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How Trump’s Comments Went Over With Africans ‘Don’t Feed the Troll’: Much of the World Reacts in Anger at Trump’s Insult
(about 7 hours later)
ABUJA, Nigeria — All things considered, Botswana was as diplomatic as it could be. Governments and citizens across the world recoiled on Friday with disgust, outrage and sadness at reports that President Trump had described Haiti and unspecified African nations as “shithole countries” during a meeting with members of Congress on Thursday about immigration, asking why the American government would want to admit their citizens as immigrants.
Its government summoned the United States ambassador on Friday and asked him to “to clarify if Botswana is regarded as a ‘shithole’ country.” The Haitian government called the remarks racist. The president of Senegal tweeted that he was shocked. South Africa’s governing party said the comments were “extremely offensive.” The African Union said it was “frankly alarmed.”
They were not the only ones who were confused or disturbed by reports that President Trump had described Haiti and unspecified African nations as “shithole countries” during a meeting with senators on Thursday about immigration. In Haiti, particularly, the words were greeted with pain, as the country marked the eighth anniversary of the deadly 2010 earthquake — known as the worst natural disaster of modern history, killing between 230,000 and 316,000 people and leaving 1.5 million homeless.
Mr. Trump appeared to deny on Friday that he had made the comment, but a senator, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, was among several lawmakers present at the meeting who said that Mr. Trump had done so. President Jovenel Moïse attended a solemn ceremony at Titanyen, the monument to the country’s earthquake victims, where thousands were buried anonymously in giant pits.
It would hardly be the first time that the president had made remarks about Africa that have come across as ill-informed or worse. In June, he said that Nigerians in the United States would never “go back to their huts” in Africa. “The Haitian government condemns in the strongest terms these abhorrent and obnoxious remarks which, if proven, reflect a totally erroneous and racist view of the Haitan community and its contribution to the United States,” the government said, while summoning the top American diplomat in the country for clarification, and possible an apology.
In September, he told African leaders that “I have so many friends going to your countries trying to get rich,” which to some critics sounded evocative of colonialism. The same month, he spoke of a country called Nambia, which does not exist. (The White House later clarified that he had meant to say Namibia.) The fury was not limited to those countries directly mentioned, however.
Mr. Trump’s latest comments drew criticism from many quarters in the continent. El Salvador’s government sent a formal letter of protest. Earlier in the week, the United States announced it was rescinding Temporary Protected Status for about 200,000 Salvadorans living in the United States.
The African Union told The Associated Press that Mr. Trump’s statement “flies in the face of all accepted behavior and practice.” In Brussels, a European Union lawmaker, Gianni Pittella of Italy,
On Twitter, President Macky Sall of Senegal wrote: “I am shocked by President Trump’s comments on Haiti and Africa. I reject them and condemn them vigorously. Africa and black people deserve the respect and consideration of all.” told The Associated Press that Mr. Trump “had forgotten to engage his brain before talking.”
Vicente Fox, a former president of Mexico who has frequently clashed with Mr. Trump, demanded of him: “With what authority do you proclaim who’s welcome in America and who’s not.” (He also suggested that Mr. Trump’s vulgar word was better used to describe his own mouth.)
Michaëlle Jean, a former governor general of Canada who is now the secretary general of Francophonie, which comprises 84 states that share French as a language, called the comments “disturbing.”
“It is such an insult before humanity,” Ms. Jean, a native of Haiti, who after the earthquake became Unesco’s special envoy to the Caribbean nation, told the Canadian Press. “For the first representative of the United States of America to speak in such a manner is quite troubling and offensive.”
Unsurprisingly, some of the strongest reactions were in Africa.
“I am shocked by President Trump’s comments on Haiti and Africa,” President Macky Sall of Senegal wrote on Twitter. “I reject them and condemn them vigorously. Africa and black people deserve the respect and consideration of all.”
Botswana’s government issued a statement calling the president’s remark “highly irresponsible, reprehensible and racist.”Botswana’s government issued a statement calling the president’s remark “highly irresponsible, reprehensible and racist.”
The statement added: “The government of Botswana is wondering why President Trump must use this descriptor and derogatory word when talking about countries with whom the U.S. has had cordial and mutually beneficial bilateral relations for so many years.” Mr. Trump has a growing history of of disparaging and ill-informed remarks about both Africa and Haiti. In June, he was reported to have said that Nigerians in the United States would never “go back to their huts” in Africa.
