“Are Somalis Black?”
Where this question really comes from
It’s a question as old as time…
Well it feels like it. While being raised in Toronto, the question always kind of popped up. Not just by those outside of the Somali community, but also within it.
The answer though is quite simple: No.
Fact is, Somalis have never really felt ‘black’. One reason is that blackness is an identity invented by white people for the purposes of creating a mythical racial hierarchy that would help justify colonialism and the Atlantic Slave Trade.
Well, actually, that’s not all that it is. As many ADOS (Africans descended from slavery) cultures in the New World have appropriated the word to create new identities after their previous ones have been forcibly alienated from them. Looking at my continental cousins, I can see why the term is important to them. Why a ‘black identity’ and culture genuinely does exist for them. But as a people who are still connected to our land, know our language, and continue to practice a religion we were introduced to over 1000 years ago, how exactly does this ‘black’ concept work for us?
Another reason is that black identity is also tied with Pan-Africanism. A movement that still holds strong as African nations continue to build organizational networks like the Pan-African Parliament whose mandate is to “ensure the full participation of African peoples in the economic development and integration of the continent” by holding discussions with representatives of African nations on continental problems.
Though it was a much stronger movement during the decolonization period. Solidarity networks were built and various fantastical ideas of regional, federalized governments were regularly jumping about. At the same time, Pan-African ideals also included the need to recognize the unique peoples of the continent and support their right to self-determination.
In every definition that attempts to describe what a people or a nation is, Somalis would be considered as a shining example. And as such, it just made sense for all Somali territories in Djibouti, Kenya, and Ethiopia, to join their brothers in the Somali Republic. More than that, it was clear that all Somalis in these territories wanted to. And according to then-Prime Minister Dr. Abdirashid Ali Shirmarke, pan-African peace and unity depended on African peoples like Somalis to achieve self-determination.
But what the Somalis thought, their neighbours thought the opposite. To make a long story short, after Somalia’s independence, there was the constant ‘natural desire’ to unite all Somali territories to the newly formed Republic. There was one problem though, these territories were part of Ethiopia and the Kenyan colony ‘officially’.
Instead of letting the Somali peoples of these territories make the decision to join Somalia or not, both Ethiopian and Kenyan authorities did what they could to stop it. It was suggested that Somalia’s attempts to unite its people was ‘colonial’ and against Pan-Africanism.
It’s also important to take note that Ethiopia, who only preserved its independence from colonization because it was a mostly Christian nation who the Europeans thought could help fight against the ‘pagan’ populations of the Horn, continued to expand its territory on Somalis’ lands. They also wanted a piece of the pie themselves, and because of their rudimentary approach to colonialism, this included the raiding of Somali villages to keep the Emperor’s soldiers happy. (Given this and the later Ogaden War, you can get why Xabashi is a regular insult in Somali…)
Ethiopia [sic] has been for fourteen centuries a Christian island in a sea of pagans. If the Powers at a distance come forward to partition Africa between them, I do not intend to remain an indifferent spectator. ~ King Menelik
In Kenya, before independence, there was a commission dedicated to determine if Somalis in the NFD (Northern Frontier District) of the Kenyan colony actually wanted to join the Somali Republic and “it found that the vast majority of the Somali of the Province desired secession and union with the Republic, as did most of the Muslim Galla and some other minor groups.”
This was ignored, however. And Kenya achieved official independence while keeping the NFD.
There are other reasons apart from ethno-nationalism that the Somaliweyne (or Greater Somalia) is still a dream for many years after this betrayal…
Somalis were never politically connected by one ruler throughout their history. In the pre-modern period, you would just find pastoral clans that would often fight with each other. As I.M. Lewis notes, ‘Somaliness’ kind of became a thing only when non-Muslim rulers of Britain, France, Italy and Ethiopia took over Somali-majority territories. Hence the explicitly religious content of anti-colonial movements like the Dervish.
Of course, Somalis did recognize that they shared more things than religion, but all of that synthesized with the universal adherence to Islam.
Later on, movements like the Somali Youth League that would gain power embodied a more secular ethno-nationalist approach to the concept of the Somali nation, but in none of their work was their much discussion on Pan-Africanism or an ‘African identity’.
This fact and the territorial disputes explained before showed that Somalis never cared that much for their non-Somali neighbours, nor conceived of themselves as an ‘African people’. Maybe this is unique, I’m not entirely sure, but this history is the reason why such questions like ‘are Somalis black?’ continue to be a thing.
Other Africans regularly say in conversations that we somehow hate being black, that we admire our ‘Arab masters’ like slaves. Not only does this show that African disdain for the Somali is largely tied to our unapologetic Muslim identity, but also a lack of understanding how dispiriting our relationships with our African neighbours has been. And even continues to be.
Recently, a Somali-American was killed in Kenya. The suspicious circumstances of his death suggests that it was planned, making this horrible incident another example of the ritual abuse and discrimination that Somalis face within the country.
Regularly, in other African nations, Somalis are seen as backward terrorists that function more like pests than people. How exactly then do you expect us to identify with your pan-African ideal? How do you expect us to embrace your black identity?
No thank you. We are proud, unique people. And while we will gladly work with our African neighbours towards mutual prosperity, we do so with a recognition of our uniqueness.
