Is
Thinking about the Beeb's expose on the steven lawrence case last night and i think to myself, is racism only inherent in white people?
posted by internationalhome @ 2:53 pm
6 comments
My Talking Beginnings
Always asking bloody questions!
Thursday, July 27, 2006
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6 Comments:
What did you think about the programme? Was is an expose? I'm not so sure. Is racism only inherent in white people? That seems like a straightforward question, but is it? "Inherent" suggests "inherited" and "automatically there". It's a bit of a slippery term. The real problem is to define "race" so as it is possible to say what racism is. But a quick answer is "No". There is a fair amount of racism on The Castle of the Writer; and that's from a Black perspective; or an African perspective, since OGN would deny the term Black. As race is not simply a "colour" construct, so racism is more than a "colour" construct. What about the racism that Africans show towards Asians? That is not White based, but it is based on suprematism; and that is the root of racism.
Sensible comments, thanks for that. This post is a honest if not naive concept i have been pondering for a long time. As an african and citizen of the most populous black nation, racism in the form observable in this society is a very peculiar concept to me. It is fair to say all human beings exist to identify but once it takes the form of racism, (in my opinion) it allbecomes more complex.
with reference to the steven lawrence issue, my use of the word expose was actually in sarcasm and i agree with eshuneutics on his comment on OGN, that sentence singularly answers my question....
@Esheunitics, thanks for stopping by.
@ teeside dazza, thanks for stopping by, your blog holds a lot of promise.
This post was prompted by a series of events which happened over the last couple of weeks, i do not understand the mechanics of this society with reference to race relations. The white people i have met (my friends or otherwise) have all reacted in the manner that insinuates that my question is the case.The media and even re-written history in this society screams that the white man is the superior race, so why should they believe otherwise?
"murder of the black teenager steven lawrence.." why "black teenager?" wouldnt teenager suffice?
No, teenager would not really suffice. This is what haunts the case of Stephen and Duwayne; blackness. The police did everything on the night of the murder to reduce it to a "teenage" squabble. They wanted to establish that Duwayne and Stephen started th fight, even that there was some point of contact between the pair and the gang previously. What the racist police did not want to accept was that the event was spontaneous racism created simply because Stephen and Duwayne were black. What the programme did not mention was the speed of what happened: 15-20 seconds, no more. People also forget, though this was one of the good things about the programme: Duwayne was a "victim" because he was black. He was a victim of the gang--who would have killed him if they could have--and a victim of an institution that continues to be racist to the core. The Black dimension is terribly important--one of the weaknesses of the programme--it did not seek many Black view-points did it and only gave Duwayne the briefest of says.
It is this coexistence of the "I" and the "other" that has the potential to breed racism, and thus racism can emerge anywhere regardless of color and ethnicity
The existence of the 'other' defines the 'I'. In plurality, a community defines itself by differentiating itself from the 'other' communities. Extending this further, 'our' racial identity is created by delineating how we are different from the 'other' race/s. So far as it's just a matter of seeking identity, everything's fine. However, when one race begins qualifying the 'otherness' as bad or inferior that's when racism is born. It can be born to any race that flexes muscle by undermining the 'otherness' of races that exist alongside it.
Most definitely not. I have experienced it many times and I am white. Either way around it stinks and should be eradicated.
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