Racists find themselves increasingly isolated by the more reasonable members of society
For racists the group is defined in very simple, easy to recognise terms. If you’re the same colour as ‘us’ then you’re one of ‘us’. If you’re a different colour then you’re ‘them’. Since the problems we face can’t be acknowledged as part of ‘us’ it must come from ‘them’.
It’s no coincidence that racist, xenophobic groups like UKIP and the BNP began to experience electoral success just as the economy crashed (mainly due to the actions of white bankers). Such discrimination is predictable at times of social pressure.
It mirrors the rise in anti-semitism in medieval Europe as the Black Death spread across the continent and the people scapegoated minorities. It mirrors the rise of the Nazis in Germany following the disastrous economic penalties enforced by the treaty of Versailles at the end of World War One. The German people needed someone to blame who was not ‘us’. They chose the highly visible minorities of Jews, Blacks, Communists and Gypsies.
Let’s examine the psychological processes in more detail.
British Islamophobes love to point out that since Islam isn’t a race, they can’t be accused of racism when they persecute Muslims.
Congratulations – you’ve stated the obvious. Well done!
However… it’s not quite as simple as that.
The United Nations has defined anti-Islamic sentiment as racism in the same way that it defines anti-Jewish feelings as racism. Both are different forms of anti-Semitism and both are viewed technically as racism in international law.
So yes – you’ve stated the obvious in one sense but missed the point in another.
Then there’s the dog-whistle code used by many European racists, including British racists to equate Muslim with ‘brown people’. They can’t legally criticize black or brown people on the grounds of colour so they use religious adherence and criticise religious practices instead. Quite inconsistently, as it happens.
For example, depending upon their particular prejudices they might criticise Muslim Halal but have no opinion on Jewish Kosher.
They’ll complain about Muslim Hijabs but not Christian head coverings found in Christian cultures across the world – including among European Nuns.
They’ll criticize Sharia councils but ignore Jewish Beth-Din or Christian Fundamentalist ‘courts’ which perform exactly the same function and have just as little weight in public law.
And what does all this amount to? Oh yes – religious discrimination which, by the way is also illegal.
You see it’s OK to criticise ideas, including religious ideas, but people have rights. When you start to persecute the people you’re breaking the law – whether you personally define it as racism or not. You’re also displaying your own mean-spirited, small-minded stupidity for all to see. Now why on earth would you want to show your arse like that?
This isn’t just ironic, it’s a wonderful illustration of the complete and utter misunderstanding these racists have of the process of natural selection they claim to rely upon. The basic confusion appears to be based in old testament assumptions where the term ‘kind’ is used instead of the more modern ‘species’ (Genesis 7) and where slavery actively is supported along with the purchase and/or capture, absolute ownership and slavery (including sexual slavery) of those who are ‘different’ (Exodus 21). Exodus and Deuteronomy define such enslaved foreigners as ‘property’ or ‘money’ and permit passing them on as chattels to future generations as part of a patriarch’s estate.
These early passages were used as justification for the slave trade which caused so much death, hardship and misery. They were also used to support Plato’s ‘ladder’ of human superiority with black women at the bottom and white, European men at the top. Such primitive notions have no basis in fact and indeed modern scientific consensus clearly shows just how ridiculous these notions actually are.
Modern biology defines speciation in several ways, the strongest and most generally agreed upon is based upon the viability of offspring. To put it another way, if two rabbits can produce offspring that themselves are capable of producing further offspring then they belong to the same species. If their offspring are incapable of producing offspring with earlier generations of rabbits then they would no longer be rabbits. We see this speciation event in modern ring species. For example Salamanders living around the rim of Death valley can all breed with their immediate neighbours, right the way around the rim but those living at the extremes cannot interbreed. Over the immense distance of the valley’s rim selection pressures and remoteness have led to the development of two different, non-interbreeding species of Salamander. This is a process of speciation observed in geographical terms rather than temporal.
No modern human population is unable to produce viable offspring with any other modern human population. Racists understand this very well. That’s why they’re so bothered about miscegenation (racial inter-breeding). What they don’t understand is speciation.
They don’t appear to understand basic humanity either but that’s another story.
I’ve lost count of the number of fash who’ve accused me of being a traitor to my race. Having first made this ridiculous allegation (as though whiteness was something deserving of loyalty in the first place) they then find themselves in the unenviable position of having to explain it. The most common method, equally hyperbolic but surprisingly popular, is to claim that it’s because I’m ashamed to be white. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I’m no more ashamed to be white than I’m proud to have dropped ear lobes or an ‘inny’ navel. I might just as well be ashamed of the length of my armpit hair or the crinkliness of my scrotum for all the sense it might make. They’re all just irrelevant accidents of birth – an artefact of my genetic heritage with no bearing upon my rights, my value, my character or my worth. The truth is that, far from feeling ashamed, I simply don’t care.
But shame is an interesting concept. It’s a self-judgement that tends to be total. This is most easily understood when we consider our awareness of wrong action.
