Beijing: Chinese police beat up Africans

I had a piece run in the Guardian, so I removed my initial summary of various eyewitness accounts due to possible copyright issues.  You can read that article below.

I also came across a new eyewitness account at a Newsweek blog that is definitely worth checking out.

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At least 20 black men, including students, tourists and the son of a Caribbean diplomat, were arrested in a popular nightclub district of Beijing on Friday, several of the group being severely beaten on suspicion of dealing drugs, witnesses said.

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Comments

[Afromusing]

Oh gosh, this sounds terrible.

Thanks for keeping us informed. Will check back and if i find links i will be sure to post them here.

[Jacky]

seems it was not the first time. see this post,

http://www.polo-vw.com/bbs/printpage.asp?BoardID=17&ID=31331

police beat up black ppl, three years ago in Sanlitun south street.

[Bee]

Yeah, it was true. A bunch of us saw it all go down and stuck around for hours to make sure the police know that others were watching, but they didn't seem to care. There wasn't much we could do but as fellow expats, we wanted to make our presence felt and show that we disapproved. Unfortunately there was not much we could do. A lof of the guys they brought in were students, not dealers, although some of them certainly were selling drugs and some of them were connected to the diplomatic community (we spoke to as many of them as possible as they trickled back out of the police station).

This was a terrible incident and entirely unjustified. Some men were beaten while cuffed and one man I saw was certainly bleeding, although from what I saw there was not blood all over the street.

[Josh]

Here's the Reuters account:
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnPEK22343.html

and a blog entry I wrote about it:
http://www.chinaexpat.com/blog/josh/2007/09/24/excessive-force-or-racism-beijing-police.html

[Josh]

Here's the Reuters account:
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnPEK22343.html

and a blog entry I wrote about it:
http://www.chinaexpat.com/blog/josh/2007/09/24/excessive-force-or-racism-beijing-police.html

[zhwj]

SCMP had an article, too (reposted here), including a quote from someone who was detained.

[whatever]

my friend said - my friend said - my friend said - WHY DON'T YOU SHUT-UP!?

[Bob Lancaster]

Hi

As sad as it was and should not have happened the way it did, I for one have been getting absolutely sick of going to town to meet friends and being accosted from the shadows by these people asking 'do you want some good shit man? Standing waiting for my friend I had four approaches wanting to sell me drugs within a couple of minutes, and was sworn at 3 times when I told them 'NO! This is scary, I feared for my safety and have given up going to this area of the city, also as even being seen talking to a drug dealer can make one a suspect. If an undercover police officer takes a photo and I am seen talking to one of these known drug dealers then I could lose my visa and job. I am sorry about the way the police acted, but these guys with their 'black money' scams and drug dealing...well...

[International Pm]

If you are black you sell drugs.. No matter what type of operation they wanted to put in place they when about it in the wrong way. If one makes a sweeping generalization that its the BLACKS that are selling the drugs, "so we are going to round up the BLACKS" its discrimination and against the International Humanitarian laws of the Geneva convention.Firstly the police should have pick up all supisious guys regardless of color or origin and done a simple on site search.
secondly Identification should have been requested by the police because it is against the law in any country to touch a diplomat or his child they all have diplomatic immunities I urge that young man and his father to take legal action. What was done what illegal.
How could that amount of force been appropriate, the Chinese law states that only the amount necessary force enough to subdue the suspect NO MORE.
How can china want to be the world leaders with this public display of racism.It doesn't matter how much there economy grows or how cheap you can buy products there is a human aspect to life that they must adhered to.I hope this situation is not swept under the rug. God forbids this ever occurs in this fashion again. The Olympics are quickly approaching this is not the kind of precedent that want to be setting because soon enough they will be exposed on the intentional scene.
I am black and I am proud although I am not from Africa and I appear to be more of a mixed origin I still get the racism sometimes but I must admit I have it a bit easer but many times I have been passed by taxi cab drivers and they go 5 feet down the road and pick up someone white. Life still goes on . Keep your head up , stand up and speak out lets put an end to racism especially in china because most of in is out of there own ignorance. Before Chinese look down on black they should take a look in the mirror.

