Africans who moved to the west

[u/YesImBrute]

Did non African black people make fun of your origin when you moved to the west? I've had some very bad experiences growing up which has made me very prejudiced against African Americans in particular to put it mildly.

[u/Dark_Star_Matter11]

Yeah you'll get comments.

[u/ctrlprince]

Yes all the time. I was born in the US grew up in the south. For majority of my life I was incredibly ashamed of being African. I hated the culture, the language, the food, and how dark my skin was. I was attacked relentlessly, verbally & physically. It came from only black ppl even when I moved to a majority white school for 1 year it was from black Americans only as crazy as that sounds.

From elementary to high school it was awful I don’t even like thinking about it. I got into so many fights. It’s not as bad as it use to be. There was a shift, maybe like 2018. I started loving myself & my culture. Can’t believe I ever hated it.

[u/OgXwMr]

I’m Somali and ALL black people including Africans bullied me at school. With the exception of Congolese and African Muslims. It was Islamophobia before it was a thing.

[u/AioliApprehensive330 → u/OgXwMr]

Yeah unfortunately being racist towards Somalis is extremely normalized within African communities.

[u/[deleted] → u/AioliApprehensive330]

Stop lying. Racism towards Somalis predominantly comes from other Horners (Ethiopians, Eritreans, Djiboutians) and some East Africans especially Kenyans. I don't think anybody outside of that region cares about Somalis. 

And I don’t feel bad because sometimes it justified. For whatever reason, many Somalis seem to believe that they are the most intelligent, most beautiful, and most capable people in Africa even though their country is in the toilet and most African countries are doing better than them. 

They also go out of their way to demean and insult other Africans especially darker-skinned Africans by calling them “Jareer” in a derogatory manner and have gone as far as attempting to make African Americans feel ashamed of their history of slavery. 

[u/OgXwMr → u/[deleted]]

I’ve actually never experienced anything like that from Horners. Eritreans are historical allies and 60% of Djibouti is Somali. Ethiopians and Somalis get on fine in real life, the internet isn’t reality.

As for jareer, that was pretty much my nickname growing up because of my hair texture. Indians were called timo jilic, the opposite of jareer. Within Somalia only 3 clans aren’t discriminated against, so even the Arab tribes faced discrimination. It’s not as black and white as you make out.

You are from Benin, with few Somalis and you have strong negative opinions on us but claim we aren’t known outside of East Africa. I find that strange.

[u/[deleted] → u/OgXwMr]

If you like, you can pretend all you want colorism, racism, and anti-blackness doesn’t exist in the Somali community but doesn’t change anything I wrote in my comment. 

[u/OgXwMr → u/[deleted]]

I don’t deny that we have these issues, but we are not ALL to blame for that. In fact, Somalis are the first victims of colourism, like I said, I was bullied for my hair texture by people whose hair doesn’t even look mixed let alone straight. When the fascist Italians came, they couldn’t distinguish Cushitic from Bantu so they divided us by hair, like in other countries where they put a pencil through your hair to determine how they treat you. We have Somalis who haven’t deconstructed but plenty of us have and consider ourselves black. If you judge us by internet trolls, I can judge Christian Africans from my own experiences too. I’m not here to change your mind, I already knew exactly what would happen.

[u/AioliApprehensive330 → u/[deleted]]

Somalis are the only Africans who have issues with colorism, racism and anti-blackness? Really dude? Is this the level of bottom of the barrel desperation you are willing to reach? 🤣

[u/AioliApprehensive330 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for beautifully demonstrating my point for me with your comment. I really appreciate it. These are by the way the same arguments people use to justify reducing to racist stereotypes, racial profiling and demonization of Nigerian people across Africa.

[u/unique_plastique → u/[deleted]]

I take it you don’t live in the UK?

[u/ElMaestro91 → u/[deleted]]

That’s some bull Eritreans and Somalis in every country I’ve been to have been friends and allies. I literally travelled to an East Asian country with my Somali friend and literally found two groups of exactly Eritrean and Somalis. And Djibouti are basically Somalis for the most part. And Ethiopians hate is only online.

