Anti-Black racism from Arabs is nothing new, but anti-Black racism from East and South-East Asians is not what most Nigerians expect. For an Asian to call us "monkeys" is beyond preposterous. For Asians to shout and yell at us, even to the point of physically assaulting a woman in her 40s is unbelievable. As you may be aware, Nigerians thrive on respect, as do Asians. Older people, Asian and African, command respect, yet to my non-Nigerian colleagues this does not translate across nationalities. I see that they have respect for each other, but literally zero, zilch, none, for older Nigerian staff. I know a bit of the language, so I can understand when they are insulting us in our presence, calling us "bastards."
Just a few weeks ago, one of the younger staff (in her 20s) reported some Nigerian staff member (in their 40s) to the admin head for "disobeying" her. I was out of the office when I heard this news and was blown away by the sheer ridiculousness of it all. What does it mean to "disobey" someone? I was there when the incident that lead to this "disobedience" went down. The Asian lady colleague was rude as hell, snapping her fingers and banging on the table to get our intention when a simple "excuse me" would have done. And we are supposed to be working together. One question that often runs through my head these days is "would they do it to us if we were from their country?" I very much doubt it.
I spoke to another staff member about the incident (she hadn’t witnessed the incident) and the lady said, "You know, the problem is that they think they are white when they are just bloody Asians!" I cringed at the "bloody Asians" bit, and at her implicit assertion that only white people can get away with disrespecting Nigerians (when really no foreigner should get away with treating you like shit in your own country), but as I said above, Nigerians are generally not used to anti-Black racism from anyone who is not white or Arab. Despite my qualms, I can honestly agree that Asians here do act, or at least try to, act like white people. Essentially, they look down on Africans while viewing themselves as superior. How many pale-skinned people are walking around in African countries behaving like "masters”?
Working here has lifted a veil from my eyes and now I see more examples of Asians behaving badly in Nigeria, in the media, through friends and on my own. For example recently two Chinese men tried to rape a Nigerian woman (it is hard reading the comments at the end of that report). When my older Nigerian colleague was physically assaulted by one of the younger men at the embassy I work at, she could have gone to the media as well. The Chinese men who attempted rape will face the law, but this Asian man at my embassy won't. We were told he had lost his job but I just learned that he actually served out his contract before taking up another job with a heavy industries company in Port Harcourt. A case of my enemy doing well? Fortunately I can rest assured the dude will be beaten the hell up if he tries any shit in Port Harcourt. I won't even go into how this dude tried to date me (this was before he physically assaulted my colleague); I quickly realised that I was not been accorded the respect I deserve, especially from someone who claimed to "like" me. It ended before it began, but not before he tried to grope me in the office.
The few times I've gone out clubbing, I see more Asian men with white women than I should be seeing in an African country. Same at dinner places, Asians hanging out with the white folk. A friend and I took our Korean teacher out for a late lunch and she bluntly told us "The Koreans here don't like Nigerians at all. They think I'm strange for going out with you girls." A new friend of mine who aspires to work at an Asian embassy strongly believes that before leaving their respective countries for Nigeria their respective foreign affairs departments tell them that they are only in Nigeria to work, not to mix with the locals. I personally think it is the other way round, they come here and initially all is well, there are smiles, curiosity and then a few months down the line someone is shouting at you for not giving them your car keys and refusing to call you by name but preferring to bang on a table while shouting "Listen to me!".
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