International PM 242

[musiliyu]

I think is a shame on chinese people. it will be better for them if they stop now. because they are the one all over africa,if they dont stop,then we would take action against the one in africa.Simply because some 1 has to pay for the pain's

[madou dupre]

This letter is addressed to Jennifer brea and anybody working for this website..
I read articles about a possible beating of Africans in sanlitun.
Just want to tell you that if you do not have pictures or videos then Whatever is written in this blog is bullshit.
It is not possible for any police force to make each individual at that place delete the pictures and videos they have taken. There is always somebody who will get away with tangible information. Besides Chinese police force have bad foreign language skills. How would they tell foreigners to delete pictures?
I suggest that review your curriculum vitae and stop spreading “information” that sound a lot like rumors. Unless your goal is to misinform people and spread fear.

[madou dupre]

This letter is addressed to Jennifer brea and anybody working for this website..
I read articles about a possible beating of Africans in sanlitun.
Just want to tell you that if you do not have pictures or videos then Whatever is written in this blog is bullshit.
It is not possible for any police force to make each individual at that place delete the pictures and videos they have taken. There is always somebody who will get away with tangible information. Besides Chinese police force have bad foreign language skills. How would they tell foreigners to delete pictures?
I suggest that review your curriculum vitae and stop spreading “information” that sound a lot like rumors. Unless your goal is to misinform people and spread fear.

[fina seka]

1-my friend said this...my friend said...
2-i was not there, but somebody told me...
3-nobody took pics or videos...
4-or the pics and videos were deleted...
chinese police seldom speak english...how could they tell all people to delete pics or videos...how can the police verify that people deleted pics...how did they manage to take all cameras or cell phones???????????

there is no way to verify the identity of people writing on this blog...
besides people writing on this blog could be white or asian racist...

[anon]

我们大部分的外国人都会讲中文。

But that really is beside the point. If after reading all of these eyewitness accounts and news reports you still don't think something wrong happened on Friday, then it's unlikely anything, including photographic evidence, could convince you.

[ABDULMALIK]

So this is their own way to make the streets of Beijing secure in preparation for the Olympics? That was so not funny. Anyways, thanks for the news, we're going back to Africa to make the lives of the Chinese people a living nightmare. And their leaders will be the first to go to African countries and make ties with their presidents claiming to like them, meanwhile in their administration, blacks aint worth shit. Olympics my ass*** The Insecurity of foreigners in China surpases that in any other country in the world, but yet, they're the first people to talk about the law? I'm damn sure they mean barbarism, like the stabbing of foreigners everyday in nightclubs by chinese people. And in the light of these issues, the police never borders to give a helping hand. That's what happens to a country without human rights. Life in China is as cheap as that of a dead dog's on the street. Left to me, that Olympic shit should be cancelled or all the African countries stay back and boycott the damn thing so they can recieve all the white men they want and like to see. I can imagine what would be in those boys' minds right when they go back to their countries to see the Chinese. GOD HELP US WHILE WE HELP OURSELVES. THE COLOR THING WAS YOUR IDEA. WHY US? WHY US?

[Jamie]

people should boycott the 2008 olympics these people are boyond uncivilized,not only do they poison american kids with their tainted toys now they are mistreating non chinese nationals i guess its not enough to them that they brutalize their own kind.When it comes to the drug trade they are so many asian nationals that have been arrested in africa for distributing drugs so maybe their "crackdown" on drugs it should start at home.

[Da truth]

