By Olakunle Agboola – “Our world is not divided by race, color, gender, or religion. Our world is divided into wise people and fools. And fools divide themselves by race, color, gender, or religion.” – Nelson Mandela
I was on my way to Bromley South on a train and there was a British young lady who joined the train at Chatham. She was looking for a seat and the only vacant space in the train car was the one beside me. She looked at me intently, which was obvious that she was contemplating if she could sit beside me or not. She finally made up her mind as she walked through the door to another train car. A smile lit my face with so much contemplation and the inner dialogue of racial lethargy and segregation between God’s diversity.
Not quite long, we alighted at Bromley South train station and I saw her walking through the barriers and finding her way out to the car park. I walked up to her and asked why she did not want to sit on the vacant seat beside me. She smiled and said, “So you noticed that. I won’t be comfortable sitting beside a black man”. I responded saying l am not a black man. She was stunned and said, “who are you if you are not black, a brown, or frustrated white like Michael Jackson” I laughed and said, “I am just God’s creation in diversity and a black man is never an idea of creation”. She got a bit upset and said, “You are religious and that’s the more reason I don’t like blacks. They are just evil”. She excused herself, finding her way to her car while she drove off.
At that moment I was dazed and not that I haven’t heard or experienced such an apparent perception of label due to the color of my skin. It then done on me that racism is a blindness of the mind, which will take a consistent effort of re-orientation to embrace the diversity in the human race.
Racism takes many forms and can happen in many places. It includes prejudice, discrimination, or hatred directed at someone because of his or her color, ethnicity, or national origin. People often associate racism with acts of abuse or harassment. However, it doesn’t need to involve violent or intimidating behavior.
Racism can be revealed through people’s actions as well as their attitudes. It can also be reflected in systems and institutions. But sometimes it may not be revealed at all. Not all racism is obvious.
Racism is more than just words, beliefs, and actions. It includes all the barriers that prevent people from enjoying dignity and equality because of their race.
I had a great opportunity of talking to John Powell, a British writer who addressed racism as a global problem and feels there should be a well-defined systematic approach to solve this problem across the world.
“Racism can be most simply understood as someone behaving differently to another person based on the color of their skin or culture. Some people are picked upon because they look different or speak a different language. And that might be the reason for hatred. It will take a holistic approach to start educating people on how to embrace diversity within the human race”
I have asked myself several questions of such hate or contempt among the human race. Why so much hate for another man based on his color when he has no power to create or recreate himself. Patrick Benson, a British citizen, felt it is a crime against humanity to hate a fellow man based on his color, religion, ethnicity, or language.
“It has been attested that a lot of people have lost their lives based on their color. Many are depressed thinking of a way of changing their skin color while many have committed suicide due to racism. It is a serious issue that many experience daily most especially those living in a multi-ethnicity society. I grew up in London and I attended a multi-ethnicity church with my parents. That was a learning curve for me growing up in the church with friends of African descent, Chinese, Americans, Indians just to mention a few. It was a beautiful experience for me that I could learn from the diversities of the human race. We have all grown up now and we are still friends. I have traveled around the continents based on my level of understanding and exposure to embracing different races. I don’t see black or white as many assumed. All I see is the diversities in humanity. We need to start talking about this by educating the world to embrace humanity which is beyond the color of the skin”
Deji Adeoti, a Nigerian living in the UK identified that family is the basic foundation of flaming racism and the earlier the better parents, watch what they say or tell their kids about a show-off of superiority rather than teaching them to embrace human diversity.
“Some people believe that they are better than others – just because of the color of their skin. This makes them look down or less of other races. I have experienced parents who were angry with their kids just because my son in primary school came first in class. How could a black boy lead a class? It was to them an aberration while they told their kids not to allow a black boy to lead the class again. This is where a show-off of superiority starts which is caused by poor parenting. There is nothing wrong challenging your kids to come first in class but not motivating them to hate people of other skin color. This is racial discrimination.
According to Show Racism The Red Card (SRTRC), it was reported that in 2019, there were almost 80,000 hate crimes in the UK, which are 10% more than the year before. There is so much work to be done to find a lasting solution to racism in the UK and that is just the reality”.
Racism could be here for too long if we do nothing about it. Also, it could be gradually reduced by a concerted effort of finding a way through the mass media of educating men and women of different colors to embrace diversity in humanity.
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