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Excessive Force or Racism by Beijing Police?
A hazy picture of a police round-up of black people in Beijing’s Sanlitun is emerging today. The full details are not fully known, but foreigners are starting to wonder if this fits into a pre-existing prejudice against black people by some Chinese. For those who have lived in China it is pretty clear that a fair amount of racism exists. Locals frequently throw unpleasant remarks awkwardly into conversations, but ignorant words and actions are quite different matters.
This weekend there were allegations that Beijing police beat up numerous dark-skinned people in city’s Sanlitun area and I am curious as to whether this reflects a broader trend in society, or if it was simply a drug sweep carried out by poorly-trained officers. More on this story later in the post, but first, let me relate a conversation I had with one of China’s famously chatty drivers the day after the round-up occurred.
After chatting about various topics for a while, he suddenly announced that he really likes foreigners—except black people. He informed me “黑人太坏”(black people are really bad). I gave my normal answer to this: there are good black people and bad black people just like with Chinese, white people, and everyone else. (It should tell you something that I have to have a stock answer for this statement in China.) My cab driver actually seemed to like this answer a lot. He laughed and kept repeating that I was absolutely right, emphatically saying “中国有好的，又有坏的” (there are both good and bad people in China).
Despite the fact that Chinese people frequently make offensive statements about black people, they also often criticize the US for its history of race problems. For some reason the contradiction between these ideas is lost on them. However, while it is awful to hear people making offensive statements, I have been fortunate enough never to have heard of outright racist actions in China (aside from anti-Japanese riots, which arguably fall into a different category). Until yesterday that is.
There were several reports that Chinese paramilitary police targeted people with dark skin on the Sanlitun bar street Beijing in the late hours Friday night. The most comprehensive (but not necessarily most reliable) source was a blog claiming the police targeted black people in the area where Africans can frequently be seen dealing drugs. This initial account quoted a witness who said, “I have not really ever seen anything so brutal…There was blood all over the street.” The full story can be found here, although the site appears to be blocked in China.
Reuters has done a more thorough investigation and was not able substantiate that the police were indiscriminate, instead finding conflicting accounts:
“Some Africans entered the vans peacefully but others tried to flee and the police used force,” added Wang, who works on the street frequented by young foreigners.
Other witnesses said the troops targeted anyone on the street with dark skin.
It is hard to say if this event on Sanlitun is a reflection of a bias against black people that is more widespread in society, or simply a poorly executed effort to rid the area of drug dealers who have become relatively ubiquitous. Perhaps the truth falls somewhere in the middle.
Incidentally, if anyone happened to be on the street that night and witnessed the events first-hand, your comments would be greatly appreciated. The rumor going around is that anyone with cameras or cell phones, uh, don’t have them anymore.
[update: while we're discussing racism, ironically a Chinese sculptor was chosen to make a monument to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.]
Related posts:
- Drinking the Beijing Olympic Kool Aid
- Beijing Business Events
- Film Review: Beijing Bicycle
- Beijing Scoffs at Talk of Olympic Boycott
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china is a communist country, comes close to monarchy? in the dark, the police does alot more than just excessive force. There are alot of hidden secrets.
Why is it that China (much the same as America) thinks its a law onto its self and continued to embaress its self with these animalistic acts that all can see, whether it be in Tiunamen Square, Tebet or Beijing?
im haji abdul qahir from duabi u a e.
my brother haji nazar jan has arested in chani beijeing i want to about him where is he. in which jail or police station. i need your help please help me in this case pls. my mobile no:00971507552892
Human Rights in China said in a statement that more than 500 police and paramilitary police clashed Wednesday with hundreds of village protesters in rural Sanjiang Town in Guangdong province’s Xinhui District.
It said the protest followed a typhoon which collapsed the local dam, damaging farmland, fish ponds and farm property. Villagers blamed government officials for illegally selling and removing trees around the dam, which may have caused it to collapse, the group said.
For those of us without subscriptions, can you tell us what additional information was including.
Thanks for the help.
The SCMP text can be found here:
chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?p=123177
That link brings me to a page that says I do not permission to read
Typical Chinese if you ask me. I have rarely met a Chinese person (in China) who thinks anything less than “Black people are bad”. If I had $1 for every time I heard that…!
The cops just finally had their chance to do what they always wanted to do, beat up black guys.
So much for “one world one dream” China is finally being exposed for the racist nation it is.
I witnessed the majority of the raid, and upon my attempts to film it on my phone, was apprehended by police. My phone was violently taken from me and I was led to the police station where i was instructed to delete any offensive material. Upon doing so I was released. I am adverse to the sale of drugs and support the governments attempts to clean up the streets in preparation for the Olympic Games, however Friday nights exhibition by Chinese police was both brutal and racist.
Anonymous says:
Why is it that when black people are assaulted, every cries “racism.” But when blacks attack others, no one seems to care.
I hope you can see the difference between a private gang assault on an individual and an organized government assault on a specific group.
