Africans outraged over 'racist' US Presidents remarks

Africans reacted angrily Friday after Donald Trump reportedly referred to their nations as "shithole countries", with many lashing the US president for racism and ignorance.
The 55-nation African Union condemned the remarks while the southern African state of Botswana hauled in the US ambassador to complain.
The
comment "truly flies in the face of accepted behaviour and practice,"
said Ebba Kalondo, spokeswoman for AU chief Moussa Faki.
"This
is even more hurtful given the historical reality of just how many
Africans arrived in the United States as slaves, and also terribly
surprising as the United States remains a massively positive example as
just how migration can give birth to a nation," Kalondo said.
The comments were "clearly" racist, Kalondo said, but stressed the US was "much stronger than the sum total of one man."
Trump
made the remarks on Thursday in a meeting with lawmakers on immigration
reform, The Washington Post and The New York Times reported. On Friday,
Trump tweeted an implicit denial, saying "this was not the language
used".
The United Nations slammed Trump's reported remarks as "shocking and shameful" and "racist".
"You
cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as 'shitholes' whose
entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome,"
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN human rights office, told
reporters in Geneva.
Botswana summoned
the US ambassador to the country to "clarify if Botswana is regarded as a
'shithole' country", according to a foreign ministry statement which
called Trump's comments "irresponsible, reprehensible and racist".
This
is not the first time Trump has rubbed Africans up the wrong way -- he
was widely derided last year after he twice referred to Namibia as
"Nambia".
On social media, users across
the continent on Friday posted images of modern skylines and beautiful
nature from their countries with the ironic hashtag "shithole."
Many Africans reminded the US of its historic role in the continent's woes.
"President Trump, One day, I'll take you to a 'shithole' country called Ghana," wrote Ghanaian Edmond Prime Sarpong on Facebook.
"First
stop would be Osu Castle, Elmina Castle, and the over 40 Forts that
detained about 30 million slaves, beaten and shipped out like sardine
cans and then I will tell you the history of Africa and why people like
you made that a 'shithole' continent."
'Nothing new'
Prominent
Kenyan commentator Patrick Gathara, told AFP that Trump's words were
nothing new from a "racist and ignorant" administration, nor from the
West at large.
"This is no different from
what Hollywood and Western media have been saying about Africa for
decades. We have consistently been portrayed as shitty people from
shitty countries."
Some acknowledged problems in their countries, but blamed this on their poor leaders as well as western nations such as the US.
"Please
don't confuse the #shithole leaders we Africans elect with our
beautiful continent... Our motherland is the most blessed continent that
has been raped by imperialists in collaboration with our shitty
misleaders for generations," wrote Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi on
Twitter.
In South Africa, the ruling party declared "ours is not a shithole country" and described Trump as "extremely offensive".
"It
is not as if the United States doesn't have difficulties. There are
millions of unemployed people in the US, millions of people who don't
have health care services or access to education and we would not deign
to make comments as derogatory as that," said Jessie Duarte, the deputy
secretary general of the African National Congress (ANC).
'It's our shithole'
Nigerians
however did not hold back, with many on Twitter saying their country
was a "shithole", but that it was "our shithole" to criticise.
Even
war-torn South Sudan weighed in, with President Salva Kiir's spokesman
Ateny Wek Ateny slamming the comments as "outrageous".
However Juba businesswoman Jenny Jore, 31, told AFP that Trump's remarks were "on point".
"It is thanks to our African leaders that we are insulted that way," she said.
Trump's latest comments also provided ample fodder for talkshow hosts.
South
African comedian Trevor Noah, star of "The Daily Show", described
himself as an offended citizen of "South Shithole" and also called Trump
out for racism, especially for saying he preferred immigrants from
Norway.
"He didn't just name a white country, he named the whitest -– so white they wear moon-screen," he said.
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Africans outraged over 'racist' US Presidents remarks
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