Racism in Sudan: The Elephant in the Room

Reading  "Americanah" by  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie prompted me to write this blog. If you hadn't read it, please do so! **

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Since my move to the U.S. in early 2012, the issue of race has always been present.  I hear it in radio/TV talk shows, stand-up comedies, movies, grad school classes, and open mike events. I read it in newspapers and books, and it is always present when Obama’s name comes up. I have walked in several marches pertinent to police cruelty against black and listened to African-American speakers sharing their thoughts and demanding change. But does that make America a better place now for blacks or colored people? of course not, and indeed there is much more to be done.  But at least the topic is not a taboo or avoided by the colored themselves.  Social change is a process not a destination.  We become what we aspire for as we proceed. So you find “race” right there front and center wherever you find a black person, even if many would like this topic to be left behind in the past.  But people still do talk about race and racism, and the discussion should never stop. Never. Otherwise, laws, and people could easily slack and go back to the world of white supremacy.

Sugarcoating: Is it racism or tribalism in Sudan? 

The first sign that this topic is a taboo in sudan is that it is not called in its real name.  It is mitigated and called  gablia قبيلية  [Arabic for tribalism]. While tribalism is indeed a toxic ingredient that jeopardizes social harmony and social justice,  it is not the same as racism or Arab supremacy in Sudan.  Why? Because tribal characteristics of Arab tribes, albeit their difference, at the end of the end of the day, they collectively, triumph over African tribes. And this is the case in Sudan.  Jaalai [ جعلي] and Sahigi  [شايقي] might scuffle about each one's avarice or  temerity stereotypes,  but they are still considered awlad Arab اولاد عرب [Arabic for Arabians], which has positive connotation  thus spontaneously place them on the top of social hierarchy compared to those less Arabs.

Illusion

By Sudanese cartoonist KhalidAlbaih [1]

I often hear people say that old Sudanese people were never racist.  Or that they if they were racist, they never explicitly acted on their racism. That people were race-blind so to speak.  I find it hard to believe that race was not an issue until the current government came to power.  Or that racism in Sudan is just another manifestation of the present global wave of tribalism.  Nor that I think the government is innocent of instigating differences along racial lines.  But I rather suggest that the regime is using what is already latent and implicit within the social setting.  Racism, prejudice, and the notion of Arab supremacy do/did exist in Sudan.  Why am I so fixated on saying that we are racist? Because you cannot tackle what you think it doesn’t exist. So, first we need to admit the existence of racism to be able to embark on a journey to find its root, and to address it eventually.

Race has always been an issue in Sudan, and it will also be as long as Sudanese people are in limbo about their Africanism.  Race was always there, but we try to sweep it under the carpet.  If you need to know how race is significant in our collective conscious, please read the history of slavery in Sudan, and it  might shed light  on this reality.  

Reading kitab al tabagt by daifallah [2] طبقات ود  ضيف الله,  one would find profuse contents to get a feel of the presence of race long before the creation of the modern state in Sudan.  In page 108 of the fifth edition, the biography of one of the scholars indicates that his mother was Sudnaia سودانية, which was explained in the footnote that the name was the prevalent references for the indigenous people of the land i.e. the blacks. Two things caught my attention: one, the maternal lineages gained significant due to its ties to negro race. I did not find another reference in the book that mentioned a mother from the Arabian background. Two: the origin of the country's name "Sudan" should had given supremacy to the black race since they are the indigenous, but this is not the case as we all know.

Avoidance

I rarely heard any candid  discussion about race or racism among Sudanese.  Those who are on the receiving end of prejudice prefer not to talk about it with the racially-charged knowing how sour the conversation could go. In more than one occasion, I was in social settings where the Arabized Northerners entertained light discussions form the position of the privileged, charged with more vanity than sympathy. They share anecdotes of so and so marrying form the “others” and how they see it as an indication of the collapse of racial barriers. I usually do not fancy telling them that this is an oversimplification of racial issues in Sudan. Intermarriage could be a result of socioeconomic reconfiguration not the ebbing of racism.     

Sometime it seems to me that people resorted to unspoken codes of race/class classifications, of who is who, and who belongs where. The privileged enjoy their privileges and those in the lower ranks of social hierarchy either accepted their position and admired the inherent  privileges the privileges enjoy, or resented the unfair racial compartmentalization, however, they still could not change it.  

Can we change it?

Changing the perception of race and prejudice works in multiple levels and dimensions. First, it requires a state that is not a patronage system. Because a patronage system needs social classification to sustain loyalty, therefore, it enacts adequate regulations to keep a tap on who belongs to what. Also, fear is necessary for people to endure a corrupt regime. What is best than making one fear the “other” whose image is systematically portrayed as an inferior and ambush to attack his master? Second, changing perception of race needs a change in power dynamics, which cannot be accomplished under totalitarian control. Third, racism should not be treated as a myth, it needs to be brought up and disarmed. There should be enough foundation of deep understanding of what racism means and its impacts on people’s live. Racism is not only calling someone A’ab عب [Arabic for slave]. Racism is thinking that some’s life is not as worthy as yours.  Whatever that entails, including the right to “be” free of prejudgment and limitation to power or opportunities based on race.

I am always delighted when the topic of racism is brought up in a cognitive context for it makes people relate.  Recently,  youth started to bring those topics up in poetry or on stage.  It is a good start to build the foundation of understanding although  the privileged indeed opt to look the other way when the word onsoriah عُنصرية [Arabic for racism] peeks its head in conversations.  

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** It was hard for me to finish the novel in one week due its richness in topics and its complex plot.  While the topic I will highlight in this blog is race, I was moved by other aspects the writer brought up about what African women face when they come to the U.S.: sexuality, identity, African-American v.s American form Africa, belonging, fitting, interracial relationships, and redefining oneself, among other issues.  Maybe I will get to write about those issues someday!

[1] Two Sudanese people calling one another 3ab (Slave or black)  -  by KhalidAlbaih

[2] The author of the book, Mohamed Alnour bin DaifAllha  said to be born in 1727 and died in 1810. The book is considered one of the major primary references to the Fung Sultanate, (also known as the  Black Sultanate). The book was aimed to be an encyclopedia of religious scholars of that era.