The Racism that Surrounds Us

 

The world is seeing once again the upsurge of a vicious “virus” that has spread to every corner of the world. This time, the “virus” is that of social, cultural, economic, political, institutional, legal and religious discrimination against people of different skin color, social status and historical origins. Racism is everywhere and people around the world are on the streets once again protesting against this insidious discrimination following the latest documented murder of George Floyd by four United States police and systematic police brutality.

 

His cruel death is one of many in recent years where police and killers have seldom been held accountable. Three of the officers involved in the murder of George Floyd are walking free. A culture of invincibility and impunity pervades some police forces that are predominantly composed of white officers. This is common in many countries where the police and military are above the law and abuse authority and kill citizens as they please. It makes a sham of democracy and the judiciary.

   

People of color in Europe are also discriminated against by racist people who wrongly believe that these “other” humans are inferior to them and who declare themselves to be superior human beings, in a more exalted, dominating status with a desire to trample on others. These racist attitudes that wrongly brand others as having criminal minds have led to the greatest crime against humanity- genocide. The Holocaust, the Rwandan massacres, the Armenian genocide and many more in history happened because of racists attitudes with other causes.

 

Migrants and refugees seeking shelter from the Syrian massacres and other social evils meet a wall of racial indifference fueled by systematic racism in some European countries and the present administration of the United States. What the white-skinned racist person or government officials and racist police lack most of all is empathy, compassion and respect for other human beings. The racists are supremely arrogant, dominating, oppressive and selfish. They are greatly diminished as persons and have excluded themselves from the community of the good and caring people of the world who love their neighbors.   

   

The roots of racism run deep in history but in modern times ideologies like Nazism and forms of nationalism gave rise to it in Europe and growing racist attitudes are present in European countries today and the United States. Under President Trump, “Make America Great Again” means “Make America White Again.” Racism is not only about skin colour but it is also about power, control, exclusion and domination. However the slogan “White is Might and Right” and promoting white people as celebrities and movie stars reinforces racism. The higher social status demanded by some white people can create self-loathing, lack of self-esteem and an inferiority complex among people of color. Some are persuaded to buy skin bleaching and whitening creams to try and lighten the color of their skin for greater acceptability. The racists have successfully planted their insidious racist ideology and unthinking people have fallen for it. Commercial corporations manufacture the racist creams and profit greatly without shame.

 

More than 13 million Africans - men, women and children - were captured, enslaved and transported, chained in horrendous ships, it went on for 400 years in atrocious conditions. An estimated 1.2 million died at sea. Many were thrown overboard in a storm. The movie Amistad released in 1997 tells it well. They were auctioned as slave labor for the cotton and sugar cane fields, coffee and tobacco plantations, gold and silver mining and then for the industries of the new capitalist America in the making. Besides the Spanish and Portuguese, the British, French, Dutch, Belgian and Danish empire builders all participated in the slave trade.

 

Racism and outright hatred and human rights violations were part of everyday life for the slaves. Today after 400 years of oppression and suffering and no restitution, naturally, a just anger, hunger for justice and equality is in their genes. African-Americans are still considered by many Americans as repulsive and racially inferior. In the past, many were murdered and lynched by mobs on false charges. Recently, a woman called police in Central Park to falsely accuse a black passerby of assaulting her because he asked her to put her dog on a leash. She went berserk. He videotaped it. It went viral and she was fired from her job for her lies and a racist attitude. Had police come, he could have been killed, too, like George Floyd. The civil rights movement in the 1960s brought in new anti-discrimination laws but they did not change ingrained racist attitudes against black people. They continued to be discriminated against and many were killed by police.

  

The ruling elite billionaire capitalists of America are unaware that American wealth and prosperity began with the sweat and blood of the black slaves from Africa. Their racist beliefs in white superiority cannot fully accept that the US Constitution grants all citizens equal rights. No matter how gifted and educated, many of these citizens are excluded from a life of dignity. The election and re-election of Barack Obama as president of the United States angered many racists. Their greatest nightmare was having a highly educated African-American and his intelligent lawyer wife, a descendent of slaves, occupy the White House for eight years.

 

The White Supremists believe that his (or her) white skin colour confers on him (or her) superiority over the African-Americans or persons of color. The racists are convinced that the descendants of the black slaves must be continually branded inferior and to be denied an equal respectful place in society. Perhaps racist Americans suffer historical guilt for their cruel legacy of slavery. Every harsh, unjust police act of discrimination, violence or killing that spreads on social media is remembered by the black community and builds to a boiling point. This is the root of the anger seen today: injustice, lack of respect, dignity and equality. It is seen and heard in the shouts for justice from the thousands of black and non-racist white protesters on the streets in 57 cities across the USA.

 

The violence and chaos caused by the extreme left and right factions is criminal and to be abhorred but it is the price that America pays for its historical racism, slavery and sins of oppression. When there is true repentance, penance and restitution - true equality and justice for all- across racist America, only then will there be reconciliation and peace.

