RACIST MURDER OF A SUDANESE PASTOR
Bridges program addresses the topic of racism between ethnicities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) after the brutal murder of Sudanese pastor and teacher by an Egyptian man who claims to hate Africans.
On a recent episode, Presenter Ingy Magdy of the popular current affairs program Bridges addressed a number of topics such as the Arab Summit in Amman, Jordan, the visit of Pope Francis to Egypt, the return of families to Arish, and Orphan’s Day.
The most intense topic of this episode, however, was that of the recent murder of Sudanese Pastor and Teacher Gabriel Tut Lam, in Egypt. Gabriel was a minister and served Sudanese refugees in Egypt. Gabriel was the victim of an attack by an Egyptian man, at the school which Gabriel was teaching. The school had to close after the shocking incident, where the students witnessed their teacher being beaten to death and leaving other teachers fearing for their lives.
SUDANESE GUEST SPEAKERS DISCUSS THE INCIDENT
Four Sudanese guest speakers joined presenter Bassem Maher on Bridges to discuss the incident, racism in Egypt, and the challenges Sudanese face. The guests spoke about the difficulties of being attacked and humiliated just for having darker skin.
“Not one single day passes without an assault against Sudanese,” says Sudanese guest speaker Pastor Marko Deng. “Gabriel was a minister, a man who loved the Lord and people. We never thought he would be murdered in cold blood.”
DISCUSSING DISCRIMINATION
Sudanese journalist Cecile Joseph and political researcher Aloor Biong discussed the differences between Sudanese refugees and immigrants during the Bridges episode, talking about the challenges they face in the United Nations Population Fund. At first, they insisted that there is no discrimination against Sudanese people in Egypt, they then went on to define the term ‘discrimination’, agreeing that it is an act or way of thinking, that makes one believe that they are superior and worthier than others. Presenter Bassem Maher added:
“If you believe that a particular race understands better than another, beware, you are a racist. If you think that your skin colour or your religion makes you better than anyone else, you are a racist.”
“I hope that the next time we are on this program, we don’t talk about this topic because there will not be racial discrimination in Egypt,” Aloor Biong concluded.
SAT-7 Arabic channels Director George Makeen added:
“This episode was special because it shows that SAT-7 cares about human rights in general. We don’t just address the needs, struggles, and concerns of our own people – Christians. We are a channel that covers the entire Arabic-speaking region, so we are concerned with the struggles and challenges of all ethnicities of the Arab world.”