Tuesday, November 01, 2022

ABRANTEE - OKOMFOUR KWAADEE

OTOOLEGE - OFORI AMPONSAH

THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST - NORMA FRASER

AKI SPECIAL - PRINCE NICO MBARGA (PERFORMED BY WAGADUDU)

AKI SPECIAL - PRINCE NICO MBARGA & ROCAFIL JAZZ

EXPENSIVE SHIT - FELA KUTI

WAR - BOB MARLEY

MUCHANA - KANDA BONGO MAN

WATCHING THE WHEELS - JOHN LENNON

MANY RIVERS TO CROSS - JIMMY CLIFF

JAMMING - BOB MARLEY

BELOW THE WAIST - QUEEN IFRICA

THE WEAKNESS IN ME - JOAN ARMATRADING

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

HOW BLACK IS RACISM?

Richard Chang fell to his death from the 5th floor of Abbey National PLC headquarters in Triton Square, Central London, on 13th July 2004. The incident occurred shortly after a two-and-a-half hour interrogation by Kroll (corporate detectives) who were investigating a whistle-blowing document sent to the Abbey National PLC management.

Despite a Coroner’s Inquest (which did not allow the Chang family to call vital witnesses), the full facts surrounding Richard Chang’s death have never been satisfactorily explained. A claim at the Employment Tribunal has also been blocked because it has been adjudged “out of time” – due to the fact that family members were in too much distress to lodge a claim in the period immediately following the tragedy; in such situations, a tribunal may allow a late claim if it adjudges there to be good reasons for the delay.

The Chang family is also unhappy with the police investigation – which they consider to be biased and improperly conducted.

Details of this case and an on-line petition can be found at:

http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/truth-and-justice-for-richard-chang.html

and

http://justice4richard.co.uk

The interesting aspect of this story is the failure of Black organizations to take up the Chang family’s case. Was Richard Chang not black enough to be a victim of racism?

Thursday, October 19, 2006

AFRICANS VS JAMAICANS

(A WHITE MAN'S INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF THE PERENNIAL SLANGING-MATCH)

OR

'GET MAD' VS 'GET EVEN'

Some of my best friends are black people! To be more precise – they are Jamaicans and Africans. So how, you may ask, has this white man learnt to tell these black people apart?! Easily enough really, because they’re always fighting one another with a vengeance - and I could never help wondering why? After all, aren’t there enough white people with whom black people could justifiably pick arguments?

In fact, this dispute is very important because it revolves around the vital question of how black people should deal with white people and the distinct difference between the African approach and the Jamaican - due to seismically different experiences of the same white racism. Jamaicans often feel embittered by the fact that they were the ones to have been completely enslaved whilst Africans were not - and feel that this raises them above Africans on the podium of racial suffering. On the other hand, Africans feel that Jamaicans have been infected by the white man’s immorality and are, therefore, in a cultural sense, lapsed (ie inferior) Africans. But who has suffered more pain? The black man who has suffered, abduction, followed by direct enslavement, rape and murder in the white man’s house, or the black man whose house has been forcibly invaded and occupied by the white man and who has suffered the rape, murder, abduction and enslavement of his family (not to mention the theft of his material valuables)? This is impossible to say, of course - especially so, when both sets of people continue to suffer such suppression to this very day.

But it should not be a question of ‘quality’ of suffering-by-white-man (who seriously wants to be viewed the more emotionally disturbed?), and nor should it be a question of African cultural credential - when, to-date, African cultural credential has been severely degraded by an historical continental subjugation at the hands of white men (or to put it another way, I’ve never put details of ‘when I got mugged’ on my CV). Surely, the question should be one of degree of black people’s success rather than black failure. But how should this success be measured?

