
Despite being born and raised in the city – and speaking Cantonese – many black residents experience racism as part of their everyday life
A mere 3,144 of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million people are African, or of African descent, according to the 2016 Population By-census. But in the past five years, a massive 492 complaints of racial discrimination against them were lodged with the city’s equality watchdog.
In reality, that may be a conservative measure of discrimination. A 2016 study by the Equal Opportunities Commission revealed that many members of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong would not consider filing a complaint, worried that they would be labelled “troublemakers”.
“Hong Kong has a specific context because it has got its own racial and cultural history. The colonial era sowed the first seeds of racial superiority and racial hierarchisation. We should know how it feels to be the subjugated race, but we don’t always take the lesson, do we?”
![Businessman Daniel Udong, from the Republic of Cameroon, moved to Hong Kong in 2003. “It was very difficult because there were not a lot of Africans living in Hong Kong, I was very visible going around in the city, in the MTR,” he says. “When you sit down, people get up and leave some space between you and them […] People look at you like you are something different or strange.” Udong says people tend to cover their nostrils when they see him. “I put on nice perfume and go out,” he says. “I am a hygienic person. I ask myself, what did I do? Am I not clean?” Photo: Miguel Candela](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/08/06/5cac6b0e-ca58-11ea-9c1b-809cdd34beb3_972x_130205.jpg)

![Chidi “Alex” Uwaoma Madu (in black T-shirt) and other Nigerians podcast the history and culture of Biafra, a short-lived nation that existed during the Nigerian civil war (1967-70). “If black lives really want to matter, I think the protesters should go to Africa first,” says Alex, a six-year resident of Hong Kong, one of 745 of his countrymen in the city. “They should protest against these big corporations in Africa, because if Africa is better, most of us would not be here. Even the people in America would start going back to Africa […] But try protesting in Nigeria. They will send the military. They will shoot you and nobody will talk about it.” Photo: Miguel Candela](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/08/06/04096cc8-ca52-11ea-9c1b-809cdd34beb3_972x_130205.jpg)




![Helen and Esther are no different from other children. Helen enjoys watching local and Western celebrities streaming live videos, and likes to upload jazz dance videos of herself. In school, she is the only African in her dance class with about 20 Chinese and Filipino schoolmates. “I hope they [Hongkongers] don’t have to care about our skin colour and our different cultures,” she says. “I hope they treat us as normal human beings. We are equal.” Photo: Miguel Candela](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/08/06/fb51d586-ca54-11ea-9c1b-809cdd34beb3_972x_130205.jpg)






This article has been updated to include more recent figures on the population.
