Black citizens in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who come to work, study or try to reach Europe, say they suffer endemic day-to-day racism. But the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, most observers agree, has not triggered a major debate on racism or police violence against black Africans within the Maghreb region itself. She said black people often endure slurs such as "kahlouche", black in Arabic, or "Mamadou", a common name in West Africa. Interracial marriages are rare in North Africa, he said, and "very few TV stars, civil servants or political leaders are dark-skinned". Musette said the priority must be to "decondition" children and teach them to avoid derogatory terms for black North Africans, such as "abid" or "oussif", which literally means "slave".

Source: The North Africa Journal July 20, 2020 02:03 UTC