Experiences I think are unique to Somalis.

[empressjamila]

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[kiinjaamacluvrr]

These are ones that I’ve experienced. So maybe it’s not a universal Somali experience but it’s just my personal experience that I’m sure other black people do not experience.

• I have timo jileec but it’s still curly. A lot of non black POCs with curlier hair than me will compare their hair to mine and say we have the ‘same hair’. It’s like they can’t get over a black person having ‘straighter’ hair than them.
• I notice cadaans feel they can get away with more obvious racism towards me than other black people. Like assuming I don’t know English etc. I’ve witnessed this in progress when a black carribean friend and I went out to eat.
• Black people are always associating me with TJs and Arabs. I legit had some ask me if my people do cousin marriages like such and such. Some cadaans do it too but the majority are other black people.
• This isn’t race specific but people (of every ethnicity) will always compare me to their mixed relative or child. In what world does your Kurdish and Jamaican child look Somali.

Anyways, I say all that to say that on the internet the rhetoric is that Somalis want to distance themselves from ‘blackness’ but in real life this is how ajanabis behave. None of these experiences are flattering and most are straight up racist.

I’m not even a Somali with wavy hair, I honestly couldn’t deal with that it’s annoying enough with stereotypical hair.

Feel free to share your experiences or to roast me.

I was mocked by madow kids for thinking I was black when I was an early teen. The way I saw it was that SSA= black, so if someone asked if Somalis were black, I’d be like yep. But then I remember when they were like to me ‘LOL, Somalis aren’t black, do you think you’re black’? Tbh, that exchange never bothered me since I saw my blackness as a ‘technicality’ rather than my real identity. I always saw myself as Muslim and Somali and never really cared about my so called ‘blackness’.

My entire life I was treated like a timo jelec when I was in school around Cadaan and madow.

1. Cadaans have called me the P word growing up and believe me, every single racial abuse was also based on their assumption of thinking I was some sort of Asiatic or Middle Eastern person.

2. People would assume I’d have an arranged marriage or throw any cultural thing that Asians do and think I have the same culture as well.
3. Madows wouldn’t see me as madow like them and it had nothing to do with me being Muslim. I actually grew up with West African Muslims so, they didn’t have the mentality of ‘hijab= Non black’. It was mostly the cadaans who thought that. It was to do with me being Somali and my phenotype.

4. Those that did think I was madow always thought I was mixed with something else in addition.

I went to a predominantly white secondary school and then a predominantly Black college in London, and the difference was wild. White people just see us as Black and don’t even question if we’re anything else unless you’re Reer Xamar and look more Asian . Some of them are so ignorant and racist, asking the dumbest questions.

But honestly, what I experienced in the Black college was on a whole other level. There was so much Islamophobia, and they’d randomly group us with Asians and Arabs like we weren’t even part of the Black community. There was also this weird segregation from madow and so much rude energy—especially from the teachers. They acted like they were our age, always ready to argue or pick a fight over nothing.

What I also noticed was the crazy insecurity mixed with delusion. Like, this one time, a Jamaican girl was beefing with an Eritrean girl, and out of nowhere, she started screaming, “You just wanna be me, you wanna be Jamaican!” I was like… what???

 

[Einar68]

I went to a predominantly white secondary school and then a predominantly Black college in London, and the difference was wild. White people just see us as Black and don’t even question if we’re anything else unless you’re Reer Xamar and look more Asian . Some of them are so ignorant and racist, asking the dumbest questions.

But honestly, what I experienced in the Black college was on a whole other level. There was so much Islamophobia, and they’d randomly group us with Asians and Arabs like we weren’t even part of the Black community. There was also this weird segregation from madow and so much rude energy—especially from the teachers. They acted like they were our age, always ready to argue or pick a fight over nothing.

What I also noticed was the crazy insecurity mixed with delusion. Like, this one time, a Jamaican girl was beefing with an Eritrean girl, and out of nowhere, she started screaming, “You just wanna be me, you wanna be Jamaican!” I was like… what???

I was mocked by madow kids for thinking I was black when I was an early teen. The way I saw it was that SSA= black, so if someone asked if Somalis were black, I’d be like yep. But then I remember when they were like to me ‘LOL, Somalis aren’t black, do you think you’re black’? Tbh, that exchange never bothered me since I saw my blackness as a ‘technicality’ rather than my real identity. I always saw myself as Muslim and Somali and never really cared about my so called ‘blackness’.

My entire life I was treated like a timo jelec when I was in school around Cadaan and madow.

1. Cadaans have called me the P word growing up and believe me, every single racial abuse was also based on their assumption of thinking I was some sort of Asiatic or Middle Eastern person.

