Cc: Lalastica
Most of us in Nigeria, until you travel to a white country, you will not understand the meaning of recism.
I'm a Nigerian studying in China, but this is a story of a friend, Gerard, who once again has been a victim of recism. We blacks living in China encounter recism often, but I think this particular issue is too much to be ignored. Please read and share your taught...
Gerald Allah-Ompolo is the son of a Congolese doctor and customs official from Brazzaville. When he was at school he enjoyed literature and had dreams of being a judge. He studied Law in Brazzaville, before moving to China 7 years ago, to study to be a legal translator. He first went to Beijing and fell in love with the country, before deciding to study in a place with fewer foreigners, so he could get a deeper understanding of China. 4 years ago he moved to Chongqing in China, where he was drawn to the local culture, a year later he met his girlfriend and things have been going very well, excepting an incident on 17th August 2014.

Gerald and his girlfriend was out in the centre of Chongqing, Jiefangbei, in an evening and were approached by a hostile group of 7 people (4 males and 3 females). The group were upset that his girlfriend is Chinese and that he is black, and started to verbally abuse the two of them with xenophobic and racist abuse. His girlfriend verbally defended them both by saying “he is black, but he is still a person” and as a result she was physically attacked by the group. She was firstly punched by one of the male attackers and then grabbed by the throat by another male. Gerald tried to pull the attackers off from his girlfriend and was assaulted in the process, but was successful in putting himself between her and the attackers. He managed to shield his girlfriend as she tried to flee through a door next to where the incident took place, but was struck again on the back by what he believed to be a metal object, unfortunately she couldn’t find an escape route through the building and was forced to exit the same door again she had previously entered, where they were both attacked again by the group.

During the second phase of the attack there were two people assaulting Gerald and his girlfriend, while other two people tried to separate the attackers from the couple. This time, Gerald was able to help his girlfriend escape and she went to retrieve the police for assistance. While this was happening, a bystander decided to involve himself in the attack as one of the original attackers went to fetch a bottle as a weapon. While being holden by one attacker and repeatedly struck by another, Gerald saw the third approaching, with the bottle in his hand, and struck one of the attackers with a single blow, in self-defence. This is after he had sustained countless blows to his body, from multiple directions.

The police arrived at the location, shortly after. Gerald went to the police station to give a statement on his attack, along with the attackers. After giving his statement he was asked to stay in a holding area, while the police took statements from the attackers. Gerald was shocked to find that he was arrested after his wait. He was holden in detention for 2 weeks without understanding the charges, until the Congolese Embassy became involved in the incident, paying the 30,000RMB (approximately $4,800) bail that had been set by the police. It was at this point that he was told that the attacker he struck had needed hospital treatment following the single blow Gerald had thrown.

Following his release Gerald said that 'hislife has turned into a living hell.' His university classes have been suspended, where he has been studying for his Masters, he is unable to work and so has no money available, subsequently he has to vacate his apartment as he cannot pay the rent, all of which are compounded by the fact he cannot leave the country as his passport has been suspended by the police.

This may already sound like particularly unfair treatment, but the story takes a turn for the worse. After his release Gerald set about trying to vindicate himself, by trying to recover the film record from the 4 security cameras that captured the incident. He was told by the local security that the police had come to collect footage from 3 cameras, but no footage has been shown to him from them. A local bar had a camera that captured footage from around 20 meters away, showing the attackers grabbing his girlfriend by the throat and striking her, along with the blow that Gerald struck his attackers with, which Gerald was able to view at the police station, but which hasn’t been released to him or his embassy, despite request from both to do so. Although the security company stated they released other footage to the police, when questioned they have said that there is no other footage. The matter has now been handed over to the court to handle the matter.

The incident is difficult to be looked at in isolation with Chongqing having less than 0.1% foreign residents, with few but the very newest arrivals not knowing of a fellow foreigner who has been attacked, with skin tone seeming to play a factor in the incidence and intensity of the hostilities in question.

Around a month prior to the racist attack on Gerald another African resident of Chongqing was set-upon by a group of Chinese attackers. George Ambe, from Cameroon was a singer and DJ in a club in Chongqing. After performing one night in June last year, he was approached by a girl, who asked to take a photo with him, to which he obliged. When the girl posted the picture on the Chinese social media app Weixin (Wechat) her boyfriend became incensed and went about tracking down George. On an evening during the World Cup, whilst out watching a match with friends, the boyfriend of the girl who photographed him and 9 others entered the bar where George was watching a game. George tried to escape the attack, but despite running from his attackers, he was pursued and stabbed in the street outside the bar, dying at the scene from his injuries. His body was left exposed in the street by the police, being photographed by onlookers who hadn’t intervened in the attack and spread images of his prostrate body on the same social media that had led to his attackers ire and ability to track him down. George’s wife and daughter are still living in Chongqing, but were not offered any compensation by the 3 attackers, who had come forward in relation to the murder of their husband and father.

These two, potentially, racially motivated events, with the suspicion of police impropriety in the handling of evidence suggest a degree of bias if not racism in the institutions along with the local community. Occasionally stories break on social media, but still reporting them outside the country can be a risky prospect for foreigners and Chinese alike, with large scale surveillance on social media making the risk of discovery even greater.

Hmm, I don't intend living outside Nigeria anytime soon.

Ok, so after reading the first paragraph, my fear was confirmed. He dated a local girl. That was his undoing. Every other thing that followed was just an offshoot of the above. Leave their women alone and all will be well.

F22RAPTOR:
Ok, so after reading the first paragraph, my fear was confirmed. He married a local girl. That was his undoing. Every other thing that followed was just an offshoot of the above. Leave their women alone and all will be well.

I will like you to read the whole post, because your fear has not truly been confirmed. The guy never married a local girl...

These xenophobics all av a thing in common.... Inferiority complex.

HuangXueming:

I will like you to read the whole post, because your fear has not truly been confirmed. The guy never married a local girl...

my post has been modified. thanks