Victims of Xenophobia Abroad, Culprits of Xenophobia at Home

[Farooq A. Kperogi]

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Victims of Xenophobia Abroad, Culprits of Xenophobia at Home

By Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

Twitter:@farooqkperogi

The mindless xenophobic violence against Nigerians and other African immigrants in South Africa is igniting social media conversation about what one might call global Naijaphobia, that is, the mass resentment of Nigerians in many parts of the world. We are now increasingly stereotyped worldwide as rude, boisterous, tastelessly showy, domineering, and criminally inclined.

From Euro-America to Asia, from Southern Africa to East Africa, and even in other West African countries, many people judge Nigerians by the attitudinal excesses and moral indiscretions of a minority of us. Nevertheless, amid the righteous indignation that this admittedly unfair reality provokes in us, we need to realize that we are also culprits of internal xenophobia within our national space.

In Nigeria, moral transgressions are habitually territorialized and ethnicized. Northern Muslims are routinely stereotyped as terrorists. Nigerians from the East are pigeonholed as inescapably prone to fraudulent schemes like 419 and drug trafficking. Nigerians from the West are typecast as a cowardly, traitorous lot who are given to ritual murders and credit card frauds. Northern Christians and southern ethnic minorities are branded as lazy, good-for-nothing drunkards.  And so on.

To be sure, unkind stereotypical  generalizations about people are conventional parts of the human perceptual process. They are not necessarily always activated by premeditated ill will. They are just a part of our visceral, unschooled perceptual guidelines that psychologists call our schemata. The untutored human mind has a cognitive need for what is called chronically accessible constructs, which help us make snap, effortless judgments about people. Nevertheless, the body of stereotypes we build about people through our chronically accessible constructs can be—in fact often are—faulty, over-generalized, and primary reasons for the distortion of reality.

Negative, inaccurate cognitive schemata become particularly problematic if they formally inform public policy. For instance, about the same time that Nigerians were justifiably hyperventilating on social media over xenophobic fury on their compatriots in South Africa, the Lagos State government arrested 123 Nigerians from Jigawa State who relocated to Lagos in a truck with their motorcycles in search of better economic opportunities.

The Lagos State government accused them of the non-existent crime of “illegal mass movement”! In an August 31 tweet, the Lagos State government announced the "Arrest of illegal mass movement of Okada riders to Lagos from the North jointly coordinated by the State Commissioner for The Environment and Water Resources, Mr Tunji Bello and his Transportation counterpart, Dr. Abimbola Oladehinde."

Ignore the monstrous grammar for a moment. What law of the land justifies what the Lagost State Government did? Chapter4, Section 41 of the Nigerian Constitution states that, “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom.”

So what was the legal basis for the Lagos State government’s initial arrest of the Okada riders from Jigawa? A newspaper editor from the South who supported the unconstitutional arrest and detention of the 123 Jigawa Okada riders argued that the action was justified in light of the rampant terrorism in the Muslim North and the crippling anxieties in the South about the creeping incursion of this virus into their region. There are three fundamental problems with this reasoning.

One, that assumption rests on the notion that the South is an unblemished, crime-free El Dorado. It's not. Criminals from the South also go to the North. Some crimes are more prevalent in the South than they are in the North. The fact that one region has one sort of crime and not the other is no reason to engage in invidious stereotypical generalization of one or the other. No crime is more acceptable than the other is.

Two, if state governments in parts of Nigeria can invoke the crimes prevalent in other parts of the country as justification to violate the constitutionally guaranteed right to movement of some Nigerians, what moral right do we have to resent being negatively stereotyped and violated abroad on account of the crimes of a minority of our compatriots? It’s the same logic.

Three, the 123 people the Lagos State government illegally arrested (and later released) putatively on suspicion of being terrorists are from Jigawa State. Since the Boko Haram insurgency started in 2009, there are scarcely, if any, terrorist attacks in Jigawa. The North is not one monolithic, undifferentiated region. The fact that there is terrorism in the northeast is no reason to assume that every Northern Muslim, including one from outside the Northeast, is a terrorist. That’s ethnic profiling.

Incidentally, the Lagos State Government appeared to have inadvertently admitted that it indeed “profiled” the Okada riders from Jigawa. Gbenga Omotoso, Lagos State’s Commissioner for Information & Strategy, in a press statement designed to dispel the impression that the 123 Hausa travelers who were arrested by the Lagos State government were targeted because of their ethnic identity, said, “The arrested suspects have been moved to the State Police Command where they are being profiled."

When law enforcement officers “profile” people, it means they are judging the people because of their ethnicity, race, religion, etc. instead of their actual conduct. I’m not sure that was the meaning Omotoso intended to convey because it contradicts the core claim of his press release. Was it a Freudian slip or just plain ignorance? Or both?

Well, a friend from the South who is close to Lagos State government officials confided in me that the arrest of the 123 men from Jigawa was just political theatre carefully calculated to purchase and win back lost political capital for the Bola Tinubu political camp in the southwest. This was necessitated, he said, by Tinubu’s insensitive and impolitic “where are the cows?” remark in the aftermath of the brutal murder of Afenifere leader Rueben Fasoranti’s daughter, which has caused Tinubu to be seen in the Southwest as a shamelessly thoughtless lackey of the Fulani.

If this is true—and I have no reason to doubt that it’s true— how is this different from South African politicians playing up negative stereotypes of Nigerians to stir up xenophobic violence against Nigerian immigrants in South Africa?

Interestingly, the Naijaphobic hysteria in South Africa and the Hausaphobic profiling of poor Okada drivers in Lagos are fairly coextensive with another enduring strand of Nigeria’s many bigotries: religious intolerance. Inaccurate reports that alleged that Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike had destroyed a mosque in Port Harcourt also helped to magnify the Muslim North’s own hypocrisy and unflattering record of religious intolerance.

Tearing down of churches and refusal to grant permits to build churches is a persistent problem in the North’s so-called Sharia states. Ironically, it’s precisely the people who have destroyed churches, who have refused to grant permission for churches to be built, or who have cheered the persecution of Christians that are taking umbrage at the unusual news of the demolition of a mosque in Port Harcourt.

A Kano-based Facebooker by the name of Ibrahim Sanyi-Sanyi captured the hypocrisy and duplicity of the arrowheads of the Northern Muslim anger brigade against the “demolition” of a mosque in Port Harcourt when he wrote: “When Shekarau was the Governor from 2003 - 2011, billboards warning visitors ‘Kano garin Sharia ne' [Kano is Islamic Sharia state] were erected at strategic locations leading to Kano Metropolitan City. Furthermore, churches were razed down including Christ the King Church (CKC) in Naibawa, Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) in Giginyu and HEKAN (Combined Churches of Christ) Church in Rogo Local Government Area (LGA).

