The business of race

Of recent Kanye West has been talking out of his ass and stirring up a lot of controversy with threatening and offensive pronouncements about Jews. A lot of his behaviour and what he has been saying has strong hints of clinical paranoia. People have turned on him in droves and he has not made much of an effort to make amends or row back his comments. Multiple businesses and organisations have ended relationships with him in response to the public outcry. He is clearly being hit in the pocket by the reactions to his unconscionable utterances but his reputation is taking an even bigger battering. It remains to be seen if there is any way back for him from casting out that he is currently going through. 

Kanye has been accused of stirring up anti-semitism and giving license to fascists and nazis to show off their bigotry. This might be a bit of a reach because fascists have never needed any encouragement to abuse or attack Jews. While fascists might wholeheartedly agree with Kanye it would appear he is actually getting more obvious and vocal support from Republicans. Republicans have literally hoisted Kanye on their shoulders and showed him around as their gladiator in their war against “wokeness”. While the mainstream is working overtime to cancel Kanye the Republicans are promoting him for all they’re worth. 

Kanye West is currently topping the unpopularity charts but he has an extensive back catalogue of bigoted declarations dismissing the suffering of Black people and criticising the response to historic abuses, and icons in the civil rights struggle. He also routinely mistreats and verbally abuses Black people and women he comes across. It is interesting that even when he was at his most obnoxious he did not receive the wholesale disapproval he is currently experiencing. In fact, businesses were falling over themselves to throw money at him for his questionable creative endeavours. Whether you call him a maverick or a moron businesses had no problem making money off him while Black people and women were the targets of his unsavoury sayings. 

It is only too right that Kanye West is facing censure for his anti-semitism. His behaviour thoughtless and feeds into harmful stereotypes of Jews. However, it is problematic that society in general is a lot more tolerant of prejudice when it is directed at other minorities. We have seen mainstream right wing personalities and politicians try to downplay the murder of George Floyd and the GOP in America have launched an all out onslaught on Critical Race Theory. A lot of the right wing outrage is a concerted effort to deny the reality of prejudice and discrimination suffered by Black people in America. A lot more could be done to address racial inequality and tensions but they would rather put all that effort into covering it up. 

The U.K.’s prime minister’s office recently released a statement saying that Rishi Sunak; the prime minister, does not consider the U.K. a racist country. While it is true that not all people are racist certain groups definitely are and the institutions still show evidence of systemic racism. Health inequalities, disproportionate involvement in criminal justice system, the ‘Windrush Scandal’, and the current animosity towards Critical Race Theory are strong indications of that. These are permitted to persist because the environment we’re in allows it. There is such a strong undercurrent of prejudice towards Black people that many cases of subtle or overt racism towards Black people barely cause a ripple. The business community has figured out that they are better off covering up or just ignoring the issue. Maybe this was what Kanye was hoping for when he decided to give vent to his inner voice. 

The View from the Top

© Guardian 

The U.K. government’s commission on race equality produced a report that concluded that institutional racism was no longer a thing in Britain, and Britain is an exemplar nation for race equality and integration.  It should probably be enough to delve into the membership of the commission to roundly discredit its findings and its situational blindness. However, this is not the season for picking low lying fruit. Let’s take a good look at the world according to this group of astute social historians. 

The report asserts that people from minority ethnic groups have an equal chance of success as long as they work hard. Note that it says equal rather than greater chance. This clearly takes no account of generational wealth. It does however, play up to the racist trope that as long as they keep their heads down and do as they are told people of colour will do just fine. The nature of the British honours system serves to further to entrench inequality and exclusion amongst minorities. Titles bestow status and access on holders and these are mostly passed on to cronies and cohorts of the majority White political establishment.

Unfortunately, the reverie about the sweet life minorities are living in the U.K. is broken by studies showing that Black youths are three times as likely to be unemployed than their White compatriots, and the grieving mother of a lost Black boy whose mother has complained that her initial reports of him being missing were not taken seriously by the police before he was found dead. The Windrush scandal still blights the lives of Black Britons.

