Is race still an issue in the 21st century? The answer will depend upon who you are asking. To a coloured man yes race is still an issue. A liberal white man might say it’s a limited problem and point to the progress of coloured people. A white supremacist, on the other hand, will simply say it’s how society is and people are different. Racism is when one person or group considers itself superior to another person or group of people with different racial or ethnic characteristics. Typically a racist person will profile another person of a different race as inferior because of a belief that each race has characteristics that make it inferior or superior as the case may be.
Through the centuries racism has existed in each society in varying degrees and in medieval times social or ethnic groups who were victorious in war generally enslaved the vanquished. This sense of superiority did not come with the moral compulsion of what was right or wrong, it was the way the world was. The rise of naval power amongst European nations and the growing demand from development in Europe created a process of colonisation of large parts of Asia and Africa in the 17th century. The discovery of the New World, America, increased the need for labor and the slave trade boomed.
Racism today is seen largely in the context of the enormous impact of slavery through the past 250 years and in a sense exhibited as white racism against black people. Racism is much wider than that and covers all ethnic and racial groups. When racism is over layered with class distinctions or religious prejudice the cocktail of phobias it conjures up are more disturbing. Africans and Asians are equally capable of racism and prejudices against others and even towards sub ethnic groups within their own societies.
Perceptions towards racism vary from country to country only in so far as how history has shaped their racial experience. Most British people will state that they never subjected people to slavery as it was in the United States of America. However, Britain conducted its slavery in the areas it colonised and never really imported slaves into its own heartland. In contrast the development of American economy from agriculture to industry was on the back of slaves brought in from Africa. This shaped the racial experience of the two countries very differently.
Since slavery, in the US, was structurally embedded into the economic and social system after emancipation much of the struggle for equality in that country has been to tear down these structures. While emancipation ended slavery it did not end racial discrimination. Therefore much of the Afro American struggle has been for civil rights, addressing systemic racism within the structure of US society. This systemic racism is still the subject of impassioned debate progress towards equality for African Americans in the US and has been a slow laborious process.
In Britain the involvement of its merchants in the propagation of the slave trade goes back to 1554 when notorious mariners like Jack Hawkins were financed to take slaves from Africa to modern day Colombia and the West Indies. As the British Empire grew slavery within the empire was common but no sale of slaves on British soil have been recorded. When slave trade was abolished in 1806 it took an other fifty years before white British merchants stopped their involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. After 1945 as the British Empire rolled back and granted independence to former colonies there was a need for labour within Britain for menial jobs and legislative measures to encourage immigration were introduced.
Thus in Britain racism was not supported by the equivalent of the US Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation. British immigration occurred from a vast swath of former colonies from the West Indian colonies to Asia and posed issues of integration the racism, which remain this day. The idea of white superiority remained and remains secluded to few in society and very subtle and subdued.
In the past decade and particularly the last five years race has become a more compulsive issue in US politics. Without a doubt former President Trump has contributed to a deterioration in race relations and in a sense empowered the white supremacist groups who previously was a marginalised minority in the US. The polarisation has brought to the front not only hate crimes but also a need to address the systemic racism within US society. Movements like Black Lives Matter have gained prominence in the wake of recent police killings of young black citizens and accompanied with civil unrest and protests.
This polarisation has resulted in a heightened sensitivity to race issues and can partially explain why Americans seem to empathise with Meghan Markle’s allegations of racism against her by the British Royal family. This sensitivity to race prompts people to use the race card, as she did in claiming her son was denied a royal title due to him being from a mixed marriage, and that comments about his colour were made, according her many times, her husband saying only once. When privileged people like Meghan Markle play the race card they discredit the genuine fight for equality and justice by people who are truly discriminated.
While we strive to be politically correct we must recognise not only the context in which something is said but who says it and with what intent. Sometimes what are seemingly racist remarks are made through ignorance; like someone asking me where did I learn to speak English. Yet it’s not so much about what is said but how one is treated as a minority. Discrimination and racism is everywhere, the caste system in India, the treatment of minorities in Myanmar, views about minorities in Pakistan, and the list is endless.
On the positive side there is a growing awareness for changing things and to end discrimination based on colour, sex or religious views. More people recognise that effective change needs to be made which cannot be cosmetic but effective. Seeing sportsmen taking the knee to support ending racism is symbolically comforting and yet begs the question would these sportsmen take the knee to raise awareness for the millions of children affected by war?
Without a doubt racism is terrible and any form of discrimination is worthy to be condemned. We need empathy towards the under privileged and people targeted by racism and hate, irrespective of their colour, ethnic background or their religion or gender. The movement to achieve this cannot be distracted by people playing the race card or distracting one from the universality of problem of this discrimination. This is discrimination not only of black people but of Asians, untouchables in India, Royhinga in Myanmar, Christians in Pakistan, the Hazara in Afghanistan, the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey, the Native Americans in North America and the list goes on.
We stand, as the human race, at a unique crossroad where after fifty odd years of slow progress to eradicate racism and discrimination, we now have push back from hate and anger. A new understanding, a deeper understanding, and a more meaningful empathy is needed to guide us towards a more integrated and tolerant society. Failure to achieve this will only mean that the human race will descend further into strife and hate the results of which are unimaginable.
