Donald Trump, Bigotry and Fears of Kenya's Diaspora

Many of us have Kenyan friends or relatives living in America whom we correspond with regularly online. Lately the hottest topic they have engaged in, understandably, is the US presidential campaigns. So far nothing has given our diaspora as much glee as the disastrous performance of Republican Party candidate Donald Trump during Monday’s presidential debate.

Trump has become a figure of hate because of the toxic positions he has taken, particularly on immigration. Plus there is the low opinion he displays of minorities. Both are issues which impact directly on the diaspora. On this, our kin in America are tightly aligned with African-Americans, even though they don’t often agree on much else.

Kenyans living in America, and African-Americans in general, always react with hurt surprise when they learn that there is a sturdy cluster of their compatriots at home who support Trump. This local pro-Trump crowd is evidently in the minority, but is nonetheless quite visible on social media. The expressions of shock from Blacks in America are not usually the norm when it comes to other mainstream Republican candidates of the past. However, Trump is no ordinary Republican judging from the intensely negative passions he has let loose amongst Blacks in America. Maybe because of the distance, Africans lean on the positive regarding American life and politics. The diaspora cannot comprehend how this is so when a candidate like Trump is on the ballot. There is a big disconnect. Those I talk to over there cite our inability to put ourselves in their shoes and to relive the kind of life they endure in America. More to the point, they believe we have not properly internalised what is in store for them under a Trump presidency.

FEW EXAMPLES

Let’s do a few examples. Trump has made no secret that he favours a return to “Stop and Frisk”, a hated policing procedure where police can stop anybody, anywhere, and do a thorough body search. Trouble is, the victims are habitually Black, rarely White. It is seen as highly discriminatory and in one instance was declared by a court as unconstitutional. But Trump has trumpeted it vigorously as the solution to gun crime. When the candidate harps on law and order – a coded term in American race politics – it raises similar hackles with minorities.

All this, mark you, comes at a time American cities are boiling in rage over repeated unlawful police shootings of African-American men. This has ignited the “Black Lives Matter” protests sweeping across America. The latest episode was the killing last week by police in San Diego of Alfred Olango, a mentally ill Ugandan refugee.

I have heard the retort from the pro-Trump crowd in Kenya that Republicans tend to be tough with “African dictators who cross the line.” (I don’t know if one can rely on Trump on this score, or what “crossing the line” means).

I agree that historically, some of the most uplifting chapters in the African story have been influenced by US Republican administrations. The great post-World War II push for decolonisation – primarily to force Britain and France to open their colonial markets – may have kicked off under the Harry Truman administration (Democratic), but it was President Dwight Eisenhower (Republican) who really got it going. By the time John F Kennedy (Democratic) ascended, decolonisation in Africa was well and truly under way.

BUSH SENIOR

And who can forget the role of the administration of George Bush Snr, another Republican, in the campaign for political pluralism in Africa at the tail-end of the Cold War? Remember Smith Hempstone, the unconventional envoy sent to Kenya by Bush Snr? Hempstone, in his book Rogue Ambassador, relates how a memo from his opposite number in Tanzania about “expanding democracy” in Africa was promptly made policy by the Bush administration.

Later came the son, George W. Bush. He was often caricatured as unserious and out of his depth, yet credit goes to him for initiating the biggest ever global health initiative to combat HIV and facilitate mass availability of anti-retroviral drugs to suffering Africans. Before him the Democrat Bill Clinton had done a good job opening up the American market for Africa through the AGOA initiative.

Truth be told, Barack Obama, he of the Kenyan father, has not done nearly as much for Mother Africa. Few Africans are putting any store on Trump if he wins the election, that is if he remembers we exist once he’s done with Mexicans and illegal immigrants.

By Gitau Warigi | gitauwarigi@yahoo.com

 Originally published on Nation.co.ke