There are some simple truths that have to be faced no matter what perspective one chooses to look at institutional racism from. In 2021 people of colour are still facing discrimination and violence at the hands of institutions and individuals. The legacy of racism in this country has generational reverberations through Black communities. It has created communities steeped in poverty and deprivation. A consequence of this has been that in some communities of colour people have internalised the racism they have endured. Some people do not see themselves as being able to succeed, or even survive, just by following the rules. So we have low achievement in education, and often a derisory attitude towards regular employment.

Great Britain has not solved the problem that is racism; and it really doesn't have cause to pat itself on the back. There is still a lot to be done, and a lot of people suffering on the margins of society. There is a place for people of colour in the UK and they have made, and continue to make, tremendous contributions to their communities and society as a whole. However, if your knee is on my neck it would be impossible for you to see or recognise my pain and suffering.

Society versus Black People

© Emanu

At what point would a police officer stopping a Black person not feel threatened? We know it isn’t when the Black person is unarmed. Certainly not when putting hands up and complying with policing orders. Not when the Black person is handcuffed and pinned to the ground. Not when the Black person is running away. Not even when it’s an unthreatening Black senior military officer in uniform. Not when a Black person is in their own home and reacting to an unauthorised entry by a police officer. There is clearly a problem with policing in America.  It’s not just the case of a few bad apples. The police approach policing Black people with the mindset of a farmer stalking a predatory animal on farmlands.

For those saying Daunte Wright wouldn’t have been shot if he wasn’t resisting arrest; even if that had saved him what about the next Black person killed while not resisting arrest? There is always another excuse or reason to use violence rather than de-escalate incidents involving Black people. The fact that the police are killing unarmed suspects is a sign this is about a lot more than just the high incidence of crime in Black neighbourhoods or armed criminals. There is a deeper issue here and it reflects something that is instilled, or at the very least reinforced during police training and induction. It is literally the standard response to a dispatch call involving Black people for the police to violently engage. 

The fact that the police believe that in all cases of deaths from an interaction with a Black person they are unlikely to be convicted, if ever charged has encouraged a ‘shoot first’ mentality. It almost doesn’t matter what the circumstances are there is almost always an assumption of justified killing. And in almost all cases this is backed up by the justice system. So now we have a situation where not only is police behaviour inherently illegal; there is almost no way of holding it to account through the justice system. In too many cases the District Attorney chooses not to prosecute. And where the cases go to court the jury rarely comes forth with a guilty verdict. 

It must be said that this a deeper reflection of the society we live in. One where White people still cross the road or clutch their valuables at the sight of a Black person. Depictions of Black people in the media still echo the stereotype of drug crazed criminal gangbanger from way back. It is no surprise that the percentage of Black people in prison far exceeds that of White people. It says something about why a higher proportion of Black people are subject to compulsory mental health orders. It is undeniable that health inequalities and deprivation are higher in Black neighbourhoods. And not due to a lack hard working individuals. 

It cannot be denied that we live in times where the police see Black people as dangerous threats, the justice system sees us as deserving of punishment, and the White majority see us as ill intentioned intruders. In the workplace employers do not want to promote career advancement for Black people.  In education Black students are routinely told to limit their aspirations. In business Black proprietors often find it difficult to break into mainstream markets. But strangely enough, society is content to see us excelling at singing and dancing; and running and jumping. So I guess things can’t be that bad.

With things being the way they are people will have to get used to Black people marching and agitating to make things better and get a fair shake. As long as we are here, and there have been no lack of effort put towards getting rid of us; there has to be a place for us. And we deserve the opportunity to make the place ours. We want to save the planet and protect endangered species but we also want to see Black Lives Matter.