2. People would assume I’d have an arranged marriage or throw any cultural thing that Asians do and think I have the same culture as well.
3. Madows wouldn’t see me as madow like them and it had nothing to do with me being Muslim. I actually grew up with West African Muslims so, they didn’t have the mentality of ‘hijab= Non black’. It was mostly the cadaans who thought that. It was to do with me being Somali and my phenotype.

4. Those that did think I was madow always thought I was mixed with something else in addition.

I try very hard to be diplomatic and reasonable on here, but it's truly insane how the general British Somali experience growing up was being seen as a mockery, and also actively being othered by the African and Carribean community, either being directly told you weren't "black" or being indirectly treated as a separate entity.

Yet the general conversation surrounding us in 2024 is that we're super c**ns and the King uncle ruckus ethnic group. Boggles my mind how objective reality can be distorted like this by them, the level of gaslighting is something I've never seen before.

 

[Angelina]

I went to a predominantly white secondary school and then a predominantly Black college in London, and the difference was wild. White people just see us as Black and don’t even question if we’re anything else unless you’re Reer Xamar and look more Asian . Some of them are so ignorant and racist, asking the dumbest questions.

But honestly, what I experienced in the Black college was on a whole other level. There was so much Islamophobia, and they’d randomly group us with Asians and Arabs like we weren’t even part of the Black community. There was also this weird segregation from madow and so much rude energy—especially from the teachers. They acted like they were our age, always ready to argue or pick a fight over nothing.

What I also noticed was the crazy insecurity mixed with delusion. Like, this one time, a Jamaican girl was beefing with an Eritrean girl, and out of nowhere, she started screaming, “You just wanna be me, you wanna be Jamaican!” I was like… what???

Honestly, I experienced more Islamaphobia and Indian/Pakistani jokes from white people. The madows were tame compared to them.

I try very hard to be diplomatic and reasonable on here, but it's truly insane how the general British Somali experience growing up was being seen as a mockery, and also actively being othered by the African and Carribean community, either being directly told you weren't "black" or being indirectly treated as a separate entity.

Yet the general conversation surrounding us in 2024 is that we're super c**ns and the King uncle ruckus ethnic group. Boggles my mind how objective reality can be distorted like this by them, the level of gaslighting is something I've never seen before.

The UK, is a miserable island compared to places like Canada. Also, what many people actually don’t know since they’re quiet young is that West Africans in the late 80s to the early to even mid 2000s were also mocked by Caribbeans who were seen as ‘cool and at the time the majority. I think in the UK, every single new immigrant group were somehow bullied, so I dispute the idea that only Somalis we’re targeted, whilst Nigerians were insulted for being too black and ‘Fufu eaters’ and being too African, Somalis received the opposite bullying since we are clearly different looking to West Africans and Caribbeans who descend mostly from West Africans. But West Africans were indeed bullied to such an extent some lied and pretended to have Jamaican roots.


Is there gaslighting? Most certainly but it’s human psychology to run after people/groups once they turn the table and have decided to do the ‘rejecting’ such as Somalis and tbh many of the people that are now vehemently of the view Somalis are black, probably weren’t born or were babies when Somalis were being told they’re not black. My experiences in secondary school was the mid to late 2000s, that’s more than 15 yrs ago and I’ve noticed things changed when I went to Uni.

 

[Einar68]

Honestly, I experienced more Islamaphobia and Indian/Pakistani jokes from white people. The madows were tame compared to them.

The UK, is a miserable island compared to places like Canada. Also, what many people actually don’t know since they’re quiet young is that West Africans in the late 80s to the early to even mid 2000s were also mocked by Caribbeans who were seen as ‘cool and at the time the majority. I think in the UK, every single new immigrant group were somehow bullied, so I dispute the idea that only Somalis we’re targeted, whilst Nigerians were insulted for being too black and ‘Fufu eaters’ and being too African, Somalis received the opposite bullying since we are clearly different looking to West Africans and Caribbeans who descend mostly from West Africans. But West Africans were indeed bullied to such an extent some lied and pretended to have Jamaican roots.


Is there gaslighting? Most certainly but it’s human psychology to run after people/groups once they turn the table and have decided to do the ‘rejecting’ such as Somalis and tbh many of the people that are now vehemently of the view Somalis are black, probably weren’t born or were babies when Somalis were being told they’re not black. My experiences in secondary school was the mid to late 2000s, that’s more than 15 yrs ago and I’ve noticed things changed when I went to Uni.

Interesting... As an older person, when would you say that Somalis generally became accepted as part of the African and Caribbean community in England?

