Prime Minister Modi, Please Help Stop The Hate Crimes

Against Africans Residing In India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi
South Block,
Raisina Hill,
New Delhi-110011,
India

Dear Prime Minister Modi,

Please Help Stop The Hate Crimes Against Africans Residing In India

As the strongest and most influential Indian at the moment, I believe that you have what it takes
to put a stop to the never-ending hate crimes directed at Africans residing in your great country.

On 27 March 2017, hundreds of Indians in Noida went on a rampage attacking African students
whom they accused of dealing in drugs. This wouldn't be the first time that Africans have been
assaulted in India. From Bangalore to Punjab to Noida to New Delhi, Africans have been racially
abused on the streets, pelted with stones, stripped naked, beaten to coma and hacked to death.
We have been dehumanised, refused accommodation and when we walk through the streets of
India, the hair on the back our necks jump up as we feel the hostility coming from the intense
gaze of our Indian brothers. Many of us have been stripped of our African names and
rechristened Habshis as our first name and Bander as our surname. The violence inflicted on
us has turned us to hermits because we now believe that a living African hermit in India is better
off than a dead African in India.

Despite the assaults over the years, the Indian government has done little to stem the racially
motivated violence. The silence of the Indian government is deafening. Evil prevails when men
and women of goodwill remain silent in times of great moral conflict. In the rare instances where
government officials choose to speak out, their statements are often punctuated with the word
But - "African students were attacked, but the government is seized of the matter"; "It was a
criminal act, but it should not be construed as racial attacks"; "It is unfortunate to see Africans
attacked, but India is the land of Gandhi and Buddha and we have fought consistently against
racial discrimination"; "Some clashes took place, but the violence has been exaggerated by the
media."

Africa and India share a common history. We were colonised by a common oppressor and we
were comrades in the war against imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism. When India
gained its independence from Britain in 1947, many African countries were motivated to fight for
their own independence as we saw Indias freedom as the first crack in the ruthless British
Empire. Ten years later, Ghana was free and a couple of years later most of the countries in the
continent were freed from the shackles of the British and French colonialists. Your predecessor
Jawaharlal Nehru joined hands with our very own Kwame Nkrumah and Gamal Nasser to set up
the Non-Aligned Movement to challenge the Western hegemony.

Are we to put this shared history aside because we have different skin tones? Absolutely not. We
may have different shades of skin tones but in reality, we are all black/brown. I need not remind
you that the recognition of the equality of all races and mutual respect is one of the guiding
principles of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Bilateral trade between Africa and India, which is valued at $72 billion, is at the heart of Afro-Indo
relationship and you have played a key role in making this a reality. However, Africa shouldn't be
viewed solely as a cash machine for Indian entrepreneurs. What is the point of seeing Africa as
an investment destination while ignoring the cries of African students screaming Why Is India So
Racist Towards Us?

Your Excellency, you have shared your vision to make India a first-class country, however, India
cannot be a truly first class country as long as it has third class black Africans and third class
brown Indians discriminated because of the colour of their skin. Having the largest democracy
and being a key pillar of the BRICS nation comes with responsibilities. You may want to give
some thoughts to how India is viewed by the wider world. Is it that the country, which once had
the moral capital to look Britain straight in the eye and tell her, We have had enough of your
racism, is now following in the footsteps of its former colonial master?

Sir, nobody has the monopoly over violence. We now live in an age where news travels very fast.
The images of Indians brutalising their African brothers and sisters has been widely shared on
social media. As these images spread throughout the world and finally arrives at East Africa,
which is home to over 3 million of Indian descent, it could only be a matter of time before a
demagogue begins to stir up anti-Indian sentiments thereby putting these Indians in Diaspora at
risk. Some may try to justify the attacks on Africans in India by creating equivalence with the
policies of Idi Amin who unjustly expelled Asians from Uganda in the 1970s. Amins act was
morally wrong and two wrongs don't make a right.

I appreciate that it is difficult undoing the legacy of colonialism (which engraved a hierarchy of
race) and the caste structure in India completely, but I plead with you to use your good office to
speak out and put measures in place to reduce the racial discrimination inflicted on black Africans
and lower caste brown Indians. If there is anyone that can do it, it is you.

I end this letter by quoting the great Nehru, The only alternative to coexistence is codestruction.

Selah.

Yours faithfully,

Ahmed Sule, CFA

suleaos@gmail.com
March 2017

cc

African Union
Association of African Students in India
President of India
Vice President of India
Amnesty International
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
Shri Raj Nath Singh
Smt. Sushma Swaraj
General V.K. Singh
Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot
Shri Jual Oram
Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu
Shri Mohd. Hamid Ansari
Members of Parliament