# What Africans think about white racists.



## IM2 (Aug 27, 2018)

I've read a lot of comments about Africans/Blacks from whites here. Here's what Africans think about you.

*Trump’s insult is fed by deep ignorance about Africa among Americans*

*Julius A. Amin*

Feb 08, 2018
President Trump’s insult is fed by deep ignorance about Africa among Americans. To most Americans, Africa is as an exotic place where animals roam around freely. There is really need to educate them. 

Americans woke up during the second week of 2018 to another of United States President Donald Trump’s tirades. He dismissed Africa and its people as those living in “shithole” countries. He had singled out Haiti and Nigeria a few weeks earlier.

There was an immediate global uproar. How dare you, people asked? The African Union, for the first time ever, publicly rebuked the American president. US ambassadors in African countries rushed to find ways to minimise the impact of Trump’s comments. And people in African nations went online telling Trump where exactly to get off.

But Trump’s supporters stood firm arguing that African immigrants and others were the source of America’s economic and social ills.

Trump’s outburst was part of a pattern. During its first year in office, the Trump administration has failed to come up with a serious African policy, providing only makeshift responses to events on the continent. Trump’s knowledge of the continent seemed to be obtained from lightweight movies such as “_Tarzan”_ and _“The Gods must be Crazy”,_ and books such as Henry Morton Stanley’s _“Through the Dark Continent”._ It was the type of parody used to justify continuous dehumanisation of the African people.

Yet Trump’s derogatory comments should be turned into teachable moment because the miseducation of Americans about Africa runs deep. America’s perception of Africa and its people as “other”, and “different” has been integral in shaping policy towards the continent. It is embedded in what Derick Bell referred to as the “permanence of racism” in American culture.

*A history of offences*

It was common practice for US policy makers to refer to Africans as “cannibal,” “irrational,” and “irresponsible,” and whose leaders were “psychotic adventurers” and “small-time megalomaniac”.

Former disgraced presdient Richard Nixon considered blacks as “less intelligent”. Ronald Reagan held similar views.

This racism has extended to African Americans too. During Barack Obama’s campaign and eight years tenure as president, many of his critics dismissed him as inferior. The Tea Party movement was formed to go after anything Obama initiated, and as president, Trump’s mission seems to be to anull policies with Obama’s name on them.

Indeed, Trump rose to political prominence promoting falsehoods that Obama was not born in America. During Trump’s first State of the Union address, he didn’t once mention Africa. This is despite the fact that observers have continued to point to the importance of Africa in the defence of American security.

*Whispers in the dark about Africa*

Trump’s latest outburst brought to the forefront whispers in the dark about Africa. Over the years perception about Africa and its people haven’t changed much in the US. When historian Curtis Keim told his students to write what came to mind when they thought of Africa, they quickly came up with: native, hut, warrior, shield, tribe, savage, cannibals, jungle, pygmy, voodoo, and witch doctor.

Indeed, even very educated people in American society often referenced Africa as a place which, had fallen behind the march of progress, with ways of life representing in the early stages in the evolution of human civilisations. Others saw Africans as “seemingly, lazy people”.

To Americans, Africa is as an exotic place where animals roam around freely. A student who signed up to go on a school programme stated that her family and friends warned that by going to Africa she would lose 20 pounds and come back with some type of a disease. For generations of Americans, Africa has been the sourcesof jokes in America. It becomes much more serious when powerful men create policies based on obsolete notions.

Only time will tell whether the reeducation which followed Trump’s comments was successful but even for a brief period it provided a much needed moment to reeducate Americans about Africa.

*Educating the public*

African countries have their problems but there are immense possibilities in the continent. As novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie correctly reminds us we must be attentive to the “danger of a single story”.

The time to tell Africa’s other story is overdue, and Trump’s “shithole” comment may have accelerated that process.

There are signs of light though. Following Trump’s comment, the American media and pre-college institutions provided more information on Africa. Basic facts became common knowledge. Repeatedly, audiences were informed that Africa is a continent with 54 nations. Its nearly a billion people speak different languages, and practice different religions.

Resources from Africa such as coltan are vital to the global software industry. African immigrants ridiculed the “shithole” notion in hashtags. One wrote:

_I am from a shithole country, I am an engineer, have a Masters in Computer Science, published author – analytics, and hold a patent analysing cancer data. I am a proud civil servant overseeing large projects. I speak five languages, self-published three books of poetry – I am from a #ShitHole country_.

Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper, both of CNN, labelled Trump a “racist” and misguided. African immigrants are the most educated in the US. They are in different professions including medicine, nursing, law, banking, and engineering. Of the 1.4 million immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, 41 percent have a college degree and 16 percent have post-graduate degrees.

Finally, African immigrants have continued to make contributions to America’s well-being.

Trump’s insult is fed by deep ignorance about Africa among Americans | Pambazuka News

_* Julius A. Amin is Professor and Alumni Chair in Humanities, Department of History, The University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio, USA._


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## tinydancer (Aug 27, 2018)

What a crock!


