"Racism" in Africa

Last summer, I was able to spend several weeks in Jos, Nigeria while accompanying my uncle on a medical mission. The political and social climate of the city was uneasy to say the least. My experience taught me a lot about the social construction of “racism”, though that word was never mentioned in my many conversations with the people there. All riots and violence were blamed on the Muslims of the community. If I had more access to talking freely with the Muslims of the area, I am sure that they would have blamed the bloodshed on the Christians. The conflict of religions was not all talk. Most riots would originate either at a church or a mosque, making the ensuing violence a mini crusade in the eyes of both victims and participants. However, upon further discussion with the leaders of the community, it became more apparent that religion really wasn’t the underlying cause of conflict. Many different theories were presented as to the real cause, but the most prominent was tribal differences. Despite the influence of city life and living in close quarters with so many people, the African is still very concerned with his family tribe. Pride in tribal ancestry would often start smaller arguments in daily life, usually over trade. These ancient wars and prejudices are behind many an insult and skirmish both inside and outside the city. After this was made known to me, it became apparent that there had to be another reason why the Africans were pointing at religion as the main issue. Several explanations were given to me by the city leaders and missionaries. First, religion is easier to point at than a man’s tribal affiliation where skin-color does not distinguish ethnic groups. Even if the separate tribes were more physically identifiable, there are so many that it would be difficult to rally support for a large riot against one single tribe. However, Africans know which tribes are more likely to be Muslim or Christian. Then any man who has a conflict with a certain tribe need only examine the religion of that tribe and start a riot amongst the rival. In Jos, the people are either Muslim or Christian with only a few exceptions. This means that nearly half the city will become either angry or involved when an accusation is made against one or the other religion. All this is to say that religion became an effective weapon and scapegoat for hatred between tribes. I could not help but come back to the United States and wonder what racism is hiding. Skin color is easy to point at here. It would make sense if the hatred of different races was because of something beyond simply skin. Perhaps one ethnic group feels like it could be threatened economically, socially, or politically by another and then points at their skin in order to get more support for their hatred. In any social structure, hatred is present even if it is not easy to find. Racism and religion are just two of the masks that hatred uses to hide itself.