My Childhood in Egypt, Not Knowing I Was in Africa

I stopped hiding my dark skin very early in my life, since I discovered that Egypt is in Africa

Illustration: Tiffany Mallery

In my childhood, I did not know that Egypt is in Africa. The Egyptian government under King Farouk did not consider Egypt as part of Africa. They followed the British colonizers, who divided Africa into Black and White. Divide and rule has been the main plan of any colonizers throughout history.

To exploit people, you must veil their minds and create conflicts and wars between them. This is happening today in our life as happened in earlier societies.

Religion is the best tool to veil the minds of people and divide them. The Egyptian educational system followed that of the British colonizers and contained many racist, patriarchal, religious, and capitalist ideas.

I was brainwashed by my official education as a Muslim Egyptian girl from the working class. In primary school, the British and Egyptian teachers praised the upper-class girls with fair white skin. My maternal Turkish grandmother despised my dark skin, which I inherited from the poor peasant family of my father.

My maternal aunt used to hide my dark skin with white powder and would straighten my hair with a hot iron. I liberated my mind from…