Excerpt: "Discrimination against albinos is a serious problem throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but recently in Tanzania it has taken a wicked twist: At least 19 albinos, including children, have been killed and mutilated in the past year, victims of what Tanzanian officials say is a growing criminal trade in albino body parts.
“Many people in Tanzania - and across Africa, for that matter - believe albinos have magical powers. They stand out, often the lone white face in a black crowd, a result of a genetic condition that impairs normal skin pigmentation and affects about 1 in 3,000 people here. Tanzanian officials say witch doctors are now marketing albino skin, bones and hair as ingredients in potions that are promised to make people rich.”
If you are interested in an American association dedicated to educating the public about albinism and hypopigmentation (there’s also a world alliance), may I suggest you click this link: www.albinism.org.
I’m the son of two fine persons with albinism. I’ve spent the better part of 44 years explaining that the don’t “suffer” from albinism.
Don’t you think that, after the first few albinos went down with nary a lightning bolt or fireball tossed their way, and no unearthly horrors were later visited on the murderers, that people would figure out that albinos probably aren’t inherently magical?
It’s horrible to think that stuff like that still goes on in the world.
But I guess I can believe that a lot of people in desperate poverty would kill someone else if they thought it would make them rich…either through believing in ignorant superstitions about “magic”, OR simply in hoping to make money off of other people’s ignorant beliefs in superstitions by selling them albinos’ body parts.
I knew an albino kid in high school. He was on the lowest rung of the social ladder. He was below even the Magic the Gathering players. It was really sad how kids teased him…
Some of the other African nations ought to take Tanzania aside and suggest that the whole “cannibalizing the handicapped” thing doesn’t really lend itself toward good international PR.
It’s rather surprising that Tanzanian witch doctors still believe in the outdated ‘albino’ theory. Of course, most modern witch doctors agree that antagonizing an albino results in penis shrinkage, and therefore albinos should be left strictly alone. I thought everybody knew that by now.
It should be obvious that the people with the most magically potent body parts will naturally be the most prominent, wealthy and powerful members of society, such as politicians.
After I read the article in the NYT yesterday, I emailed the author, Jeffrey Gettleman, to see if he had any contact information for the Tanzanian Albino Society. He sent me the email and phone number for their general secretary. I’m in the middle of trying to figure out what the best way for me to help is. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to post the secretary’s info here, so if anyone wants it, feel free to email or PM me.
When I was a part-time reader with the Texas Commission for the Blind back in my undergrad days, there were a couple or three albino clients. There is some correlation there.
This could conceivably be used as one tiny example of religion’s harm over in the debate thread about the goodness or badness of religion.
Right. I’ll just pop off to Africa and ask the cannibals about their spiritual beliefs.
Wow, I’m back already! What a great trip. And they all said I was right about witch doctorism, too. Yep. Nothing but praise and congratulations for my intuitive grasp of witch doctorism on that journey, I can tell you. Indeed. That sure did happen, all right. So, anyway. I trust we are all agreed that there is no longer any remaining room for doubt in this matter. The End.
