The Hypocrisy Against Africa's Children

The Hypocrisy Against Africa’s Children

Essential Question: How badly are African migrants treated in Europe, and why should people change perceptions of African migrants?

In recent years, Europe has faced a big influx of African migrants into its borders, mainly coming from Somalia, Nigeria, Eritrea, Gambia, South Sudan, and Senegal, countries facing either poverty, violence, or both. (Ayeko-Kümmeth) But even though these migrants rush to European countries for refuge and peace, some Europeans struggle to find sympathy for these migrants due to their skin color and cultural differences. Because of this, African migrants end up finding it hard to assimilate or even exist peacefully without facing violence.

African migrants are facing a disproportionate amount of violence in the countries they immigrate they move to due to the differences in race and culture. African migrants in Russia, ending up with only tourist visas and no documents, can only find jobs like passing out magazines, which only give them fifty dollars a week, and often face violence from white citizens. (Simmons) Another example of violence against migrants is the homelessness many African migrants have to deal with in Apulia, Italy, which is now considered Europe’s “ghetto” for African migrants. (Popp) Due to European racism, African migrants end up impoverished and beaten, and with Europe’s history of violence and immigration, this is much too unfair for them.

Europeans and Americans alike have both experiences of immigrating to other countries in search of refuge, and should show more kindness to African migrants due to this fact that connects them more with them. The Ukrainians, 1.7 million of which have left their country to escape the conflict going on between their country and Russia-backed rebels, are a good example of European refugees. While they did not completely move out of their country, they had to leave everything behind and move to entirely new cities. The community’s cities have welcomed them with open arms and given them chances to assimilate, like holding public get-togethers like talent shows. (Colborne) The Russian Jewish people and Evangelicals of the former Soviet Union are a good example of European refugees as well, having fled the anti-semitism and religious persecution of the Soviet Union back in the 1980’s. They were able to find new homes in places like New York City and Philadelphia, and have remained in this country since then. (Gordon) If these Europeans were able to have been shown sympathy and compassion for their drastic situation and successfully assimilate into their new homes, then so should African migrants.

Gordon, Claire. "Coming to America: the 5 biggest refugee groups of the last 20 years." Al Jazeera America. N.p., 14 Oct. 2016. Web. 11 Mar. 2017.

Ayeko-Kümmeth, Jane, and Ashutosh Pandey. "African refugee influx to Europe | Africa | DW.COM | 07.08.2015." DW.COM. N.p., 7 Aug. 2015. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. This article cites different origins of African refugees and their reasons for leaving, serving as a reference for the issues that African refugees face. The authors seem to be European, so it could reflect as a bias against these refugees, as they are mostly moving to Europe, but as the article serves mainly as a record and not much as a persuasive essay, this bias proves to be not too much of a problem. The similarity to this and other sources is that they both cite that African refugees are coming to Europe. This will be used as proof of that fact, but will not be used as an argument.

Simmons, Ann M. "African migrants in Russia describe 'hell on Earth'" Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2014. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. This article explains the situation with the African migrants who have moved to Russia, which seems to be unfavorable. Ann M. Simmon is a global development writer and an editor on the foreign desk of Los Angeles Times, so her experience with foreign relations seems to be solid and credible. Of course, as the Los Angeles Times is mainstream news, it could be biased for the sake of sensationalism, but it seems to be solid on selling the story of African migrants. Like the other sources, it mentions African migrants in Europe, and will be used as evidence that African migrants are being shown less sympathy due to their race.

Popp, Maximilian. "Trapped in Apulia: Europe's Deepening Refugee Crisis - SPIEGEL ONLINE - International." SPIEGEL ONLINE. SPIEGEL ONLINE, 21 June 2013. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. This article details the homelessness and lack of care African refugees have faced, Apulia being used as a particular example. Maximillian Popp is a journalist for the German news site Spiegel, and a winner of the South East European Society’s journalism prize for his report on Turkey, so he’s likely a credible source on the information. However, due to his young age, his report could be biased out of naivety. It mentions African migrants like the other sources, and will be used as evidence for the fact that African migrants face poor living conditions.

Colborne, Michael. "'You can lose it all': War in Ukraine turns 1.7 million people into refugees." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 27 June 2016. Web. 11 Mar. 2017. Lists two different stories of Ukrainian refugees. Colborne seems to be knowledgeable on the subject and the website seems unbiased. It mentions refugees like the other articles.

Gordon, Claire. "Coming to America: the 5 biggest refugee groups of the last 20 years." Al Jazeera America. N.p., 14 Oct. 2016. Web. 11 Mar. 2017. Lists the problems five different refugee groups face. Al Jazeera is an international news site, so it can be somewhat trusted to be less biased than partisan news sites or 24 hour news networks. It mentions African refugees like the other sources, and will be used to cite other examples of refugees from Europe.