“Now, Malam Shekarau, out of political expediency and with obvious intention to ride on general sentiments, has lashed out on Governor Wike for saying 'Rivers is a Christian State' and for 'demolishing of mosque' which are similar divisive stuff that happened under him as a Governor.”

Similarly, even when predominantly Christian universities like the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, have had spaces for mosques on their campuses almost since their founding, federal universities in Kano, Sokoto, etc. that are funded by oil wealth from the Christian South have no churches. That’s unacceptable Christophobia.  So while we condemn Naijaphobia abroad, let’s also reflect on our own local phobias at home.

Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Journalism & Emerging Media
School of Communication & Media

Social Science Building 

Room 5092 MD 2207

402 Bartow Avenue
Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw, Georgia, USA 30144
Cell: (+1) 404-573-9697
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com

Twitter: @farooqkperogi

Author of Glocal English: The Changing Face and Forms of Nigerian English in a Global World

"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will

[Julius Eto]

Prof. Falola,again i salute your good work for our race.The Almighty God will reward you.

Look at what this great African mind, Prof. Kperogi, a Muslim, has written.

I have nothing more to say than to express profound joy that there is still hope for the black race with giants of African history like Professors Falola and Kperogi always standing for the truth, no matter how bitter and dangerous, even standing to lose favour with government. The dialectic will continue to be kind to them.

JE







On Saturday, September 7, 2019, 2:18:39 PM GMT+1, Farooq A. Kperogi <farooq...@gmail.com> wrote:





Saturday, September 7, 2019Victims of Xenophobia Abroad, Culprits of Xenophobia at HomeBy Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

Twitter:@farooqkperogi
The mindless xenophobic violence against Nigerians and other African immigrants in South Africa is igniting social media conversation about what one might call global Naijaphobia, that is, the mass resentment of Nigerians in many parts of the world. We are now increasingly stereotyped worldwide as rude, boisterous, tastelessly showy, domineering, and criminally inclined.
From Euro-America to Asia, from Southern Africa to East Africa, and even in other West African countries, many people judge Nigerians by the attitudinal excesses and moral indiscretions of a minority of us. Nevertheless, amid the righteous indignation that this admittedly unfair reality provokes in us, we need to realize that we are also culprits of internal xenophobia within our national space.

In Nigeria, moral transgressions are habitually territorialized and ethnicized. Northern Muslims are routinely stereotyped as terrorists. Nigerians from the East are pigeonholed as inescapably prone to fraudulent schemes like 419 and drug trafficking. Nigerians from the West are typecast as a cowardly, traitorous lot who are given to ritual murders and credit card frauds. Northern Christians and southern ethnic minorities are branded as lazy, good-for-nothing drunkards.  And so on.
To be sure, unkind stereotypical  generalizations about people are conventional parts of the human perceptual process. They are not necessarily always activated by premeditated ill will. They are just a part of our visceral, unschooled perceptual guidelines that psychologists call our schemata. The untutored human mind has a cognitive need for what is called chronically accessible constructs, which help us make snap, effortless judgments about people. Nevertheless, the body of stereotypes we build about people through our chronically accessible constructs can be—in fact often are—faulty, over-generalized, and primary reasons for the distortion of reality.
Negative, inaccurate cognitive schemata become particularly problematic if they formally inform public policy. For instance, about the same time that Nigerians were justifiably hyperventilating on social media over xenophobic fury on their compatriots in South Africa, the Lagos State government arrested 123 Nigerians from Jigawa State who relocated to Lagos in a truck with their motorcycles in search of better economic opportunities.
The Lagos State government accused them of the non-existent crime of “illegal mass movement”! In an August 31 tweet, the Lagos State government announced the "Arrest of illegal mass movement of Okada riders to Lagos from the North jointly coordinated by the State Commissioner for The Environment and Water Resources, Mr Tunji Bello and his Transportation counterpart, Dr. Abimbola Oladehinde."
Ignore the monstrous grammar for a moment. What law of the land justifies what the Lagost State Government did? Chapter4, Section 41 of the Nigerian Constitution states that, “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom.”
So what was the legal basis for the Lagos State government’s initial arrest of the Okada riders from Jigawa? A newspaper editor from the South who supported the unconstitutional arrest and detention of the 123 Jigawa Okada riders argued that the action was justified in light of the rampant terrorism in the Muslim North and the crippling anxieties in the South about the creeping incursion of this virus into their region. There are three fundamental problems with this reasoning.
One, that assumption rests on the notion that the South is an unblemished, crime-free El Dorado. It's not. Criminals from the South also go to the North. Some crimes are more prevalent in the South than they are in the North. The fact that one region has one sort of crime and not the other is no reason to engage in invidious stereotypical generalization of one or the other. No crime is more acceptable than the other is.
Two, if state governments in parts of Nigeria can invoke the crimes prevalent in other parts of the country as justification to violate the constitutionally guaranteed right to movement of some Nigerians, what moral right do we have to resent being negatively stereotyped and violated abroad on account of the crimes of a minority of our compatriots? It’s the same logic.
Three, the 123 people the Lagos State government illegally arrested (and later released) putatively on suspicion of being terrorists are from Jigawa State. Since the Boko Haram insurgency started in 2009, there are scarcely, if any, terrorist attacks in Jigawa. The North is not one monolithic, undifferentiated region. The fact that there is terrorism in the northeast is no reason to assume that every Northern Muslim, including one from outside the Northeast, is a terrorist. That’s ethnic profiling.
Incidentally, the Lagos State Government appeared to have inadvertently admitted that it indeed “profiled” the Okada riders from Jigawa. Gbenga Omotoso, Lagos State’s Commissioner for Information & Strategy, in a press statement designed to dispel the impression that the 123 Hausa travelers who were arrested by the Lagos State government were targeted because of their ethnic identity, said, “The arrested suspects have been moved to the State Police Command where they are being profiled."
When law enforcement officers “profile” people, it means they are judging the people because of their ethnicity, race, religion, etc. instead of their actual conduct. I’m not sure that was the meaning Omotoso intended to convey because it contradicts the core claim of his press release. Was it a Freudian slip or just plain ignorance? Or both?
Well, a friend from the South who is close to Lagos State government officials confided in me that the arrest of the 123 men from Jigawa was just political theatre carefully calculated to purchase and win back lost political capital for the Bola Tinubu political camp in the southwest. This was necessitated, he said, by Tinubu’s insensitive and impolitic “where are the cows?” remark in the aftermath of the brutal murder of Afenifere leader Rueben Fasoranti’s daughter, which has caused Tinubu to be seen in the Southwest as a shamelessly thoughtless lackey of the Fulani.
If this is true—and I have no reason to doubt that it’s true— how is this different from South African politicians playing up negative stereotypes of Nigerians to stir up xenophobic violence against Nigerian immigrants in South Africa?
Interestingly, the Naijaphobic hysteria in South Africa and the Hausaphobic profiling of poor Okada drivers in Lagos are fairly coextensive with another enduring strand of Nigeria’s many bigotries: religious intolerance. Inaccurate reports that alleged that Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike had destroyed a mosque in Port Harcourt also helped to magnify the Muslim North’s own hypocrisy and unflattering record of religious intolerance.
Tearing down of churches and refusal to grant permits to build churches is a persistent problem in the North’s so-called Sharia states. Ironically, it’s precisely the people who have destroyed churches, who have refused to grant permission for churches to be built, or who have cheered the persecution of Christians that are taking umbrage at the unusual news of the demolition of a mosque in Port Harcourt.
A Kano-based Facebooker by the name of Ibrahim Sanyi-Sanyi captured the hypocrisy and duplicity of the arrowheads of the Northern Muslim anger brigade against the “demolition” of a mosque in Port Harcourt when he wrote: “When Shekarau was the Governor from 2003 - 2011, billboards warning visitors ‘Kano garin Sharia ne' [Kano is Islamic Sharia state] were erected at strategic locations leading to Kano Metropolitan City. Furthermore, churches were razed down including Christ the King Church (CKC) in Naibawa, Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) in Giginyu and HEKAN (Combined Churches of Christ) Church in Rogo Local Government Area (LGA).
“Now, Malam Shekarau, out of political expediency and with obvious intention to ride on general sentiments, has lashed out on Governor Wike for saying 'Rivers is a Christian State' and for 'demolishing of mosque' which are similar divisive stuff that happened under him as a Governor.”

