Experiences I think are unique to Somalis.

[Farahslayer]

These are ones that I’ve experienced. So maybe it’s not a universal Somali experience but it’s just my personal experience that I’m sure other black people do not experience.

• I have timo jileec but it’s still curly. A lot of non black POCs with curlier hair than me will compare their hair to mine and say we have the ‘same hair’. It’s like they can’t get over a black person having ‘straighter’ hair than them.
• I notice cadaans feel they can get away with more obvious racism towards me than other black people. Like assuming I don’t know English etc. I’ve witnessed this in progress when a black carribean friend and I went out to eat.
• Black people are always associating me with TJs and Arabs. I legit had some ask me if my people do cousin marriages like such and such. Some cadaans do it too but the majority are other black people.
• This isn’t race specific but people (of every ethnicity) will always compare me to their mixed relative or child. In what world does your Kurdish and Jamaican child look Somali.

Anyways, I say all that to say that on the internet the rhetoric is that Somalis want to distance themselves from ‘blackness’ but in real life this is how ajanabis behave. None of these experiences are flattering and most are straight up racist.

I’m not even a Somali with wavy hair, I honestly couldn’t deal with that it’s annoying enough with stereotypical hair.

Feel free to share your experiences or to roast me.

 

[𐒁𐒚𐒒𐒂𐒘𐒂𐒗 𐒎𐒚𐒗𐒗𐒒]

It's true, there are Somalis that get treated like Hindi Muslims in the West, and these Cadaans/Madows are less afraid of being racist to us, because we fall in the cracks of racist protection. With Madows they fear a BLM protest in front of their house, with anaga, nothing.

Our boys get treated like Madows though, I would assume, in terms of racism etc.

I think it's gendered sometimes, and also dependent on what your Somali phenotype is.

 

[Keep it a boqol]

For your point number two what racism has white people said to you that they can’t say to other black people?

 

[Farahslayer]

It's true, there are Somalis that get treated like Hindi Muslims in the West, and these Cadaans/Madows are less afraid of being racist to us, because we fall in the cracks of racist protection. With Madows they fear a BLM protest in front of their house, with anaga, nothing.

Our boys get treated like Madows though, I would assume, in terms of racism etc.

I think it's gendered sometimes, and also dependent on what your Somali phenotype is.

The crazy thing is I’m not exotic at all. I have mareen colouring and very typical hair. I really can’t imagine lighter or darker Somalis with looser hair and the weird comments they would get. Especially from non black POCs, they’re oftentimes the weirdest.

I do wonder if Farah’s are vunerable enough to share their experiences. I highly doubt it but I believe a lot of them act like stereotypical madows to run away from the islamophobic and anti immigrant racism. But that’s just my thought.

 

[Farahslayer]

For your point number two what racism has white people said to you that they can’t say to other black people?

The typical anti immigrant bs they do. Treating you as if you don’t know English or try to other you because you’re not Christian/western etc. I often get Hindi and Arab stereotypes thrown at me as if we are the same. Like for example will your dad or husband allow you to do that? Cousin marriage/arranged marriage accusations. Like what other black ppl get that?

 

[Garsoore]

The typical anti immigrant bs they do. Treating you as if you don’t know English or try to other you because you’re not Christian/western etc. I often get Hindi and Arab stereotypes thrown at me as if we are the same. Like for example will your dad or husband allow you to do that? Cousin marriage/arranged marriage accusations. Like what other black ppl get that?

You wear hijab? Ofcourse you'll experience Islamophobia. Everyone associates Somalia with Islam automatically unlike multi-religious west African states.

 

[Farahslayer]

You wear hijab? Ofcourse you'll experience Islamophobia. Everyone associates Somalia with Islam automatically unlike multi-religious west African states.

No, hence the comments about the hair. Also what do arrange marriages have to do with Islam? I was literally compared to a Hindu colleague.

Why don’t west Africans get that treatment? They’re way more hyper religious than I am.

 

[Basra]

Xalimos have an extra Chromosome

 

[Angelina]

I was mocked by madow kids for thinking I was black when I was an early teen. The way I saw it was that SSA= black, so if someone asked if Somalis were black, I’d be like yep. But then I remember when they were like to me ‘LOL, Somalis aren’t black, do you think you’re black’? Tbh, that exchange never bothered me since I saw my blackness as a ‘technicality’ rather than my real identity. I always saw myself as Muslim and Somali and never really cared about my so called ‘blackness’.

My entire life I was treated like a timo jelec when I was in school around Cadaan and madow.

1. Cadaans have called me the P word growing up and believe me, every single racial abuse was also based on their assumption of thinking I was some sort of Asiatic or Middle Eastern person.

2. People would assume I’d have an arranged marriage or throw any cultural thing that Asians do and think I have the same culture as well.
3. Madows wouldn’t see me as madow like them and it had nothing to do with me being Muslim. I actually grew up with West African Muslims so, they didn’t have the mentality of ‘hijab= Non black’. It was mostly the cadaans who thought that. It was to do with me being Somali and my phenotype.

