Irish people are in denial about the extent of racism here, says Zimbabwean Neltah Chadamoyo, whose nephew was seriously assaulted in Dublin
One night last month my nephew, Mapfumo, received a severe beating at the hands of four attackers in west Dublin. He was at a party at a friend's house when two cars outside were vandalised and those at the party went out to investigate.
The group retreated indoors when they were accosted by a group of men bearing a golf club, hurling stick and baseball bat. Mapfumo got stranded and was savagely attacked around the head. All the bones in his face were broken and his right eye is still seriously injured a month after the attack. His teeth are in braces and he eats through a straw in his hospital bed.
After the attack, Irish people told me that Mapfumo was attacked because he was different, but that didn't mean it was a racist attack. This in spite of the fact that there had been an altercation at the party in which an Irish youth had screamed racist abuse before leaving.
Gardaí have investigated the incident but say they haven't decided whether it was racist. It seems everyone is in denial, no one wants to raise the subject. Yet seen from our side of the fence, it is obvious that my nephew was attacked because he was different, because he was black.
In the five years I have been here, things have gotten worse. This wasn't an isolated incident, as many Africans will tell you. Violent attacks and threats are on the rise, and I feel it is only a matter of time before my community strikes back.
If nothing is done, I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with riots here, just like in France.
Yet Irish people don't want to know. They have a big problem accepting that racism exists in their society. If they did, they'd have to deal with it, in its many forms. Even though now is the time to tackle the problem, before things get worse, before we end up with a death.
After five years, I have no Irish friends and most of the black people I know have given up trying to reach out. Irish people are curious about new immigrants but they don't want to open themselves up. You can only tell your story to so many people before you realise that no one is telling their story back.
Irish people believe every African is an asylum seeker/refugee. People never stop asking me: "What part of Nigeria do you come from?" You get used to (though you never accept) the verbal abuse, the stupid racist remarks made as you walk down the street. It gets worse when the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, makes one of his frequent comments about bogus asylum seekers. His remarks incite people and there is more abuse. Whenever he talks about immigration, it is about bogus asylum seekers and nothing else. You'd think the majority of immigrants here were asylum seekers and refugees, when this isn't the case.
NOW MY FIVE-YEAR-OLD daughter is starting to suffer the same treatment at school, but the principal says the children are too young to understand better.
I went for a job interview once and sat for 45 minutes answering questions about my country. There were no questions about the job, they weren't interested in my experience.
Immigrants have qualifications they can't use and young people in their communities don't have role models as a result. The next generation will say: "If they can't make it, what hope do I have?"
If things go on as they are, I don't want my daughter growing up in a hostile environment like the one she is living in now. I don't want her to go through life facing racism. I didn't know what racism was before I came to Ireland.
Mapfumo will be in hospital for some time. He was doing a doctorate in engineering in UCD, but that's on hold for now. His parents, who live in England, haven't been able to visit him because their passports are with the British Home Office for the renewal of their visas. The Irish authorities say they cannot get involved because he isn't an Irish citizen. Friends here have tried to help, but they don't seem to have the necessary influence.
It seems that, as far as everyone is concerned, he can fend for himself.
In conversation with Paul Cullen