SECTIONS of the Egyptian society have rejected the Netflix production of Cleopatra because they said that the film did not portray the true skin colour of the ancient queen. The film has a Black woman as the star. Influential voices of Egyptian society argued that their ancient queen was white-skinned.

In China, Japan and South Korea, Disney’s film, The Little Mermaid failed miserably, hardly taking in any money. In all three countries, the vexation was over a Black star playing the underwater girl. They preferred a white-skinned mermaid.

The controversy over the dark complexion of the two lead actors has profound implications for understanding the role of skin colour in the evolution of the human race. In discussing racism, some points here need be noted.

The famous dark complexioned American media personality born in India, Fareed Zakaria, wrote that the worst forms of racism he encountered came from non-White people in the US. Zakaria did not offer any details, but I am assuming it came from three fronts. Latin Americans and Arabs who are very whitish in complexion and South Indians like light skinned Pakistanis and Indians.

Former Black President, Barack Obama, in support of the deportation of Haitians said he does not accept open borders.

This is coming from a man whose father was a migrant from Africa. Current Black Vice President, Kamala Harris went to the US border with Mexico and told the thousands waiting to cross to stay at home. There would have been no Kamala Harris if it wasn’t for her mother leaving India and father leaving Jamaica, both settling in the US.

In one of the most outstanding essays in international relation studies of recent times, Sankaran Krisna, professor at the University of Hawaii wrote this: “Obama found himself imprisoned – or imprison himself –in narratives that arguably produced (in the US) yet another white president rather than its first Black one.” Krisna did not spare Obama.

He continued: “With his bi-racial background, one would have expected him to deal with the world with more racial empathy. Obama began to provincialise his understanding of the world so as to further ‘Americanize’ himself and to complete his journey to whiteness.” (Source “Violence and International Relations in the Third World” (eds.), Randolph Persaud and Narendran Kumarakulasingham).

Some of the most Draconian anti-immigration laws have been pioneered by two East Indian women ministers in the UK- Priti Patel, former Home Affairs Minister and current Home Affairs, Suella Braverman. Ms. Braverman is considered by most liberal and leftists thinkers to be racist against immigrants and she has the backing of her boss, the Prime Minister who is East Indian.
In the US, an East Indian woman running for president next year, Nikki Haley is ragingly anti-immigrant. Susan Rice, a Black woman came into worldview when she was appointed as UN ambassador by Barack Obama. Her resignation last month as director of the US Domestic Policy Council was hailed by pro-immigrant organisations who consider Rice an anti-immigrant hardliner.

In India, when Rishi Sunak was selected as Prime Minister of the UK, there was widespread rejoicing because his parents are from India.
But last month, the Sunak government banned foreign students who are allowed to stay in the UK from bringing in their parents. The policy was directed at students from India who Ms. Braverman said used the system too freely. On hearing of that policy, one wonders if the folks from India are still enamoured with Mr. Sunak.

Now, the irony of it all is that the Little Mermaid did very good at the box office in White countries. It just goes to show how complex is the human psyche. You would have thought that it would be White folks that would have objected to the fishy girl being made into a Black swimmer.

Non-white racism against non-white people is a reality that has been with civilization since time immemorial. Non-White people are fooling themselves if they think they would be better treated in non-White countries.

I doubt dark-skinned humans are welcomed in Lebanon. I doubt African people will be accepted in South Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Caucasian folks, particularly White Americans, would definitely be favoured. It doesn’t matter to the Japanese that the US threw the atom bomb on them. It doesn’t matter to the Vietnamese that the US bombed the hell out of them.

About the reaction of Algerians to Black Americans, one should read the memoir of radical American communist, Elaine Mokhtefi. As the chaperon to the Black Panthers who sought exile in Algeria, Mokhtefi was scared that with their penchant for night club life, the Panthers would get a rude-awakening about Algerian racism. And they did.