"Hello Obruni, where you from?"

While our tro-tro was being stopped by police officers at a checkpoint merely because us white people were on it, being asked for ID and getting hassled for carrying our U of Ghana cards but not our passports (Why the hell would we? We just went to Volta Region, jackass), we realized that for some people, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Since 99% of the Ghanaian population is black, you get quickly targeted as a minority (see “White Like Me”) no matter where you’re from.

Case in point: A man I know of is Ghanaian, born and raised. However, his family is from Lebanon, so despite the fact that he holds valid Ghanaian citizenship by nature of his birth and despite the fact that his family probably owns half of Osu (Koala Market and Frankie's Bakery and Hotel are owned by a Lebanese family), as long as he stays in Ghana he will be targeted as 1) a tourist and 2) someone with money that can be extracted from him.

I’ve already been mistaken for both of those people, but the difference is that in mid-May I’ll return to Canada, where I blend in, while he lives his life here, always seen as an outsider. Adrienne’s roommate Nini, a great person who is studying to become a doctor, probably also feels it as a Ghanaian of Chinese descent.

I'm starting to understand on a very limited scale what people must feel like as visible minorities. I may be part of a privileged minority, but what about those who are always seen as foreigners and are constantly questioned as to where they're from? Whenever I see someone who doesn't look "Ghanaian", I subconsciously assume that they must be from somewhere else. Even in Canada, we see someone of perhaps Indian or Chinese descent and wonder how long they've been there, while we assume that whites have been around forever (my family actually has). I suppose that even in a "civilized" multicultural society, we are still so quick to judge others. We just don't ask for their money while we're at it.