Similarly, even when predominantly Christian universities like the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, have had spaces for mosques on their campuses almost since their founding, federal universities in Kano, Sokoto, etc. that are funded by oil wealth from the Christian South have no churches. That’s unacceptable Christophobia.  So while we condemn Naijaphobia abroad, let’s also reflect on our own local phobias at home.Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.Associate ProfessorJournalism & Emerging Media
School of Communication & MediaSocial Science Building Room 5092 MD 2207402 Bartow Avenue

Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw, Georgia, USA 30144
Cell: (+1) 404-573-9697

Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.comTwitter: @farooqkperogiAuthor of Glocal English: The Changing Face and Forms of Nigerian English in a Global World

"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will

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[Salimonu Kadiri]

​For instance, about the same time that Nigerians were hyperventilating on social media over xenophobic fury on their compatriots in South Africa, the Lagos State government arrested 123 Nigerians from Jigawa State who relocated to Lagos in a truck with their motorcycles in search of better economic opportunities - Farooq A. Kperogi. With this assertion, Farooq is questioning the integrity of Nigerians who are protesting South Africans' xenophobia against Nigerians while in Lagos State, 123 people from Jigawa were also victims of xenophobia. Farooq would appear to have mistaken shadow for substance and thereby committed a laughable fallacy. The situation of Nigerians in South Africa, whereby they are being killed by mobs and their properties destroyed is in no way the same as the arrest of 123 people from Jigawa State in Lagos by a constituted authority. The arrest of the 123 people from Jigawa State in Lagos was not motivated by hatred for their persons and state origin. The Chairman of Lagos State Taskforce that arrested the 123 men from Jigawa, Mr. Yinka Egbeyemi, said that, "the trailer (containing the Jigawa men) was accosted in the wee hours of Friday, after a security alert from the public. He said his team swiftly responded to the information, which led to the seizure of the truck and its occupants at Agege area of Lagos." https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2019/08/30/lagos-taskforce-intercepts-truck-with-123-men-48-bikes/ Normally, trailers are used to transport goods and not humans, therefore when people saw the trailer containing so many  persons, they alerted the appropriate authority. Unlike in South Africa, Lagos people that observed the unusual trailer with its passengers only reported to the taskforce and did not attack the trailer and its passengers. Under the Nigerian law, the law enforcement agency has the right to arrest and detain a suspect for 48 hours within which the suspect should be arraigned in a court of law or be released. As it is now known, all the 123 men from Jigawa have been released. Consequently, it is nothing but sterile intellectual masturbation to attribute the arrest and the release, in Lagos, of 123 Jigawa passengers in a trailer which normally should transport animals and goods, to xenophobia. It was the mode of travelling by the 123 Jigawa men that attracted suspicion of the public which alerted the Taskforce and not their state of origin.

Farooq cited Chapter 4 Section 41 of the Nigerian Constitution which states that, Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom." Relying on this Section of the Constitution, Farooq asserted tacitly that the 123 men had inalienable right to move from Jigawa to reside in Lagos. Anyone who wants to move and reside in any part of Nigeria must have a permanent address of his/her residence. Did the 123 Jigawa men have residential address in Lagos? In Lagos, commercial motorcycle transporters, the so-called Okada riders, are registered with the authorities, partly for the sake of preventing crimes and partly for taxation purposes. Did those 123 Jigawa men register their motorcycles as commercial enterprise with the Lagos State authorities? The same Section of the Constitution has been cited (not by Farooq) before on this forum to justify the movements of herdsmen and their cattle by foot anywhere in Nigeria. When herdsmen drive their cattle into farmlands to eat up planted crops, it is still freedom of movement of people and goods; and when cows are marched on motor roads and not only obstructing free movement of vehicles but filling them with cow dungs, it is still freedom to move freely throughout Nigeria for some Nigerian intellectuals who do not understand that freedom of movement of people must be planned, sustainable and should not infringe on the rights of other people.

​In 2013, there were cases of about 60 arrested vagrants who had their places of abode under bridges in Lagos where they defecated day and night. Some of them were drug addicts and the Lagos took the arrested vagrants to Majidun Rehabilitation centre where they were treated, detoxified and restored. Thereafter, Lagos government decided to relocate the vagrants to their State of origin which at that time was Anambra. The Governor of Anambra State then, Peter Obi, protested and petitioned President Goodluck Ebelechukwu Jonathan, requesting him to act against Babatunde Fashola's government of Lagos State

