Efter en veloverstået jul med tofu-and og bæredygtig rødkål kunne jeg med ren samvittighed se frem til det nye år. Men nu viser det sig, at jeg faktisk er racist. Fra Joseph Harker i The Guardian, Of course all white people are racist:
White people need to accept that, no matter how many anti-racist demos they’ve marched on, they inevitably make assumptions, however subconscious, which are influenced by a racist society and which help to form their views and opinions.
Jeg har i årevis protesteret mod hvide politibetjentes brutale anholdelser af sorte mennesker. Jeg har arrangeret sing-alongs, bidraget til underskriftsindsamlinger og vigtist af alt følt sympati for de sortes pinsler. Men nu viser det sig, at jeg på denne måde selv har været med til at undertrykke mine afrikanske brødre:
Every day the white power structure - be it global, national or local - makes decisions which impinge on the lives of black people. Take the Metropolitan police, who last year decided to allow people to go unpunished if caught smoking dope in Brixton, south London. This scheme was brought in without the backing of the local black population, who fear the effect on their children of scenes of overt drug taking. If the police want to experiment with drugs, why choose black people as guinea pigs?
Hvor vover politiet at lade være med at anholde folk i sorte kvarterer? Har disse folk ikke lidt nok?
Nogle højreorienterede vil nok påstå, at med sine generaliserende påstande om hvide mennesker, er det i virkeligheden Joseph Harker der er racist. Men i så fald vil man have gjort regning uden vært. Joseph Harker er nemlig sort, og kan derfor ikke være racist:
As a black man, I admit I am bound to suffer from prejudices of my own. I cannot be racist, however, because in the global order I do not belong to the dominant group. If I were to mistreat a white person, no matter how low in social status, the weight of this country’s white power structure would come down against me. As Stephen Lawrence’s parents found, this force does not come to the aid of black people.
(HT: Den neo-nationalistiske Uriaspost)