Violence Against Africans: Walk the Talk and Root Out Racism

The murder of the Congolese youth, and the casual violence with which it was committed is but the latest in a series of hate crimes against African nationals in Delhi.(Photo: iStockphoto)

(The following article is being republished from The Quint’s archives in light of the latest attack on a Nigerian national in Delhi’s Malviya Nagar. A video showing the man being mercilessly thrashed for an alleged theft emerged on Monday. The article was originally published on 26 May 2016.)

Murder is a terrible crime. A murder that springs chiefly from xenophobia is perhaps more so. On 20 May, a 29-year-old Congolese man was beaten to death in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area by three men. The provocation was trivial: Masunda Ketada Olivier, who taught at a language school in the capital, had hailed an auto-rickshaw. The other three men staked their claim to it. An altercation followed, culminating in the men chasing Olivier and bashing his head with a stone.

When Olivier was brought to the hospital, he had already succumbed to his injuries.
Now, African envoys have written a letter to the government urging it to put off the Africa Day event today, saying that India must first solve the problem of “racism and Afro-phobia”. It went on to add that past incidents of violence against Africans had gone unresolved.

In a series of tweets, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj sought to reassure African countries that India was committed to the safety and security of their nationals. She also asked Minister of State for External Affairs, VK Singh to meet the African envoys to allay their fears.

Police at the spot where the Congolese national, Masunda Ketada Olivier, was killed. (Photo: ANI)

Racial Prejudice Prevalent in the Capital

However, mere lip service in this regard will not do. All too often, the government tends to dismiss attacks against African nationals as random incidents that have nothing to do with race. As the African envoys have rightly alleged, the reality is just the opposite.The murder of the Congolese youth, and the casual violence with which it was committed, is but the latest in a series of hate crimes against African nationals in Delhi.

One could argue that the main accused in the case, a man called Mobin Azad Saifi, is a serial offender – he was booked for molestation last December – and hence racism had nothing to do with it. However, the sickening regularity with which blacks are discriminated against, heckled, and beaten up in Delhi and elsewhere in the country, makes this case a part of the same toxic pattern of racial prejudice.

Past Instances

In February this year, a Tanzanian girl was thrashed by a mob in Bengaluru, her clothes torn to shreds, simply because she was passing through the same spot where, hours before, a Sudanese man had run over and killed a person. She was beaten up for no fault other than the fact that she bore the same racial features as the man who had caused the accident.

In September 2014, three African students were beaten up at Rajiv Chowk Metro station in the heart of Delhi after an argument with other passengers. Last year, a group of Ivory Coast nationals were assaulted in northeast Bengaluru, allegedly because they were creating a “nuisance” in the area. The list of hate attacks against blacks goes on…

Hate Crimes In Capital

• Government tries to assure African nations regarding the security of their citizens in India; Sushma Swaraj assures of stringent action against the culprits.
  
• Diplomatic tension mars the African Day celebration with envoys stating in a letter that India should solve its ‘Afro-phobia’ problem.
  
• The Bezbaruah Committee formed in 2014 after the death of Nido Taniam, a student from Arunachal living in Delhi, had recommended stringent action against racial crimes.
  
• In February 2015, the Home Ministry assured of a specific law on race crimes by amending the IPC.
  

The hostility and occasional violence to which African nationals are subjected in our country are not just rooted in the typical Indian abhorrence for the dark-skinned.(Photo: iStock)

Racist Society

India is, of course, a deeply racist society. The demand for fair-skinned brides in matrimonial ads and the staggering popularity of fairness creams are a testament to that. However, the hostility and occasional violence to which African nationals are subjected in our country are rooted not merely in the typical Indian abhorrence for the dark-skinned. At the heart of the chilling prejudice lie the atavistic fear of and loathing for the “other” – the immigrant, the foreigner, those who don’t look like the majority, or practise the same faith, and those who can be painted as the enemy in our midst, taking away jobs, or women, and made responsible for any number of social and economic ills.

It’s the same fear and loathing that Donald Trump has so cleverly tapped into to emerge as the presumptive Republican nominee in the US presidential elections. It’s the same hostility towards the “other” that is behind the raft of hate crimes against people from the Northeast that Delhi has been witness to in recent years.

And it’s the same ignoble majoritarian closing of the ranks that leads people, including those in cosmopolitan Indian metros, to turn away Muslims trying to rent homes.
In 2014 Nido Tania, a 19-year-old student from Arunachal Pradesh, was beaten to death in Delhi. In the outcry that followed, many demanded an anti-racism law to put an end to such terrible hate crimes. However, governments at the Centre and the states must really tackle the larger problem of animus against the “other” that has become endemic in our society. Call it racism, call it xenophobia, call it majoritarian muscle-flexing – unless this tribal fury, this noxious litany of ‘us vs them’ is staunched, India can never hope to become a mature democracy that enshrines respect for pluralism in letter and spirit.

(Shuma Raha is a senior journalist based in Delhi. She can be reached at @ShumaRaha)

Also read:
After Gurugram, Will India Become ‘Hindustan’?
Why Mamata Could Lose the Bhadralok Vote and Why it Won’t Matter