Belfast, Northern Ireland
Israel Eguaogie was 17 when he left Nigeria and relocated to Germany as an asylum seeker. A decade later he moved to Dublin and soon after that, shifted north to Belfast. It was a decision that horrified his mother back in Nigeria, who had heard news reports of the sectarian violence in the country. But Israel said that he experienced the calm and the peace of Northern Ireland and recalled it was the first place since living in Germany, where someone said hello to him first.
Israel has also experienced racism in Northern Ireland, and with recent public protests and violence directed at immigrants, Israel says he is concerned that previous rivals in the Protestant and Catholic communities will find unifying common ground in their backlash against newcomers, and that the rocks they once threw at each other will now land on the immigrants instead.
Belfast, Northern Ireland
“They are fed with information that is not first-hand. It’s just somebody’s premeditated assumption or judgment or prejudices that have been sold to people who are already boiling.”
On the racism he experienced in Germany:
“Discrimination, hardship, marginalization, segregation. Those were the things that became known in Germany. They were normalized because they were the things that occurred every day.
“I can remember a particular incident vividly as a young person. I went to a youth organization or youth club. It was four of us. Myself, two black kids and one guy from Bulgaria. He’s a young boy. So we went to this youth club and we entered. The gate was open so we went in because young boys were kicking football and playing snooker. All of a sudden the youth workers came and asked us to leave.
“So that was my first taste of racism and I was surprised because I didn’t know why we should have to leave if it’s free for young people. So we were pushed out and then I called the police myself. You know like why should we be pushed out of this place? The police arrived and told us to wait there. They’ll be back. They left and came back and they told us in German “hau ab.” That means get lost. Like, why? I called you guys and then they don’t speak English, they just speak in German.
“It’s not a problem if you understand or not but I caught the gist from what they were saying as they don’t want you here, because the youth workers were screaming at us that we had germs and diseases and they don’t want us to infect their kids and all that. And we were warned never to return. If we do, we would be arrested. And that’s affected me mentally because I didn’t know why as a young person, I shouldn’t be allowed.”
On the racism he experienced in Northern Ireland:
“The neighbor to my left is from Poland and between 2007, 8, and 9 was this tension against Polish people. You know the aggression was against Polish people, the Polish should go, and all that. So my neighbor was from Poland and one morning I came back from work. I saw these three masked guys came in, smashed the window and petrol bombed his house, literally. And we lived in a terrace house. He was my immediate neighbor so I had to rush out, call the fire services and call the police but before the police came the petrol bomb was literally in the living room. I had to rush, keep banging on the door, the guy opened the door and we threw the canister out. It was like a bottle with fuel in it and they put out the fire. That was my first experience of violence and it was directly before my very face.
“So the police came and they were asking for witnesses. I was surprised because none of the neighbors wanted to give their own side of the story. Everybody said they didn’t see nothing but I knew very well because I saw these three masked guys walking down the road. And two of my immediate neighbors they saw them but they said they didn’t see anything. But I was able to give my story to the police.
“Only two days later someone wrote a note and dropped it in my letterbox. We have to leave because we served as a witness to the police. I spoke with a political representative and he was like, “Oh they’re not gonna do anything.” But eventually anyway I had to move move to the current residence where we are today but it didn’t stop there.
“I was coming back from work someday. I was in the bus. It was at night at about 10:15 p.m. and these three guys drunk came into the bus and started chanting monkey noises and whatever and using vial and racist language. It was tough. I couldn’t understand but I came from a background where racism was a norm in Germany so that was just foolishness to me. Twice I was beaten by skinheads in Germany and left for dead. So that to me was just a bunch of drunkards but it kept repeating itself so I decided to buy a vehicle, to buy a car, because I didn’t want to keep experiencing that in a bus when I’m coming back from home.”
On the current backlash against immigrants:
“I’m keeping an eye on my phone. At the moment there’s a family that was attacked last year right here in North Belfast and two nights ago a group of people felt it was okay to go and smash her window and destroy her house. That’s not fair. She is walking her ass off. She is doing two jobs just to pay her rent. The house doesn’t belong to her, she’s renting it. So people are destroying those properties, putting fears into the lives of people who have come here to seek refuge and sanctuary. That is not fair.
“I mean why should you burn a property that is providing sanctuary to people fleeing persecutions in their own community. It is horrible and it’s just going to escalate. That’s our fear.
“The thing is, two communities that have been segregated and set apart for quite a long time have now come together to fight another community. That is scary. That is the scariest part of it. And we as ethnic minorities here, we are now in the middle of this fight. Whatsoever prejudices, hate, both sides of the communities have, it’s landing on us and everybody’s a scapegoat.
“I have to carry out risk assessments now every day for my daughter going out. Where is she going? How safe is the venue? How safe is the area? Is she allowed to go? You know those are the things that I have to put into consideration before I let her out of the house every day. And I have to make it a point of duty now to pick here up from whatsoever she is. So not just myself. A lot of families afraid and scared. How is this going to escalate how is it going to end?
“And the police here think they’re doing their very best, but for 15 police officers to be injured two nights ago that’s a lot, and how is it gonna end we don’t know.”
On finding hope:
“I think change is constant and it doesn’t matter how small or the little baby steps of change but last year we saw 15,000 people came out and counter protested against the riots. That means there are a lot of people who are not narrow minded. So the solidarity, it’s now mechanical let me say. Because people from different backgrounds, different religions, in Northern Ireland came together and said, “No, we are not buying this.”
“So it’s just a group of small people I see who are trying to flame up this whole issue of anti-migrant sentiment but there are also people here which gives me confidence which keeps me going that there are people who are appalled, people who do not take sides with those racist people, people who work in organizations and our places of works, even some of my neighbors kept checking on us you know, “Are you guys okay? Please just be sure that you are safe here.”
“So those are the things that keep me going and I keep spreading that hope to other people that if 15,000 people came out last year, trust me, it will be double this year.”
To read the introduction to this series, follow this link.
The Troubles: Finding a Path Toward Healing in Northern Ireland
To listen to our podcast, follow this link or find us on the platform of your choice.
A Peace of My Mind on Buzzsprout
Credits:
Interview and photos: John Noltner
Field production: summer interns Kate West, Sawyer Garrison, and Kaitlin Imai
Audio engineering: Razik Saifullah