Travelling while black means that you are always prepared for the discrimination that must accompany your skin colour, but this expectation is often reserved for countries outside Africa. This is why it is especially shocking when people narrate their experiences of profiling or discrimination when travelling to other African countries.
Recently, a Kenyan travel blogger and influencer popularly known as “Just Rioba” took to her Twitter account to narrate the discrimination she experienced on her recent trip to Mauritius. According to her, she and the friend who accompanied her on the trip were treated like criminals and subjected to unnecessarily invasive questioning and searches even though it was clear to the immigration officers that they met all the travelling requirements.
Based on her narration of events, their treatment was more than just the result of dedicated immigration workers going about their jobs. White passengers from the plane she had boarded were allowed to present their documents and be on their way, and only black people were subjected to this scrutiny.
Her claims were proven further by other people who had gone through the same experience in Mauritius, Zanzibar, and other African countries. They narrated their experiences in the comment section, with those who wanted to be kept anonymous sending direct messages to her, many of whose experiences were worse.
This is not the first time that an African country has been called out for their discrimination against other Africans travelling into their country. Earlier this year, a Nigerian film director and producer named Pamela Adie narrated her experience travelling to Mozambique. However, unlike Rioba, who ended up having a great time in Mauritius despite her ordeal, Pamela was sent back to Nigeria on arrival. She was refused entry into the country because she didn’t have a letter of invitation, even though no such letter was not mentioned among the visa requirements on the country’s websites or other resources. The immigration officers also failed to give her any information about how the said letter could be acquired.
For a continent that prides itself in being “One Africa,” it is heartbreaking to see how deeply ingrained anti-blackness, colourism and xenophobia are into our culture. How do we fight racial discrimination from the white man when we who share similar history treat ourselves with the same disdain with which they treat us?
Since slavery was abolished in the United States of America and other countries, white people have never stopped asking the black people they dragged off their country’s shores against their will to “go back to Africa.” Although this rhetoric is born out of hate, dishonesty and a complete lack of common sense, it implies that even the white man expects Africa’s arms always to be open to her people. This makes it even more ironic that white people are still placed above us even in the place we call home.