my take, it's hard to know if art cafe is racist as claimed. taking the complaint of the facebook guy who started all these he's a tad full of himself (just check some of the posts he makes on facebook) so may have expected to be treated like a vip and so just throwing a tuntrum. see how he mentions the big state corporation honcho he was with (or whatever big guy he was with).

i go to art cafe frequently (have great lattes) and other coffee houses and have never noticed any racism. one thing i have however noticed is that for the ones i frequent a lot i have gotten to know the service staff a bit (small chats, how's work, how's family, how's your day, you look depressed today etc) which comes normal to a place one frequents. what this means is that i at times even get served before those who arrive ahead of me. if i were white it might be considered racism by those 'skipped'...racism is unfortunately there in kenya but at times i believe we look too hard for it, even where it is not.

@Alba, this is what you should know.

"Tribalism is here in Kenya, but, not everything needs to be explained as tribalism"

Sometimes you people surprise me - racism and tribalism lower the dignity of a person. The biggest issue here is exactly what I once said
"Individuality and Groupings..." Where you as an individual is being muzzled for the sins of others! Why should I not complain when my personal rights are infringed on? Should you not complain when you show up for a public job interview and you are rejected based on parameters you cannot change? Should you not been complain when you go to a public office and cannot be served based on parameters you cannot change?
Where you get it wrong is when you think private decisions like who to marry or voting are actually supposed to be based on some metric other than what the person making the decision thinks is important.

You need to learn to accept that there are individual decisions such as marriage and voting or who I choose to accomodate in my house that individuals have a right to choose the metric HOWEVER there are decisions of PUBLIC OFFICE and PUBLIC PLACES that the decision maker should not use single variables to discriminate who to give service or who not to.

@hardwood - what is it then?

See, even you recognize these things.

http://archive.adl.org/h...acism.html#.Vh-v7eGhddg

C&P

Africans were not originally considered inferior. When Portuguese sailors first explored Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries, they came upon empires and cities as advanced as their own, and they considered Africans to be serious rivals. Over time, though, as African civilizations failed to match the technological advances of Europe, and the major European powers began to plunder the continent and forcibly remove its inhabitants to work as slave laborers in new colonies across the Atlantic, Africans came to be seen as a deficient "species," as "savages." To an important extent, this view was necessary to justify the slave trade at a time when Western culture had begun to promote individual rights and human equality. The willingness of some Africans to sell other Africans to European slave traders also led to claims of savagery, based on the false belief that the "dark people" were all kinsmen, all part of one society - as opposed to many different, sometimes warring nations.

by the way being 'black' was never really an issue in history... Romans, Greeks, Egyptians had no concept of race... it was all merit. during the dark ages Europe was conquered by black people in the form of the moors (insert debate here)... even ancient egypt had nubian kings - it was until a certain pope legitimized slavery of savages that the black listing litterally took place. the classification of races is a fairly new thing... by the way... in the US the greeks, jews, italians were only recently accepted into the "white" fold
there is a nice quote from a movie I saw juzi about the CIA and it's history and it went something like this

True. Being black was never an issue. There was even black nobility/aristocracy in Russia in 1700s.

Infact some British aristocrats are descendants of the black noble Gannibal, including Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster and her sister, Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn. George Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford Haven, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, is also a direct descendant, as the grandson of Nadejda Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven.

https://en.wikipedia.org...bram_Petrovich_Gannibal

But he rose to the highest ranks of Russian society and establishment. Meaning his colour was never an issue unlike today in Europe.

this is not systematic racism but an economic decision based on the reputation of white people when it comes to tipping.

same reason African women on dating sites insist on 'preferably white' or 'preferably 40-60 years old'. its not about race or age. its about money. white males or older males are much wealthier on average compared to Africans or younger males respectively. if an African approaches that girl and flashes some serious dollars, the 'preferably white' clause will be abandoned like a venereal disease.

if a recognisably wealthy African like Chris Kirubi checks into Art Cafe, even the mzungu clients will be ignored. i would however expect management to reign in comical displays of preferential treatment like waiters stampeding to white tables. unless they are complicit.

on whether Africans should tip, they should be under no obligation to import wholesale white culture. but if you dont tip and there are others in the same restaurant who do (irrespective of color), there can be consequences such as these. You would probably be better off frequenting an authentically African establishment like Kosewe where you dont have to deal with such sideshows.

but going back to racism, there is of course that residiual inferiority complex in many Africans thanks to centuries of being socialized that anything associated with white culture is superior. that residual inferiority likely plays a part in the waiters' discrimninating behaviour but is not the main reason here.