Across social media on Friday, Africans shared pictures of beautiful beaches, tree-lined streets and glamorous tourist resorts captioned with the insult. In September, he spoke of a country called Nambia, which does not exist. (The White House later clarified that he had meant to say Namibia.)
Online and offline, in cafes and shops across the continent, some wondered why the United States had spent millions of dollars to build massive embassies in countries which Mr. Trump held in such low esteem. Others speculated that if Mr. Trump visited their countries, he might revise his assumptions. Still others said that Mr. Trump may have had a point, citing the endemic corruption, public health challenges and poverty in many African nations. Mr. Trump said in a tweet on Friday that he had “wonderful relationship with Haitians,” but last June The New York Times reported that he had grumbled in another immigration meeting that Haitians “all have AIDS.” The White House denied that report.
“That’s why we’re being termed a shithole,” Andrew Mataso, a 55-year-old businessman, said on a busy street in Nairobi, Kenya. The celebrated Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat said that Mr. Trump’s comments gave her chilling memories of arriving to the United States in 1981, the year before federal authorities included being Haitian as one of the four increased risk factors for contracting the new, and at the time fatal, disease, H.I.V. and AIDS.
Vincent Omondi, who lives in a sprawling working-class neighborhood of Kibera, in Nairobi, pointed out that America had a long relationship with people from the countries Mr. Trump criticized. “As a kid, I was beaten up in school for being Haitian,” Ms. Danticat said at a literary seminar in Key West, Fla., on Friday. “In Miami, there was a boy who killed himself when his girlfriend found out he was Haitian.”
“There are real consequences,” she said. “People lose their jobs. People get harassed. It’s like putting a target on our backs.”
The Haitian ambassador to the United States, Paul G. Altidor, told NPR on Friday it was “quite regrettable that we’re not discussing about the earthquake and how Haiti is moving forward.”
“Unfortunately, we fear, once again Haiti finds itself in the midst of a very negative narrative in the U.S., and we are hoping this conversation will be an opportunity to address the Haiti conversation in the U.S. once and for all,” he said.
Across social media on Thursday night and Friday, Africans and Haitians shared pictures of beautiful beaches, tree-lined streets and glamorous tourist resorts captioned with the insult.
Online and offline, in cafes and shops across Africa, some wondered why the United States had spent millions of dollars to build massive embassies in countries which Mr. Trump held in such low esteem. Others speculated that if Mr. Trump visited their countries, he might revise his assumptions. Still others said that Mr. Trump may have had a point, citing the endemic corruption, public health challenges and poverty in many African nations.
“That’s why we’re being termed a shithole,” Andrew Mataso, 55, a business executive, said on a busy street in Nairobi, Kenya.
Vincent Omondi, who lives in the sprawling working-class neighborhood of Kibera, in Nairobi, pointed out that the United States had a long relationship with people from the countries Mr. Trump criticized.
“The USA,” he wrote in a Facebook message, “was partly built by slaves from the ‘shithole’ countries.” But Mr. Omondi said poverty and economic dysfunction across Africa lent support to Mr. Trump’s point.“The USA,” he wrote in a Facebook message, “was partly built by slaves from the ‘shithole’ countries.” But Mr. Omondi said poverty and economic dysfunction across Africa lent support to Mr. Trump’s point.
“Do I care?” Mr. Omondi said. “Not really, but such statement coming from the leader of the ‘free world’ should serve as a wake up call for Africans to build Africa.” “Do I care?” Mr. Omondi said. “Not really, but such a statement coming from the leader of the ‘free world’ should serve as a wake up call for Africans to build Africa.”
Alpha Bah, a 24-year-old shop owner in Dakar, Senegal, agreed that the president’s description was correct. If it wasn’t, he said, thousands of migrants wouldn’t risk their lives trying to flee to Europe. “Nobody wants to be in a shithole,” he said. Oyenka Nwenze, 26, a broadcaster, was stocking up on cooking ingredients for the weekend at a supermarket in the Silverbird shopping mall in Abuja, Nigeria.
Oyenka Nwenze, a 26-year-old broadcaster, was stocking up on cooking ingredients for the weekend at a supermarket inside the Silverbird shopping mall in Abuja, Nigeria, an expansive retail space that includes a cinema, several restaurants and boutiques.