 

20 F***king 20!

This has been a year to look back on and tremble. Globally, locally and personally it has been a real challenge. I think there have been more difficult years but rarely has a perfect storm eased its way in so unheralded and proceeded to mercilessly devastate all before it. People have faced all kinds of trials, and regrettably some have had to pay the ultimate price. 

This is the year that the rest of the world finally found out how exclusion and isolation feel for Black people. This year the police’s brutal suppression of Black citizens was met with a focused and purposeful wall of Black resistance. This has been the year that Black people finally realised the real strength of street knowledge. Black people came to the realisation that facing up to systemic discrimination cannot be successfully countered just by marches or any means necessary. Black people are now organising to question the workings of the system through political activism and engagement. They are working on changing the narrative on how law enforcement and policing needs to start meeting the demands of future community safety requirements. The year Nigerians decided that being policed by force had to stop. The year we painfully said rest in power to the Black Panther; Chadwick Boseman. My heart is still heavy from the loss of the inimitable Bill Withers, resting comfortably in Grandma's Hands.

This is the year that a global pandemic has sneaked upon us and pretty much brought life as we know it to a standstill. Thanks to a chronic lack of awareness on the part of governments across the world opportunities were missed to contain covid-19 in 2019. The virus marched into 2020 and did what Napoleon and Hitler failed to do; literally conquered the world. This is the year in which the maxim, “better to be lucky than good” was turned on its head. Covid-19 has absolutely no regard for luck and those people who neglected to be good have come a cropper in no uncertain terms. This is the year that the British government went down an extremely wrong headed path of trying to engineer herd immunity in its populace. The UK has subsequently recorded over 80,000 excess deaths. It is the year that the lives of millions of Americans were placed in the hands of Jared Kushner resulting in over 300,000 deaths from covid-19 in America. 

We all would like to believe that we are part of huge human family but this year the pandemic has shown us that when the chips are down people feel very little responsibility for the health and wellbeing of their neighbours or fellow citizens. There have been multiple instances of people profiteering, hoarding essential items and physically fighting to get their hands on what they might have considered to rapidly diminishing desired commodities. When simple safety measures could possibly save lives some people have been protesting against face coverings, lockdowns and social distancing. 

This is the year when the expression “oven ready” had its poorly regarded reputation further sullied by the UK government’s increasingly fraught efforts to get the better of the EU in Brexit trade negotiations. The year when many Brexiteers started to realise that being a union of one can be very paralysing. Achieving Brexit is starting to feel somewhat like climbing to the top of Mount Everest and then having to be stretchered down to the base thanks to summit sickness. So this is the year that the United Kingdom quit the European Union to follow its dream of becoming a 1950s noir lone wolf. 

This is year that democracy was put on red alert. It is no longer the strong rock everyone assumed it to be. Extreme right wing nationalism has stepped onto centre stage and will no longer stay hidden behind conservatism. A case is being made for autocracy and fascism and it is gaining mainstream followers. All of a sudden pushing back against globalism and  multilateralism has become a rallying cry for a virulent wave of populism. Democracy has been shown to be flawed and the democrats are floundering.

With all that has happened this year it is worth pointing out that this year couldn’t stop itself ending. Now whether all the mess ends with this year will be down to everyone all over the world. There is no doubt going to be some tough times ahead but they don’t have to be as fatal as they have been this year. I don't think I have any resolutions for the new year but I do have one resolve; not to worry about the future and just let the future worry about contending with me. 

Troublingly Different

We can be of different gender, race, sexuality, ethnicity, faith, ideology, ability and yet still find things to unite us. We all want love, safety, security, health, shelter, and the best for those we care about. We have no right to deprive anyone of any of these things; and no one should feel entitled to deprive us of it. Unfortunately, individual mindsets and society itself are being conditioned to believe inequality is the just dessert of the underclass.

There are so many contradictions in modern day American society; and too few Americans are doing enough to confront them. America wants to be strong but it can’t abide the idea of free or universal healthcare. America wants to be wealthy but it continues to sow the seeds of disunity and conflict across its communities. America wants to be safe but it holds fast to the idea that unfettered access to guns is at the heart of being American.

