Racism — Challenge yourself
I went to see comedian Richard Herring recently. He’s doing a controversial show about reclaiming the ‘toothbrush’ mustache for comedy: Charlie Chaplin used it first before it became known as ‘Hitler’s mustache’. It’s a very sophisticated show in which he tackles race and racism head-on.
I found parts of the show challenging but completely necessary. Recently I find myself being told by ‘white middle-class English’ people “race isn’t an issue anymore”. Well it may never have been an issue if you are white. I live in the most liberal city in the country, but I recently worked in small town in Sussex, where I got called a ‘n*gger’ in the street, a colleague referred to Obama as ‘coloured’ and I was asked ‘why did your parents come to this country?’. This is a town that despises Catholics, so I’ve got no chance.
Racism is subtle. It’s about having a preconception of someone based on their race or religion. It’s about stereotypes: hardworking Poles, shoplifting black girls, Asian drama queens. Is a black man ‘trouble’? Herring gives an example of how the Police restrained the wrong man when he called for assistance after his iPhone was stolen. If I tell this story by saying ‘a man’ you might assume he is white. If I say a ‘black man’ all sorts of connotations run through your head.
I remember in primary school, I was never touched by the white teachers and not allowed to bake cakes with the other kids as the teachers thought there was something unclean about me. I was 4. (Don’t worry, I’ve got over the trauma of this now). I know that Asian kids, a generation younger than me have had a completely different experience growing up in England. Racist words and stereotypes may affect them differently. They don’t remember in the 1970’s and early 1980’s when there were hardly any black people on the TV, when we’d get over excited when an Asian family was introduced on Eastenders. I remember when MTV and commercial radio refused to play black music, when hip-hop, soul and even Michael Jackson was considered unsuitable for mainstream audiences.
Herring has a whole debate with himself onstage about the word ‘Paki’. For me listening in the audience, it was like scratching on a blackboard. I am a bright person. I know he is making a point that to a racist we are all ‘pakis’ if you have brown skin. A racist doesn’t care about whether you are from South America or the Middle East, India or Pakistan — we all look the same so we are all treated the same — with contempt. But of course, these feelings I have about the word, that maybe doesn’t affect my 16-year old cousin or my 50-something mum — make me and my (white, middle-class) friends uncomfortable watching it. Especially as Herring is a big white man, saying it with such venom (If I was up there, doing the same act, no-one would care).
These issues should not be brushed under the carpet. Herring rightly says people should have voted in the European election, it was by not voting that England sent 2 fascist BNP representatives to the European parliament. Racism should be laughed at, talked about and challenged. Herring is a brave man to get up on stage and clobber us over the head with it. Wake up Britain!
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July 31, 2009 1:28 pm
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By R.William Barry, August 1, 2009 @ 2:12 pm
Very well put. Anyone who thinks racism is no longer an issue obviously didn’t pay too much attention to the American presidential election — yeh, sure Obama won, but that doesn’t erase the fact that McCain and Palin basically spent the whole campaign touring the south going “he’s black! He’s black! He’s black!” Nor does it erase the habitual way Fox News reporters would emphasize Obama’s middle name. And that was an election where the racists lost. Now if we turn to the UK and our recent European election, the ease with which the BNP were able to appropriate Gordon Brown’s own phrase, ‘British jobs for British workers’ shows how close mainstream politics in Britain is to the far-right. David Cameron’s cosying up with the far-right parties in the European Parliament being another example. And then there is the row over the veil in French public life — a thinly coded expression of a more or less open fear of Islamic people that has given plenty of fire to Le Pen — and the still recent scandal over Chanel’s “Bleu Blanc Rouge” employment practices… I haven’t seen Herring’s show (although I did read his recent Guardian article and blog post), but I do think it’s interesting that simply addressing these issues head on, lead him to branded a racist by a Guardian journalist. There is a definite desire on the part of the white bourgeoisie to brush these issues under the carpet and pretend they’re not there. Boris Johnson’s scrapping of anti-racism free festivals in London because, apparently, racism doesn’t exist in London anymore, being a case in point. But I wonder where is the line that separates these liberal deniers of racism from the, shall we say, more overt racism of Holocaust denialists?
By zenbullets, August 1, 2009 @ 2:45 pm
Well said that lady. I’m way too straight, white and anglo-saxon to possibly comment really, but I suspect that racism (and other forms of intolerance) probably never went away, they are just deeply unfashionable at the moment.
While it is currently socially unacceptable to speak such things, it doesn’t stop people thinking them. You now hear it expressed in more subtle ways, e.g. “a lot of my best friends are asian” (well, why wouldn’t they be), or “I lived in Liverpool for 4 years and wasn’t robbed once”
I really don’t think we’ve come that far from the 70s/80s, and don’t think it would take much of a societal swing to go back there.
By Michelle, August 2, 2009 @ 8:31 am
Brilliant post. I was also at that Herring gig and this has made me think about it in a different way — thank you. Also agree with zenbullets — racism has become more ‘subtle’ for some sections of society which makes it more insidious and difficult to counter.
By Anastasis, September 15, 2009 @ 3:57 am
Thanks for the post — really appreciated it, and it made a few things hit home. The issue of subtlety was definately key throughout the text.
It doesn’t matter if it is racism level 10 (i.e. blatant racism such as discriminatory names) or level 1 (e.g. just by making it apparent such as “He’s Japanese American or he’s Afro-American” etc), the fact of the matter is that if race is made apparent, then it is racism.
The whole point is that it does not matter and should not matter where we come from and what colour our skin is, but that is still the case today.
Nobody can tell where I’m from. Seriously, if it was down to others, I’d come from every continent. There was a situation on the tube a few months back where someone asked if not if I was from Spain but if I was Spanish. I said no. “French — no — Indian — no — Iranian — Israeli — no — What are you then?” WHAT ARE YOU?
Unbelieveable! I told him my name and continued that it was more about who i was rather than WHAT I WAS!
Going back to the subtlety issue, it would be interesting to work out where it comes from, what the root and motive of subtle racism is.
In my eyes, it’s just cowardice. Subtle racism occurs because people know it is wrong and don’t have the balls to be blatant.
Blatant racism comes from fear leading to anger and the old chestnut; IGNORANCE.