Dear Maroc Hebdo, African Immigrants are not a Danger to Morocco

Marrakesh – A Moroccan weekly magazine called Maroc Hebdo published Friday an article entitled “The Black Peril” as a description of dark-skinned sub-Saharan Africans who immigrate either legally or illegally to Morocco. The article tackled the topic from a devaluing perspective, accusing this entire social group of being a danger to Morocco’s safety.

“The Black Peril” portrayed sub-Saharan Africans as illegal immigrants who only use Morocco as a passageway to reach Europe, and if they fail in doing so, they decide to live in Morocco permanently and turn into beggars, thieves, prostitutes and drug dealers in order to earn a living. It is true that many arrests have been made over the years at the borders of Spain where several dark-skinned non-Moroccans were caught trying to cross to Gibraltar through Ceuta and Tangier. Many sub-Saharan Africans are also arrested for drug dealing and stealing, amongst other petty crimes.

However, thousands of Moroccans have been arrested for the same crimes and other more serious ones as well. If the writer of the article bothered to conduct a survey asking people to compare the times they were assaulted by a sub-Saharan and the times they were assaulted by Moroccans, or contacted the authorities to ask about the number of drugs traffickers and illegal immigrants to Europe of non-Moroccan origins and compared it to those of Moroccan origins, I have no doubt that the result would show that Moroccans are the largest of such perpetrators.

According to the writer, these immigrants enroll in Moroccan schools and universities for two or three months before heading towards their main destination. Didn’t he ever have Nigerian or Ghanaian friends, classmates, colleagues, neighbors or acquaintances who head towards Morocco for the sole reason that they did not feel at ease in their home countries because of civil war, famine, or lack of schools and job opportunities and who perceived Morocco as a haven where they can finally live peacefully? Don’t Moroccans leave Morocco for their own reasons as well and prefer to sweat in other countries rather than in their home country?

As a Moroccan, the writer should have considered his fellow Moroccans living abroad amongst strangers who accept them and rarely accuse them of being a danger to their safety, maybe because they are more open-minded and less judging. As a Muslim, the writer should have reflected upon the following saying by Prophet Mohamed peace be upon him: “There is no superiority of the Arab over the non-Arab, nor of the non-Arab over the Arab, neither is the black superior to the white nor the white superior to the black, except in piety. All of you are from Adam and Adam is from dust.” He also should have remembered the following verses from the Quran where Allah says: “All of you are children of Adam, and Adam is from dust” and “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you.”

Consequently, one should never mock, hurt, or discern people by prejudice based on physical attributes, racial groups, financial status or any other criterion for we are all alike; we are all human beings. We are not to judge anyone for He who created us is the only one who will. And let us all keep in mind that when we point a finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at us!