When blacks freed themselves from slavery and later colonialism, they wrongly thought that they had become equal with other non-black people. This equality has never been; and it seems, it will never be achieved until black people all over the world rise again and fight for it.

The world’s superstructure has never cared about black people. Despite the fact that the Declaration of Universal Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) clearly stated that freedom was one of the human rights, ask yourself, how long did it take for African countries to become free? When it comes to black people, theoretically they’re humans however, practically, they’re either not or half humans as European colonizers and xenophobes used to categorize them.

The recent racially motivated killing of George Floyd in the US has brought back the black question and racism to the fore. Millions of people in the US and abroad have walked the streets to condemn and protest against endemic and systemic racism against the black people.  

US president Donald Trump, instead of alleviating the ongoing rage, has been adding more fuel to the protests through his utterances and tweets. New York governor Andrew Cuomo has gone on record to condemn systemic racism and injustice.

“We have an injustice in the criminal justice system that is abhorrent,” Cuomo notes.

According to the governor, what’s ongoing in the US is the continuum of injustices that have been sat on and tolerated for decades without providing a lesson or a solution.

Essentially, Floyd’s massacre has unearthed the soft underbelly of the US system that has seen police kill and maltreat Afro-Americans without apology. Last month, the world witnessed yet another killing of a black person by police in the US. This has been going on in various states.

After the death of Floyd, the entire world has condemned the US for its racism against black people. Is the US alone? I am not trying to be Advocatus diaboli. Have we easily forgotten what transpired in China recently where Africans were openly discriminated against? Have we easily forgotten how in India Africans in Andaman island known as Jarawa are treated like animals for Indian tourists to go and view not to mention open discrimination against Africans and Indians of black pedigree such as Bengalis and Dalits among others? Have we easily forgotten how black people in Libya and many Maghreb countries have been traded in silent slave trade? Have we forgotten our sisters who are abused and discriminated against in the Middle East where racism is open and rampant?

Africans are not just mistreated in foreign capitals alone. They are also mistreated within their continent. A foreigner with a foreign passport can crisscross Africa more easily than an African. Many corrupt African governments like to do business with foreigners than their counterpart African ones.

Let us face it. Indians and other Asians have been in Africa for many years but not many intermarriages have occurred between blacks and those that they host. Currently, at least, it is possible to spot a Sino-African couple even Korean-African couple but not Indo-African one. Why? Isn’t this broad daylight racism? It is easy to see Filipino and any colour couple but not with black. Even Arabs who have been in Africa are famed for marrying African women but they do not reciprocate by allowing their daughters to be married by black men. Dar es Salaam, Kilwa, Mombasa, Tanga and other coastal towns speak volumes vis-à-vis this observation drawn from personal experience.

The situation is worse. In Brazil, it is close to a crime for one to associate him/herself with blackness. That is why some brownish Africans in Brazil like to refer to themselves as Moreno but not negro or negra. Likewise, in Africa, there are some Africans who either believe they’re Arabs like those in North Sudan or have Arab ancestry. Go to Eastleigh in Nairobi. You will see what I mean. Somali never like to mix with non-somalis. Refer to the discrimination in the so-called Bantu Somali. Ethiopians, as well, do the same systematically.  To make matters worse, even those in the diaspora still believe that their brethren sold them to slavery. What a blame game!

By Nkwazi Mhango.

The author is a lifetime member of the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador (WANL) and author of over 20 books among which are Africa Reunite or Perish, 'Is It Global War on Terrorism' or Global War over Terra Africana? How Africa Developed Europe and contributed many chapters in scholarly works on many issues of importance on Africa.