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Tuesday, April 14, 2020

📺WATCH: A DEEPER LOOK AT Africans in China denied service at McDonalds, subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines and mass testing; U.S. Consulate warns African Americans



Africans Say Pandemic Has Caused Widespread Anti-Black Racism in China: Report

Zack Linly | THE ROOT

As reports fill our newsfeeds about the bigotry and discrimination Asian people are facing amid the coronavirus outbreak, in China, African residents are alleging anti-black racism resulting from the pandemic.

The Washington Post reports that Africans living in the Chinese city of Guangzhou—home to the largest African diaspora population in Asia—say they have been experiencing myriad instances of racism and xenophobia, including evictions from their apartments, refusals of entry into restaurants, and forced quarantine regardless of whether or not they have tested positive for the virus or traveled to China from other countries.

“People are not happy because they’re being forced out of their apartments and into hotels where they have to pay [$30] a night for 28 days,” Maximus Ogbonna, the president of a Nigerian community group in Guangzhou, said.

From The Post:
Ogbonna is in a quarantine — for a second time — in his apartment, with a camera installed over the door so police can monitor him. He completed a 14-day quarantine in March after returning from Nigeria but was told by local officials on April 8 that he had to do another 14 days in isolation, although he had tested negative for the virus and had not traveled elsewhere. 
The focus on African residents comes amid broader restrictions on foreigners in China as officials, having curtailed the coronavirus outbreak that began in the central city of Wuhan late last year, grow concerned about a second wave of infections from abroad.
But precaution is no excuse for brazen discrimination; especially when around 90 percent of new coronavirus cases in China have been Chinese citizens coming home from countries like Italy, Russia, Iran and the U.S., according to the Post.


Yet, videos of Africans being led through Guangzhou by Chinese police officers in full riot gear and Nigerian diplomats delivering food in the pouring rain to Africans who have been put out on the street are being posted to social media, showing the world how badly black people are being treated in the region.



And in case you’re thinking, “Hey wait, we don’t know that this has anything to do with race,” a recent video shows an employee at a McDonald’s in Guangzhou holding up a sign that says, “from now on black people are not allowed to enter the restaurant.”


Regina Hui, a spokeswoman for McDonald’s China issued an apology for the incident, saying, “McDonald’s China apologizes unreservedly to the individual and our customers,” adding that the restaurant has been ordered to end any discriminatory practices.

Things are apparently so bad that black Americans are being urged to steer clear of the region.
These incidents prompted the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou to warn African Americans about discrimination. Police had ordered bars and restaurants not to serve clients who appear to be of African origin, it wrote in an advisory to Americans in China. Local officials were implementing mandatory coronavirus tests followed by mandatory self-quarantine “for anyone with ‘African contacts,’ regardless of recent travel history or previous quarantine completion,” the consulate wrote.
The lesson to be learned here is simple: Racism sucks...for everyone.


📺MUST SEE DISCUSSION: Why are Africans in China being targeted? | Inside Story


☝️ABOVE: They are China's key trading partners, but some African leaders have been angered over Beijing's reported discrimination against their citizens.

 They want answers from the Chinese government over reports Africans are being targeted because of fears they could spread coronavirus.

 A recent rise in covid-19 infections in China has been linked to people from abroad.
The Chinese government is worried there could be a second wave and has stepped up its scrutiny of foreigners.

 African students and expatriates have reportedly been evicted from their homes, tested for coronavirus several times and are being shunned in public.

 The incidents have sparked a diplomatic row with the African Union, African governments and the United States.

 So is this a new form of racism?

 Or is it just Beijing trying to curb the pandemic?

 Presenter: Richelle Carey

 Guests:
Victor Gao, Vice President of the Center for China and Globalization

 Gabriella Dilan, medical student from Uganda

 Keith Richburg, Director of  the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre


Coronavirus: Africans in China subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines and mass testing

AFP

Africans in southern China’s largest city say they have become targets of suspicion and subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines and mass coronavirus testing as Beijing steps up its fight against imported infections, drawing US accusations of xenophobia.

China says it has largely curbed its COVID-19 outbreak but a recent cluster of cases linked to the Nigerian community in Guangzhou sparked the alleged discrimination by locals and virus prevention officials.

Local authorities in the industrial centre of 15 million said at least eight people diagnosed with the illness had spent time in the city’s Yuexiu district, known as “Little Africa”.

Five were Nigerian nationals who faced widespread anger after reports surfaced that they had broken a mandatory quarantine and been to eight restaurants and other public places instead of staying home.

As a result, nearly 2,000 people they came into contact with had to be tested for COVID-19 or undergo quarantine, state media said


Guangzhou had confirmed 114 imported coronavirus cases as of Thursday — 16 of which were Africans. The rest were returning Chinese nationals.

The tense situation has made Africans targets of suspicion, distrust and racism in China — and brought a stinging rebuke Saturday from Washington.

Several Africans told AFP they had been forcibly evicted from their homes and turned away by hotels.

“I’ve been sleeping under the bridge for four days with no food to eat… I cannot buy food anywhere, no shops or restaurants will serve me,” said Tony Mathias, an exchange student from Uganda who was forced from his apartment on Monday.


"We’re like beggars on the street,” the 24-year-old said.

Mathias added that police had given him no information about testing or quarantine but instead told him “to go to another city”.

Police in Guangzhou declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

A Nigerian businessman said he was evicted from his apartment this week.

“Everywhere the police see us, they will come and pursue us and tell us to go home. But where can we go?” he said.

Growing tensions

Other Africans said the community had been subject to mass COVID-19 testing even though many had not left China recently, and people had been placed under arbitrary quarantine at home or in hotels.

China has banned foreign nationals from entering the country, and many travellers are being sent into 14-day quarantines either in their own accommodation or at centralised facilities.


Thiam, an exchange student from Guinea, said police ordered him to stay home on Tuesday even after he tested negative for COVID-19 and told officers he had not left China in almost four years.

He believes the measures are specifically and unfairly targeting Africans.

“All the people I’ve seen tested are Africans. Chinese are walking around freely but if you’re black you can’t go out,” he said.

The US State Department has issued an alert advising African Americans, or those with potential contact with African nationals, to avoid Guangzhou.

Then on Saturday the department issued a sharp criticism of China over how it treats Africans.

“It’s unfortunate but not surprising to see this kind of xenophobia towards Africans by Chinese authorities,” a State Department spokesperson said.


The US in recent weeks has denounced what it calls Beijing’s lack of transparency at the start of the coronavirus epidemic, which was first detected in late 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan. American officials say the delay resulted in thousands of deaths around the world.

Despite a recent truce in the US-Chinese war of words, skirmishes have continued between the two world powers, already locked in a long-term strategic confrontation.

'Crazy fear’

The infections in Guangzhou have also sparked a torrent of abuse online, with many Chinese internet users posting racist comments and calling for all Africans to be deported.

Last week a controversial cartoon depicting foreigners as different types of trash to be sorted through went viral on social media.


"There’s just this crazy fear that anybody who’s African might have been in contact with somebody who was sick,” said David, a Canadian living in Guangzhou who did not want to give his full name.

China’s foreign ministry acknowledged this week that there had been some “misunderstandings” with the African community.

RELATED - PREVIOUSLY AT AFROPERSPECTIVES:

Coronavirus outbreak triggers brazen discrimination and racist attacks against black people in China




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