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Let’s see if life will go back to normal after anti-racism protests

Wednesday June 17 2020
protest

A Black Lives Matter protest. What is the effect of anti-racism protests and actions in Africa? PHOTO | AFP

By WAIRIMU NDERITU

It has been quite a week in the fight against racism, has it not?

One wonders whether a death or act of discrimination can galvanise Africa in the way George Floyd has, yet, it’s easy to find more atrocities brought to light by the power of a mobile phone camera.

A quick Internet search brings up a video from my motherland, Kenya, where, 21-year-old Mercy Cherono was tied to a motorcycle by a policeman and dragged across the streets on her stomach, as her mother Catherine Cherotich wailed.

Cherono suffered a broken leg after the officer hit her leg with a club, as well as other injuries. The policeman accused her of stealing from him. He released her after the public intervened.

I would not be surprised if this Kenyan policeman has been sharing videos of George Floyd’s death, outraged at the cruelty of the white policeman.

Why do we care as Africans to put ourselves in the shoes of Floyd but not in Cherono’s? And what are the consequences for this lack of imagination?

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What is the effect of anti-racism protests and actions in an Africa made up of autonomous ethnic groups subdued and lumped together by European conquest?

To date, many Africans prefer ethnic over national identities. This is most dangerous when it permeates public policies, institutional practices and cultural representations.

Last year, I wrote a series of articles for this newspaper on how racism manifests in the hospitality industry. The articles resonated with many people and attracted a huge amount of feedback, yet amazingly, a number of those who responded, all African, saw racism as history or as violence on African-Americans by white policemen.

Yet, it is clear both structural racism and ethnicism in Africa allocates social privileges. Those to be found on the lower end of the privilege scale and socioeconomically disadvantaged are inevitably, black. Those with access to opportunities and power are from all races as class intersects with race.

Part of this came from the divide and rule strategy, a British colonial method in parts of Africa - segregating ethnic groups and ruling indirectly through chiefs.

The strategy established a clear line in associating ethnic identity and access to resources such as education and any government service. Though there were occasional raids between communities, the strategy disrupted pre-colonial inter-ethnic cooperation cemented through trade and intermarriage.

A shared national identity across ethnic communities was of course not the priority of the coloniser but rather, taxes paid on time and strictly enforced law and order to guarantee economic returns.

One needs to understand colonial treatment of ethnic groups to appreciate that leaders currently using ethnicity to divide people have perfected the original divisive racist script.

These divisions deepen concurrently with competition by ethnic blocs, mobilised against each other, for political control.

As we identify with protests against racism on African-Americans, we need to recognise current manifestations of ethnic divisions in Africa.

Colonialism happened in living memory and Ghana, the first sub-Saharan African country to attain independence celebrated 63 years of independence just three months ago.

Why don’t we have special story telling sessions in schools where those who lived through colonialism speak in first person about their experiences explaining the exclusion from occupational, educational and residential arrangements?

Without historical memory we are repeating the mistakes of the past and we cannot see the pattern. Why are we only relying on only what is written as a source of information?

There are literally thousands of websites on testimonies of people who survived the Holocaust. Where are the websites for survivors of racist colonial atrocities?

Why has the African Union not worked with member countries for a school curriculum on the history of the continent?

Understanding structural racism and ethnicism allows us to see more clearly how policies and institutional practices reflect bias rather than individual merit and effort.

We will understand how we came to take for granted that white people should be served first, that police officers in Africa, who shouldn’t be beating up anyone, can beat up black but not white people, and Africans should always defer in opinion to white people.

There is a prevailing silent unanimity that white people must dominate and that ethnic divisions are our bane as a continent. This thinking shapes our attitudes and judgements.

When the anti-racism protests end and all the protestors go back to their lives, will Africans continue to allow the perpetuation of incidents such as a policeman daring to drag a human being on the streets, or shall we forge a partnership to find a meaningful solution?

Wairimu Nderitu is the author of Beyond Ethnicism, Mukami Kimathi, Mau Mau Freedom Fighter and Kenya: Bridging Ethnic Divides [email protected]

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