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## MarathonMike (Aug 27, 2018)

Soooooo African countries are shitholes, Blacks are statistically (many many IQ studies on this) less intelligent than Whites. The Gods Must Be Crazy was a great flick and it showed the ingenuity of Blacks when presented with a Coke bottle.


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## JGalt (Aug 27, 2018)

IM2 said:


> I've read a lot of comments about Africans/Blacks from whites here. Here's what Africans think about you.
> 
> *Trump’s insult is fed by deep ignorance about Africa among Americans*
> 
> ...



Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper both unwittingly put their foot in their mouths. They said:

"African immigrants are the most educated in the US. They are in different professions including medicine, nursing, law, banking, and engineering. Of the 1.4 million immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, 41 percent have a college degree and 16 percent have post-graduate degrees."

So if there are so many opportunities, so much freedom, so much prosperity, and so much peace in Africa, why would they have immigrated here? With all those degrees in medicine, nursing, law, banking, and engineering, they could be Kangs back in Africa.


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## Indeependent (Aug 27, 2018)

Black Africans are the smartest people on Earth.
That's why we should *continue *providing them with welfare in the US and continue sending aid to the African continent.
On second thought...


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## tinydancer (Aug 27, 2018)

*Shithole comments never happened. Durbin lied. *

*REPORT: Dick Durbin Has A History Of Lying About Private White House Meetings*
*“I looked into this and spoke with somebody who was in that meeting and it did not happen.” *


REPORT: Dick Durbin Has A History Of Lying About Private White House Meetings


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## JoeMoma (Aug 27, 2018)

Someone is racial profiling in this thread.


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## Tom Horn (Aug 27, 2018)

An article by Julius Amin....he any relation to Idi Amin...the hun-gawa ju ju who ATE people in Uganda?   Listen, blacks who are taught to think white has a chance at success...otherwise they may as well still be swinging in the trees, ya dig?


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## frigidweirdo (Aug 27, 2018)

MarathonMike said:


> Soooooo African countries are shitholes, Blacks are statistically (many many IQ studies on this) less intelligent than Whites. The Gods Must Be Crazy was a great flick and it showed the ingenuity of Blacks when presented with a Coke bottle.



Well, IQ is hardly the be all and end all of anything. The people who make the most money aren't the people with the highest IQs. The people running countries aren't the people with the highest IQs either.

Social intelligence is much more important in those regards.


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## toobfreak (Aug 27, 2018)

IM2 said:


> I've read a lot of comments about Africans/Blacks from whites here. Here's what Africans think about you.




TL; DR.  *But here's what we know about Africa so far:*  they didn't believe the white man even existed until he came to their shores, then they named him "the White Man," sold their brothers into slavery, thus discovering Capitalism, but were too stupid to apply it profitably by keeping profits well above overhead, so slid back into socialism and poverty and have been blaming the white man for it ever since under the name of welfare and now want reparations for failing at being able to become a 1st or even 2nd World economy.


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## Yarddog (Aug 28, 2018)

MarathonMike said:


> Soooooo African countries are shitholes, Blacks are statistically (many many IQ studies on this) less intelligent than Whites. The Gods Must Be Crazy was a great flick and it showed the ingenuity of Blacks when presented with a Coke bottle.




I liked that movie too,  there were a lot of deeper messages in there including how the African bush man, lead a happy and fulfilled life without the concept of western money he didnt need it because in that environment he was a genius surrounded by wealth that would be invisble to outsiders. It also showed several lessons about respect. It's kind of interesting and amazing how some people cant see past the humorous parts and think of it as something lightwheight. Guess it didnt bash whitey enough.That movie was a classic.


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## Dale Smith (Aug 28, 2018)

IM2 said:


> I've read a lot of comments about Africans/Blacks from whites here. Here's what Africans think about you.
> 
> *Trump’s insult is fed by deep ignorance about Africa among Americans*
> 
> ...




Julius Amin, a black man from Cameroon that is a racist with a serious bias has an opinion that I should weigh and consider because????????


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## BuckToothMoron (Aug 28, 2018)

IM2 said:


> I've read a lot of comments about Africans/Blacks from whites here. Here's what Africans think about you.
> 
> *Trump’s insult is fed by deep ignorance about Africa among Americans*
> 
> ...



Bro, you really need to listen and listen very tight. Your OPs are waaaaay too long. People don’t want to read all that. Provide a synopsis and a link for people. Just trying to help you make your points in a more productive manner.


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## DOTR (Aug 28, 2018)

IM2 said:


> I've read a lot of comments about Africans/Blacks from whites here. Here's what Africans think about you.
> 
> *Trump’s insult is fed by deep ignorance about Africa among Americans*
> 
> ...



  Too bad Africans don’t get a vote.


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## Esdraelon (May 2, 2022)

IM2 said:


> It was the type of parody used to justify continuous dehumanisation of the African people.


