Can white people be treated as racist as black people are? Writer Chika Unigwe thinks such reverse racism is ‘a nonsensical idea’. ‘That myth persists because some people ignore the link between racism and power. In a world constructed to maintain white privilege, you have good reason to fear discrimination.’

A year ago, the young Amanda Gorman recited her The Hill We Climb for the new US President Joe Biden. When that poem was translated into Dutch, there was a heated discussion about who was most suitable for this. Author and MO* columnist Chika Unigwe looks back on the debate.

In 2021, the Nobel Prize for literature went to Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah. Writer Chika Unigwe believes that African literature does not need the Nobel Prize to be validated, but it is good to see influential bodies like the Swedish Academy recognizing works from the continent.

There is still a need for an honest history of colonization. This is illustrated by a playful action in London by a man who claimed to have “discovered” the River Thames, writes MO*columnist Chika Unigwe. ‘To discover something that already exists and stick another name on it is pure arrogance.’