The adage goes ‘Don’t get mad, get even’ and this is where the black reaction to racism differs so much - because Jamaicans tend to concentrate on ‘getting mad’ (emotionally angry) whilst Africans tend to concentrate on ‘getting (financially) even’. This outcome is not surprising, since Jamaicans have no period of ‘normal’ cultural history to which they can equate an experience of ‘even’, whereas Africans do - also, given that, these days, white people do not directly, physically suppress black people in Africa (they pay other Africans to do this) and the exploitation is for monetary gain, ‘getting even’ makes sense only on a monetary basis and the violence of ‘getting even’ is between Africans. Exploitation of white people’s economy by Africans (and other non-white UK immigrants who are far more industrious and have far keener business minds than white people) is inevitably leading to white economic decline and white people suppressing and fighting each other over the remains. On the other hand, despite being more commercially aware than the average white man, Jamaicans, never having known the loss of cultural wealth and freedom, and generally not therefore inclined to think as ‘big’ as African businessmen, have largely sought to ‘even’ matters up on an emotional basis - by making white people feel as guilty as Jamaicans feel angry about having been enslaved.

Black/African politics are divided into the same two camps as general global politics - those who support white power (racism) and those who do not; it is a consciousness of the guilt associated with aiding and abetting white racism, which causes the antagonism between Jamaicans and Africans. Africans see Jamaicans as working mainly in white government departments, white corporations (striving for promotion from white people) or unemployed and engaged in violent street-crime, whilst they themselves are more commonly to be found in self-employment, working for African businesses, or unashamedly making a fool of the white man by defrauding his stupidly inefficient bureaucracy (without any apparent fear of being sacked or imprisoned); Jamaicans see Africans as being too ‘soft’ on white people and treating them with undue courtesy, whilst they themselves are openly expressive of their hatred of white people; Africans see Jamaicans as too culturally close to white people, whilst Jamaicans see Africans as too emotionally close (although, I must add that I find black people, as a whole, to be far more (positively) emotional than white); both groups see each other as collaborating with white people and a mutual hatred for each other’s collaboration derives from each group’s unwillingness to come to terms with its own collaborative behaviour. I do not, of course, ignore the fact that there is a prevalence of violent white crime and fraud in the UK - much of which is committed by white people who wear suits and uniforms; in the end, a violent criminal is a violent criminal, whether he be from Europe, Africa, the Caribbean or the Far East.

It’s a shame, but just as it took deaths in Birmingham (as a result of clashes between black and Asian people) for many of us to be incited to examine the futility of such (unjustified) racism, so it has taken death on London streets (resulting from hostility between Africans and Jamaicans) for me to be roused into examining this particularly desperate intra-racial hatred.

Ultimately, getting ‘mad’ and getting ‘even’ must both be wrong decisions which resolve nothing, because, in either emotional or material terms, both strategies require black people to measure themselves against white - and when white culture is in complete decay, such measurement is worthless. Playing by white people's immoral rules will take black people to the same destination as white - nowhere. Like any other member of the human race, black people must measure their success individually against their own individual human standards, for success to have any meaning.

For personal inspiration, I would like to meet a black person (well any colour person, frankly) who has worked vengeful motivations out of their emotional system and is motivated to perform their white institutional job from a sense of professional satisfaction alone - although, I’d reckon that a black person who manages to ‘fit in’ fearlessly to a white governmental department, and meantime still be motivated by a genuine love of that job, not by revenge, would definitely be a rare gem…Should I place this paragraph as a lonely hearts/contacts add?!

The manner in which many black people parade the same material status-symbols as white is evidence enough of how black people buy into white culture and is the reason black people continue to be exploited by white racism. If gold had not been the base of white people’s currency (and diamonds so highly valued by white men), would Africa perhaps have been less attractive to white colonialists. Without wishing to belittle the devastation to African human resources caused by the slave trade, were Africans (who did not originally value the shiny elements to the extent that white people did) really robbed of their material resources? Well, the answer is “Yes,” of course, but the theft would not have been immediately noticed – in the same way as the general population of a country like Nigeria could never have realized the significance of its oil reserves at the point when they were first being siphoned off by Western companies, in collusion with a small number of powerful Africans.

