War against racism

One thing I took away from courses in Sociology and Anthropology classes at University of Nigeria is that contradictions never cease to exist in human societies. Contradictions in themselves are found to be seeds of wickedness and societal degradation. They hold no good and should be dealt with when they occur. In fact they should be uprooted and thrown away in such a way they don’t arise again. But if by omission or commission they are allowed to remain and thrive, they mature to be become a thorn in the flesh of the people and a cog in the wheel of progress. This situation expands to a point that a force in nature must rise to take care of it, one way or the other. The choice of allowing nature to do what humans ought to do using God given intelligence, many times can be very costly in terms of fatalities to human lives, material losses and general dislocation of society.

In the last one month or so the world has been going through a trauma provoked by her inability to effectively take on the dastardly phenomenon of racism and say no to it. We all know that this ugly norm which holds one race superior and another inferior is nothing but abomination but for centuries we looked the other way while the monster grew in size and intensity, tearing away at the dignity and lives of peoples across the globe. The developed nations kept mute in an obvious attitude of conspiratorial passivity. They had to because racism served their purpose in their nascent years of national development and still does even now.

They used slaves to turn their countries to what they are today. Men and women they forcefully took away thousands of miles away from their natural abode to far flung places they were never accustomed to. There, they were subjected to various kinds of forced labour under very excruciating atmosphere and dehumanising conditions. They worked themselves down and sometimes to outright death yet were not fit to be seen as human beings worthy of recognition and regard; many considered as apes of the family. Today the practice has continued under different guises.

The perpetuators of this heinous crime against humanity have continually kept their legs on the necks of the victim population by denial of education, low quality training and institutional discrimination by way of job intakes into grade “A” establishments, agencies and corporations. If it is not this, it is a systemic thing where a man’s skin pigmentation becomes a yardstick for dealing with him, dictating how much acceptance or rejection should be accorded. In a racist setting negative history is a valuable tool; promoters of the unholy system find it very expedient to remind others their forefathers were slaves and some of the grandchildren are not qualified for the status of a republican. In other instances it is psychological, a mad journey in the lane of vain ego trips such as the “born to rule” mentality.

In our era, racism is as old as 2000 years ago. Christian scripture is replete with such stories. Jews who were once chief promoters of racism have themselves been among the biggest victims of its backlash. Holocaust was about white racism against the Jews. In that terrible incident via Nazi German, Jews were hunted, captured like animals, taken to concentration camps and gassed to death in millions. Some were roasted alive. It is believed that more than six million Jews died for nothing but for just being Jews. I understand they were hated for being skilful, industrious and cunning. Just that!

Some Europeans like the Irish, for instance, have also been victims. There was a time among whites that if you didn’t have blonde eyes, what we call “cat eye”, you were not considered a member of the superior Aryan Race. You are white alright but you are entitled to degree of subjugation on account of hailing from the lesser species. Asians, Arabs and Blacks have varied degree of racism among them as well as experienced racism as a group, but as a group Blacks have suffered the most on account of this ugly trend more than the other groups.

Inside the reasons why it is so, one could also find the solutions which are beyond pouring into streets, bearing placards with inscription ‘Black Lives Matter’ and making life very difficult for everyone on streets. Waiting for a bust up and hitting the streets have been the approach for fighting racism for over two years and yet no significant achievements have been recorded except tokens in form of little accommodations that amount to nothing in terms of substance.

Barack Obama, a black was voted president of America yet he never embraced his people not to talk of pursuing institutional reforms on their behalf throughout the eight-year duration of his presidency. Racism on blacks assumed bigger life gradually. When Europeans arrived Africa they met a civilization comparable to what they knew back home. But their respect for Black people began to wane when they discovered the people had character issues; that their loyalty was dictated by opportunities.

The root of slave trade was planted in this character flaw: little inducement for maximum damage of your own. Blacks needed false sense worth, so appointing them as warrant chiefs, court clerks or middle men was enough incentive to instigate tribal or communal wars from where war prisoners were gleefully sold as slaves. If as they say respect is earned, the question becomes if such a race where betrayal is stock in trade can be worthy of regard. Take a look and ask yourself if anything has changed about Blacks. See our governments and how they are bereft of home grown initiatives. We have natural resources but incapable of moving any into finished products. We scramble for loans. Why is it that other races that suffered racism are respected across the world and only Blacks are both the weeping boys and the cry-babies?

Blacks are not authentic in names, culture, food and interest. He wants to be everything White. Races keep their identity. Jews romance with whites on their terms, so are the Asians and Arabs. We want to die in the desert and the Mediterranean Sea just to go do worse kinds of menial jobs. Blacks in developed settings grow to do music and sports. They hardly go to school. Legislations may help but until Black countries develop and learn character, curtail hedonistic traits and pursue classical education in great numbers, I am afraid racism will not die. Respect is earned, not conferred.