HOME IS EVER BEST

Dear Gordon,

Its a shame to us Africans, where shall we go?

Just a minute, yes I do agree with you, racism is bad in spain. Which part of spain are you? I was once there and I experienced part of it. There is a hotel in this city i have forgoten the name, the city of swords the one you cross the rock bridge as you enter..Toledo...the owner of the hotel refused me to use the hotel toilet because I was black. Then in a supermarket in Madrid a child was crying to his dad having seen a negro that is me at the supermarket. In Avila they thought since I am kenyan I should be tall black with a tail and running in the olympics. In Madrid in one of the restaurants one guy walked out when I ordered for a choritho, the equivalent of mutura in Kenya simply because I was black.

At the barajas airport I was delayed for one hour more than the rest for my bag to be searched since I was african. Africans we have a lot to prove to the world, in running business, in academia, as missionaries, as authors, in engineering others do not have to prove anything but africans have. With all these in our hands Africans must love each other and move forward to prove to the world that we were created in God's own image just like others.

Thank you,
Emmanuel Okwach

Yes Emmanuel,
Sorry for this experience. Many negros (blacks) suffer it everyday... Once Eto'o, the Senegal player at Barcelona Football club was asked in a TV interview how he feels to be black and famous among the whites and he said, what is sad for him is that people like him for what he is doing and not for what he is, a human being... He said many people stop him just for a signature wherever he goes and when he enter a shop he is treated with respect and dignity, a thing that can't be done to any other black man, perhaps they would block him or her from entering such enterprises thinking he/she might loot or something of the sort (while spaniards themselves do the looting...).

Your experience is not unique. I always like going without any distinction as a priest. This is normally to make myself be treated as a person and not because I am a priest or so. Once I was studying in Colombia and one of the professors said, a black priest, a black taxi driver is not the same as any black... That was so true. It was terrible to see people not ready to sit next to you in a bus simply because you are black... A thing they don't do with blacks of "class". I hate this!

It has happened to me several times the same things you have said. Many think all kenyans are Maasai-Samburu type and we must be in Akala and the coloured shukas etc. That all Kenyans must be great athletes, thin and tall. Anyway, it is lack of knowledge in their education system which ignores Africa totally. By the way, Africa is conceived as a country thus one (an African) should know it like his own palm. The desert in Africa is famous....

I have these cases to share perhaps to show you that what you lived is a common daily life challenges here. Once I went to Madrid from Alicante beach where I live with a high speed train. When we reached Atocha Station (where there was the Alcaida blast attack to Spain that killed many), we were getting out hundreds and thousands of people. Three policemen just gathered courage to approach me and tell me "Senyor, permitenos un minuto... ie Sir, allow us one minute...". I felt bad. How could these people stop me in the middle of so many people rushing out of the train to search my bag??? I refused and I said, sorry sir, do I wear a face of a terrorist or something of the kind? I'm in a hurry and I have no time. They told me the law forces them to search whoever. I insisted they can't seach me unless it is a common routine and there must be others undergoing the same routine and not only I unless I'm having a face of a criminal they were suspecting. So they stopped another guy (white) and they searched us. They asked my documents and I produced not the ID but rather the Religious Document showing I'm a priest. Oops, they really apologised for searching a priest, put my bag in order and escorted me out begging me to forgive them... That was a case not to be forgotten.

In the same Madrid, around puerta del Sol, the Centre of Madrid, we had gone with another Kenyan Consolata collegue for an evening walk after a meeting we had in Madrid. We decided to go into a bar and have some bite. We met with a rude shock, no senyore, solo socios... that is: Not sirs, members only. It is a private club. We then decided to go away knowing what it was all about: Blacks not allowed in.... Fortunately or unfortunately, we met a Spanish friend who told us, hey guys let's go to such and such place to have some jamon (pork) and a drink. We looked at each other and told him, that bar is only for members and we are not. He insisted that it was not. And took us back there. When we went, he entered first and the waiter tried to stop us (the two blacks). He came back and said, they are with me. We were allowed in... Gosh, what is it to be black. We could not stay there. We told the man that we move to another place where we can be treated equally but not give even a single cent to racists.... We moved.

In Valencia, the capital of our Community (call it province - Kenyan system), two times I have clashed with police. Once they were chasing the black street sellers and I was just passing by. Seeing I was not running away, one came to me and said, what are you carrying in that hand bag? CDs? DVDs? or Drugs? I got mad.... "Do you think Valencia is heaven? Do you think any black carrying a handbag is an illegal seller/hawker? or what a hell is this?". The other police detected I was not the ordinary type of inmigrants and told the other, let's go... They never cheked my bag... But that was not all. I went to see the Cathedral of Valencia where they have the Chalice believed to be the same Chalice our Lord used in the Last Supper. Then I was touring the old town when a patrol police car cameby and asked, hola negrito, que vendes ie, hey blacky, what are you selling? I could not swallow it. I vomitted everything to them. So one came out and told me, catch the wall, police search. I refused. Then he became violent and told me, your documents? I produced the priestly ID and he shouted with shock to his comrade "es cura - he is a priest" the other said "Que - What?". He is a priest... Vamonos - Let's go...

So you can see how things are. I'm sure if I would be going with my roman collar on or cassock, the treat would be different and people would be leaving the seats in buses for me to sit. I refuse such kind of treats simply because of what I do (a priest) and not because of what I am, a human being.

Peace to Africa.

Fr. Gordon, IMC.