India has a racial problem

One of the consumer products in high demand in India is face cream that will make dark-colored girls look fairer, thus brightening their matrimonial prospects.What India needs right now, say some African residents in the country, is a cream that will make India’s face look less ugly if not fairer to the Africans the world over. They are not joking or being cynical. Over the past two weeks there has been a spate of violent attacks on Africans living in India, particularly in the capital New Delhi. On May 20, a 29-year-old Congolese teacher, Masonda Ketada Olivier, was beaten to death by three drunk men in a dispute about hiring an auto-rickshaw. A week later, six African men, including a Nigerian priest, became victims of attacks. In February, a Tanzanian woman was beaten and stripped naked by a mob in the southern city of Bangalore after a Sudanese student’s car hit an Indian woman. In September 2014, a video of three African men being beaten inside a New Delhi metro station caused an uproar in India. A brutal attack on three African students in September 2014 at the busy Rajiv Chowk metro station in New Delhi shook the sizable African student community in the capital. In 2012 Yannick Nihangaza, a young Burundi national and student of computer science at a university in Patiala, Punjab was the victim of an assault leading to his death in July 2014. Indian police and political leaders may try to dismiss them as isolated incidents but tens of thousands of Africans living in India — including about 30,000 university students — have come to a difference conclusion and that is not very flattering to the world’s largest democracy. The African heads of mission in New Delhi issued a statement on Tuesday urging India’s government to address the problems of “racism and Afro-phobia” in the country. Police action often has been slow in cases of violence against Africans. Language is a problem when foreigners have to deal with the police in northern states. But the real problem is racial bias against Africans. A poll published by the Washington Post in May 2013 has revealed India to be the second-most racist country in the world. A staggering 43 percent of Indians say that they wouldn’t want to live next to a neighbor of a different race. Political leaders’ insensitive remarks or refusal to admit that mistreatment of African people is a direct product of Indian attitude to color has only added to the Africans’ agony. For example, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj invoked Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi to assert that India can “never have a racist mindset.” Though later she acknowledged the real problem, the damage was already done. There has been some corrective action too. Five persons were arrested Sunday for assaulting African nationals in south Delhi’s Mehrauli area three days ago. Delhi Police on Thursday held several meetings in Delhi with local residents and African nationals in different parts of the city to address the concerns of the the people of African origin. The police explained the various steps taken by them for ensuring their safety and security. Patrolling in areas where Africans reside has been intensified. Resident welfare association and market welfare associations will be associated with all all activities to give a sense of safety and security to Africans and remove their fears. While all this is necessary, something more needs to be done. The most important is a campaign to change perceptions Indians have of Africans. According to these perceptions, African migrants are lawless and immoral individuals. Goa’s Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has complained about Nigerians saying the Goanese are annoyed with “their behavior, with their attitude, their way of life.” Media too help strengthen anti-African prejudices by raising the specter of rape and drugs whenever authorities arrest an African while suppressing incidents of attack, verbal or physical, against them.