Law enforcement in America claims that its many killings and shootings of Black people is in response to the threat they pose, and are perceived to pose to law enforcement officers. However, the one thing that would drastically reduce that threat would be gun control. There is no doubt that a reduction of personal gun ownership would significantly reduce the cases of law enforcement officers being confronted by armed assailants. Unfortunately, history has shown that this would probably not equivalently result in a reduction of police brutality on Black people. The incidence of unarmed Black people being violently confronted or killed by the police speaks for itself.

Since after World War 2 when people from Africa and the Caribbean were ushered into Britain to help with the rebuilding of the shattered nation; they have been confronted with being told to go back to where they came from. This is still a common occurrence across the United Kingdom. There is a core of British people who just hate the presence of foreigners. They just won’t ever be British enough for them. There is another section of society that sees diversity as a threat. They continue to stereotype people of colour even when the objects of their vitriol were born in the UK and are actually British citizens.

Prejudice and discrimination are learned traits. As much as individuals and groups are the perpetrators of the rough and harsh justice being dealt out to minorities; it is society and its institutions that have normalised and reinforced the oppression that minorities have had to endure and live with. There has to be some recognition that there will be no real change in people until social institutions themselves are reconditioned. Any calls to defund the police, reform education, restructure healthcare, refocus the justice system, or address institutional racism are not about shutting down the institutions. Rather it’s about redirecting policy and retraining organisations to better meet the needs of a changing society. Improvements are needed and it will take a lot of work to make them happen. However, everyone will need to trouble themselves to make the difference that is needed for things to get better for all people. I believe this is what the late John Lewis, the American civil rights pioneer called; making “good trouble”.

Time to Push Back

Prejudice and discrimination are pernicious. It doesn’t matter who is doing it, or where it’s happening. Whether it’s the UK, USA, Rwanda, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Israel, China, Brazil, Australia or Canada. The damage that centuries of oppression has done to people of colour is generational. What that means is that when things come to a boil a bloody battle is bound to ensue. The establishment is going to fight to maintain the status quo and Black people will need to fight back just as hard for change. The likelihood of these clashes causing chaos and becoming violent is high. Nobody is trying to tear down their own neighbourhoods but change is a unstoppable force and prejudice and privilege want to be an immovable object. And therefore a cataclysmic reaction must result.

The fact that there has been violence at protests has not subverted or distracted from the mission to tackle and push back on systemic racism and brutality by the establishment. There is a clear imperative to highlight oppression and discrimination while calling for action to end it and mitigate its impact. As much as people need to be safe during protest the time to be passive is past.

These protests are not about taking over. They are about taking a seat at the table. A seat that has long been denied us. Too many people who have been let in have failed to represent the interests of minorities robustly. People have compromised and conceded ground to institutional discrimination. Being a minority means that democratic processes too often fail to provide a platform to combat discrimination and inequality.

We are not safe in our homes. We are not safe on the streets. We are not safe at work. We are no longer prepared to silently object while we are being viciously and systematically oppressed and brutalised.

There are inequalities for us to rise up against and fight to overcome. We want justice but we also have needs.

• We want law enforcement to ban all procedures that allow the use of violence against unarmed and unresisting Black peoples.
• We want all deaths in police custody or by police actions to be be reported and investigated independently. 
• We want to be able to live and work in any community without being stigmatised and harassed. 
• We want the ability to bring diversity into a workplace to be recognised as a special skill and competence. 
• We want public and corporate policies to be subject to equality impact assessments. 
• We want disadvantaged minorities to have access to state funded education and primary healthcare. That is why we vote. If other people don’t want it then that’s their problem. 
• We want the establishment and organisations to stop agreeing that Black Lives Matter, and start proving it. 

We don’t want to have to run or hide. We just want to live and thrive.