6 quotes that will convince black people not to celebrate Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi is widely remembered as an influential revolutionary who played a very important role during India’s struggle for independence from Britain.

His charisma, intelligence, calmness and forgiving nature made him the perfect role model throughout India and beyond. Some influential politicians and revolutionaries who were also up in arms against their colonial governments during his days were also positively influenced by him.

Despite all this praise, Gandhi, however, was definitely no angel. His resentment towards blacks and racist statements is a topic very worthy of discussion.

After graduating as a lawyer from the prestigious Inner Temple in London, Gandhi moved to South Africa and served as an expatriate lawyer, representing resident Indian communities in their struggle for civil rights. He spent 21 years in South Africa and just like other people of colour, he suffered his fair share of discrimination. That, however, did not change his views about black people being inferior.

His racist history sparked protests from Ghanaian academics and artists some two years ago when the University of Ghana unveiled a statue of him. The group called for the statue to be taken down citing his racism towards blacks when he was alive. Even the year before, protesters in Johannesburg, South Africa, vandalized his statue during an anti-Gandhi protest in which protesters carried placards reading, “Racist Gandhi Must Fall.”

To buttress the fact that he was indeed a racist, here are some of his discriminatory citations including calling black South African’s the “K” word.

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