 for violating the Constitutional rights of the Igbo to leave (under bridges and defecate there) in Lagos. Yet, on 4 December 2011, the same Anambra Government led by Peter Obi, arrested and repatriated 29 beggars to their home states in Ebonyi, another Igbo State, and Akwa Ibom in the South-south. See David-Chiddy Eleke's article 9600 in the online Leadership of 2011/12/04. Was that xenophobia? In 2002, Imo, an Igbo State dismissed all Abia State indigenes in its Public Service and remitted to Abia State in 2010 the files of all pensioners of Abia origin so that their state could take over their burden. In October 2011, 1180 Anambrian Igbo were expunged from Abia State Public Service and sent back to Anambra because , as Abia State claimed, it was no longer capable of catering for, what it termed *foreigners* in the State. And in Champion Newspaper of 4 December 2011, Odogwu Emeka Odogwu reported that Abia State Government had sacked 3,000 non-indigenes fellow Igbo from her workforce and asked them to go back to their respective States. Were those Igbo State actions against fellow Igbo xenophobia? The Authorities in Lagos state accosted 123 persons who travelled, under questionable suspicious circumstance, from Jigawa to Lagos for interrogation and Farooq saw xenophobia in the action. Yet between 28 - 31 August 2019, Kano State arrested 138 persons, presumably Hausa/Fulani, for violating the State's law prohibiting street begging. Was that xenophobia?​https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2019/08/31/32-beggars-arrested-in-kano/; https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2019/08/30/46-beggars-arrested-in-kano/  

46 beggars arrested in Kano | P.M. News The Kano State Hisbah Board says it has arrested 46 suspected beggars in Kano metropolis for allegedly violating the law banning street begging in the state. Alhaji Lawan Ibrahim the Public Relations’ Officer of the Board disclosed this in a statement on Friday in Kano. He added that the suspects ... www.pmnewsnigeria.com

​Farooq, in his usual style of elastic interpretation of events, regarded the arrest of the 123 Jigawa men in Lagos as a political theatre staged to launder the image of Tinubu in the Southwest where Farooq imagines that he, Tinubu, is regarded as a Fulani lackey for asking, (where are the cows?) when the daughter of Afenifere leader, Rueben Fasoranti, was mudered. It must be recalled that the murder of the daughter of Fasoranti was attributed to herdsmen which necessitated the question which all sensible Nigerians, including Tinubu, asked, *where are the cows in the vicinity of the murder to ascertain that the woman was murdered by herdsmen and perhaps, if Fulani. Of course, neither Bola Tinubu nor the Governor of Lagos was contacted by the Lagos Taskforce before taken action against human passengers' ferying trailer, reported by ordinary public observers in Lagos and not APC political cadets. I don't see anything xenophobic about the arrest of the 123 men from Jigawa in Lagos but like a cock, Farooq must be cocky and must on every Saturday crow on this forum to announce his presence, prestige or power and I care to listen.

S. Kadiri 

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Skickat: den 7 september 2019 06:44
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Ämne: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Victims of Xenophobia Abroad, Culprits of Xenophobia at Home

 

[Julius Eto]

Thanks Salimonu Kadiri for offering another perspective on this issue.
However, i do not believe Kperogi supports the attacks on Nigerians in SA.
I also do not believe that "like a cock, Farooq must be cocky and must on every Saturday crow
on this forum to announce his presence, prestige or power."
Otherwise,all of us, including you, seek to announce our "presence, prestige or power" on this platform.
However, you have made some very solid points.

46 beggars arrested in Kano | P.M. News

The Kano State Hisbah Board says it has arrested 46 suspected beggars in Kano metropolis for allegedly violating the law banning street begging in the state. Alhaji Lawan Ibrahim the Public Relations’ Officer of the Board disclosed this in a statement on Friday
in Kano. He added that the suspects ...

www.pmnewsnigeria.com



​Farooq, in his usual style of elastic interpretation of events, regarded the arrest of the 123 Jigawa men in Lagos as a political theatre staged to launder the image of Tinubu in the Southwest where Farooq imagines that he, Tinubu,
is regarded as a Fulani lackey for asking, (where are the cows?) when the daughter of Afenifere leader, Rueben Fasoranti, was mudered. It must be recalled that the murder of the daughter of Fasoranti was attributed to herdsmen which necessitated
the question which all sensible Nigerians, including Tinubu, asked, *where are the cows in the vicinity of the murder to ascertain that the woman was murdered by herdsmen and perhaps, if Fulani. Of course, neither Bola Tinubu nor the Governor
of Lagos was contacted by the Lagos Taskforce before taken action against human passengers' ferying trailer, reported by ordinary public observers in Lagos and not APC political cadets. I don't see anything xenophobic about the arrest of the 123 men from Jigawa
in Lagos but like a cock, Farooq must be cocky and must on every Saturday crow on this forum to announce his presence, prestige or power and I care to listen.
S. Kadiri

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usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> för Farooq A. Kperogi <farooq...@gmail.com>

Skickat: den 7 september 2019 06:44

Till: USAAfrica Dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Ämne: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Victims of Xenophobia Abroad, Culprits of Xenophobia at Home





Saturday, September 7, 2019





Victims of Xenophobia Abroad, Culprits of Xenophobia at Home




By Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

Twitter:@farooqkperogi



The mindless xenophobic violence against Nigerians and other African immigrants in South Africa is igniting social media conversation about what one might call global Naijaphobia, that is, the mass resentment of Nigerians in many parts
of the world. We are now increasingly stereotyped worldwide as rude, boisterous, tastelessly showy, domineering, and criminally inclined.



From Euro-America to Asia, from Southern Africa to East Africa, and even in other West African countries, many people judge Nigerians by the attitudinal excesses and moral indiscretions of a minority of us. Nevertheless, amid the righteous
indignation that this admittedly unfair reality provokes in us, we need to realize that we are also culprits of internal xenophobia within our national space.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/MN2PR07MB71681F962C449235D970056EAEB40%40MN2PR07MB7168.namprd07.prod.outlook.com.

[DR SIKIRU ENIOLA]

The social media is a new media that swings with the mood of particular writers and or opinions. It is easy to manipulate. That is why the domination of a political party on the media, for example does not translate to an electoral victory. Whatever mood swings that we are witnessing about Nigeria now was prefaced by the global acknowledgements of heroic Nigerians in all sectors of human endeavour. It wasn't long that we read about the Howard University distinction haulage by mostly Nigerians. In football, tennis, businesses, sciences, literature, politics, including Nigerians winning electoral positions in other countries, the stories have been resounding. 

In South Africa, there are many Nigerians dotting the nooks and crannies of the landscape, excelling in decent endeavours and living exemplary lifestyles in foreign lands. An initio, the complaints of the pedestrian south Africans bothered especially on Nigerians taking their choice jobs, taking away their women and dominating the social space. It was never about drugs.

In actual fact, drugs and alcoholism had been an integral part of the South African history. The Apartheid regime drove the blacks into slums and in order to relief themselves of the physical and mental siege, most of them resorted to drugs and alcoholics while their women went into prostitution. The immediate post Apartheid era was in crisis as Mandela battled to restore sanity and civil life.

