Race & prejudice in the Americas
Racism and ethnic prejudice is best battled when humanity recognizes that racism and prejudice are inherent in flawed human personality.
OK. Just after Barack Obama was elected first coloured president of the USA in 2008, this writer was friends with a lady- a Belonger- living in the territory, married to a Virgin Islander from a prominent family, with a socially popular son, who was also a friend.
However, after that historic vote, and the celebrations that followed in the Virgin Islands and the wider Caribbean, at the election of a coloured US President, the lady appeared to have become very bitter for some inexplicable reason.
The woman- shortly after that 2008 Presidential Election- began unfriending all the Barack Obama fans on a new social media platform called Facebook, who were on her friends list.
Then when this Old Boy – after he too was unfriended - met her in Road Town and asked her the reason, she gave some implausible assertion of her weariness of all the hype around a Barack Obama personality cult.
It was clear her reasons ran deeper, and to this day the lady has discarded the many friends she once had. Previously the woman was one of those animated and lively people it was always a pleasure to meet.
Now, this Old Boy has always believed that the best way to promote racial and ethnic harmony in any society is through social engagement with the dominant culture. The refusal by any ethnic or racial group to integrate with the dominant culture- which requires effort-will never lead to peace and harmony.
There is also the equal need for greater effort by the dominant culture to engage with migrant and minority cultures within a society.
And racial prejudice is natural. We all feel ‘’more comfortable’’ with our own. However, that is also the basis for conflict. Racism is paradox. One should feel comfortable in one’s skin. However, this comfort can easily become discomfort with a different race.
And it is not a stretch to state that it is easy for the dominant culture to treat other cultures with dislike and impunity. And that is why it is imperative we step outside our racial and ethnic comfort zones and engage with others of a different colour and culture as the basis for good race relations.
In that endeavour most have failed; that is why there is racial and ethnic unease everywhere, much as that may be denied.
The USA, for example, has gone back the 1960s in terms of its race relations. Donald Trump is a divisive figure who is adept at using the dog whistle to stir up racism and white supremacy as an election tool.
However, the man has created a society where race hate is the norm. The murder of black youth and young men – even women- by white racist police has become a regular feature of US society. And the recent and gruesome murder of a young black man in May 2020 which as a result of digital technology was very vividly available for anyone with access to digital media, horrified millions of people everywhere.
What was head-scratching was the clear readiness of the crowd surrounding the scene of the murder, to allow this very public lynching of a young black man. This was a brother, father, and son. It was further relayed that the murderer was a strong supporter of Donald Trump and was photographed smiling delightfully at a Trump Make America Great Again – MAGA- rally.
The USA has become increasingly segregated and racist since the election of Donald Trump.
However, there is also a growing awareness that black America is going to have to become a lot more aggressive in its own self-defense if the racist murders continue.
There is talk of a black militia with armed black vigilantes patrolling black communities. That is clearly not the way to go. However, when young black men are being gunned down with impunity by racists, the anger that results is hard to eradicate.
The answer to stopping the ignorance and absurdity of racism is race and cultural engagement, leading to better integration into the dominant social and culture set.
Within borders, people of different races must come together and engage with each other in social, economic, and political engagement.
When that does not happen, the tendency of human nature to withdraw into a racial and ethnic comfort zone is all too easy.
The result is racial and ethnic separation that leads to misunderstanding, ignorance, and ultimately violence and conflict.
When people of different races, ethnicities, and cultures, make every effort to engage with one another and work together for a better society, the result is peace and love, not war and hate.
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12 Responses to “Race & prejudice in the Americas”
Unfortunatley Igwe’s left wing and racist views are the cause of significant problems in the Territory - I would not want to be his friend on Facebook!!!
Subsequent to slavery being abolished, Jim Crow laws busted on the scene. Jim Crow laws, state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in Southern United States. The laws were put on the books in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by White Democratic-dominated( the tables have turned. Now it is most White Republican-dominated state legislatures)legislatures. Jim Crow laws mandated racial segregation in all public facilities, public schools, public places, public transportation, segregation of restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains. They were upheld by the US Supreme Court in 1896 with its infamous Plessy vs. Ferguson, ie separate but equal ruling. In 1954, the US Supreme Court declared segregation of public schools unconstitutional, ie, Brown v. Board of Education. Legal segregation remained until the Civil Right Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Acts of 1965.
Moreover, neither Board v. Education, Civil Right Act nor Voting Rights Act brought significant relief to Blacks in the US. Racial discrimination and segregation are still rampant in the US. Remember the Trump rally chant, “send them back.” The chant reference the “Swad”, ie, 3 vocal Black and 1 Muslim Congress women( 3 of whom were born in the US; other, naturalized US citizen).
If I were to digress for a minute, like in the UK, free, exploited Slave labour built the US economy. Like the UK, the only people in the US that didn’t benefit from Slavery were Slaves and their descendants. We know of the UK borrowing £15M to compensate some 3,000 Slave-owning families in the West Indies, including the family of a recent UK prime minister. Reparation now for the descendants of US and UK Slaves.
Moreover, the BVI has no clean hands in this, though it may have learnt and adopted its bad habits from the UK. Losing yhrir sense of pride in their heritage, VI residents tried to create the image of others in themselves, ie, straighten hair, bleached skin......etc. That aside the BVI has had its own history of social distinctions among residents. Here is the run down in descending order: Whites, Down Street (light skin, curly hair), Up Street (dark skin), Country (anything outside of Town was country), Larger Outlying Islanders (Anegada, VG, JVD), Southern Cays (Key People) and Island People(the term is not related to size but rather geographic location, ie, down island; VI is an island). And within each grouping, there are sub-groupings. The BVI is not the only regional country with social distinctions, eg, in Santo Domingo during the harvesting of sugar cane in the 1930s, Anegadians were given easier jobs and than people from the country who were assigned in the field.
The lunching of George Floyd is nothing new. If it were not for the video tape, his tragic death would have been covered up, white washed. How many more George Floyds are there? The US overall does not think that Black lives matter. All lives should matter.
@hottie... Really now. You must be out of your darn mind.