“Not Enough Outrage From Both Sudanese People and the International Community; We are Rejected by Both”

By Hiba Babiker (@hurricanehibz)

As a Sudanese girl living in Canada, I have come to a lot of disappointing realizations about our community. Instead of supporting each other through the hardships brought on by the war crimes of the RSF and those who sold our country, people are engaging in petty arguments over ethnicity. The hatred between “Arab” and “African” Sudanese people is very disheartening to see, as we seem to be holding on to the colonizer’s definition of what it means to be Sudanese. According to Oxford university, Sudan is the birthplace of humanity. Thus, we should not feel the need to attach other forms of identification as our history before colonization is something to be very proud of. We are descendants of Nubians and Kushites. 

The lack of empathy towards perceived “Arabs” has made me very upset with a lot of fellow Sudanese. I would have thought that the love and pride of being a part of a nation filled with so much history, resilience, and beauty would be enough for us to love and support each other. However, that has not been the case. My family has also lost their homes, their lives, and everything precious to us. I fear I will have no country to go back to, no place that holds my roots. 

And yet, we are constantly being blamed for being mixed, a phenomenon that is not exclusive to “Arab” Sudanese, and something I have no control over. I hear the language of the RSF, who want to destroy us because we do not “belong” to the country, and I hear them justify their atrocities against us using racist language. There is not enough outrage from both Sudanese people and the international community; we are rejected by both. I pray one day I can return to a homeland where there is not so much hatred for people like me, who are indigenous to the land and yet have to constantly prove our humanity.