Today, the drug cartel has grown big with the barons living in high brow estates while security agencies are too compromised to touch them. In other words, Nigerians didn't take the drug epidemic to south Africa. Our guys from the south East might have taken things too far, that's what they do, thinking that their "no man's land" Lagos behaviour is possible elsewhere outside Nigeria. 

Therefore, the illogical similitude being painted by Kperogi is typical of him against the Buhari Administration. One doesn't need to muddle up issues to convey a simple message. He should rather have separated the issues and address them in 3 instalments. In scholarship, personal animosities reduce the substance of any write up. Yes, there are points made but the points ricochet off the thread.

The xenophobic agenda started under the Jonathan regime. It was tolerated as isolated cases until it became a national crisis. Many budding business men and women and professionals have been murdered in inexplicable circumstances. Just last week, one Nigerian died under police interrogation! The South African police aids and abets crimes against Nigerians. If the police can do one third of what Nigeria did to protect South African businesses from reprisal attacks, the arsonists in South Africa will recoil.

--

[Meg Murakami]

As a student with very little knowledge of Nigerian history, it is incredibly sad to know that worse xenophobia exists beyond the borders of the United States. Even if the stereotypes in Nigeria seem to be based off regional differences and religion rather than race, it seems that xenophobia in Nigeria may be worse than in the west. Further, as Kperogi mentioned briefly in his article, it seems that social media serves to isolate radical ideas and spread disinformation. While such problems as xenophobia and fake news exist in the US (the only country, unfortunately, that I am aware of), it is still quite sad to know that the Lagos government plays such an outsized role in allowing for and promoting xenophobia, let alone that they would go so far as to arrest 123 people.

Kperogi writes exceedingly well, and his bravery in calling out the Nigerian government is quite admirable. The only item lacking from this takedown of Lagos leadership is a potential solution to xenophobia. It seems necessary to question whether racism and Christophobia in Nigeria stem from the populace or from the government itself. While Kperogi blames the government for its missteps, it seems that some of the xenophobia that exists is out of their control. While I certainly don't have the solution to the violence that exists in Nigeria, a partial solution or a plan of action to solve this crisis would have been appreciated.

All in all, this is an excellent expose on the failures of the Lagos State government.

[Salimonu Kadiri]

​Meg Murakami of the United State of America, may I tell you analogically, that if you as an American, and regardless of your skin colour should wear a face mask and hold a pistol in your hand in front of a bank, observers around would call the attention of the police to your behaviour and you would be arrested and charged to court for attempting to commit robbery. No normal person will call the action of members of the public and police, xenophobia. Perhaps, that may be too hypothetical for you to grasp, let me remind you of a real casein 2009 which is still rampant in today's America. Henry In 2009, Henry Louis Gates, a Professor of African American Studies, at Harvard, was returning to his home in Cambridge after a long trip. He was having trouble with the lock on his front door and, therefore, tried to force his way into his own home. Some passers-by saw him and called the police. When the police patrol led by Michael Crowley arrived and after exchange of words, professor Gates was arrested and charged, according to the law, for disorderly conduct, in trying to force himself into his own house. A professor, regardless of race, in the US should turn to a carpenter for help if he has a problem with the lock to the door of his house and not attempt to force the door open. That was not xenophobia.

​Similarly, the 123 men arrested in Lagos by the law enforcing agencies got a distress call from the members of the public that saw a trailer which normally should be used to transport animals and goods, ferrying human beings in wee hours into Lagos. The ethnic origin and religious affiliation had nothing to do with the arrest of the 123 men in Lagos, but their unusual mode of transportation that gave rise to public suspicion. All the 123 men were released within 48 hours after arrest and after the law law enforcing agent in charge had ascertained that the trailer's passengers had no criminal intentions. The State of origin and religion of the 123 suspected passengers in the trailer, in Lagos, were unknown to the members of the public that drew the attention of the Lagos Taskforce to the arrival of the trailer in Lagos. Lagosian did not take the law into their hands either through mob attack on the suspected trailer and its passengers. Farooq Kperogi and  other persons that termed the arrest and the release in Lagos of the 123 men, within stipulated time in law, as xenophobia are wrong.

S. Kadiri

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Ämne: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Victims of Xenophobia Abroad, Culprits of Xenophobia at Home

 

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[Mary Frances Kocurek]

"Victims of Xenophobia Abroad, Culprits of Xenophobia at Home", discusses the widespread negative stereotypes that are placed on the Nigerian people. Not only do Nigerians experience profiling and harsh ignorance in countries such as South Africa, where tensions with Nigerian people are high, they experience these attitudes in their own home country. Nigerians themselves have "habitually territorialized and ethnicized" those in other regions of the country as different from one another and perhaps see those from other regions as inferior or dangerous. For example, "the Lagos State government arrested 123 Nigerians from Jigawa State who relocated to Lagos in a truck with their motorcycles in search of better economic opportunities"(Kperogi). It was found that these citizens were arrested "was just political theatre carefully calculated to purchase and win back lost political capital for the Bola Tinubu political camp in the southwest" (Kperogi). To arrest ones own people not only violates Nigeria's constitution, it causes the xenophobic attitudes to become unescapable for the people of Nigeria. If they cannot be accepted in other parts of their country and are only accepted in a small, local community, the nation of Nigeria will never progress. There will be no collaboration among different thinkers, therefore leaving Nigeria behind as the rest of the world progresses. It is difficult for the rest of the world to lose its xenophobic attitudes and stereotypes against Nigeria because the Nigerians own people hold these same notions about one another. Nigeria needs to lead by example and begin to unite. If they change their negative opinion of one another to a positive one and begin thinking of all of the wonderful things they could attribute to the world together, other nations just may join Nigeria in acceptance. 

 

On Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 8:18:36 AM UTC-5, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:

[Mary Frances Kocurek]

"Victims of Xenophobia Abroad, Culprits of Xenophobia at Home", discusses the widespread negative stereotypes that are placed on the Nigerian people. Not only do Nigerians experience profiling and harsh ignorance in countries such as South Africa, where tensions with Nigerian people are high, they experience these attitudes in their own home country. Nigerians themselves have "habitually territorialized and ethnicized" those in other regions of the country as different from one another and perhaps see those from other regions as inferior or dangerous. For example, "the Lagos State government arrested 123 Nigerians from Jigawa State who relocated to Lagos in a truck with their motorcycles in search of better economic opportunities"(Kperogi). It was found that these citizens were arrested "was just political theatre carefully calculated to purchase and win back lost political capital for the Bola Tinubu political camp in the southwest" (Kperogi). To arrest ones own people not only violates Nigeria's constitution, it causes the xenophobic attitudes to become unescapable for the people of Nigeria. If they cannot be accepted in other parts of their country and are only accepted in a small, local community, the nation of Nigeria will never progress. There will be no collaboration among different thinkers, therefore leaving Nigeria behind as the rest of the world progresses. It is difficult for the rest of the world to lose its xenophobic attitudes and stereotypes against Nigeria because the Nigerians own people hold these same notions about one another. Nigeria needs to lead by example and begin to unite. If they change their negative opinion of one another to a positive one and begin thinking of all of the wonderful things they could attribute to the world together, other nations just may join Nigeria in acceptance. 

On Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 8:18:36 AM UTC-5, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:

[OLAYINKA AGBETUYI]

Mary.  I think one should by now give the Kperogi piece the seriousness it deservesrather than shrug it off as typical Kperogi as I initially did.

I am from the south west of Nigeria and did my service year in Northern Nigeria. I had one of the most memorable years there.  Nearly all the major cities in the SouthWest have their northern communities there established FOR CENTURIES.  

Nigeria is not a homogenous culture linguistically and ethnically like America which is an Anglosphere and cannot organize irs affairs according to American priorities as Kperogi wants it to.  So it is Kperogi who has to shape up or ship out and not Nigerians (as he has decided to ship out long ago he should start minding his American business and calling Trump to account instead of insisting Nigeria attempts to be a cultural clone of America before he is happy.  

Nigeria no longer needs him; he is the one who needs the connection to Nigeria because the larger American minority does not even recognize him let alone the American majority.

There are stereotypes everywhere in the world and Nigeria is not unique.  Lagosians did not attack the people Kperogi wrote about and so there is no basis of comparison with the situation in South Africa and so Kperogi's article failed woefully on that account.  If it is a class essay it would be graded F+.

For a critical assessment of the Kperogi article see Salimonu Kadiri's post.

OAA.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: Mary Frances Kocurek <kmaryf...@gmail.com>

Date: 19/09/2019 12:44 (GMT+00:00)

To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Victims of Xenophobia Abroad,Culprits  of Xenophobia at Home

"Victims of Xenophobia Abroad, Culprits of Xenophobia at Home", discusses the widespread negative stereotypes that are placed on the Nigerian people. Not only do Nigerians experience profiling and harsh ignorance in countries such as South Africa, where tensions with Nigerian people are high, they experience these attitudes in their own home country. Nigerians themselves have "habitually territorialized and ethnicized" those in other regions of the country as different from one another and perhaps see those from other regions as inferior or dangerous. For example, "the Lagos State government arrested 123 Nigerians from Jigawa State who relocated to Lagos in a truck with their motorcycles in search of better economic opportunities"(Kperogi). It was found that these citizens were arrested "was just political theatre carefully calculated to purchase and win back lost political capital for the Bola Tinubu political camp in the southwest" (Kperogi). To arrest ones own people not only violates Nigeria's constitution, it causes the xenophobic attitudes to become unescapable for the people of Nigeria. If they cannot be accepted in other parts of their country and are only accepted in a small, local community, the nation of Nigeria will never progress. There will be no collaboration among different thinkers, therefore leaving Nigeria behind as the rest of the world progresses. It is difficult for the rest of the world to lose its xenophobic attitudes and stereotypes against Nigeria because the Nigerians own people hold these same notions about one another. Nigeria needs to lead by example and begin to unite. If they change their negative opinion of one another to a positive one and begin thinking of all of the wonderful things they could attribute to the world together, other nations just may join Nigeria in acceptance. 

 

On Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 8:18:36 AM UTC-5, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:

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[Mary Frances Kocurek]

Olayinka,

Thanks for your response. I am not very familiar with the cultures of the different regions of Nigeria, so I am glad to know that I can further look into this and find out more about the topic as this is the first article I have read on this subject matter. I will surely be looking into other articles on the subject matter so that I can become better informed! It is great to hear from someone so passionate and educated about this topic. I appreciate your insight. 

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[William Kachi]

Although it is incredibly upsetting to hear about Nigerians experiencing xenophobia abroad, it is equally disheartening to see this behavior occurring within the country itself. If we as Nigerians are expecting to be treating fairly and without discrimination when we are in other countries, we must do the same for ourselves. It is clear from the events narrated in this post that discrimination and prejudice amongst people of different regions and religions in Nigeria is still rampant. Such prejudices and failures to accept our diversity have led to civil war and conflict in the past. To avoid such historical disasters, we have to learn to move toward and ethic of acceptance for all Nigerians.

[Tejas Karuturi]

I too have very little knowledge about Nigeria and its culture. It saddens me to hear that Nigerians experience xenophobia not only from the external world, but also from the internal parts of the country. Dr. Kperogi informs us that the xenophobia that Nigeria faces is rooted in massive stereotypes, and those stereotypes lead to damaging public policies. He does a great job of calling out the government when the Okada riders from Jigawa were arrested unconstitutionally. Some of his reasons are that no crimes were ever committed, the Okada riders were ethnically profiled, and their constitutionally guaranteed rights were violated. Diversity in countries is a wonderful thing, but internal xenophobia ruins the valuable aspects of diversity.

On Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 8:18:36 AM UTC-5, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:

[OLAYINKA AGBETUYI]

How did the police know they were from Jigawa and hence profiled them for arrest by merely seeing them in the back of a trailer?

Was Jigawa written on their faces?

Isnt this transplanting black profiling by white police in African soil uncritical?  Nigeria is a black nation; both police and the commonalty

OAA

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: Tejas Karuturi <karuturi...@gmail.com>

Date: 29/09/2019 10:24 (GMT+00:00)

To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Victims of Xenophobia Abroad,Culprits  of Xenophobia at Home

I too have very little knowledge about Nigeria and its culture. It saddens me to hear that Nigerians experience xenophobia not only from the external world, but also from the internal parts of the country. Dr. Kperogi informs us that the xenophobia that Nigeria faces is rooted in massive stereotypes, and those stereotypes lead to damaging public policies. He does a great job of calling out the government when the Okada riders from Jigawa were arrested unconstitutionally. Some of his reasons are that no crimes were ever committed, the Okada riders were ethnically profiled, and their constitutionally guaranteed rights were violated. Diversity in countries is a wonderful thing, but internal xenophobia ruins the valuable aspects of diversity.

On Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 8:18:36 AM UTC-5, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:

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[Nuhamin Bekalu]

All of the factors of Xenophobia affecting Nigerians whether internally within the country or externally in other countries is very unpleasant to see.  Referring back to the section of the article that correlated Nigeria stereotyping their citizens and South African politicians negatively stereotyping Nigerian immigrants, we see the damage being done internally.  When Nigeria's political power is being used to enforce negative regional, ethnic, and religious stereotypes upon their citizens, how can they escape these stereotypes when becoming immigrants (let alone citizens) of another country such as South Africa.  As the Nigerian politicians continue to enforce negative stereotypes amongst their citizens, it becomes easier for South African politicians to promote negative stereotypes by showing their citizens the already existing system implemented in Nigeria.  

