By
Hakeem Babalola

If your skin is dark or is not white enough and your nose is slightly flat than theirs and you live in their land, and you have not met people who treat you as inferior, then consider yourself poor. Yes, and I mean consider yourself unlucky. But if you like consider yourself on top of the world.
Jokes apart, I don’t know what you think or feel whenever you hear or say racism. Don’t you hear the tone of violence as you pronounce the word? Don’t you notice the voice penetrating my heart, and making me want to seek justice in any quick way available? But we must tarry a little. I would rather we pity such mindless soul, and not venom for venom even though this would be appropriate.

Zaragoza football fans once displayed such warped mind when they hurled a torrent of racial abuse at Samuel Etoo, an African playing for Barcelona. Also, England’s black players received the same treatment during a friendly soccer game against Spain in Madrid. It appears some people are still backward and barbaric in behaviour; some still sick in the mind. Otherwise, why should the colour of one's skin matters so much for such mental torture in an era when EU Policy centred on Respect for one another.

So, the colour of one’s skin still matters? At the moment, the European Union Policy is probably the most comprehensive package in the world for anti-discrimination laws to protect people from being discriminated against on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, sex or sexual orientation. The pro-diversity laws were agreed by all EU countries in 2000 which invariably means that all 27 countries in the EU today are required to incorporate these rules into their national laws.

The behaviour of these Spanish fans definitely re-kindles the social and religious attitude that made slavery possible in those days. Their joyous anti-black song on that particular day echoes and then transcends the value system that takes whiteness to be the human norm. Such anti-diversity infringement is against the axiom wisely coined by the EU "For Diversity. Against Discrimination."

Even if these football hooligans believe such racial abuse to be the cradle of civilization, let FIFA corrects and reminds them the fact that this is 21st century, and would never condone such satanic and savagery attack on its players. The same tasteless incident also occurred in England where a Blackburn Rovers supporter was fined one thousand pounds and banned from football grounds for five years for racially abusing black player Dwight Yorke.

The history of racial prejudice is what could simply be described as offensive, tear jerking and sorrowful. In colonial America, thousands of African slaves served whites under what was then regarded as colour segregation. There was the Ku Klux Klan, a secret society of white southerners in the United States, who believes that the world will become over-populated with African-Americans, Hispanics, and Jews. It is unbelievable that such thought still exists today. For example, the proclamation by the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to wipe off Israel is antithesis of civilisation. Such intense hatred is least expected of a leader.

There was also a notable history of slavery in Canada in 1700s when more than half of all Canadians were aboriginals. Anti-Semitism was pervasive in the late 19th and early 20th century when many Germans and Austrians accepted a form of racism towards Jewish people. There were race riots across the United Kingdom in 1919. Racial segregation known as apartheid existed in South Africa between 1948 and 1990. Even today there are many youths across the world calling themselves skinheads, who simply do not believe in diversity.

In view of this, racial discrimination seems to me a very sensitive and controversial issue. I am aware that some people treat others as inferior, or believe that they are inferior, because they belong to a particular race. Yet we need to be very careful in our efforts or in haste to expose such a warped, perverted mind. We should also endeavour not to confuse collective and individual attitudes in this case. It is highly necessary to distinguish racial or any form of discrimination from ordinary bad mood of the accused. I shall expatiate on this shortly.

The concept of racism, I suppose, should be strictly treated as individual malaise. As a matter of fact, I would never understand why someone thinks or feels superior to another human being – because of racial difference. Isn’t it better as well as logical to judge people because of their character rather than the colour of their skin? Geographically, I am an African. Does this give me any disposition as to regard myself better than my European counterparts on race fallacy? Or vice-versa! It might make sense to some people though.

But what could make someone you definitely know is a racist denies being a racist? Does this mean a racist is conscious that such behaviour is anti-social and unintelligible, but incorrigible? So a racist feels the heat and knows the absurdity in hating purely on racial term? Who is then a racist? Is it the elderly lady whom you met at a supermarket, and who stared at you, then squeezed her face when your eyes met hers? Could it be your personal body odour she detested and not you as a person? Perhaps she would have reacted in the same manner to Kate or Lászlo, who belongs to her race. If the assumption is right, wouldn’t it be unfair then to label the woman a racist?

Or a clerk at the post office who in a rude manner, asked you to shut up your mouth while singing on the queue. Could it be that this clerk was simply being impolite or was just having a bad day? Maybe he could have used insulting language to people of her race in the same circumstance. What of that young lady who hurriedly departed her seat as soon as you sat beside her in the library? Perhaps her departure was only a coincidence. Maybe she had wanted to vacate the seat before your arrival.