If I do something reprehensible then I can regret the deed. I can use that regret to accept my folly and to motivate me to make amends. It’s not a judgement about who I am – it’s not my ‘all’, it’s my human fallibility that is at issue and once I’m aware of my mistake I can work to make amends. Regret, then can be a positive force for growth.
That’s different from shame. Shame isn’t limited to a particular deed or behaviour. Even if it begins that way it quickly grows to become all-encompassing. Ashamed people tend to judge everything about themselves through that single, shame-coloured lens and in their own opinion they will always come up wanting. There’s no incentive to make reparation from shame because there’s no way to overcome it.
Shame is destructive and toxic. Regret is instructive and often developmental – it helps us grow.
Now, let’s consider whiteness through those same lenses.
I’m not defined by my whiteness. I’m as much defined by my behaviour as by any of the countless physical characteristics I possess from skin colour to the shape of my jaw. Compared to the way I treat those around me the colour of my skin is considerably less significant. Also, since I didn’t do anything to cause my skin colour I have no business feeling either regret about it or pride in its ‘achievement’. Let’s face it – there’s nothing to be proud of in passively accepting your genetic make-up. It’s just who you are. The genes that formed you in your mother’s womb had absolutely nothing to do with your choices or actions in the first place.
The same is true for shame. Skin colour is not a defining characteristic any more than the thickness of my browridge or the prominence or otherwise of my ‘Adam’s apple’. So I can’t possibly feel shame about something so trivial in the greater scheme of who I am. Nor can I regret in any personal, blameworthy way a situation I didn’t cause. My skin colour has absolutely nothing to do with my worth or with my choices. It truly is an accident of birth.
So why do racists want to pretend I’m ashamed of my colour when the reality is obviously so different? I’m pretty sure that for many of them it’s just an excuse for themselves.
They know, deep down just how bigoted and irrational they are. They need to deflect attention away from their own shortcomings and on to the imagined faults of those around them. So they accuse me of a shame which they acknowledge is irrational whilst attempting to hang on to the pride that, somehow, they want to portray as reasonable.
But unfortunately for them, you can’t have it both ways. If there’s no place for shame, there’s no place for pride either.
Skin colour, like scrotum wrinkliness is irrelevant in both cases. And they know it!
I love the England I was born into. I’ve lived here all my life and lived and/or worked in every county in England and Scotland. I know my country and its people well.
And I’m sick and tired of people who want to destroy this great culture claiming that I’m the traitor.
Will Mark Jenkinson MP condemn the violent, racist far right the way he condemns the cross-political campaign against racism? Or does he, like Trump think of the far-right as ‘very fine people’?
This utter bollocks is doing the rounds on social media again. It’s just crying out for a response.
“Let me first say I am not racist I have many friends all over the world, all colours & religions but I think this is very true of some people. A thought provoking passage written by an Englishman about the current situation in HIS homeland – this is thought provoking and is equally relevant in any other country.”
It’s only thought-provoking if your thought is limited to superficial bollocks. That is very definitely the same in every country.
“I have been wondering about why whites are racists, and no other race is?”
There are racists in all societies. The Japanese are extremely racist toward Chinese, even employing people to research family trees to prevent Japanese people accidentally marrying into Chinese heritage families.
“There are British Africans, British Chinese, British Asian, British Turks, etc, etc, etc.”
And your point is?
“And then there are just British. You know what I mean, plain ole English people that were born here. You can include the Welsh, the Scottish and the people who live off our shores of Great Britain.”
Ah, You mean those descended from North European tribes like the Celts, the Britons (now the Welsh), the Picts, the Saxons, the Angles, the Jutes and, of course (although not strictly a tribe) the Vikings. Or maybe you’re thinking of earlier indigenous peoples like the Romans or even earlier like the Icaenae or the Votadini tribes. And even they, like the rest came from elsewhere. This land has no indigenous people. Everyone came from somewhere else at one time or another.
“You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you. So why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?”
I suggest you read about the “Broken windows” experiment or perhaps the history of white people massacring blacks such as those at Tulsa. That might widen your perspective a bit.
“You have the Muslim Council of Great Britain.”
Not unlike the Church of England’s ‘General Synod’.
“You have Black History Month.”
Indeed. Given that most black people in the West are descended from kidnapped and enslaved forefathers whose traditional cultures and identities were erased by their owners it’s an important part of ensuring people maintain a sense of identity. White Europeans don’t tend to have that problem. Almost all our history is taught from the perspective of white, European, Imperial hegemony.
“You have swimming pools for Asian women.”
What’s wrong with that? There are also private ‘gentlemans’ clubs’ for wealthy, male Europeans.
“You have Islamic banks for Muslims only. “
Because Islam’s rules on usury aren’t compatible with Western greed.
“You have year of the dragon day for Chinese people. “
Do you mean Chinese New Year? We also have New Years Day, Christmas, Easter, Duvali, Whitsun, Halloween & MayDay. What’s your point?