4. Those that did think I was madow always thought I was mixed with something else in addition.

 

[Sophisticate]

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[Farsi]

These are ones that I’ve experienced. So maybe it’s not a universal Somali experience but it’s just my personal experience that I’m sure other black people do not experience.

• I have timo jileec but it’s still curly. A lot of non black POCs with curlier hair than me will compare their hair to mine and say we have the ‘same hair’. It’s like they can’t get over a black person having ‘straighter’ hair than them.
• I notice cadaans feel they can get away with more obvious racism towards me than other black people. Like assuming I don’t know English etc. I’ve witnessed this in progress when a black carribean friend and I went out to eat.
• Black people are always associating me with TJs and Arabs. I legit had some ask me if my people do cousin marriages like such and such. Some cadaans do it too but the majority are other black people.
• This isn’t race specific but people (of every ethnicity) will always compare me to their mixed relative or child. In what world does your Kurdish and Jamaican child look Somali.

Anyways, I say all that to say that on the internet the rhetoric is that Somalis want to distance themselves from ‘blackness’ but in real life this is how ajanabis behave. None of these experiences are flattering and most are straight up racist.

I’m not even a Somali with wavy hair, I honestly couldn’t deal with that it’s annoying enough with stereotypical hair.

Feel free to share your experiences or to roast me.

Lol most cadaans thought I was aboriginal growing up. Barely anyone knows somalis down here.

 

[Farahslayer]

I was mocked by madow kids for thinking I was black when I was an early teen. The way I saw it was that SSA= black, so if someone asked if Somalis were black, I’d be like yep. But then I remember when they were like to me ‘LOL, Somalis aren’t black, do you think you’re black’? Tbh, that exchange never bothered me since I saw my blackness as a ‘technicality’ rather than my real identity. I always saw myself as Muslim and Somali and never really cared about my so called ‘blackness’.

My entire life I was treated like a timo jelec when I was in school around Cadaan and madow.

1. Cadaans have called me the P word growing up and believe me, every single racial abuse was also based on their assumption of thinking I was some sort of Asiatic or Middle Eastern person.

2. People would assume I’d have an arranged marriage or throw any cultural thing that Asians do and think I have the same culture as well.
3. Madows wouldn’t see me as madow like them and it had nothing to do with me being Muslim. I actually grew up with West African Muslims so, they didn’t have the mentality of ‘hijab= Non black’. It was mostly the cadaans who thought that. It was to do with me being Somali and my phenotype.

4. Those that did think I was madow always thought I was mixed with something else in addition.

I am oddly glad I’m not the only one getting the TJ treatment. All this is crazy with the online harassment because if we are black then stop with the BS irl.

If I’m being honest, everyone knows that being black gets you a level of ‘protection’ from stereotypes compared to immigrants. It’s more advantageous for me to be treated as a black person versus whatever the hell they ‘decide’. Meanwhile the online narrative is that we ‘hate’ being called black because of approximately 15 trolls.

I will say that west Africans and in Africans in general see me as African. I’ve never gotten any weird attitude or animosity like there is online.

 

[Farahslayer]

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They honestly think their mix kids look or will look like EAs. For me that’s the one I get most pissed off with.

I personally wear my hair curly 98% of the time to avoid the TJ discrimination as well. I’ll be honest, it hasn’t helped at all.

 

[Farahslayer]

Lol most cadaans thought I was aboriginal growing up. Barely anyone knows somalis down here.

Are you from down under or North America? That’s really interesting, I’ve never been associated with them.

 

[Farsi]

Are you from down under or North America? That’s really interesting, I’ve never been associated with them.

Down under

 

[Cartan Boos]

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[Arkan]

Madows straight up make assumptions and if they're bold enough they tend to ask where I'm from. Cadaans for the most part don't care.

 

[Keep it a boqol]

Madows straight up make assumptions and if they're bold enough they tend to ask where I'm from. Cadaans for the most part don't care.

Interesting. I always get asked where i’m from. Madows are more explicit, but cadaans try to be sneaky about it and more pc

 

[Einar68]

Everyone in this thread grew up in different countries/regions/cities/neighbourhoods etc so everyone's experience will differ

but I want everybody to play very close attention to how the general populace, in some way or another, views you as a unique entity. Nothing wrong with that, we're a new group to the west that's extremely unique looking it's hard to categorize us I don't hate anyone for it.

I also don't take much issue with discrimination as a concept, as whilst it's terrible, it's going to happen to a new and distinct looking group, such is the unfortunate reality of life.

My issue is that the general narrative around us is "Somalis come over here and think of themselves as {insert identity} instead of {insert other identity this specific person/group wants us to claim}". Usually those brackets are filled with some variant of "black".

How can they make this argument when in reality, the bulk of westerners who have never seen anyone like us are the ones that actively attempt to either categorize or other us. Often time's both.

Like I said I don't even necessarily have issues with this view because we're f*cking new and it will take time for us to find an identity here, whatever that identity may be. But why lie about us when it's clearly others superimposing their ideals onto us?

 

[empressjamila]

I can’t relate to timo jileec struggles girl I got type 3c-4a madow ass hair lmao.

I think the only one I can relate to is people assuming I am mixed with something/not “really African”