A POLEMIC
One noticeable thing about this year and the open debate about the suffering of black people, has been the increased irritation of some white-folk.
Mainly because they can’t see why all the attention should be placed on people who, to them, have have only just arrived. Especially if they have similar basic needs too. A decent life and liberation from their social-economic prisons.
They have heard the same thing from black people since they started coming to this country (in recent memory), and despite loads of money and laws and quangos and newsreaders, and childrens television presenters and MPs and so on, ‘the blacks’ are still banging on about it. But the white folk don’t really see that for black folk in some ways little has changed underneath the cosmetic face of race relations.
With immigration getting ‘out of control’ and governments creating more asylum seekers, fearful statistics, and the terrorist threat. Where are they to turn? And they are many who would jump to answer that call. So the last thing they really want to hear is how their ancestors were so evil. Especially as they themselves, have been so accommodating of late!
So how this year has been? It could be said that there has been much genuine interest from white Bristol to get to know more about their history. There are of course those who still subscribe to racial hierarchy, and think that blacks should be in bondage today.
Most white folk in England would like to think themselves as fair-minded and just. They would of course say ‘ There’s good and bad in everybody’, and such wisdoms. They might disagree with apologising for slavery and changing street names, but still agree with equal pay and equal justice for all. Some might not see how the African is denigrated in the European cultural and economic consciousness.
Since this year has only scratched the surface with these discussions, it may be that there is more to be had. There are lots of white children not getting anything out of their education, addicted to drugs, stuck in poor housing, and suffering just like black folk, some of them resent the charge that they all benefited from slavery. And it’s likely, they didn’t.
Marvin Rees argued in a BBC Inside Out that Bristol was ‘racially fractured’. But the fracture is not understood by all. He contunues to argue that race has to be discussed openly and frankly in safe spaces, so that it is better understood. And easier to live with.
Children growing up in Bristol schools think it’s racist to use the terms ‘Black’ and ‘White’. They don’t understand why, but have been taught that it’s charged with bad stuff, fearfulness and confusion.
One speaker at the Malcolm X centre that night(12 Nov 07) told of how her white friends when walking though areas with black people in, was unsure ‘what to call them’. I have sympathy. It’s hard to keep up with the speak. And one may be African, Caribbean, Somali, Nigerian, Bengali, and a whole host of things, but essentially in England, you are non-white. Though we are not ‘coloured’ anymore. However we are still subject to this thing called : Racism.
It takes so many forms. Though for many white people today, with race such a senstive and hot issue, and one which they feel so confused about, it’s hard to negotiate all this ’stuff’. They think it’s all gone away. They don’t see riots on streets any more. And there’s all those black people on the telly. But many of them did not notice it go underground.
Of course white-folk, black-folk cannot be described in homogeneous clumps. Since people, regardless of colour, occupy various places on the streams of thought and belief. But this block mentality is something has characterised many of the discussions that have been had so far. As Marvin states, Black and White have proven inaccurate and imprecise definitions. This year has shown that the division is not so ‘black’ and ‘white’, but Rich and Poor.
Still, African people, and those in its diaspora have a very particular story around this slave trade and its legacy. They have looked at themselves through British eyes as being at the bottom of the racial hierachy, having just graduated to human status. So this won’t go away so easily. It’s been a few centuries in coming. And the call is now for Africans to look at themselves through African eyes.
Cultural Representation is the third of three priorities identified by the Abolition 200 report. Great, as long as it is not just African drumming. (Though it would be nice to have a bit of Kora!) There’s a whole range of Diaspora stories to tell in a whole range of media.
As we get through these first big broad triangular strokes of acknowledging, explaining, and understanding the African-European story, there are many smaller stories that will emerge to demonstate the complexities and contradictions of our human story.
So as the discussions continue, (and we’ll see what Action follows), it remains to be seen what value and understanding we place on race. Is it still a valid concept?
