Quick Reflections : Alchemist

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I have given myself 10 minutes to write on a complex situation of structural racism and classism and the problems I have with clubbing culture. And I have a sneaking suspicion that I've bitten off more than I can chew here. Because the Alchemist situation is A LOT. So let's start at the beginning.

For the uninitiated, Alchemist is a bar/club/restaurant hodge-podge in one of Nairobi's wealthier locales; Westlands. It is frequented by middle-upper-class Kenyans of various races, ethnicities and tribes. But this does not mean that class is an equalizer; in fact, the socioeconomic class may have exacerbated what happened the FIRST time. The first time Alchemist got in trouble was over a video alleging racial discrimination in the way patrons were organized. In an unnecessary throwback to separate but equal, the video shows two lines: one for Africans and a separate line for White/Asian patrons. When an African patron attempts to, literally, cross the aisle, a bouncer directed them to their "place." And KOT (Kenyans on Twitter) got pissed, and rightfully so. The video is proof of a feeling many African Kenyans experiences, but find difficult to express. That are two Kenyas; one for Africans, and one for White/Asian people. The latter is far nicer, and kinder and exists on preferential treatment; whether this manifests as separate lines or as the feeling that the Government actually considers the concerns of the latter, often, to the detriment of the former. The funny thing is, that this is more than just a feeling. 

The Devonshire Declaration of 1923 mandated the separation of Africans and Asians because the former was perceived as susceptible and easily swayed by the perceived “moral depravity” of the latter. So, Kenyan Asians, like their White counterparts, built their own houses and fenced them off as a security measure against the perceived threat of attack by Africans. The impacts of this segregated living are still with us today. Across the country, there are housing areas that are exclusively the haunt of one racial group or another; even when controlling for socioeconomic status. This is such a given that when looking for housing in Nairobi, my family did not bother looking in certain locales because we felt we would not be welcomed. 

In these areas, interactions between Kenyan Africans and Kenyan Asians are often coloured by economic asymmetry and a power imbalance; managers tend to be Asian while the workers tend to be African. The persistence of this dynamic, and attempts to explain it, reinforced negative stereotypes by, and about, both communities; stereotypes which widened the chasm between these two visions of, and for, Kenya This, when coupled with existing, and pervasive, racial hierarchies that demonise or infantilise blackness in favour of whiteness, accounts for the seeming permanence of these stereotypes and the deepening of the chasm between the two groups. It also accounts for the feeling that the groups that are closer to whiteness receive better treatment than those further away. To the extent that in public settings, I have become accustomed to (in the sense of I've learned to not fight this particular battle) - in certain places - being treated like a foreigner in my own country (or perhaps more aptly, a citizen and not a visitor for whom the proverbial 'good china' is brought out). And, unfortunately, one of those places is Alchemist.

That is why, even when Alchemist cleared the record, the backlash continued. Social Media continued to be filled with content expressing support for Alchemist, and its welcoming and inclusive atmosphere, as well as criticism for the way in which it treated its African patrons. We must remember that both of these things can be true about Alchemist. Alchemist can be welcoming, but still treat its' African patrons like shit. 

Yet I could not find people who spoke on the structural racism that made the video incredibly believable. Especially, when it is this structural racism that people objected to; the indignity of being treated differently in your own country 59 years after independence. But this isn't an easy problem to solve; not as simple as mandating the closure of Alchemist and some sort of reparations. 

Unfortunately, until we solve it we will be stuck in a cycle of outrage, resignation and amnesia. 

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