 

Who Doesn’t Want Peace and Reconciliation?

 

Who doesn’t want peace, harmony, and reconciliation in their lives, their family, personal relationships, their nation and the world? Only those who can make personal gain from chaos.

 

Jenny May (not her real name) is 14 years of age and wants peace above all. Without reconciliation with her mother, she will continue to suffer greatly. In the padded therapy room, she unleashes her pain, emotional hurt and deep anguish. The anger at her mother comes gushing out. For her abuser, there is bitter hatred.

 

She howls, screams and punches the cushions continually. Her cries make me and the therapists shiver with every moment of her outpouring of pain. Our hair stands on end with the shock of such naked hatred being released like a volcanic eruption. She throws herself against the foam-padded wall in a violent counter-attack against her rapist as she relives those terrible times of helplessness and fear. 

 

Jenny is an abused girl, raped by the live-in partner of her mother who did not want to believe her daughter when she finally told what happened when her mother left her alone with the man who had replaced her father. She shouts at her mother, “Why did you let it happen, why did you not believe me and help me? I hate you, hate you!” she cried out.

 

Later in counseling, Jenny May says despite the betrayal of her mother she wants to talk with her. Will there be reconciliation and peace-making? That we don’t know. For many of the 56 children recovering and healing in the Preda Home for abused children, it is similar. They want reconciliation and peace with their unsupportive mothers. Her silence was akin to approval. Her inaction makes her an accomplice in the terrible crime. It will have life-long consequences for both her and Jenny May.  

 

The lack of Emotional Release Therapy for most victims means the pain has to be kept locked up inside, a cork tightly pressed into the emotional bottle. A barrier of repressed memories is built up as the victims struggle to survive the ordeal as they grow and mature and find a way to survive and make something of life. Self-induced forgetfulness keeps them going, affecting their personality, character and behavior throughout life. For peace and reconciliation to take place, there has to be a change within both parties.

 

For dialogue to be possible, there has to be justice for Jenny May so a criminal charge of rape of a minor will be filed against the live-in partner and the mother will have to support it if there is to be reconciliation and peace between child and the mother. 

 

Conflicting parties in family, society or between nations can find a peaceful settlement if they really want to have peaceful co-existence. As for the individual, Jenny May, so too for the world- much pain before peace.

 

Governments that are invading, occupying and blockading the territory or seas of the native inhabitants are robbing them of their sovereign rights and national dignity. They have aggressive instincts like the rapist of Jenny May. Appeasement and dialogue is not possible but a change of mind and heart is and justice must be done. There will be no peaceful solution by insulting and humiliating their opponents by threatening obliteration, violence and the threat of war.

 

There is enough war in the world. In Yemen, the children scream in pain and die and hundreds of thousands are starving. They too feel the pain, anger and even hatred at being oppressed and raped. War brings only misery, great pain for the victims and for the aggressor. An average of 20 former US soldiers commit suicide a day in the USA. In 2012 alone, an estimated 6,500 former military personnel died by suicide. More active duty veterans, 177, succumbed to suicide that year than were killed in combat, 176. The Army suffered 52 percent of the suicides from all branches, according to the US State Department. With such pain and suffering, the opiate addiction is inevitable.   

 

In the United States, the warmongers are beating the drums of war. These war-loving politicians are likely to be in cahoots and collusion with the private war contractors they made it a colossally big business. They love war. They want to sell weapons, provide services, give protection. The munitions manufacturers likely have huge stockpiles of bombs and bullets with expiration dates. They must use them or lose them.

 

These war contractors are still deliriously dizzy from the billions of dollars they earned from the Iraqi war. All in all, a total of US$138 billion dollars was gouged from the pockets of the American taxpayers. The top ten corporations earned US$72 billion out of the Iraqi invasion, according to the Financial Times.   

 

War contractors are hungry for more taxpayers money. The feeding frenzy is not over yet. The US State Department paid US$3 billion from 2011 to 2015 for the private contractors guarding the huge US Embassy compound in Baghdad. This contract was likely renewed for a higher price until the present.

 

One of the biggest war contractors during the Iraqi invasion was Halliburton. The chairman of Halliburton was Dick Cheney, the Vice President of George W. Bush. Cheney pushed for the invasion of Iraq. His subsidiary company, Kellog Brown & Root, earned a cool US$39.5 billion in wartime contracts.   

 

The US sanctions against Iran are another moneymaking ploy. President Trump withdrew from the agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear development and imposed sanctions on Iran so it can’t sell its oil. Prices of oil, diesel and gasoline have soared. This benefits greatly the US oil drilling and fracking companies who now can produce and profit from higher price of oil. Everyone else loses.

 

Who wants peaceful negotiation? Certainly not those who profit from war.