julieturkewitzVerified account

For weeks, I’ve been writing about people in South Africa who have been attacking immigrants. South Africa has a high unemployment rate and many people blame foreigners for the country’s economic problems.

Government critics have claimed that politicians are stoking these prejudices.

This week I was in Nigeria, working on a different story, when I heard that hundreds of people fleeing that anti-immigrant violence would be landing in Lagos. The Nigerian government was airlifting them out.

I knew I had to be there. @kcnwakalor and I raced out to the airport.

The scene was astounding. Full of emotion. The people streaming into a transit center said they felt lucky to be alive. They had run from mobs and watched rioters torch their shops. Their suitcases were stuffed. Their children were exhausted.

They’d left behind furnished homes. Cars. Even spouses. They just wanted out. That’s how bad the violence had gotten, that’s how unwelcome they felt in the place they thought was home.