Revolution or reality check?
Let’s Talk about that! Series 3, Article 3
1968- President Lyndon Johnson signs into force the Civil Rights Act, which brought to an end the legal right to deny applicants housing on the basis of their race and also made it a crime to “by force or by the threat of force, injure, intimidate, or interfere with anyone…by reason of their race, color, religion, or national origin.” This marked the high point of the Civil Rights Movement and was billed, almost exclusively by Whites, as the end of racism. Yet, the practice of racialised housing (redlining) continues to hold people of colour back and has now even extended to the point where ethnic areas of major cities such as Los Angeles and Melbourne are being “gentrified” by trendy, high income Whites, pushing up prices and pushing out People of Colour.
1994- Apartheid is formally abolished in South Africa as South Africans of colour are allowed to enjoy equality before the law. This is billed, by almost exclusively by Whites outside of South Africa, as the end of racism. Yet, an enormous wage gap between White South Africans and their nonwhite counterparts exists, with 46% of Black Africans unemployed, contrasting markedly with 9% for Whites. Incidents of extreme racism are severely punished, with employers cracking down on workers intent on spreading hate, yet it continues yearly.
2008- Barack Obama is sworn in as the United States of America’s first Black president. This is billed, almost exclusively by Whites, as the end of racism. Yet people of colour still face barriers in key areas such employment and schooling, and still languish in higher rates of poverty than whites, experiencing profiling on a daily basis.
2020- Major protests explode across America following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a White police officer. This has been billed, almost exclusively by Whites, as the end of racism. Yet racism will continue on. People of colour will continue to be poor, face inferior quality education for their children, and suffer at the hands of police.
A week of protests does not a revolution make. Over the past fortnight or so, I have seen expressions proclaiming how proud certain people are at having taken part in a “revolution” that is ending racism and “uprooted an old word order.” These people have all been White, and has history shows, they have made these proclamations before. Moreover, they have come from some surprising mouths, not just the author of that article, but some of the most empathetic and genuinely progressive Whites I know.
Why are there no such exclamations of delight from people of colour? For a start, they are still engaged in a fight that could cost them their lives and their future reputation, but more importantly, they know that such bold statements are wildly out of place.
Systemic racism is just that. It is systemic in nature and cannot end with a week of protests and calls for an end to the formal police establishment. Firstly, no society can exist without the existence of a police force, whether in a despotic tyranny such as Iran, or a socialist utopia (where prisoners receive tertiary level classes) like Norway.
Secondly, nothing can end racism in the USA until the “systems” that sustain racism in that country are torn from the top down- something highly unlikely with Donald J Trump at the helm. As for racism worldwide is concerned, countries such as India are hobbling under the weight of economic and cultural destruction reaped by colonialism- as admirable as some efforts have been in cities like Portland and Minneapolis cannot have an effect on this.
Many Whites claim to have had their eyes and minds genuinely opened to the discrimination that people of colour face on a daily basis as a result of this crisis. Even accounting for some of the virtue signalling I mentioned in my previous piece, this is great. But realising it happens does not mean it will end.