[Ben Wolf]

This article focuses on the hypocrisy of being mad at xenophobia against Nigerians in South Africa, while at the same time committing acts of xenophobia domestically. I find this a very interesting read to learn about the specific differences that underlie profiling in Nigeria. Similar to how Americans profile all Latin Americans as Mexicans and therefore dangerous, the Lagos State government profiled the Jigawa drivers as northern Muslims and therefore terrorists. Even though in both cases, the drivers and Latin American migrants are not from the areas that are considered dangerous and shouldn't be stereotyped anyway. I find it both disturbing, and comforting to know that all across the world we are battling xenophobia within our counties, we are not the only ones fighting the good fight.

[Raheem Memon]

In the article on Xenophobia abroad and at home, Kperogi highlights the stirking similarities between “Naijaphobic” practices in South Africa and similar practices internally by the Nigerian government. The author sites an instance of the Lagos State government’s arrest of 123 Okada riders from jigawa based on “illegal mass movement.” Kperogi sites this example to pose the question that “If state governments in parts of Nigeria can invoke the crimes prevalent in other parts of the country as justification to violate the constitutionally guaranteed right to movement of some Nigerians, what moral right do we have to resent being negatively stereotyped and violated abroad on account of the crimes of a minority of our compatriots?” It’s the same logic, if there is internal conflict and phobia in terms or immigration and mass movement, how is there a basis to complain about negative stereotypes and xenophobia of broader African immigrants in South Africa. It is evident that there is analogy between the “Naijaphobic” hysteria in South African and the “Hausaphobic” treatment of Okada drivers in Lagos. My personal thoughts are that the population of broader African must first reflect on their own local phobias and conflicts before condemning phobia abroad. This article provides insight to another view of this conflict. 

On Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 8:18:36 AM UTC-5, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:

[OLAYINKA AGBETUYI]

Raheem

I refer you to my various responses on this shallow article. Hausa people are not being attacked in Lagos for any reasons.  Hausa are not foreigners in Lagos.

Kperogi should have the courage of his convictions not to hide behind surrogates for the purposes of yellow journalism.

There are three columnists on this Forum and only one of them wallows in degenerate  yellow journalism.

Thankfully readers can compare and contrast to see what is responsible journalism and what is gutter journalism!

OAA

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: Raheem Memon <raheem...@gmail.com>

Date: 30/09/2019 21:15 (GMT+00:00)

To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Victims of Xenophobia Abroad,Culprits  of Xenophobia at Home

In the article on Xenophobia abroad and at home, Kperogi highlights the stirking similarities between “Naijaphobic” practices in South Africa and similar practices internally by the Nigerian government. The author sites an instance of the Lagos State government’s arrest of 123 Okada riders from jigawa based on “illegal mass movement.” Kperogi sites this example to pose the question that “If state governments in parts of Nigeria can invoke the crimes prevalent in other parts of the country as justification to violate the constitutionally guaranteed right to movement of some Nigerians, what moral right do we have to resent being negatively stereotyped and violated abroad on account of the crimes of a minority of our compatriots?” It’s the same logic, if there is internal conflict and phobia in terms or immigration and mass movement, how is there a basis to complain about negative stereotypes and xenophobia of broader African immigrants in South Africa. It is evident that there is analogy between the “Naijaphobic” hysteria in South African and the “Hausaphobic” treatment of Okada drivers in Lagos. My personal thoughts are that the population of broader African must first reflect on their own local phobias and conflicts before condemning phobia abroad. This article provides insight to another view of this conflict. 

On Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 8:18:36 AM UTC-5, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:

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[william lee]

Through the expansion and increase in the use of social media throughout Africa, we can see that xenophobia is not only preeminent in foreign countries but that Nigerians in Africa face negative prejudice and segregation within the African community. The article states that there is an increase in the hatred towards Nigerians and an increase in stereotypes such as being rude, boisterous, and criminally inclined. While having social demarcations separating Nigerians from the rest of the African people is an unpleasant attitude, the political actions that are based on this prejudice targeted towards the Nigerian people show great concern in regards to segregated people in the Africa community. As we can see there seems to be a growing tension between the Nigerian people and the African State and community which has further come into light through the increased use in social media which allows us to see first hand the injustices that people are facing around the world. It seems that prejudice is not only an issue globally but also on a national level not only in Africa but around the world. Which begs the question of what we can do as members of our society to erase this xenophobic attitude towards members who are outside of our community and to allow a space in which we can share different values and attitudes while respecting others as human individuals. I also wonder whether the separation of certain individuals from our societal community allows for certain political parties to take advantage of this prejudice to launch their political agenda and further slowing down social and economic progress in the African community. 

On Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 8:18:36 AM UTC-5, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:

[Rachel Walker]

This article explains the xenophobia within different cities in Nigeria and the stereotypes that come along with different regions of the country. The article mentions the illegal arrest of 123 Nigerians who were moving from Jigawa to Lagos in order to find better economic opportunities. I am shocked that the Lagos government arrested this many migrants from a neighboring city in the same country. This type of xenophobia exploits the internal stereotypes and is devastating to the country’s patriotism.

On Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 8:18:36 AM UTC-5, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:

[Laura J Jackson]

This article discusses the internalized xenophobia that has led to political discourse in Nigeria. The xenophobic attitudes have been created and reinforced by regional stereotypes that reduce Nigerians to criminals, terrorists, drunks, and coward (depending on the region in question). Real issues have arisen from these attitudes, as seen in the case of the 123 men from Jigawa who were arrested after migrating to Lagos. This not only was a clear violation of the Nigerian constitution, but also speaks to the political climate and the attitudes surrounding migration and xenophobia throughout Nigeria.

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[Evelyn Gomez]

In this article, Farooq A. Kperogi discusses the hypocritical nature of the Lagos State Government. He describes the hateful act of criminalizing 123 Nigerians from Jigawa State who were trying to relocate to Lagos. It was illegal for Lagos to commit this discriminatory act. Critically, Farooq A. Kperogi calls it unjust and brings up the fact that Nigeria gets offended over the fact that Xenophobia exists against Nigerians in South Africa, yet they commit acts of xenophobia against their own people in their own country. This has been the most eye-opening article that I have read so far. I knew of the stereotypes against Nigerians, but I never knew that Nigerians used these same stereotypes against their own people. It’s incredibly sad to see how stereotypes can destroy a society.   

