I recently read The Forest People by Colin Turnbell, a book written by an anthropologist who lives with the BaMbuti pygmy tribe in the late 1950s, just as Congo is gaining its independence from Belgium. I was expecting there to be a lot more about the Belgian colonists in this book, so I was surprised to find that most of the racism documented is between the pygmies and the "Negros" (the westernized natives). Although the focal point of this book is the pygmies and how they live (it is an anthropological book after all), they were still forced to submit to the other Africans and I found their relationship very interesting.

The pygmies were controlled by an African village. The villagers allowed the pygmies to live deep in the forest as long as they would bring meat, but even when the pygmies were obedient, the "Negroes" were still cruel. Africans being cruel to other Africans? Absurdity! But this form of "backstabbing", if you will, is common, we just never really notice it.

Remember in Rabbit Proof Fence when the aborigine sold out Gracie by telling her that her mother was in town and all she had to do was ride the train whose station just happened to have people there to catch her? It's the same deal.

The "Negroes" were the Africans in contact with the Europeans and were taught the Native People were bad and Europeans were good, after a couple generations this wasn't argued. So when the Belgians leave, the "Negroes" are left feeling sophisticated and in control. They see the pygmies as being childish and wild because they never let go of their traditions.

This book was really interesting because you can plainly see the contrast between European and and BaMbuti lifestyle, and after some thinking you can see how the "Negroes" fit somewhere between.