Book Review: "Capitalist Nigger"

Capitalist Nigger by Chika Onyeani
Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

The recession we're in is harsh on everyone. The job market is harsh. The government is offering plans to help the creation of new small businesses -- which are the backbone of the economy and job market. Now is the perfect time to take advantage of these business opportunities and become a "Capitalist Nigger."

Although written ten years ago, Chika Onyeani's book Capitalist Nigger holds wisdom still relevant today. In a world where technology advancement rapidly grows, Blacks (in Africa, the Diaspora, and all over the world) are still virtually in the same place they were when Onyeani's book was first released: in the backseat, not the driver's seat, of technology, economics, and self-sufficiency. Onyeani calls this the slave mentality.

Onyeani's point throughout the book is that Blacks remain trapped in a slave mentality: expecting handouts or assistance from others, hating on others, and lack of initiative, among other vices. Onyeani remarks time and again that Blacks consume the most -- and the most expensive products -- than any other race, yet they produce absolutely nothing. Not even in the independent countries in Africa.

Being originally from Africa, Onyeani is an African patriot in the true sense of the word: he loves the continent, yet is forced to reiterate the unwise decisions of the ruling parties. The African nations, according to Onyeani, do not control the exportation and refining of their natural resources, but outsource the work from European nations. Over and over, Onyeani relates his disgust with how things have gone down in Africa and the lack of independence from her former occupiers.

Most of the book is filled with the problems of the Black race as a whole. Searching for role-models for Blacks to imitate, Onyeani puts forth the Jewish people, who, after similar hardships and prosecutions, have grown in the business world, standing unified and firm on the motto "never again." He also commends Indian and Pakistani immigrants for their tenacious business sense and establishing empires in the taxi cab, motel, and newspaper stand industries. The Chinese and the Japanese gain Onyeani's praise for their ability to learn in America, and then take that experience and knowledge of technology and nuclear power back to their home countries where they are improved upon by their own people. Unfortunately, Onyeani claims that none of the African immigrants into America and other countries have done that.

The condemnation Onyeani blasts upon his race is at times reflected back upon himself. Onyeani tells brief stories of his life, before developing the doctrine of the Capitalist Nigger, and the similar mistakes he has made that he sees others repeating. This book lists the philosophy of "Capitalist Niggery": support the businesses of your people through advertisements and patronage; love money, not for what it can do for you, but for what it can do for your family and community; and other things listed in the book.

This book is not a small business guide book. It does not list avenues to find grants or how to write a business plan. The way this book can help you with any business and with your life is the idea of a larger Black community helping and supporting one another, even if you have to go a further distance to support a Black establishment. The mantra of the Capitalist Nigger starts within you, and eventually it shall touch the entire world.

"A. Jarrell Hayes is the Black Urban Times' book review editor, as well as an author, poet, and blogger in the Baltimore area. More on A. Jarrell Hayes."