How racist is Eku Edewor’s Thisday Style heritage shoot?

Eku Edewor’s Sunday feature in Thisday Style magazine has sparked a social media debate of its perceived undertones of racism and slavery.

On Tuesday March 3, 2015, the 53 Extra TV presenter and style celebrity Edewor proudly posted photos of her feature in Thisday style magazine on her Instagram page. The shoot, which was titled, ‘The Journey’, was inspired by Nigerian heritage and culture.

The photos depict a regally clad Edewor in front of very young and dark skinned children carrying her bags and holding an umbrella above her head to shield her from the sun. The shoot was directed by Ade Okelarin.

After some adoration of her beauty by some fans, the realness came to the fore with this comment from the Instagram handle Kayo7385

“Hmmm as gorgeous as this looks, why are the dark Africans servants to the light-skinned, mixed-race princess?”

Edewor replied: “Hmmm.. You have an issue with my skin colour? If I was dark-skinned, you wouldn’t have an issue? I’m so confused. I see a community sending their bride off to her new destination, I guess it’s all objective. You see oppression, I see tradition.”

And just like that, the veil of glamour was stripped off the image and many other people started to see things from another perspective.

Another comment reads: “This is stupid; she shouldn’t be advocating child education.

“Our black children should be in school instead of being portrayed as child servants by these so-called celebs.”

The debate then moved on to Twitter, where Edewor further tried to clarify: “An image depicts younger members of society helping a young bride as she walks the short distance to her home.”

Here is an example of the responses she got “@kingindiana: “@EkuEdewor Aunty, it clearly doesn’t come off like that. If there was any thought put into it, it won’t look like you’re promoting colorism.”

Edewor is mixed race with a Nigerian mother and British  father. In previous interviews, she had spoken about undue criticism of her skin colour, privileged background and her body structure.

“It’s really hard to stand in front of people and they curse you out for being too yellow or too thin or too posh and you still wake up every day and go back to keep on doing what you do.”

The shoot also involved rapper and Globacom amabassador Lynxx, but his photos did not have similar elaboration of his counterpart.

What do you think? Do the photos depict racism or slavery?