Africans and Jamaicans should choose ‘something else’ on which to base their currency and ‘something else’ on which to base their cultural values - ‘something’ which white people do not value...?


Traditional African Currencies:

http://www.standsforart.com/artefacts.html


(*Or How A White Man Can Make Himself Extremely Unpopular By Lecturing Black People About Their Own Business!)

Friday, September 29, 2006

NIGERIAN BUSINESSMAN DIES IN UK POLICE CUSTODY

To read this story, see:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/
uk_news/story/0,,1883384,00.html


That the police have killed Nigerian businessman, Frank Ogboru, in full view of witnesses is further evidence of racism in the UK transforming into utterly unashamed racism - something encouraged by constant prime-ministerial and ministerial speeches which demean the status of 'migrants', the new governmental term for 'immigrants'.

Although, these days, the police are often to be seen wearing plastic gloves whilst handling their 'customers' (an indication of how much police wish to separate themselves from the public they 'serve', especially in terms of race and class), in reality, of course, the gloves are now well and truly off.

Recently, Western leaders such as Bush and Blair have also been completely unabashed in taking the Israeli side in the Lebanese/Palestinian/Israeli conflict and have unashamedly continued their justification for Western military intervention in the Middle East - despite the increasingly obvious failure of this immoral venture; soldiers selling guns for drugs should be enough to tell us that members of the armed forces themselves cannot justify the West's military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan - but, nevertheless, the racially and religiously charged rhetoric of Bush and Blair becomes stronger by the day.

The story of Frank Ogboru's death in police custody is barely making the local london news - even the Black Information Link (http://www.blink.org.uk) has not, as yet, reported this horrific case and, symptomatically, prefers to concentrate upon black people fighting one another in Lambeth (thus keeping step with the news agenda of white-dominated media organisations), instead of focussing upon one of the main causes of insecurity amongst black people ie. black people's inability to deal with white racism - and, in particular, white police racism.


I should add that Black Britain (http://www.blackbritain.co.uk/news/details.aspx?i=2293&c=uk&h=Nigerian+man+on+holiday+in+UK
+is+latest+death+in+custody+victim
) reported this story yesterday and it remains their top news item today
.



Thursday, June 08, 2006

AFRICAN MUSIC

Quite frankly, Western musical audiences are largely ignorant and musically undernourished (if not starving). In terms of African music, Westerners generally have no idea on what they are missing out and appear to be afraid to find out.

Many people would, no doubt, not wish to hear about Africa at all, but the aim of the Live8 concert was to promote the discussion of African issues - both at the G8 conference and amongst the general populace. These type of concerts are supposed to appeal to as wide a Western audience as possible - including UK ethnic Africans and other people who enjoy African music.

When was the last time Elton John and Paul McCartney appeared on Top of the Pops? They made the bill despite current failure to make Top of the Pops - lack of chart success does not mean that an artist lacks an audience. There were even attempts to sideline contemporary stars such as Ms Dynamite and Dizzie Rascal - probably because their dynamic music is naturally political and would show up the musical inanity (and the contrived political stance) of the 'chosen' musicians.

These concerts attempt to employ positive musical forces to help resolve problems - but these problems are the concern of both Africans and Westerners and the music should reflect this fact; just as Africans must humbly accept aid from Westerners in order to promote African causes so must Western musicians humble themselves and accept that Western music needs the truly superior positive force of African music.

The current African problem is essentially a problem of free trade and, to improve the current situation, Western musicians must set an example and open up their market-place to African musicians - after all the Western participants reaped huge personal publicity by supporting Live8, but, as usual, Western music promoters left African musicians in the shadows. It's about time that Western musicians acknowledged the contribution of African music to Western music - without African music there would be no Jazz, no Funk, no Rap and no Rock......there might even be no Grunge!! (what a thought!) This is not about about charity, it's about paying Africa its dues - both for its musical power and its enslaved muscle power.