Sorry, Cletus.  The "dehumanization" of many Africans is handled by THEMSELVES.  That continent has been roiled with tribal brutality since the beginning.  Famine and corruption are endemic and probably always will be.  It is not dehumanizing to point out the truth.  They will have a better life when THEY DECIDE they are willing to change to achieve it.  Unlimited largesse from the rest of the world will never be enough to do for them what they refuse to do for themselves.


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## IM2 (May 2, 2022)

Esdraelon said:


> Sorry, Cletus.  The "dehumanization" of many Africans is handled by THEMSELVES.  That continent has been roiled with tribal brutality since the beginning.  Famine and corruption are endemic and probably always will be.  It is not dehumanizing to point out the truth.  They will have a better life when THEY DECIDE they are willing to change to achieve it.  Unlimited largesse from the rest of the world will never be enough to do for them what they refuse to do for themselves.


You really need to be quiet. You don't know wtf you're talking about.


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## IM2 (May 2, 2022)

BuckToothMoron said:


> Bro, you really need to listen and listen very tight. Your OPs are waaaaay too long. People don’t want to read all that. Provide a synopsis and a link for people. Just trying to help you make your points in a more productive manner.


You would read it all if I repeated the shit you guys want to believe.


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## MarathonMike (May 2, 2022)

Esdraelon said:


> Sorry, Cletus.  The "dehumanization" of many Africans is handled by THEMSELVES.  That continent has been roiled with tribal brutality since the beginning.  Famine and corruption are endemic and probably always will be.  It is not dehumanizing to point out the truth.  They will have a better life when THEY DECIDE they are willing to change to achieve it.  Unlimited largesse from the rest of the world will never be enough to do for them what they refuse to do for themselves.


I would only add that the African continent has been plagued by Muslim domination for nearly a thousand years. The Arabs were the primary purveyors of the African slave trade.


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## krichton (May 3, 2022)

If you were to take a poll and ask the average black person in america if Africa was a shithole country I'd be willing to bet the vast majority of blacks would agree, so let's drop the bullshit.  Africa really is a shit hole country.  Internal wars, corruption and famine are products of their own doing and there's no light at the end of the tunnel.  The average south african is fucked if they're unlucky enough to be born there.  These are simply the facts.

With all of that said, you'd have to be a complete buffoon and moron to actually say this out loud as Trump did, when you're president of the united states.  It's a completely unnecessary statement and has zero value.


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## Woodznutz (May 3, 2022)

JGalt said:


> Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper both unwittingly put their foot in their mouths. They said:
> 
> "African immigrants are the most educated in the US. They are in different professions including medicine, nursing, law, banking, and engineering. Of the 1.4 million immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, 41 percent have a college degree and 16 percent have post-graduate degrees."
> 
> So if there are so many opportunities, so much freedom, so much prosperity, and so much peace in Africa, why would they have immigrated here? With all those degrees in medicine, nursing, law, banking, and engineering, they could be Kangs back in Africa.


Africa is a land of untapped opportunity. That's why it's surprising that American blacks don't emigrate to there.


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## 9thIDdoc (May 14, 2022)

IM2 said:


> I've read a lot of comments about Africans/Blacks from whites here. Here's what Africans think about you.
> 
> *Trump’s insult is fed by deep ignorance about Africa among Americans*
> 
> ...


Why would any American care what "African's" think about what Americans do?  Especially since there is no such country. Africa is a continent; not a Country. And why would anyone who doesn't know that think that they could accurately tell what people they have never met are thinking? As I said I just don't care what some mythical group of people are Thinking. Trump was an *American* President and his job was to put Americans first; not Africans.


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## IM2 (May 14, 2022)

9thIDdoc said:


> Why would any American care what "African's" think about what Americans do?  Especially since there is no such country. Africa is a continent; not a Country. And why would anyone who doesn't know that think that they could accurately tell what people they have never met are thinking? As I said I just don't care what some mythical group of people are Thinking. Trump was an *American* President and his job was to put Americans first; not Africans.


Tell that to your white racist friends because I know what Africa is. And Africa is pretty important to a lot of very rich Americans who use up African resources. White is not a country or a continent but you run your mouth like what you say is so important. So like I said, go tell this shit to your racist white friends.


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## 9thIDdoc (May 14, 2022)

IM2 said:


> Tell that to your white racist friends because I know what Africa is. And Africa is pretty important to a lot of very rich Americans who use up African resources. White is not a country or a continent but you run your mouth like what you say is so important. So like I said, go tell this shit to your racist white friends.


Why not tell my racist black friends? Afraid I don't have rich racist Friends. Americans come in all colors or have you forgotten? I thought it was all supposed to be about equality. Also thought we were a capitalist society so I don't care if someone is exploiting African resources not that you have proven that someone is or that the "someone" is or
 that the someone is American or white. Sounds like an old time Marxist diatribe to me.


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