The misconception that there are no light-skinned South Sudanese has been embedded in many countries within the region. Unfortunately, this has been endorsed by the South Sudanese authorities and propagated to the grassroots.

This always happens when the person is trying to access services at public institutions or on a trip. They are often asked to present their national identity or passport when out of Juba especially for those who often go to the states.

This misconception is deeply rooted in the South Sudanese society more so among those residing within the upcountry and particularly in Juba. This is a reality taking place across our states and the capital, Juba.

Most South Sudanese believe that they were created with dark skin and anybody who appears lighter is considered a foreigner even when the person is South Sudanese by birth.

They called them “wewe’’, a Kiswahili word meaning “you”, which is synonymous with Ugandan nationals. It is a wrong trend that even after one gives his or her real name, some law enforcers still proceed to stereotypically refer to their compatriots as  “wewe’’.

They consider anybody with brown or lighter skin as wewe (which is a foreigner in their interpretation) even though the person is not a foreigner. This is a wrong perception that has made many South Sudanese discriminate against their fellow countrymen simply because of their skin colour. 

Unfortunately, this misconception of associating brown colour with foreigners has gone too deep into public institutions such as immigration and public transport. In most cases, the light skin South Sudanese ethnic minority groups find it hard when just traveling within the country either on land or air.

They are often asked to present their passports or other nationality documents to the customs or police officers at the checkpoint. They are discriminated against among other passengers and forced to declare their nationality to prove they are not foreigners.

This perpetual foreigner stereotype against the light skin members of ethnic minorities has made some fellow citizens feel as if they were living in the White Anglo-Saxon dominant society of the United States.

The White Anglo-Saxon society is mainly occupied by people of British descent that has dominated American society, politics, and culture for most of the years in the history of the United States. So anyone who lives in that society is treated as a foreigner though he is an American by naturalization.

Therefore, when left unresolved in society, such misconception could have far-reaching negative implications on the people. The tendency to associate light skin nationals with foreign citizenry is divisive.

The perpetual foreigner stereotype should not be allowed to play a role in ethnic minority identity, and adjustment in our society. This should start from the ordinary citizens in the society and then the people serving in the public institutions. For instance, those serving in custom duty and checkpoints should stop discriminative scrutiny of travelers.  

Since they are allowed by the law to do their duty, they should apply equal rules instead of predicting the identity of any traveler. It becomes an abuse of the law to choose a few individuals out of many passengers in a car and you demand that they produce their national identity card just because the person has light skin and you believe all South Sudanese must have dark skin.