RACISM

Has the West fully eradicated racism yet?


Nearly, but not quite yet. The West has done a tremendously great job in its battle against racism, in which it is so far succeeding, although the job is still far from being completed. Some of those Westerners who have managed to get rid of their racist attitude might have had to do so because their work circumstances had forced them to. Others, who live in large cities where hundreds of different races co-exist, might have either got used to working and living amongst people of different backgrounds, or they could still feel superior but are afraid of publicly voicing their views in fear of being prosecuted. Generally speaking, racist behaviour in the West tends to be very scarce and barely noticeable within affluent neighbourhoods, which are largely populated by community elites and the educated professionals. On the other hand, racism is much more rife and visible almost to the extent of being the accepted norm within deprived neighbourhoods, which are mainly populated by either low income working class or benefit-dependent unemployed people. Having said that, the Western governments in both Europe and the United States have taken huge strides in the path of eradicating all types of racism, whether verbal, physical or even institutional. From the early days of slavery, through the era of apartheid rules and up to the current times, numerous laws have been legislated and subsequently enforced, aiming to safeguard the rights of minority ethnic groups in Western societies. It has taken the West many centuries to get to this stage where, at least legally, all citizens enjoy equal rights regardless of their race or skin colour. We acknowledge that there is still much more that needs to be done in order to completely extract racism from the hearts of people and to fully normalise relationships between different community groups, which I believe will take a few more decades to achieve. Despite its dark and oppressive history, the West deservedly takes credit in its reflective recognition of the problem and its ongoing self criticism. It also takes credit in taking incessant steps towards uprooting it.


Having said the above, racism is not a pure Western problem. Many minority communities in Africa, the Middle East and Asia are still suffering from overt racism and painful discrimination. Governments in those countries have yet to admit to the existence of the problem first to subsequently then start taking action. Without those countries becoming insightful of their endemic racist behaviour - both at individual and government levels - no improvement whatsoever will be achieved to safeguard the rights of their oppressed ethnic minorities. Certain minority tribes in some parts of Africa and Asia are not only marginalised by the dominant majority, but they are actively persecuted on a systematic basis. The repetitive pattern in those countries is that children born to ethnic minority families do not usually attend school, they often start work upon reaching only 8 years of age, doing very low paid jobs in extreme and inhumane working conditions (almost similar to slavery) that are completely ignored by the state. When those children become adults, they either continue to work in unskilled low paid jobs (house servants or labourers) or turns into criminals (burglars and thieves). In contrast, children born to the dominant majority families invariably attend school and be well looked after throughout, until they eventually get employed  in a reasonably paid high or average skilled job. There is often complete social, economic and housing segregation between the oppressed and the oppressing communities. Social mobility is virtually impossible. The complicating factor is that not only does the oppressing majorities think of their behaviour towards the oppressed minorities as completely acceptable, but the tragic belief among the oppressed minorities that the treatment they are receiving is deservedly fair. Therefore, the status quo in those countries  is unlikely to change any time soon, unless the ethnic minorities themselves start demanding their full rights, which has recently happened in one of the largest African countries, after decades of armed and political struggle, eventually resulting in the birth of the newest country in the world following a much awaited referendum that overwhelmingly favoured the separating from the mother country and the formation of a brand new state, the sole citizens of which are the previously oppressed minority that once lived in slavery-like conditions in their mother country.


By: Rihab Hussein