Kenyans debate American racism and African hypocrisy
A memorial in Nairobi, Kenya honors those who were victims of torture during the British colonial period, including the late anti-colonialism activist Esau Khamati Oriedo, who was a notable Kenyan and an influential Christian in the region. Creative Commons photo.
(OPINION) The event took place thousands of miles away in Minneapolis, but that has not stopped Kenyans in Nairobi from plunging into the controversy surrounding the death of George Floyd.
It has been a fierce and, at times, humorous debate — from denouncing the American police and the entire U.S. system to accusations of hypocrisy. Various religious and tribal perspectives also factor into the discussion, and adding to the frenzy was a Kenyan who sent American security into a spin after calling for U.S. protesters to burn down the White House in a tweet that went global.
At the same time, two demonstrations were held outside the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, with the protesters chiding the American police for what they called systematic abuse of Black Americans. "George Floyd was murdered by a police officer empowered by the government you serve, who acted with the knowledge that the system will protect his actions and condemn Floyd. This perpetuates the narrative that a black body is a threat and its destruction is not only understood, but expected," demonstrators said in a statement addressed to Kyle McCarter, the U.S. ambassador to Kenya.
In response, McCarter said: “The actions of the officers involved in the killing of George Floyd were poor and must result to justice and accountability to those involved. The voices of the American people, mine included, reflect their horror and anger at the repugnant acts of these officers. The police involved have been arrested, investigations are ongoing and I am confident that justice will prevail.”
As usual, the war has been fought on social media. One voice of reason was Pastor Edward Munene of the International Christian Centre, Mombasa, an Assemblies of God congregation. He wrote: “Reading about George Floyd, I totally understand how one moment you can be smiling and living life and breathing, and the next, you are trying to shout, ‘I can't breathe!’
“My non-African friends, brothers and sisters. Please understand, we are often not treated the same way you do and yet God created us and placed us on this planet together. Your quietness in seasons like this, your quietness and even wanting to say you are waiting for more information, tends to simply say to us that you don't care and we are not equal. I remember one time having to confront an American pastor friend of mine for a very racist comment he had made to an African friend of mine. It's time for everyone to stand and speak up, for we cannot be silent anymore. Silence is quietly killing loudly and openly!”
Then came Alex Ndiritu, who was virtually unknown until he made a provocative tweet.
Ndiritu, a young man from Nyeri, some 200 kilometers from Nairobi, posted a tweet urging U.S. protesters to burn down the White House. Within hours, the tweet was the talk of netizens. American comedian and actor Terrence Williams took the threat so seriously that he tagged the FBI and CIA asking them to enhance President Donald Trump’s security. Social media updates in Kenya later claimed that Trump had been whisked to a bunker.
Then there was a man captured on video leading demonstrators in a U.S. city in a Swahili protest chant. The man can be seen giving a crash course to his fellow demonstrators before they all join in “Haki Yetu, Haki Yetu,” which translates to “Our rights.”
A brief background to this: in 2007, Kenya saw the bloodiest post-election violence that saw more than 1,000 people killed and thousands displaced. The chaos was triggered after the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader and presidential candidate Raila Odinga rejected the results, saying they had been rigged in favor of the then-ruling Party of National Unity (PNU) under the then-incumbent Mwai Kibaki.
Odinga led violent protests, and “Haki Yetu” was their battle cry. Kenyans thus followed bemused as one of their own led Americans in chanting a defiance shout that they believe is their own.
As the debate rages on, it appears the general consensus is that the American police are a racist lot that derives much fun from bullying people of color.
However, some Kenyans are questioning why their compatriots are so irked by what is happening in far away USA while not condemning the same prejudices in their own country. “You are so busy condemning racism in the U.S. yet you cannot allow your sister to marry a man from another tribe,” one man posted.
Tribalism is usually so entrenched in Kenya that engagements have been called off when the parents realize their son or daughter is bringing home a spouse from a different tribe. Tribalism has been cited as one of the factors in the country’s stunted development.
Yet another post pointed out, “You are busy lecturing Americans, yet a Seventh Day Adventist Kisii (one of the tribes in Kenya) cannot marry a Kisii Catholic.”
Some background again: the area occupied by the Kisii ethnic community has one of the highest concentrations of Adventists in Africa. However, there is a small part of the community comprised of Catholics and other Protestants, as well as Evangelicals. However, there is no love lost between the Adventists and the Catholics.
In the meantime, Kenya’s police have been under scrutiny over the brutal way they enforce the dusk-to-dawn curfew that has been implemented by the government to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Movie producer and actor Alan Oyugi stirred the pot when he posted: “This might rub some of you the wrong way...and I don’t really care. I do not wish to water down the death of George Floyd and the myriad other black people killed in America but I must say this. I see some of you with the hash tags, the Black Tuesday, the videos and posts. You claim to be speaking out against injustice and calling for the fair treatment of black people, yet you celebrated overtly or covertly the butchering of fellow Kenyans in the last election. Kenyans who were targeted for killing on tribal lines. Some of you confronted me then and asked me why I was speaking out. I see you...hypocrites. Nonsense!
“Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. You were silent when we were crying. You never said anything...well some of us took note. Redeem yourself today and talk about the butchering of Kenyans purely on class lines. Some people are free to move as they wish during this pandemic, while others are being shot dead or clobbered senseless for being a few minutes late or failing to have a mask. Speak about that, too.”
Tom Osanjo is a Nairobi-based correspondent for Religion Unplugged. He is a former parliamentary reporter and has covered sports, politics and more at Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper.