Former NFL player and NFL analyst Emmanuel Acho fell under attack on social media for saying he doesn’t have “generational trauma” like black Americans, because he is the son of Nigerian immigrants.
“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,” Acho, whose parents are Nigerian immigrants, said during his appearance on the Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay podcast.
“When I kick it with black people and they’re like, ‘All white people are racist,’ I know why you’re saying that,” the NFL analyst continued. “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 a message in a manner that people can receive it,” Acho added.
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Lathan responded to Acho telling him that he was offended. “You saying that you don’t have generational trauma, and you didn’t mean it this way, but… in some way meaning that your delivery method to white people is going to be either more effective or more sanitized is, to me, dangerous.”
Lathan went on to state that “what I could say is a black man, a prominent one, acting as an emotional butler for white people and serving them the most milquetoast, unspicy, unseasoned brand of racial discourse and accountability possible could definitely be harmful.”
“We’re fighting for our lives,” Lathan insisted.
Acho was then attacked on social media, with one Twitter user claiming the former NFL player suggested “he’s better equipped than African Americans to speak because he doesn’t have generational trauma as a Nigerian.”
“I made no such suggestion, that was the reach the host of the show made and led the listener to,” Acho responded. “I stated my lineage to allow understanding for my predisposition to be *less* hostile. It was giving the listener insight as to why. Not implying I’m better.”
Lathan then responded to Acho, writing, “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?” Lathan added.
More online critics jumped in to attack the sports analyst, with one Twitter user calling him “a tool of white supremacy” and suggesting he could be the offspring of slave traders.
“Emmanual Acho is a melanin settler & proud buffer class tool of white supremacy,” the individual wrote. “He just might be slave trader progeny.”
“EUROPEANS STOLE 60 MILLION AFRICANS FROM AFRICA. THAT PRODUCES GENERATIONAL TRAUMA,” another exclaimed.
“I think he’s confused. It’s not that he doesn’t have generational ‘trauma,’ it’s that he doesn’t have the generational context that African Americans do. There’s a hole in his understanding, and ignorance is bliss,” another Twitter user commented.
“No generational trauma? 1. You’re SPEAKING ENGLISH. 2. You worship a white Jesus. 3. Your country literally was named ‘LAND OF THE BLACKS’ by Great Britain and you didn’t change it,” another declared.
“He has had an elite life in America,” another said of Acho. “Black Americans are confusing him as one of us because of his skin color.”
Generational trauma is a hotly contested concept — that an individual suffering distress can physically pass down markers of that distress to his or her offspring. No definitive scientific research has proven this popular claim.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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