He called Mr. Trump racist.
“For someone in that position he should know better, and he doesn’t even try, he isn’t attempting to expand his knowledge base,” Mr. Nwenze said. “In Africa we are normal human beings.”“For someone in that position he should know better, and he doesn’t even try, he isn’t attempting to expand his knowledge base,” Mr. Nwenze said. “In Africa we are normal human beings.”
Dante Ndoma-Egba, 34, runs The Cube, a hipster hangout in Abuja that sells books by Nigerian authors and coffee from Nigerian-grown beans. He called Mr. Trump “a voice of thinking Americans because he was elected, is backed by a majority of legislators.” Under rainy skies in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, many people were reflecting on the earthquake, remembering loved ones who died.
Like anywhere, Nigeria isn’t perfect, he said, calling it “a mixed bag of impoverishment, poor governance and beauty.” Michelet Desulme, 31, a motorcycle taxi driver, said he agreed with Trump’s assessment of Haiti. “The way our country is,” he said, “the way it’s not functioning, is this what his country is like?”
“A lot of what he says comes from ignorance,” Mr. Ndoma-Egba said. “The reality is that immigration is a part of Western life, it’s been happening and will continue to happen, so speaking in this way is very damaging.” The State Department appeared to have gone into damage-repair mode.
Some in the African diaspora said Mr. Trump’s comments reflected common negative stereotypes about their homeland. Without directly referring to the president’s contentious statement, the State Department’s main Africa account said on Twitter that “the United States will continue to robustly, enthusiastically and forcefully engage in Africa, promoting this vital relationship, and to listen and build on the trust and views we share with our African partners.” The tweet was framed as a comment on a meeting of African ministers that the department hosted in November.
“We need to get over the misconception that everyone from a poor African country has been saved by staying in the U.S.,” said Moses Khisa, a Ugandan political scientist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He added: “I could well resign tomorrow and take up a position at Makerere University,” a pre-eminent institution in Uganda. Not everyone accepted that gesture, and some people were fearful of speaking in opposition to what they perceived as American policy. In Dakar, Senegal, diners at a beachside restaurant that serves Moscow mules and mojitos declined to express their views about Mr. Trump, fearing they might be denied visas to visit the United States.
Mr. Trump’s State Department appears to have gone into damage-repair mode. Babacar Faye, a tailor in Dakar, tuned his radio to another station Friday morning when discussion of Mr. Trump’s comments was broadcast. His remarks were not surprising, Mr. Faye said.
Without directly referring to the contentious statement, the State Department’s main Africa account said on Twitter that “the United States will continue to robustly, enthusiastically and forcefully engage in Africa, promoting this vital relationship, and to listen and build on the trust and views we share with our African partners.” The tweet was framed as a comment on a meeting of African ministers that the department hosted in November. “White people in general don’t like black people,” he said. “They just pretend to like us, but they don’t.”
Not everyone accepted that gesture, and some people feared speaking in opposition to what they perceived as American policy. In Dakar, diners at a beachside restaurant that serves Moscow mules and mojitos declined to express their views about Mr. Trump, fearing they might be denied visas to visit the United States. Phoebe Mutetsi in Kigali, Rwanda, said she was not falling for it.
Babacar Faye, a tailor in Dakar, had tuned his radio to another station Friday morning when discussion of Mr. Trump’s comments was aired. His remarks were not surprising, Mr. Faye said.
“White people in general don’t like black people,” he said. “They just pretend to like us but they don’t.”
Nanjala Nyabola, a Kenyan writer who graduated from Harvard Law School and spent time documenting the anti-pipeline protests at the Standing Rock reservation in South Dakota, said Mr. Trump’s comment reminded her of the sadder sides of the United States.
“I personally can’t help but remember articles about hookworm in Alabama, and H.I.V./AIDS in Washington, D.C.,” she said, from her home in Nairobi. “Then I recall my time in Standing Rock, and I think that we are all in a giant shithole but some of us are looking at the stars.”
But Phoebe Mutetsi, also in Kigali, Rwanda, said she wasn’t falling for it.
“Trump is a troll,” she said. “He is trolling the world. Don’t feed the troll.”“Trump is a troll,” she said. “He is trolling the world. Don’t feed the troll.”