RACISM
Racism is a term that is so often misused that it is worth stating the exact definition here, so everyone can see what I am referring to….
1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others. 2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination. 3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
With the fall of apartheid in South Africa there was a feeling that the world had turned a corner.
Racism in its most obvious form, as a governmental means of control, was shown to be a failed concept. The hideous and disgusting scenes we had seen played out on our TV screens was now a thing of the past, or was it?
We can all hark back to the history books and see how the USA was seen as a benchmark for political ideology, they had a civil war which ended in 1865 resulting in the abolition of slavery. A hundred years later there was still such segregation in the country that Rosa Parks became famous for sitting on a bus. Martin Luther King had his dream and Malcolm became an X on the political landscape. Was another corner was turned? The problem is that with all these corners we end up turning back on ourselves. We are complicit in walking around the block to the same starting point as opposed to genuine, directional change in the thinking of huge swathes of the populace.
A lot of people will point to the first black President as a sign of change. Is it? Did Nelson Mandela becoming head of a new, free South Africa make a change? On the surface yes, to both questions. However, what I sense has happened is what happened in the days of prohibition in the USA, you simply drive something that was once open and clear into an underground, hidden world where the boundaries are still there but the signposts aren’t.
Rodney King’s savage beating provoked a backlash that nearly burned a city to the ground. Even as late as last year riots were occurring over the shooting of Michael Brown. I did a little research on this as riots are often the end result of long held grudges as opposed to a knee jerk reaction to a single event. In Ferguson County, Missouri, where the violence was centred 94% of the police are caucasion, yet 67% of the population are of black descent. Do the vast majority of the people feel that is fair representation?
I know what you’re already thinking. That’s America, this is the UK. We are different aren’t we? Are we? Really? I don’t think we are that different. In fact, I can see disturbing parallels between what has happened there and what is happening here. The problem is one that has been driven so far underground that it is only when it explodes people take notice. This is nothing new. I remember watching Cardiff City play many years ago and a horrendous tackle was commited on one of our players. Seven or eight people started making monkey noises and there were vile remarks made to the offending player with the infamous c and n words being the most offensive. The ridiculous irony was the foul was made on Steve Mardenborough, our very own black skinned player. I will never forget the look on his face as he looked towards the crowd. It was contempt, pity and sadness rolled into one. You see, despite being a black footballer, he was OUR black footballer! Today those ‘fans’ would be evicted from the ground, served banning orders and everyone would pat themselves on the back for a job well done. This is the real crux of the issue. Reactive therapy in the form of punishment for holding a stereotypical view of the world achieves nothing. How can it? The problem is that people are still capable of thinking along those lines.
Now I am far from politically correct in my thinking. I am no paragon of virtue preaching from an ivory or even ebony tower believing I have all the answers. I hate the fact that the word black is now banned from certain aspects. A blackboard was called a blackboard because it was a board and it was black. It wasn’t made of chalk so was not a chalk board. Anyone taking offence to that term or thinking there is some racial undertone to the comment is carrying a chip on their shoulder so large they could feed a seagull for a week. Baa Baa was a black sheep, he wasn’t a white sheep, a green sheep or any other colour, he was black.
Likewise the whole idea of not saying that someone is black because it will cause offence is preposterous. If there were ten houses in a street and nine were white and one was red it would cause no offence to state that number 8 was the red house. So why should it cause offence to use the word black when it is being used solely as a means of identifying an object in the quickest manner, be that object a house, a person or a car. It is a whole different argument if the colour is used to discriminate, but surely not to identify. Ten women, nine brunette and one red head. Who is Sue? Oh she’s the one with five degrees and a six bedroomed house? Nope. Still can’t see who that would be. Ok, she is the one who donates to charity but is a devil worshipper and often eats flowers? Nope, still no closer to eliminating who that could be. She’s the one with red hair. BINGO. No offence, no harm caused and no chance of mistaken identity.
Anyway, as usual I am digressing. I was posed a question the other day. This was offensive. What do I call my children? For those that don’t know me my children are mixed race. On one side they have white grandparents, the other a white grandmother and a St Kittian grandfather.
My answer was very simple. I call them Sofii and Grace. I chose the names so I don’t tend to get bored with them. I was laughed at and told no, are they black or white? Well to me they have NO colour. They are my children. I don’t think of them as black or white, rather my own flesh and blood so this bemused me somewhat to be honest. If I had to label them either white or black I would have to say black as they carry a black gene that makes them susceptible to sickle cell anaemia. I also know that regardless of their skin colour, they are proud to be black, and rightly so, and proud to be white. If the ethnic police had to make a judgement call they would be black however. This was then met with a further barrage of abusive questions asking me the following sort of questions.
What would you call someone born in India? Well Indian I would imagine.