On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 2:49 AM Meg Murakami <mmurak...@gmail.com> wrote:

--

[Justin Dubnow]

This article discusses the issue that Nigerians are not only profiled poorly by most other parts of the world, but also are victims of xenophobia within their own country. The author uses an example in which 123 Nigerian men traveling through Southern Nigeria were arrested on "suspicion of being a terrorist," even though their travels were perfectly legal. Those against the arrest began to accuse the Lagos State government on profiling these men based on the minority of northern Nigerians who were involved in terrorist activity. These claims were originally denied by the Lagos State government, and statements later came out that the arrests were made in a political ploy "to purchase and win back lost political capital for the Bola Tinubu political camp in the southwest." The authors also brought up instances where the government has religiously persecuted its people by discouraging Christianity and Islam and destroying mosques/churches. I do not support this behavior by the Nigerian government whatsoever, as it should understand the diversity of its citizens and therefore respect their differences instead of judging them based on stereotypes. This is already an issue in society, but stereotyping is impossible to erase due to human's instinctive ability to make judgements about people. However, this type of profiling should never be happening at the political level. 

Justin Dubnow

On Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 8:18:36 AM UTC-5, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:

[Kaito Higashi]

This article talks about the issue that Nigerians are victims of xenophobia. The author states that over 100 Nigerian men traveling through Southern Nigeria were arrested on "suspicion of being a terrorist". These discriminations are unfair to the people getting affected by it. Stereotyping people has been an issue for a long time, but I think it has been becoming bigger of an issue than before. 

Kaito Higashi

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[Kiana Fithian]

As there is prevalent xenophobia happening inside Africa, there are also numerous accounts of xenophobia happening outside. I found this article interesting because of the reflection that Africans are not the only victims of xenophobia. The 123 Nigerians who were arrested because of ethnic profiling is not acceptable, but the act of condemning Christians is equally as unacceptable. It is in human nature to create quick and most times inaccurate labels for certain groups of people. Stereotypes can come from a small fraction of people in a group, but unfortunately that small fraction can end up profiling a very large group of people. It is important that while those labels are inevitable, we need to be conscious about the accuracy of those labels and how we interpret them.

On Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 8:18:36 AM UTC-5, Farooq A. Kperogi wrote:

[Kiana Fithian]

[Dylan Herd]

Like Julius, I don't believe that Kperogi is in support of the violence of Nigerians in South Africa. Not knowing a lot about Nigerian violence in South Africa, I was shocked on how much Nigerians are targeted for trafficking.  It is also interesting to know that most are considered traitorous, lazy, and drunkards. These typical stereotypes tend to lead to a more permanent judgmental look onto Nigerian people.

[Dylan Herd]

[Evan R]

It is an unfortunate realization that Africans are subject to racist and xenophobic behavior not just abroad, but in their own countries as well. For the Nigerian government to arrest their own citizens for a non-existent crime is especially shocking to me. When considering Africa from an Afrocentric point of view, it would not immediately cross my mind that xenophobia is an issue to this degree. It definitely changes my perspective both in that it highlights the cultural differences between African countries and in that it would be wrong to assume African migrants have a welcoming homeland to return to, and that they can be stereotyped in their own countries as well.

[Alani]

Xenophobia and other forms of hatred and discrimination are often perpetuated by stereotypes. The article describes some of the stereotypes Nigerian individuals face constantly. I think stereotypes are some of the most dangerous weapons people can use against each other. When society places a group of people into a specific category solely based on a common characteristic they share, those individuals are dehumanized and demeaned. This serves as some sort of ‘justification’ for the unwarranted violence and xenophobia.

 

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

 

From: Evan R
Sent: Wednesday, October 9, 2019 9:08 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Victims of Xenophobia Abroad,Culprits of Xenophobia at Home

 

It is an unfortunate realization that Africans are subject to racist and xenophobic behavior not just abroad, but in their own countries as well. For the Nigerian government to arrest their own citizens for a non-existent crime is especially shocking to me. When considering Africa from an Afrocentric point of view, it would not immediately cross my mind that xenophobia is an issue to this degree. It definitely changes my perspective both in that it highlights the cultural differences between African countries and in that it would be wrong to assume African migrants have a welcoming homeland to return to, and that they can be stereotyped in their own countries as well.

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[Kiana Fithian]

It is frustrating that Africans are subject to racism and xenophobia in their own homes. While it is unacceptable that people outside of Africa have these views and beliefs, it is even more outrageous to me that people from their own countries have banded together against them. While stereotypes are inevitable, and frankly human nature, we as a people should be more careful about blindly branding an entire group. Animosity starts off small and is influenced by these stereotypes, but it can turn into something very violent and detrimental. Behaviors and beliefs need to change in order for people to feel more safe and accepted.

[Alani Day]

Stereotypes can be some of the most dangerous weapons humans can use against one another. They demean and degrade people, and too often serve as justification for unwarranted violence and oppression. They serve to place all people with a common characteristic, such as nationality or race, into a certain category, and it is extremely difficult for stereotypes to be shaken. The article makes this danger clear by illuminating some of the stereotypes that Nigerians face constantly.

[Alani Day]

Stereotypes are some of the most dangerous weapons humans use against one another. They demean and dehumanize people, and too often they serve as justification for unwarranted violence and oppression. The article expressed this sentiment very well by illuminating the stereotypes that Nigerian individuals must face constantly. Stereotypes place people with a shared or common characteristic into one particular category, and it is very difficult for stereotypes to be erased.

[Alani Day]

I think this article does well to illuminate how dangerous stereotypes can  be, and how they contribute to larger social issues such as xenophobia. Stereotypes can be powerful weapons. People automatically place groups of individuals with a shared or common characteristic into certain categories, and these perceptions are incredibly difficult to change. The article describes some of the stereotypes that Nigerians face constantly, and these stereotypes contribute to the xenophobia experienced. This concept is universal, occurring in the US and in other countries around the world. 

[Mohammed N Chowdhury]

The article that was linked talks about the xenophobic attacks in South Africa towards Nigerians but also flips the script in a way that questions whether or not the outrage coming from Nigerians about the xenophobic attacks is justified as there are people in Nigeria, Nigerians themselves who suffer from the similar xenophobia that are marginalising the Nigerians in South Africa. We see this same "hypocrisy" in America as well, and it is increasingly evident in a volatile political climate here. While it is true that Nigerians should tackle the problem of xenophobia of other Nigerians, I do not think their outrage towards the Nigerian xenophobia in South Africa is in any way undermined. Mostly because the two situations are vastly different in terms of their context. Especially when Nigerian lives in South Africa are at risk, it becomes more of a situation of Nigerian solidarity and loyalty to one another.

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