This is addressed to internatioanl PM. So special preferences to the son of the ambassador. What about the others who don't have big people and names to lean on? This is barbarism. The chinese people stink like Chinese stale "Bai jiu", they don't look and coment on their own kind, but when they see foreigners, they are quick to start making coments. I am used to seeing rusted teeth chinese people with stinky garlic mouths trying to insult and look down on foreigners, especially blacks. And to the Chinese, everything black is from Africa and everything white is from America. And when they look at Africa, all they see is HIV/AIDS, Poverty, hunger striken and homeless people living on trees and caves. What they fail to understand is the difference between SOME and ALL. They generalise everything to an extent that, Africa is looked upon like it's one country. What if we don't call them China and call them Asia? And when they see a foreigner, they just brand him to a country, like he's from Congo, or Liberia, or Nigeria. But dare tell a chinese man that he looks like a Japanese, there definitely gonna be a fight. One thing that calls for attention is that a Chinese man will look at a blackman and say: "Zhen ma hei" (Very black), for him, that's ok. But when a blackman tells a chinese man: "Zhen ma Huang", They get mad. Cos they don't wanna be the yellows, they all want to be white. They use all these cosmetics trying to change their skin color to look like they where white people. Fun is, the white person wants to take a tan, cos he knows being so white aint healthy for his body, but the chinese people all want to look like white people: "Bai". This is for the chinese, if a black man wanna change his color he can do that at any time, but they are proud of their skin color and never try to immitate, unlike the chinese who bow down for America, the Great USA and want to immitate everything they have and do. But note that, there are also black people in America, and 2% of black Americans might wanna come to china. The remaining 98% can't ever dream of something like that, cos with all these racial slurs with them in here, there gonna be lots of fighting taking place every day, and many people gonna die. When i get back, I'm gonna be all over the news with what's going on in China, and we gonna treat you chinks thesame way you r treating black people in ur country. And your peeps be all over our embassies begging for visas to run away for greener pastures. Man, so drugs is black, i suppose they passed with those stuffs through your airports without being noticed. Crack down your triads and your curropt police officers who are also part of the triads and you will crack down the sale of drugs in your country. Let's go to the point of issuing visas for foreigners in China. The chinese wanna see only passports of people from developed countries and treat them with patience. But when they see a passport of an African, they start bringing complications, cos they don't want them here. How about they do same to your people living in their own countries? You'll be the first to put that in the news and shun every one from that country. Man, I already booked for my return ticket back to New York, I said my mind and I know a lot about China, so let them internet police not try to crack down my IP address and come to my home to bring me trouble, cos I'm in a net bar. If you wanna be like America, open your fucken minds and see the world like it's supposed to be. I'm outta here, peace

[nkuzt]

to anon
please give me the name of an eyewitness whom u can verify to 100% the testament?
give me website of one trustable news report. not those bullshit website where anybody writes whatever they want.
my point?
think before u talk.
anybody can be is an eyewitness... and lie.

[KM]

I was I there, I saw it. My friends were there, they saw it. Unless you've been to Beijing and know how crazy busy sanlitun lu, you can't fathom how many people are on the street and in the bars lining it. It was like something out of a distopian film. Black guys being led out of clubs and dragged from taxis. Granted the police here don't have the best grasp of English but when they grab your camera from you. you don't need to speak the same language to understand. Can I prove any of this? No. I have no photos, no video either. But, everyone that was there that night knows what went down.

[Afroshanghai.com]

That's just sick. A pure illustration of the racism faced by Africans in China. The Chinese should be ashamed. Yet I am pretty sure at the Chinese BBS people would most likely be laughing at the events than criticizing it.

[Ana]

Could someone please explain to me what are Africans doing in China? I am just sick and tired of people of African descent complaining that they are being treated horribly, when they are certainly wasting their time in other folks country. Please return home to Africa, organize yourselves with viable agendas, and help fix your countries, instead of living in other folks country and begging them to respect you.

[Nauthy Quathy]

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.

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[Ana]

I understand, but it seems to me that African leaders with their selfishnes,laziness and lack of vision are creating avenues in which their people are forced to migrate, only to be insulted and degraded. There are solutions. The answer to the many problems in Africa must be solved by a brand new people out of Africa.A new African must emerged inspired with love for Africans, and anointed with a long and mature political, economic and social vision of meeting the needs of the people of this vast continent. The young in Africa must be taught to love everything African above anything else, and to be committed in building a new society. Only then, seeds of chnage will be planted for a new garden of people prepared to take Africa out of the abyss in which it lies.

[BlackAmerican in China]

As a black american in China, who has been here for 2 years and speak Chinese I would definitely have to say it is a racist country but I believe there are good people here, its just that they aren't educated properly. Culturely the beauty standard is big eyes, very white skin, and long noses, like white people. Now don't take my words the wrog way, I love all people, white, Asian, black but the Chinese do have racial issues, perhaps I'm used to the standards of America, which aren't perfect but are far better than China.

[Hei Ren]

Hello, I am a Carribean man living in China, I speak fluent Chinese and Chinese people don't realize it. Before coming to CHina I thought it would be cool but its not. If your white its okay because Chinese people like to look "hen bai" very white, thats the beauty standard. Like my friend Ana said, there are good people in China but a vast majority are racist (90%). Not racist in the sense that they will go around lynching black people but racist in the fact that they will speak so wicked ly about black people because they think you don't understand. I suggest that if you want to come to China that you don't learn Chinese. I have been to Japan, Canada, and the U.S. and have seen or heard racism on this scale. 1.3 billion people and 90 percent think black is disgusting and ugly.