Xenophobia, The Stumbling Block To Peace.

By Njambi Mungai

It may be shocking to some people in this country to realize that, without meaning to do so, they hold views in common with Hitler when they preach discrimination against other religious, racial or economic groups. ~~Henry A. Wallace

"Have you already started cleaning at this hour?" was the statement that jolted me back to the harsh reality of my current location. This Finnish woman had chosen to ignore my name tag which clearly read "IT Specialist" and assumed that my ethnicity only meant I was there for janitorial reasons. Despite the fact that I was working in one of the biggest multinational companies in Finland, discrimination was something I faced every other day. But it’s all good since I knew it was because of their ignorance that they did what they did.

Kenyans in the diaspora can bear witness to the fact that racism and xenophobia is alive and breathing and has an annoying habit of rearing its ugly head more often than not. That feeling of wondering why in the world these people were stereotyping us, assuming that we all came from poor backgrounds, that we were thieves and rapists, that we were out to abuse their system or even that were just lazing around eating off of them.

So with that memory and experience firmly lodged in my brain, I do feel sorry for the Somali's in this country of ours. I have yet to see this much xenophobia in all the countries I have traveled to. In fact I think it is safe to say that Africans are the most xenophobic race I have ever encountered.

The attack on a commuter bus yesterday was shockingly brazen, crude and devastating. Several lives were lost and many more injured. The devastated community retaliated by rioting and looting the nearby Somali businesses. Quite unreasonable and saddening but we could peg that on momentary anger and sadness...you know venting.

But it is the uproar on social media this morning that left me aghast! Well educated, level headed people were up in arms damning the Somali residents back to their home country. The insults and expletives that reigned the social sphere totally sickened me. Those who tried to speak for the Somali were quickly shut down by others who will not hear of anything else.

I came across a tweet "Not all Kikuyus are Mungikis, Not all Luos are rowdy, Not all Somalis are Al-shabaab, Not all University students throw stones" that said it all. You know that feeling you get when someone says "Those kikuyus are mungikis and thieves",  "All Luos just look for a reason to riot" or "coastal people are lazy" ? Well I like to think that is the exact same feeling that the Somalis are feeling. It is not fair to them just as it isn’t fair to you.

While I do understand the anger, I think it is directed at the wrong people. Those leaders in charge of security are the ones who should be bearing the brunt for this, the people who knew about this attack before hand and still did nothing to inform the authorities, the president who is annoyingly quiet when the people need to be reassured.

We need to be vigilant and careful, not walking away from something because it does not concern you. We need to embrace the Somali community in the fight against terror....not condemn them.  This kind of xenophobia is not to be expected from a learned, exposed, religious lot of Kenyans.

Xenophobia is for the ignorant and backward members of the species. So how about we rise above this misdirected hate and find ways of fighting the actual terrorists.

the author runs her blog at njambiemungai.com/wordpress