Racism

Our group participated in a discussion seminar/workshop today led by a local missionary couple, Terry & Lyle Dykstra, on American Racism. While a somewhat peculiar theme to be studying in Kenya, the goal of the exercises were to get in touch with our own prejudices as Americans in a foreign place. We have an African-American and African-Canadian in our group, but the focus was not on inter-group relations and instead concerned the common culture we had grown up in. Although racism is not usually as overt as it was in the past, we still have a long way to go in race relations. During this time we shared our own stories and experiences with racism and being the minority/majority. Racism even exists here in Kenya, although it’s more tribalism among the various ethnic groups here in Kenya (over 40) and mostly played out in political favors.

In fact, color tone matters little here compared to where you’re from. Case in Point: Rachel, an African-American from Chicago, IL, went to the market the other day to buy some flip-flops. The next day Katie, a Caucasian from Alaska, went to the same shop to buy some sandals for herself, and the guy got mixed up between her and Rachel- maybe since they were both from America and only speak English.

The workshop got me thinking. Racism is so much more than just mental prejudice based on skin color. It permeates into all kinds of presuppositions about education, dress, gender, history, accent, language… the list of generalizations and assumptions never ends. Even in naming this website I made a generalization: sure, I’m in Africa, but more specifically I’m in Kenya, in a city called Nairobi (meaning cool place of water, btw). Now I’m expecting to do some traveling around Kenya and possibly some other countries in East Africa, so I was hesitant to title the site “Evans in Kenya,” yet Evans in Africa is so broad. It does sound good, though, and that’s what it came to be.

I had some more profound thoughts, however. How do I view Africans, Kenyans, or specific tribes, like Luos or Kikuyus? Do I view Africans the same way I view African-Americans at home? In what ways am I making certain, unjustified assumptions? Am I already forming generalizations from the few Kenyans I’ve met? Sure I am! And hopefully I’ll keep on revising in order to realize that no person is a word or even a summation of words. I think all of us don’t just fall into one bucket or another as a racist or not, but rather there’s a continuum on how much diversity we have/seek in our lives. I pray I do not slumber in what’s comfortable and knowable to me, but rather seek out new experiences and different groups of people. And not so I can tally up how many different people I’ve met or places I’ve been. Instead, I hope to do it as an adventure that both changes me and my limited perspective on the world.