Although I recognise that Bob Geldof has tried harder than most to change our world, he is, at heart, an utterly miserable fucker and, as such, will always lack the positive force required to succeed. Rather than seeking to solve problems by drawing sour water from the negative pool of Western music, Bob Geldof should replenish his soul by taking time to enjoy the sweet vibrant bouquet of African music - and accepting that Africans can help him.

Live8 should not have been a showcase of African inadequacy (soulless Western music interpolated by clips of starving dying Africans), it should have been a showcase of African creativity (African music mixed with shots of an emotionally enlivened Western audience). Let's not pretend that Africa's existence and culture depends on the charity of Western civilisation - it's actually the other way round...

Or are Western musicians and audiences afraid of the African comparison? Africa is the powerhouse of Western culture and the West should pay its bill.

BLACK MEDIA ORGANISATIONS

Here, the problem is not that journalism has been conceived and published by racists (this is inevitable), but that other branches of the media (ie. Black and Asian ones) are exactly that - branches! They have not developed their own roots in this country as independent organisms with enough stature to cast their seeds over a wide area (including the large white domains). Truly independent Black and Asian media organisations are too parochial, and have too narrow a vision, to reach the wider national audience and thus acquire the volume and punch required to counter the racism inherent in White organisations. Asian and Black media must become stronger, taller and louder without the help of White money.

Of course, a paradox evolves when taking this course of action: to gain a universal constituency one must have a universal appeal - and this means becoming less focused on minority-based issues and, instead, addressing issues from a universal moral perspective (Right & Wrong); to be successful one must issue black and white views - but not have Black or White vision!

When the current minorities have developed stronger voices, they will no longer have to resort to stifling the voices of others - because they will gain confidence from hearing their own messages and making their own mistakes.

Until Black & Asian media can mature and communicate on a larger scale they will not (as organisations) establish that there are White people who are not racist and evil - and that White people could be potential customers.


This process of development needs time, effort and energy - but, bear in mind, that the cost of freedom for the minority is freedom for the majority (and that evil can come in packages of any size - or colour!).

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

OPPRESSION & SUBMISSION

In the UK, the concept of Black political empowerment is a wholly justifiable reaction to the racist political policies supported by most paler-skinned inhabitants who, finding themselves in a majority, have chosen to capitalize on a situation where most darker-skinned inhabitants, being in a minority, have, hitherto, chosen not to resist the racist dynamics of these divisively oppressive policies.


The Dynamics of Darkness

Although discouraged by an education-system dominated by paler-skinned inhabitants, most darker-skinned inhabitants are, assisted by the spur of financial necessity, increasingly arming their minds through ever greater commitment to developing productive mental acuity (ie learning useful skills!) - whilst most paler-skinned inhabitants, encamped in positions of privileged status which obviate the financial need for meaningful productive work, have become so complacent that their formerly developed mental edge has been severely blunted by neglect (ie they have disavowed reality-relevant skills!). One's mental edge can only be properly sharpened on the hard whetstone of reality.

By using their majority to exercise a strong control of the security forces, many paler-skinned inhabitants have, in effect, armed themselves physically, but, due to bad diet, sedentary lifestyle, and excessive alcohol and drug consumption (both illegal and prescription), many paler-skinned inhabitants have ruined their general health. Conversely, many darker-skinned inhabitants have maintained their health through an adherence to more traditional diets. Many paler-skinned inhabitants rely on the force of their numbers in order to effect a policy of oppression, but this strategy has been undermined by the fact that their communities are generally more socially dislocated and dysfunctional than those of many darker-skinned people. Many darker-skinned inhabitants are developing greater individual resilience than paler-skinned inhabitants - as a result of experiencing more situations where, being alone amongst groups of a largely oppressive paler-skinned majority, they have had to think for themselves and defend their own rights. The criminal elements of both paler-skinned and darker-skinned inhabitants are ever more arming themselves with illegal weapons.