So much evil in our world but it doesnt means that evil is the one controlling the world now.Instead it is`nt and that is why we hear mostly evil things everyday when we turn on the news.When things like this happen what i see is leaders without enough knowledge about the outside world.Really this is a big error.I will like u to follow me in thinking the situation i have in my own country were chinese immigrants sell even what had been left to the most poorest families to sell,e.g,rappen papers,boiled peanuts,puff puff and beans(this is the food most people eat in the morning and in the evening,because it is the cheapest and it is a third world country).I am not speaking out of rumors but facts.i have seen them right in my city market and i talked to them in chinese because before i stayed in china.Furthermore,it is also becoming a clear fact that most of our businesses are closing due to the coming of thier chinese cheaper and mostly fake counterparts.But still nobody talks,what we ignorantly do is packing our bags to come and hussel in China and then we are beaten by the police.After some time we go back to our country and still meet this Chinese people sitting on the floors of our market selling wrappen papers,next to his african counterparts.What do we do?Nothing?This could go on,u hear chinese people have been kidnapped,for a ransom,what the kinappers say most is always left out of the news apart from the fact that they are asking for 1 million dollars which is what most people want to hear because they were kidnaped in Africa,this goes on to synthesizes anger and hate towards blacks back in China.Some chinese locals in some way try to through it on any black skin person he sees around.So it goes on and on,round and round,and could eventually escalate into a major conflict,just because those in power were not aware of the seeds they planted.What thier own people are doing in our countries they dont even know,because our governments are week and desperate for chinese investments.Thanks.
I lived in china for 2 years, and i couldnt tell you how many times i had been approached by an African asking me if i wanted some drugs. If you want drugs in Beijing go look for an African. Also China has a dark past when it comes to drugs, it almost destroyed the country. So given the history and the complete lack of respect the African people have to the Chinese country (ive seen it first hand), i can understand why the police did what they did. Also im not going to try to curry favor to all the Hippies out there by showing any sympathy to some criminal with a boo boo. You break a law in another peoples country expect some discipline.
Why are there Blacks in China? Who gives them jobs? What is the purpose of Blacks in China? Are they allowed into China because the are to become Chinese citizens? Business men with buisness ties back in the USA or Africa and China needs their expertize? Are they married to a Chinese woman and just like China? Are they out to Change China by inpregnating Chinese women and take over a sector of Chinas society?
If all I hear is that they came to sell drugs, then the question is where do they get the drug from? If they get them from Chinese drug dealers then the Government should go after those people and starve out the Black dealers then they might go back to Africa or get deported for their crimes. It all gets back to allowing criminals to operate freely.
With the Olimpic coming next year it can turn into a bonanza for drug dealers.That would bring China into the 21st century along with every other country now infested with drugs and drug dealers.
China Clean it up before you loose your people to the scurge of the world.
Chinese police rarely get involved with foreigners if they can help it, owing mainly to poor foreign language skills.
I READ ALL THE WRITEUPS, SOME BAD, SOME GOOD AND SOME JUST STUPID. I AM A EDUCATED BLACK AMERICAN HERE WORKING FOR THE AMERICAN EMBASSY AND A GOD LOVING MAN. I DO NOT CARE IF YOU ARE BLACK, WHITE OR PINK, YOU HAVE A WRIGHT TO WALK THE STREETS OF THE WORLD AND NOT HAVE YOUR HEAD KICKED INN. PEOPLE GET A LIFE!!! I GUESS ITS EASY TO ALWAYS HATE SOMEONE ELSE TO MAKE YOUR FUC?UP LIFE BETTER>
Don”t worry about it by the time White America finish selling out America
the chinese will be over here batting them upside there head.
The same happens in the USA and Africa. Whites get attacked in the US, and the Chinese living in Africa are being attacked. But nobody really cares.
A proud black as i am .Fortunately they are many frogs in my country.Thanks for the brutality in China because our actions will be justify.Before the cheap frog goods ,African and blacks were doing great.Basically nothing has changed or gonna change
Peace
Yeah, there is still the factor of people which makes it worse for the black comunity.
There is one guy, his name is Sidibe Yacouba.
He introduces himself as a business man with good relationship to the embassador of Mali.
He has connections to a Group in Great Britain (Offshore Banking from Manchester).
He likes to lend money for investment but finally he disappears somewhere in China without returning the money he “lend”.
He is 160 tall and has around 90kg.
He is black person and likes to wear some kind of traditional cloth and a cap, plenty of gold rings on his fingers.
Those kind peolpe will not help to improve relationship.
There is one person I know, his name is Sidibe Yacouba at lease he says so. He is a guy from Mali and his cover is business man. He got a fake residence permission arranged by one of his friends in Beijing, also one of our continets people.
He is cheating peoples money and dealing drugs.
He is arround 1.6m 90kg to 95kg arround 50 years old , wearing alots of golde accesories and rings and is talking a lot about his good relationship to some guys in Great Britain, Shenzhen and also about his good relation ship to the Malian Ambassador in Beijing.
Those kind of people are the reason why we are not welcome here.