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Afronation, Anti-Blackness & The Black Christian Community

When I first heard about Afronation, I knew I had to go because Afrobeats has always had a special place in my heart. Over the years, it has helped me keep a connection to my Yoruba heritage, learn words and phrases from the languages of my friends and inexplicably united us somehow as an African Diaspora. Sometimes when I hear it in public, I smile because I remember growing up, the only time we heard our own music was when we played illegally downloaded versions through our Sony Ericsson phones at the back of the bus. Or when an uncle-turned-DJ for the night would drop bangers like Premier Gaou at one auntie’s 50th Party held in what was probably a secondary school sports hall. Afronation was presented to me as a chance to be part of something groundbreaking that would no doubt go down in history, but also presented to me as a way to re-live some of the best parts of my childhood with people from my childhood.

I’m not here to sell Afronation to anybody - it was lit, that is the beginning and end of the story. But reading some of the Christian Twitter think pieces and threads frustrated me because some of it, despite the attempt to advise, or “correct in love”, was deeply rooted in anti-Blackness and was a shame to read coming from believers. Jesus performed many miracles in His short time in ministry, but surprisingly one of my favourite things He ever did was flip over tables in the temple. I love that Jesus wasn’t afraid to call things out for the sake of keeping the peace.