Growing up in Lagos, Nigeria, where everyone looked like me & talked like me, moving out, first to the UK (different dynamic, but still relevant), then to the U.S, I was about to embark on a brand-new reality.

I just got married when I moved to join my husband in the United States. As a young bride excited to start my life, with not much to do, pending my work permit, the TV was my friend. Unfortunately, or fortunately for me, it was black history month that February, and I was bombarded by the realities of life as a black person in America.

I was shocked. I binged watch history channel and ....... wept... bitterly. Yes, I heard of the apartheid in South Africa, and knew Mandela, but it didn't sink, until that moment, what systemic racism truly was.

As a black-skinned immigrant, I had to go the extra mile to impress, careful not to cause a scene when I hear a racist remark and dealt with life as is. Still, I'm 100% sure my experience cannot be compared to the African Americans who have lived their lives in fear from birth up till this day.

I stand with my fellow Africans and African Americans around the world in this fight against racism.

And collectively as human beings, we need to do better.