A Darker Shade of Black... (or a Lighter Shade of Pale)by Phillip Edward Alexander on Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 2:34pm
“Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.”
Abraham J. Heschel
“In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently.”
Harry A. Blackmun
“I hate racial discrimination most intensely and all its manifestations. I have fought all my life; I fight now, and will do so until the end of my days. Even although I now happen to be tried by one, whose opinion I hold in high esteem, I detest most violently the set-up that surrounds me here. It makes me feel that I am a Black man in a White man's court. This should not be I should feel perfectly at ease and at home with the assurance that I am being tried by a fellow South African, who does not regard me as an inferior, entitled to a special type of justice.”
Nelson Mandela
I have encountered a type of racism today that I did not know existed, and its power to divide seems to lie with its ability to hide in plain sight.
To many, the initial reaction to perceived racism is usually a turning away and a silent rejection unless the recipient is himself racist, but the racism I describe here not only rejects, it returns fire whether warranted or not far beyond the scope of the initial position, again whether the perception was justified, real or imagined.
This has had the effect of watering down the debate or diluting the discourse so that, were we to approach a situation like alcohol abuse in one race, we would have to mention another race's penchant for violence and banditry, and perhaps even a third's involvement in the nefarious drug trade for example so as to be 'equal opportunity offenders' or worse, to scare 'outsiders' away from discussions outside of their own race altogether in some backward territorial display.
Does it take away from the fact that the initial premise may still be valid and at the heart of the malaise requiring attention?
No, but it empowers all sides and hardens positions based on justifying one race's wrongdoing because of another's.
I watched a situation dumbfounded over the weekend where a teenage boy who was caught stealing and carried to his mother so that she could deal with him, watched as his mother turned around and lambasted and disrespected those who she said were lying on her son. The fact that he was wearing the items that he stole had no impact on her, and in her rush to defend him from his captors may have inadvertently reinforced his belief in his right to a life of crime or to take whatever he wanted if the opportunity presented itself.
I suspect that I may see her again in the future if his planned life of crime delivers him back to her in a body bag, lamenting with pious tears what a good boy he was.
There is an inescapable truth that we are all interconnected socially and we impact each other's lives for good or bad depending on the choices we make. In this we are obligated to toe some level of respect for each other, the observance of the social contract and in the rule of law. When we leave that place it is quickly replaced by something akin to the law of the jungle where who dares wins, as is plainly evident to all who have eyes in all of the ills that plague our society.
Our first step towards first world status has to be with the people and their attitudes to themselves and each other and requires a relaxing of prejudices into a more united and 'national' approach if we are to come to terms with all of these frustrations to our quality of life. The second has to be an acceptance that there are issues specific to each race that need addressing individually, separate and apart if we are to bring everyone up to the same level playing field.
This must be the goal, to get everyone's standard of living on par with whoever has the highest standard of living right now, rather than defending turf that disempowers, neuters and isolates.
If we cannot do this then the uneasy peace we live with will not last forever and at some point for some silly reason all of the hopes and dreams of a plural and multi-ethnic society will burn away like chaff in the inferno of racial conflict.
There is little satisfaction to be had by being the one that prevents us from becoming a true family united as different shades of one people, and anyone who wants to build bridges to community where canyons now exist should be encouraged and rewarded rather than humbled and put in their place.
Something to think about...