[u/OgXwMr → u/AioliApprehensive330]

I thought it was just the UK until I experienced it first hand when I went to visit different countries in Africa. I honestly just stick to Muslim Africans now. I’ve had great connections with Senegalese, Northern Nigerians etc

[u/AioliApprehensive330 → u/OgXwMr]

Did you visit Kenya?

[u/OgXwMr → u/AioliApprehensive330]

Kenya is an odd one. I have family from there due to the colonial borders so I stayed all over the country. There was some xenophobia but that was due to the terrorism and piracy at the time. There’s also this idea that we’re all illegal and have tonnes of money so I kept being extorted by the police.

[u/Fresh_Ad4349 → u/OgXwMr]

Somalis are also racist against Non Somali Africans, they call them Jareers, also its mostly African Xtian countries that took in most of Somalis who fled during wars in our country so you simply cant label every Africans as bullies right ? Like Kenya modern day Somalia borders themselves werent drawn by Somalis but by outsiders too

[u/AioliApprehensive330 → u/Fresh_Ad4349]

Sorry but you’re stating Somalis are the only Africans who have derogatory terms for other African people? Are you sure? Or are you just desperate to find an excuse to justify the demonization of a whole group of people?

[u/Fresh_Ad4349 → u/AioliApprehensive330]

If we are talking about Anti Somali hate of within Africa, yes. They dislike their own Bantu populations but then again its the Bantu majority countries that welcomed then when they had war. For Kenya Anti Somali hate is more of an ethnic/tribal issue than xenophobia bcz Somalis are officially considered an ethnic group there. Also what you term as derogatory terms is more of tribal/ethnic tensions that ahs long existed among certain communities within Africa. But for outside of Africa then yes derogatory terms btn Africans is an everyday thing

[u/AioliApprehensive330 → u/Fresh_Ad4349]

Lol, sorry but right now I’m more interested in why you’re posturing so hard on the definition of what counts as more derogatory and xenophobic or not when I simply asked if Somalis are unique in having derogatory terms for other Africans. Firstly “jareerwayne” just mean Somali Bantus and is not inherently an insult, just like there are terms for other ethnic groups within the country. You’re moving the goal post out of desperation and I don’t know why. I didn’t ask about anti-Somali sentiment in other parts of Africa or whether it is sometimes ethnic rather than xenophobic. I asked whether you genuinely think Somalis are uniquely African in having derogatory terms for other African groups. Saying “those are tribal/ethnic tensions” doesn’t make the racist terminology in Kenya against Somalis any less racist, nor does it establish that Somalis are unique in this regard. Every region of Africa has histories of ethnic, regional, national and cross-border prejudice, including racist names and stereotypes for neighboring people groups. Also just because Somalis are an official ethnic group in Kenya does not mean that you cannot be xenophobic against them. This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

[u/Fresh_Ad4349 → u/AioliApprehensive330]

If we are talking about Anti Somali hate of within Africa, yes

Are you blind ? Didnt you read mu 1st statement which I said that its true the xenophobia does exist

I simply asked if Somalis are unique in having derogatory terms for other Africans

Its not unique to Somalis but to most of African ethnic groups, but that gy is positioning his community as the only one to have experienced the xenophia which really isnt true & its where I objected

So they can say non Somalis are xenophobic to them, but when we also say Somalis can be xenophobic to non Somalis its considered xenophobic ? LMAoo

Somalis even ethnically cleansed their own Bantus, & you come here lying that the Somali Anti Bantu hate doesnt exists ?

Each community has a perceived stereotype against the other so labelling it only as unique to a certain community specifically Non Somalis as xenophobic to Somalis is a far fetched

Also the Anti Somali hate doesnt really exist on ground (that guy said he had family in Kenya) if Kenya was so xenophobic then he would've taken all of his family members out of Kenya for safety right ? Its more of an online issue than a reality plus Kenya has a history of xenophobia not against Somalis but also against other ethnic groups depending on the political & economic situation @ that particular time. B4 Anti Somali hate, there was Anti Luo hate, be4 Anti Luo hate there was Anti Asian hate so its not rooted to a specific community the xenophobia is equally applicable to all ethnic groups within Kenya or Africa depending on the context

[u/OgXwMr → u/AioliApprehensive330]

What I discovered when I went to Africa (several countries) was that there was colonial rivalries there that I had no idea about. There are also political rivalries linked to land and leadership. Within one country there are different ethnic groups who have issues with each other. In Tanzania I was considered an Arab by some despite being 100% Somali and that caused serious issues due to Omani colonialism which I had nothing to do with, and the violent ones hated Cushitic people and as Somalis we see ourselves as just Somali so that was upsetting too. It made me realise how easy ethnic cleansing can happen anywhere in the world.

