While mainstream media currently has its sights fixed on the Black Lives Matter protests throughout the Western world, let us not forget the struggles of black people in neighboring countries that are arguably most supposed to know better:
Full article: “They Call Us Black and Filthy”: Sudanese Refugees in Egypt, Trapped Between Racism and Violence
Parenthetically, the myth that anti-African or anti-black racism is exclusive to white people needs to die a swift death. It is a misconception that only serves to empower and obscure African-on-African racism, as of the abovementioned type.
From the article said:“My brother Salman looked exactly like me; people would always think we were twins – I love him so much,” she pauses, her innocent smile suddenly vanishing. “One day, he left for work and didn’t come back. He’d been suffering street harassment and abuse since we arrived. We never saw him again,” she recalls, a tear dropping down her cheek. Her brother’s struggle is familiar to Mariam, who is forced to endure the daily humiliation of street harassment, psychological abuse, and institutional neglect.
“We are treated like dogs,” she says. “On my way to university, on the microbus, no Egyptian will sit beside a Sudanese person. People in the streets shout: Ya sooda (hey black girl), ya shukalata (hey chocolate), ya samra (hey dark girl), and we just accept it, because we have no one to turn to; no one to rely on. They tell us things like 'there’s no point taking a shower because we are dirty anyway.' This is my colour, what should I do!? I can’t wash it, I can’t do anything. My little brothers are now psychologically affected, and ask me why our colour won’t go away every time they shower. They are young; they are in primary school and kindergarten; why should they grow up on these beliefs? Sometimes they refuse going to school in order avoid hearing these things,” she cries.
Full article: “They Call Us Black and Filthy”: Sudanese Refugees in Egypt, Trapped Between Racism and Violence
Parenthetically, the myth that anti-African or anti-black racism is exclusive to white people needs to die a swift death. It is a misconception that only serves to empower and obscure African-on-African racism, as of the abovementioned type.