Racism in Sudan is a complex matter due to the racial mixture of various populations.
Sudanese Arabs are among the 600 ethnic groups who live there, and there are elements within Sudanese society that view black people and blackness with disfavor.[1][2] Sudan is dominated by a light-skinned, Arabic-speaking elite, while black Africans often face oppression and marginalization.[3] Sudan has been in the Arab League since 1956. Skin whitening is relatively common among some Sudanese.[4][better source needed] The preference for light skin in Sudanese society is rooted in the legacies of slavery in Sudan and colonialism.
Skin color is not the sole determining factor in distinction between Sudanese Arabs and Sudanese Africans. The extent that a person has Arab ancestry, speaking the Arabic language, and practicing Islam can be associated with being "Arab" and "non-black" and can determine social status. Sudanese conceptions of race differ from conceptions of race in the Western world. Many dark-skinned Sudanese, such as former president Omar al-Bashir, would be considered "black" in a country such as the United States but are considered "non-black" within Sudan.[5]
According to a CBS news article published in 1999, slaves have been sold for US$50 apiece.[6] In September, 2000, the U.S. State Department alleged that "the Sudanese government's support of slavery and its continued military action which has resulted in numerous deaths are due in part to the victims' religious beliefs."[7] Jok Madut Jok, professor of History at Loyola Marymount University, states that the abduction of women and children of the south by north is slavery by any definition. The government of Sudan insists that the whole matter is no more than the traditional tribal feuding over resources.[8]
During the Second Sudanese Civil War people were taken into slavery; estimates of abductions range from 14,000 to 200,000. Abduction of Dinka women and children was common.[9]
The Darfur conflict has been described by some as a racial matter. Unlike the Southern Sudanese the Fur people are primarily Muslims so the conflict has been argued to be more ethnic rather than religious, although debates about water and land usage were also a factor.[10]
Beginning in 1991 elders of the Zaghawa people of Sudan complained that they were victims of an intensifying Arab apartheid campaign.[11] Vukoni Lupa Lasaga has accused the Sudanese government of "deftly manipulat(ing) Arab solidarity" to carry out policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing against non-Arabs in Darfur.[12] Alan Dershowitz has pointed to the extremely prevalent elite-sponsored colorism in Sudan as an example of a government that deserves the appellation "apartheid,"[13] and former Canadian Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler has also criticized Sudan in similar terms.[14]
^War of Visions by Francis M. Deng
^Providence Journal Op-ed
^Salih, Zeinab Mohammed (25 July 2020). "Viewpoint from Sudan - where black people are called slaves". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
^Sudan Tribune
^"The Role of Race and Arabness in Sudan 1899-Present". ArcGIS StoryMaps. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
^Curse Of Slavery Haunts Sudan CBS News. January 25, 1998
^U.S. State Department report says 'religious intolerance remains far too common' around world. September 6, 2000 Archived September 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine CNN US News
^Jok Madut Jok (2001), p.3
^"Slavery, Abduction and Forced Servitude in Sudan". US Department of State. 22 May 2002. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
^"Racism at root of Sudan's Darfur crisis". The Christian Science Monitor. 2004-07-14. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16.
^Hilde F. Johnson, Waging Peace in Sudan: The Inside Story of the Negotiations That Ended, Trans Pacific Press, 2011, p. 38.
^Vukoni Lupa Lasaga [1] Archived 2014-09-01 at the Wayback Machine "The slow, violent death of apartheid in Sudan," 19 September 2006, Norwegian Council for Africa.
^Alan Dershowitz, The Case Against Israel's Enemies:
Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others Who Stand in the Way of Peace, John Wiley and Sons, 2009, p. 24.
^Hubert Bauch [2] "Ex-minister speaks out against Sudan's al-Bashir" Montreal Gazette, march 6, 2009.
RacisminSudan is a complex matter due to the racial mixture of various populations. Sudanese Arabs are among the 600 ethnic groups who live there, and...
in the massacre, referring to it as "a tribal conflict." "Sudan: Darfur Town Destroyed | Human Rights Watch". Human Rights Watch. 2023-07-11. "Sudan:...
Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is defined as policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization that result in and...
North Africa and the Sudan." A writer on the Durban conference regarding racism suggests: That stressing out that "Arabism is racism" would have been an...
Racismin Africa has been a recurring part of the history of Africa. Ethnic pygmy populations in Central Africa suffer from racialized discrimination from...
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west...
Racism is discrimination and prejudice against people based on their race or ethnicity. Racism can be present in social actions, practices, or political...
fleeing to other places around Sudan or across the border to Chad. The ethnic conflict in Darfur has been persistent, with racism at its roots. Darfur is home...
scrawled on the road between Misrata and Tawergha. Racism by country Racismin the Middle East Slavery in Libya Kirkpatrick, David D. (2011-09-05). "Libyans...
Racismin Poland in the 20th and 21st centuries has been a subject of extensive study. Ethnic minorities made up a greater proportion of the country's...
Slavery inSudan began in ancient times, and had a resurgence during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005). During the Trans-Saharan slave trade,...
prevalent in the country's legal system, with blatant racism created and enforced through the law. According to one commentator, Canadian "racism contributes...
Racism has been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices, and actions (including violence) against "racial" or ethnic groups throughout the history...
Racismin German history is inextricably linked to the Herero and Namaqua genocide in colonial times. Racism reached its peak during the Nazi regime which...
Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscientific belief that the human species can be subdivided into biologically distinct...
terms in North Sudan is considered derogatory in nature and has fallen into relative disuse in recent decades. In South Sudan, people from North Sudan are...
Racism has a long history in the United Kingdom and includes structural discrimination and hostile attitudes against various ethnic minorities. The extent...
A referendum took place in Southern Sudan from 9 to 15 January 2011, on whether the region should remain a part of Sudan or become independent. The referendum...
Scott (5 July 2023). "Karlovy Vary: Sudan Director Mohamed Kordofani on Addressing the Legacy of Racism and Civil War in 'Goodbye Julia'". The Hollywood Reporter...
racism and antisemitism. The period after Germany's loss of World War I led to the increased espousal of anti-Semitism and other forms of racismin the...
States) Racial covenants Racial segregation in the United States Racism against African Americans Racismin the United States Redlining Perth Prohibited...
in India say racism is constant". AP NEWS. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2023. "29-year-old Congolese man killed in Delhi, police probe racism angle"...
The Lost Boys of Sudan refers to a group of over 20,000 boys of the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups who were displaced or orphaned during the Second Sudanese...