[u/Fresh_Ad4349 → u/OgXwMr]

You guys also ethnically cleansed Boranas from NFD region claiming it as specifically Somali while multiple Non Somali community have been living there for years. Also Somali Bantus too were ethnically cleansed for not being Somali enough so it goes both ways that ethnic cleansing can happen to anyone due to politics & economical conditions of a place @ that particular time

The issue w/ Ethnic cleansing in Afric is that perpertrators are never held accountable fuelling hatred & revenge hence turning into a never ending cycle of revenge. I think only Kenya manages its ethnic conflict very well they never become that large.

[u/OgXwMr → u/Fresh_Ad4349]

Borana still live in NFD, and Somali Bantu are like 1 million. What are you talking about?????

[u/AioliApprehensive330 → u/OgXwMr]

It’s like how Nigerians and Congolese people project their personal issues they have with Fulanis and Tutsi extremist groups (respectively) on Somalis.

I heard there is anti Oman/Arab sentiment in Tanzania and Zanzibar especially. Which makes sense considering their history but it can just turn islamophobic at times I guess.

[u/OgXwMr → u/AioliApprehensive330]

Yes, that’s very true. The Fulani are herders who are semi nomadic and this is the main conflict (land rights), the Tutsis in Rwanda are funding the extremists. What that has to do with Somalis other than the weird pseudoscience of racial classification, I don’t know. 🤷🏽‍♀️ I try not to get involved in any of it besides learning for a better understanding.

Zanzibaris don’t all hate Omanis, plenty of them live there and even trace their ancestry to Oman. It’s a division that exists for definite. I have never had issues with coastal East Africans, we have a lot of cultural overlap due to the Swahili trade that happened from Somalia to Mozambique. We actually have Swahili communities in Somalia too. In my region we have some of the oldest dialects of Swahili. The root issue is capitalism, rooted in colonialism. If we weren’t fighting over resources across the continent, and weren’t being divided based on colonial classification, things would not be the way they are.

[u/Fresh_Ad4349 → u/AioliApprehensive330]

For Congo they specifically have prob w/ RW tutsis, DRC borders Bururndi who has same ethnic make up as Rwanda yet we never hear DRC ppl hold any hate against Burundi Tutsis. Its bcz RW Tutsis have killed 10+ million DC ppl so you expect the DRC ppl who lost relatives to sing kumbaya songs w/ RW tutsis ?

Also most of extremists in NG are of the fulani heritage, ofcoz prejudice against them is going to exists

Rather than saying its xenophobia against certain communities, maybe they should look @ themselves & stop killing ppl from other ethnic groups

[u/OgXwMr → u/Fresh_Ad4349]

The worst xenophobia I got was actually in your country, it was the only one which was violent. I also didn’t say all Africans are bullies, I merely shared my experiences.

[u/Fresh_Ad4349 → u/OgXwMr]

What part did you visit if i may ask. Was it the mainland or Zanzibar ?

[u/OgXwMr → u/Fresh_Ad4349]

It wasn’t Zanzibaris who attacked me, they were very nice and I’m still friends with them. It was mainlanders.

[u/Fresh_Ad4349 → u/OgXwMr]

What part of mainland TZ did you go to ? Cause I know some few Somali ppl who have lived in TZ for decades & havent experienced whatever you saying here

[u/AioliApprehensive330 → u/OgXwMr]

You are wasting your time replying to these people. They never fail to prove my comment with every subsequent response they leave.