Meanwhile, what should we call a club owner who refused entry to dark skin people just because the police were looking for three dark skin persons the previous night? I wonder if this club owner would have refused entry to the white people had the police were looking for three white men. What of a TV editor who declared publicly that he simply hated interracial marriage? Although I would never understand this line of thought but does the TV editor in question not have right to freedom of thought and expression?

Really, I don’t know what to call a couple – my neighbours – that frowned at me for being in the same lift with them. Maybe this couple had planned to smooch inside the lift and the presence of a third person – whether dark skin or white skin – would definitely disturb them. What sense does it make had I jumped into conclusion portraying them as racists? I have heard an African brother calling a white woman a racist simply because she refused his advances. This is the reason why we must be cautious in dealing with such highly sensitive topic as racial discrimination.

The point I am making is somehow simple. In such situations a white person neither would think of my neighbours as racists nor the young woman. This is because your own race can never accuse you of being a racist. And that seems to be the hidden truth.

In my opinion, a racist – if indeed a racist – seems to have a legal advantage over the victims. For instance, many cases of racism are being dismissed for lack of evidence or substance. In March 2002, a British white teenager, Robert Stewart, killed his cellmate, Zahid Mubarek, an Asian. Despite the fact that staff had intercepted a racist letter from Stewart before killing Zalid, prison authority still considered Stewart only dangerous and not racist. It is somehow difficult to prove that someone is a racist.

X calling Z a racist does not necessarily mean Z is a racist in the actual sense. X, of course, might be suffering from a preconceived opinion. I mean the notion that he or she is actually a victim of racism no matter what. Now let us assume a dark skin man or woman actually did something wrong and was rebuked by a white person, I would rather we talk about the wrong doing instead of treating the issue under the false pretence of racism. The danger that lies behind such pretence could backfire on those who are being discriminated against: the actual victim of racism.

However, anyone who had encountered racism in its ugly form would probably agree with me that, it is a kind of force that paralyses the thinking faculty – of the victim. It boils the mind to the point of paroxysm pushing one to take the offensive. It resembles a situation whereby you feel your life is in total danger of a sworn enemy. Unless one has strong mind, and thus regards a racist as absolute dimwit, one is bound to commit atrocity.

Whether such action is justifiable or not definitely would not be the immediate concern. As mentioned earlier, one’s thinking faculty had been unduly attacked from the beginning. The venom from a racist mouth or gesture is like a tingle in the body in which you experienced a pang of sadness due to his use of directness, poetic hatred penetration that compels response. The worst kind of racism is probably the one you encountered from the law enforcement departments or officers. Take for example, you are being attacked by some disgruntle elements who are whites. The police arrived at the scene, did nothing to help. Just imagine the trauma.

Or a situation when your house had been burgled, and immediately called the police but never arrived at the scene. Or a situation when you had an accident – though not life threatening – and a Samaritan called both the ambulance and the police. On arriving at the scene, the police told the ambulance not to take you to the hospital, and the latter concurred. Or a situation when you had a brawl with your white neighbours and you sustained a bloody injury, yet it was you that was handcuffed and taken to the police station. Not to mention a situation when the police officers made grim jokes about your race.

Even at this juncture, it is still difficult for me to understand why someone would go as low in esteem as to hate fellow human being just because of the skin colour. Such primitive attitude, I think, should be regarded as a sickness. What grasp of logic could anyone present for hating fellow being simply because they belong to different race, sex or sexual orientation, religion belief etc? It simply doesn't make sense and if it doesn't make sense, let's throw it away.

In Africa however, white men or women are treated as equal human beings. Although the difference in colour is visible, it is never a suppose reason for Africans to think they are better. Africa and its people – never mind the likes of Idi Amin and Robert Mugabe – always provide a hospitable climate for our guests irrespective of their race. African law enforcement officers would probably respond to the need of a white person quicker than that of the native. Yet we should not treat this sensitive issue collectively. For example, I think it is wrong to say that Hungarians or Germans are racists.

Upon all, the question right now in my mind is whether there could possibly be a positive discrimination? The other time I went to the town hall to validate my address, which I needed urgently, the officer in charge realising my difficulty in filling the paper (I am still having trouble with Hungarian), went the extra mile to help me. In short, the process that would have taken ten days only took two hours. Do I need to say anything further? That single rattling event almost erased previous unpleasant experiences with racism. It was like kissing joy as it flew by.

Next time you encounter racism, it is better for you to pity such a sick mind rather than show anger. For me, that seems to be the efficient way of teaching him or her civility. And always bear in mind that no one can actually make you inferior without your consent. 2008 being European year of Intercultural Dialogue, I trust most of us would learn a great lesson in understanding the wisdom behind "For Diversity. Against Discrimination." Yes, diversity is the only avenue for us to understand one another better. It is our last hope.