Yeah but what colour are they? Well it is hard to say but I would imagine it would depend entirely on their parents. Old Cliff Richard was born in India and I don’t really see him as anything other than white and irritating in the extreme.
You’re lying. If you have a black mum and a white dad you’re half caste so your kids are half caste! Wow! Seriously wow. I was saddened to realise this wasn’t a wind up and was beginning to get annoyed.
For fucks sake Steve you’re white, their mother is black. If you mix black and white what do you get you fg knob? Grey you dribbling imbecile, and the last time I checked my kids weren’t John Major!
So you’re ashamed your kids are white then are you? I have said before and, keep this in mind, I am getting annoyed, I don’t call them black or white. You asked me what I would call them and after much needling I gave you an answer that you didn’t want to hear. Now let the matter drop before a universal truth is revealed that we all bleed red. I don’t see the colour of their skin unless it is pointed out to me by somebody nurturing a desire to be identified by the colour of their own skin as a means of feeling superior. That is racism in its purest form.
So why do THEY hate being called coloured? I’ll give you a poem instead.
When I was born, I was black, When I grew up, I was black, When I’m sick, I’m black, When I go out in the sun, I’m black, When I’m cold, I’m black, When I die, I’ll be black, But you, When you’re born, you’re pink, When you grow up, you’re white, When you’re sick, you’re green, When you go out in the sun, you go red, When you’re cold, you go blue, When you die, you’ll be purple,
And you have the nerve to call me colored!
A true fact here. The first time I actually realised my children had different colour skin to most of their friends was when I saw the first ever team photo Grace had taken when she was nearly ten and she was noticeably darker than her friends. For those who have children this is obvious. They are your children, not a tester pot of Dulux paint. You love them for being your child, not because they have a genetic disposition to have differing skin pigmentation to you.
Now, anyway, after that little outburst the problem we have here in the UK is we are sitting on a powder keg of misinformation and generations of cultural ambivalence. There is a war going on. Not here. Not in this country, it is in the minds of an uneducated, unenlightened but very vocal minority. There is nothing new here. Racism will never be a thing of the past so long as people have the ability to distinguish colour. The problem is because there is a bandwagon, and a lot of people are getting pulled onto it. Britain First is a horrible, propaganda machine for people best suited to wearing white hoods and burning crosses. Their target is not the usual black white argument. This is an organisation that actively seeks to cause unrest between everyone who can be identified by their religion, their skin tone or their manner of dress. It is subversive in its targeting of young individuals and plays the patriotic card only too well. Now, here is the irony yet again.
The barbaric killing of Lee Rigby was disgusting, a real sickening act by two sickening people. I certainly do not mean to belittle or denigrate his memory in any way. I will name some other people though. Roy John Bright, Dennis Richard Anthony Daly, Simon Andrew Tipper and Geoffrey Vernon Young. Do those four names ring any bells? I thought not. What about these seven? Graham Barker, Robert Livingstone, John McKnight, John Heritage, George Mesure, Keith Powell and Laurence Smith. They were all servicemen. They all died too. They were all victims of terrorist attacks too. Terrorist attacks conducted by the IRA in 1982. The first four died in Hyde Park, the final seven in Regents Park. Six civilians died in the Harrods bombings and two more as recently as 1997 in Canary Wharf. Now, add to that the 600 or so more service personnel killed or remember the Armagh bombing, the indiscriminate slaughter of so many innocent people.
The Irish did this. Whatever their political ambitions, their right to freedom or any other angle you wish to take. Do we have Britain First calling for St Patricks day to be banned? Do we immediately hear an Irish accent and think ‘terrorist’? Of course not. The media would never allow it. I’m not anti Irish and why would I be? When I said the Irish I was deliberately using the same language that is used to stir up so much unrest by Britain First. It wasn’t the Irish nation. It was a tiny but active minority of people who happened to be Irish. In exactly the same manner a small percentage of people with a different ethnic background to us ‘white British’ are labelled as terrorists today.
The United Kingdom is truly that. A kingdom united by the right to free speech, the right to protest and the right to be given the truth. Don’t judge anyone on the colour of their skin, the God they choose to pray to or the clothes they choose to wear. Look beyond all that and see people for what they are. People. No matter your racial background, we all mourn the passing of a loved one, we celebrate the birth of a new child and we deserve the right to be judged on our actions, not the actions of those who claim to represent us.
Inherent to everyone is the ability to think for their self. Don’t be swayed by the opinions of others who take delight in scaremongering and hatred. There are times to fight, there are dare I say even times to kill, but never, ever because someone has a different colour skin to your own.
Elimination of racism is impossible I believe but it can be reduced to such an extent that it becomes the isolated event as opposed to the main event. Learning about other cultures does not mean forgetting your own. Respecting others beliefs does not make your own any less valid. Celebrate difference as opposed to fearing it and delight that we are different.
Photograph credit: Thanks to Digicla at Flickr
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