NEWS//Africans are being evicted in China.

Community fears fueled by the coronavirus are creating anti-black profiling and discrimination in China.

Lockdowns and forced testing

"Government officials and private businesses cracked down after the report [that five Nigerians were confirmed to have COVID-19]," USA Today reported in mid-April. "African communities in Guangzhou have reported targeted lockdowns and forced coronavirus testing in the city. In addition to being barred from stores, as in the McDonald’s controversy, reports of black people being evicted from their homes have also surfaced."

Ten thousand Africans live in Guangzhou, China. There "…several African residents said the black community was being unfairly targeted for stricter checks. 'If they do this to all foreigners, then it’s not a problem, but it’s only black people,' Soumana Toudou, a garment trader from Niger, told Reuters by WhatsApp. He said he was undergoing his second 14-day quarantine because the authorities did not believe he had completed his first.

Evictions and intimidations

Tom Kertscher writing for PolitiFact says, "Some Africans living in China are being evicted from their homes over fears of a second wave of the coronavirus in the country where it originated. Social media posts about the matter caught our attention…. Numerous legitimate news reports describe such targeted evictions, stemming from fears of another COVID-19 outbreak, in the southern China city of Guangzhou."

Buzzfeednews printed a story about a Ugandan woman in Guangdong, China. “The 7-Eleven employees locked the door as Darasa approached and began spraying disinfectants, she said, only cracking it open wide enough to spray disinfectant around her feet. The McDonald's nearby also wouldn't allow her inside, nor would the supermarket….”

“So Darasa posted a video on Facebook on April 23 complaining of this ‘super racist’ treatment. Shortly after, two groups of police officers paid a visit to her hotel. They demanded she delete the video, took dozens of pictures of her, for reasons that were never made clear to her, and began phoning friends who were involved in making the video. A group of four police officers came to give her a “gift” of a face mask, hand sanitizer, and tea bags, but also to deliver a message: ‘We have to work with [the authorities] — if not, we’ll not be nice,’ she recalled an officer telling her.”

China’s defense

China has defended itself against charges of racism. After watching phone video of the treatment of some Africans, Chinese Ambassador Zhou Pingjian “pointed out that the behavior of Chinese quarantine workers was appropriate and there was nothing improper…. China's foreign ministry has denied the actions captured on video expose racial discrimination even as other countries, including Ghana, Kenya and Uganda summoned Chinese ambassadors, and the African Union Commission expressed its displeasure with the incidents” (UPI).

CNN offers another Chinese perspective on these reports of racial discrimination. "Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian responded to the crisis, promising that provincial authorities would attach ‘great importance" to the concerns of some African countries and work to improve quarantine measures, including providing special accommodation for foreigners required to undergo medical observation.’”

Aljazeera provides this interview about the situation.

Sources: USA Today, Reuters, Politifact, Buzzfeednews, CNN, UPI, Aljazeera