into committing by misleading me about the topics of “conversation.” You manipulated my relationship w/ Rachel in order to publicly air your grievances as opposed to preparing me for a productive dialogue. pic.twitter.com/8S6cHHr8hj

— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) January 26, 2023