“If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.”
Yep.
“If we had White History Month, we’d be racists. “
Nope. We have 11 of those every year.
“If we had any organization for only whites to ‘advance’ OUR lives, we’d be racists.”
Yep
“A white woman could not be in the Miss Black Britain or Miss Asia, but any colour can be in the Miss UK.”
Yep. Because nationality is different from race. For an accurate comparison you’d need to consider ‘Miss Arian nation’s and that really would be racist… And Nazi.
“If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships, you know we’d be racists.”
College scholarships tend to go to disadvantaged or discriminated against groups. They target BAME as well as those in poverty, those from disability groups and those with disadvantages from all sorts of groups. You seem to be ignoring everything except skin colour. Why is that?
“There are over 200 openly proclaimed Muslim only schools in England. Yet if there were ‘White schools only’, that would be racist!”
There are loads of Christian faith schools too, and Jewish. For all I know there are Mormon and Sikh ones too. How did you switch from religion to race again, by the way? You’re beginning to look extremely racist, I’m afraid.
“In the Bradford riots and Toxteth riots, you believed that you were standing-up for your race and rights. If we stood-up for our race and rights, you would call us racists.”
What rights have white people lost to black people in UK? I mean actual rights, not just made up bollocks about flags and shit.
“You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you’re not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists. “
Anyone who thinks skin colour (an accidental product of DNA) is something to be proud of takes themselves far too seriously. Skin colour is meaningless. Anyone who thinks it’s a source of pride clearly has nothing actually worthy of pride to crow about instead.
“We fly our flag, we are racists. If we celebrate St George’s day we are racists.”
Bollocks. The union flag flies all over the place in UK. As does the St. George cross. That doesn’t make you racist. Your current Facebook post with it’s distortions and half-truths probably does, though.
“You can fly your flag and it’s called diversity. You celebrate your cultures and it’s called multiculturalism.”
What’s your point?
“You rob us, carjack us, and rape our daughters. But, when a white police officer arrests a black gang member or beats up an Asian drug dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.”
Anyone who bothers to read the newspapers (not far right comics like the Daily Fail or The Scum can see just how ridiculous you’re being now.
“I am proud…. but you call me a racist.”
If all you have to be proud of is race then yes, by definition, you’re racist.
“Why is it that only whites can be racists??”
We already covered this. Racists come in all colours.
“There is nothing improper about this e-mail.”
Except that it’s bollocks throughout.
“Let’s see which of you are proud enough to send it on. “
Why would anyone want to be associated with this ridiculous bollocks?
“I sadly don’t think many will. That’s why we have LOST most of OUR RIGHTS in this country. We won’t stand up for ourselves! “
Precisely which rights have you lost? What can’t you do because of race issues?
“BEING PROUD TO BE WHITE! It’s not a crime, YET… but its getting very close! “
Nope – stupidity at being proud of random biological happenstance isn’t a crime, but it is a very clear indication of some pretty insurmountable character flaws. That’s probably why you have few friends who don’t think exactly as you do.
“It has been estimated that ONLY 5% of those reaching this point in this message will pass it on!”
Made up stats attributed to invited sources are pretty obvious tactics. Is that really the best dog-whistle you’ve got?
The East End of London has long been a melting pot. My own experience of working within several East London boroughs has been both fascinating and positive. The chance to meet, work with, talk to and train colleagues from so many different cultural, religious, national and racial backgrounds has been a boon and an education. I’ve met and learned from so many people whose experiences and approach to life has only ever enhanced my own.
Just as it is today, the East End was home to a diverse, multicultural community and then. Just as now, outsiders with a political axe to grind saw the area as a target to stir up trouble.
On Sunday October 4th 1936 the British Union of Fascists, a group of Nazi sympathisers led by Oswald Moseley planned a march into the East End in opposition to the area’s Jewish residents. The BUF drew its members from all over the UK, expecting to overwhelm the locals with their numbers. Moseley had pulled out all the stops to get up to 5,000 fascists to descend upon London on that fateful afternoon. You can watch a newsreel from the day here.
Then, as now the locals were having none of it. Fascists, racists and religious hate-mongers have never been welcome in Britain and no matter how hard they try they never manage to outnumber the opposition when they descend upon a town, city or Borough.
The Battle of Cable Street was a major turning point in the fortunes of the paramilitarised, uniformed British Union of Fascists. This was the day that ordinary British people showed them exactly what they thought of racism, Nazism and Fascism and it wasn’t pretty.
Today’s uniformed (and uninformed) fascists might do well to take notice.
The impact that Cable Street had on the British Anti-Fascist movement is perhaps best illustrated in this song ‘The ghosts of Cable Street’, written by ‘The men they couldn’t hang’ in 1986 to celebrate the battle’s 50th anniversary. Like Cable Street’s legacy itself, the song has stood the test of time. Click here to play the video.
Left eye view 