[u/OgXwMr → u/AioliApprehensive330]

You’re right. I really should’ve left it but I’m procrastinating doing my chores on my only free day and felt like maybe it might help a reasonable person understand what we go through. BTW one of my favourite people I met in Tanzania was a young Liberian 🇱🇷 girl who was head of a department in the UN, I really felt at home with her. 🫡

[u/KWZA]

Most of the Caribbean people I've met in Ontario (Canada), especially older and more affluent ones, don't like dark people or poor people. This is their attitude towards themselves, so their baseline assumption is that Africans are both. If you're not one or the other, they'll kiss up to you, but talk behind your back. Get to know them and a lot of them are either trying to be as proximal to whiteness as possible, or claiming something African as theirs and trying to sell it. Usually they're doing both at the same time. To be 100% fair, many of the Africans here in Canada come from a high social class back home and similarly look down on other Black and Caribbean folks. So it goes both ways.

[u/AioliApprehensive330]

Yep from Caribbean people. Honestly though these people have no relevance to me so I don’t really care about what they want to say.

[u/NOW-collector → u/AioliApprehensive330]

Caribbean people have an inferiority complex

[u/Defiant_Mall_9300 → u/NOW-collector]

I think it's usually fair to distinguish that most Island born people are not this way inclined, it's mostly second generation

[u/Ok-Brick-6250]

just ask algerian or morrocan living in the west they corespond to this description and egyptian too

[u/Amantes09]

I think it depends on the age at which you make the move. I was in my early 20s so only got stupid questions but no one made fun of me to my face.

[u/semcinyyy]

In my experience it was mostly Caribbeans

[u/egomadee]

Yup, and I was born and raised in the West lol
I have no English names so my background was obvious

[u/Gold-Concentrate-744]

I only encountered black people from the Antilles so not really but i can see how that would be different with Black Americans. They're very westernized

I always find it disturbing how they preach Black solidarity but use the colonizers vocabulary to describe or talk about Africa

[u/krymzynnova]

not me but i went school with carribeans (it was MAINLY jamaicans) who had a bone to pick with those Nigerian & Ghanian - it was actually something that stayed on my mind shockingly

I was also born in the UK 🇬🇧 but the carribeans vs african “wars” (i heard from my older half sister) in the 70s + 80s were apparently baddddd and of course 90s / 00s and even a bit of the 10s - there were stigma’s left 😒

Me personally** i wasn’t made fun of for being Angolan. Not sure if me speaking Portuguese (alongside english) made a difference to that 🤷‍♀️

[u/angelazsz]

somewhat yeah, but we all made fun of each other tbh. it probably would’ve been way worse in the states

[u/krymzynnova → u/angelazsz]

Oh-… yoou got made funn of ? Damn sorry :(

I take you’re from UK aswell then ?

[u/angelazsz → u/krymzynnova]

nooooo i’m canadian, most of us were children of immigrants which is why i think it was less severe btwn black kids but there was def still some weird shit going on i think we were just repeating shit we’d see on tv or whatever

[u/MalemasMucusPlug]

African Americans are nearly as racist towards Africans as their white counterparts are.

[u/CrazyDreadHead_]

I was born in the US but I spent 4-5 years living in South America and Southeast Asia from ages 11 to about 16. I never got made fun of a lot for being African growing up probably because I had an English first name but my last name always gave me away. Also the elementary school I went to had lots of black and brown immigrants until I moved to a whiter neighborhood.

I got made fun of growing up more so for not being “black enough”. I would also get asked a lot where I was from originally because of my last name or how my parents looked. Most of the time it was non black people saying this stuff btw which I thought was weird. I still remember feeling ashamed of my heritage for a while until I became teenager. Idk what it was that made me feel that way. Maybe it’s because Africa didn’t have a positive image here in America at least before the great shift in the late 2010s.

The only time African Americans made fun of me because of my heritage was in college. I went to a predominantly black university so most of my friends were African American. By then I was a bit older and more proud and confident in who I was so it never bothered me a lot. Also I used to clown them back which helped. I once shut them all up when I said that they’re just mad cuz their ancestors got caught and mine didn’t.

[u/brdd2024]

Big time. From all, including some Africans who were born and raised there.

[u/Maleficent_Law_1082]

Yes it was terrible.

[u/NewRecording9992]

Yes. I’m not a mainland Nigerian like my parents are but growing up as an African, I had to deal with my fellow students making fun of my last name and calling my fellow Africans “African booty scratcher” ntm the Ebola jokes

[u/Long-Creme9944 → u/NewRecording9992]

yeah, 2014 was the worst with the ebola jokes