As a younger guy I can def say that we were always seen as "black" but very much still treated as our own separate category in many different contexts

 

[queasyian]

Experiences unique to us-staring at someone from your own race non stop. I have a mixed friend group, Iraqi , Pakistani, Moroccan, Algerian. None of them have their brethren/ elders stare at them like a freak. I don’t know why our people are like this

 

[kiinjaamacluvrr]

I try very hard to be diplomatic and reasonable on here, but it's truly insane how the general British Somali experience growing up was being seen as a mockery, and also actively being othered by the African and Carribean community, either being directly told you weren't "black" or being indirectly treated as a separate entity.

Yet the general conversation surrounding us in 2024 is that we're super c**ns and the King uncle ruckus ethnic group. Boggles my mind how objective reality can be distorted like this by them, the level of gaslighting is something I've never seen before.

Honestly, I feel like they’re just projecting or maybe they’re insecure and bored. Wallahi.

 

[kiinjaamacluvrr]

Honestly, I experienced more Islamaphobia and Indian/Pakistani jokes from white people. The madows were tame compared to them.

The UK, is a miserable island compared to places like Canada. Also, what many people actually don’t know since they’re quiet young is that West Africans in the late 80s to the early to even mid 2000s were also mocked by Caribbeans who were seen as ‘cool and at the time the majority. I think in the UK, every single new immigrant group were somehow bullied, so I dispute the idea that only Somalis we’re targeted, whilst Nigerians were insulted for being too black and ‘Fufu eaters’ and being too African, Somalis received the opposite bullying since we are clearly different looking to West Africans and Caribbeans who descend mostly from West Africans. But West Africans were indeed bullied to such an extent some lied and pretended to have Jamaican roots.


Is there gaslighting? Most certainly but it’s human psychology to run after people/groups once they turn the table and have decided to do the ‘rejecting’ such as Somalis and tbh many of the people that are now vehemently of the view Somalis are black, probably weren’t born or were babies when Somalis were being told they’re not black. My experiences in secondary school was the mid to late 2000s, that’s more than 15 yrs ago and I’ve noticed things changed when I went to Uni.

I think the difference with Somalis is that we’re not humble enough, and that’s what’s triggering people in these diaspora conflicts. For example, back in the day, when West Africans were being bullied by Caribbeans, some would lie and say they were Jamaican to avoid the harassment. Have you ever seen Somalis lie about their ethnicity? I haven’t.

 

[Unicorn]

What is a TJ??

 

[Chaseyourdreamzz]

What is a TJ??

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[EyiPunter]

These are ones that I’ve experienced. So maybe it’s not a universal Somali experience but it’s just my personal experience that I’m sure other black people do not experience.

• I have timo jileec but it’s still curly. A lot of non black POCs with curlier hair than me will compare their hair to mine and say we have the ‘same hair’. It’s like they can’t get over a black person having ‘straighter’ hair than them.
• I notice cadaans feel they can get away with more obvious racism towards me than other black people. Like assuming I don’t know English etc. I’ve witnessed this in progress when a black carribean friend and I went out to eat.
• Black people are always associating me with TJs and Arabs. I legit had some ask me if my people do cousin marriages like such and such. Some cadaans do it too but the majority are other black people.
• This isn’t race specific but people (of every ethnicity) will always compare me to their mixed relative or child. In what world does your Kurdish and Jamaican child look Somali.

Anyways, I say all that to say that on the internet the rhetoric is that Somalis want to distance themselves from ‘blackness’ but in real life this is how ajanabis behave. None of these experiences are flattering and most are straight up racist.

I’m not even a Somali with wavy hair, I honestly couldn’t deal with that it’s annoying enough with stereotypical hair.

Feel free to share your experiences or to roast me.

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[EyiPunter]

I can’t relate to timo jileec struggles girl I got type 3c-4a madow ass hair lmao.

I think the only one I can relate to is people assuming I am mixed with something/not “really African”

The struggle is really sxb I got 2c hair

 

[Khaemwaset]

The crazy thing is I’m not exotic at all. I have mareen colouring and very typical hair. I really can’t imagine lighter or darker Somalis with looser hair and the weird comments they would get. Especially from non black POCs, they’re oftentimes the weirdest.

I do wonder if Farah’s are vunerable enough to share their experiences. I highly doubt it but I believe a lot of them act like stereotypical madows to run away from the islamophobic and anti immigrant racism. But that’s just my thought.

Mathow niggas always told me in school I ain't black, but I never really cared. In colly I had african friends instead of carribs, upper class Nigerian to be specific, and race never came up as a topic.

Mathow girls were normal as well, sometimes they'd ask what I've done with my hair routine but all I really did was spray it with biyo and brushed it. But I had one black girl call me Somali Jesus in secondary that's when my hair went down to my back lol.

I go out with a Khamiis and walk to the local masjid without worry also, took it to college as well few times. Idk about the female experiences of dressing islamically in a Gaal country. But personally, all I've had was a few man giving me looks then looking away when I stare back. No one said or done nun to me