Racism

Eduardo del Buey
Foto: Reuters
La Jornada Maya

Jueves 18 de junio, 2020

These past few weeks we have seen massive global demonstrations against racism – borne of the wanton murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis. It is refreshing to see millions around the world condemn this brutal action and what it represents – the institutionalization of hatred and racism in our most powerful instruments of governance.

People are not born racists or haters. These things are learnt. The teachers can be their parents, their friends, their governors, their teachers, or the environment itself. Racism is fear of the “other”. The only way a weak person can be empowered is to believe that they are better than others. Others can come in the form of race, religion, nationality, economic or social class, or ethnicity.

Despite protestations to the contrary, racism along these lines exists in every country of the world. So does systemic racism.

We are now seeing the ire of the world unleashed on the United States. But Latin America and Canada have their problems with racism against their own indigenous and black populations. Europe has its own racism against Muslims, Africans, Roma, and others. The Middle East suffers from Sunni vs Shiite, Islam vs. Christianity, and Muslim vs. Jew.

Many governments support hatred as functions of domestic and foreign policy. In a recent report in [i]Deutsche Welt[/i], Russia was named as a major source of training and support for European extreme right-wing political parties and hate groups. This speaks to Russia’s desire to weaken the West and its brand of democratic liberalism and encourage the expansion of autocratic and populist nationalism.

China is cracking down on its Uyghur minority with over a million reportedly in concentration camps. So, in the face of global demonstrations, the question becomes: can they be effective and produce change?

They can and have raised the level of consciousness around the world. However, change cannot be done in all countries simultaneously since hatred is an instrument of foreign and domestic policy for many governments.

Rather, we must begin in our own liberal democracies through education. From primary school onwards, Euro-centred social studies must be replaced by curricula that ensure an understanding of all peoples and focus on their contributions. Religious studies should focus on creating an understanding of all religions and demonstrating how they all contribute to our moral and ethical lives.

Black, Muslim, gender, and indigenous studies must also be incorporated into the general curriculum at all levels.

Police must be retrained from the ground up. Selection standards must be raised, misconduct be criminally prosecuted, and racial and ethnic balance struck to reflect demographics.

Political leaders must be taken to task when they engage in the politics of division or hatred.

People are not born racist; they are made racist – at home, at school, or in the political arena.

This will continue until the educational system convinces us that the “other” does not pose any danger but, rather, enriches our lives. When minorities feel accepted so that they no longer define themselves as “others” or confine themselves to ghettos or banlieues.

Can each of us make a difference? Can we become a noise for change despite our relatively small size?

A meme posted recently by my niece said if you don’t think you are big enough to make a difference, try sleeping in a room with a mosquito. We can all be mosquitos, we can all make a difference. Are we making a start?

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Edición: Ana Ordaz