In general, neither darker- nor paler-skinned inhabitants are well armed emotionally - as illustrated by the wide number of adult UK inhabitants' obsessed with one or more of the following: drugs, alcohol, food, cigarettes, social status, positions of power, religious belief, physical appearance, sex, fashion, crappy television programmes, juvenile pop-music, celebrity, shopping, money, luxury products, (social) insurance, and racial differentiation. However, due to an increasing reliance upon the life-sustaining efforts (ie essential productive work) of many darker-skinned inhabitants, many paler-skinned inhabitants' have been afforded less and less exposure to the emotionally nutritional effects of the sunlight of reality.

Immature obsession with the designation of sub-strands to the Human Race (something which should only be of academic importance to anthropologists) has caused many UK inhabitants to subscribe to a multi-racial view of humanity (originally promoted by certain paler-skinned inhabitants) whereby Humans are conferred with varying social status according to shade of Human skin-colour. As a result of multi-racialism, many of the paler-skinned inhabitants have, without reason, chosen to believe themselves racially superior Humans and have used demographic superiority to 'democratically' adopt an immature culture of domination - whilst many of the darker-skinned inhabitants, by accepting the precepts of multi-racialism and UK 'democracy', have effectively chosen to be treated as racially inferior Humans, and have adopted a commensurately immature culture of submission. After all, why would anyone bother to invent (or subscribe to) a social theory of multi-racialism in which every sub-division carries equal status?

Many paler-skinned people in the UK are increasingly tending to lose the struggle that constitutes real life and this is why they are increasingly attempting to compel darker-skinned people (ie those proving more effective in life's struggle) to come to their aid. The obsession of paler-skinned inhabitants with the unreality of a restrictive unworkable 'democratic' system of complex rules and regulations (a means for a majority of UK inhabitants to exploit minorities) is simply salting the fields of creativity - and this bureaucratic obsession with control is an intrinsic factor in the current failure of the UK economy. Freedom of the Individual to engage reality is the key to the promotion of creativity and wealth. The success of many darker-skinned (and indeed some paler-skinned) inhabitants in establishing efficient worthwhile independent businesses has not been down to a blind adherence to UK 'democratic' law. In the main, it is only those (paler-skinned) businesspeople, commanding illicit influence amongst the ruling (paler-skinned) establishment, who can afford the luxury of achieving commercial success 'within' the law.


Could Black Ever Become The New White?

Black politics are meaningless without Black policies and the only policies which can hope to unite all non-pale-skinned people are those policies which promote the possibility of freedom for those non-pale-skinned people; and policies which promote the possibility of freedom for non-pale-skinned people must promote the possibility of freedom for All people, because any definition of freedom for non-pale-skinned people which precludes the possibility of freedom for All people is not a definition of freedom - it is a definition of oppression; and an oppressor is not free because, by definition, he must be committed to the cause of oppression - whereas to be free one must be committed to the cause of freedom. It's a black and white issue!

Skin colour cannot be a political end in itself - unless one has the aim of genetically engineering the entire human race to a uniformly standard shade! (I believe I borrowed that one from the Frank TALKER Book of Awfully Abstruse Jokes!) What is the purpose of voting non-pale-skinned people into Parliament if they then proceed to vote for wars and policies of oppression against other non-pale-skinned peoples?

Despite enjoying the flair football of the Arsenal soccer team, I would not desire membership of a club whose supporters are renowned for their habit of trashing the surrounding North London neighbourhood when celebrating the winning of a trophy. Nor would I expect a paler-skinned person to identify himself with genocidal Nazis and North Atlantic slave-traders. Nor would I expect a darker-skinned person to identify with those who committed genocide in Rwanda.

The concept of Black politics can only be meaningful to those who consider themselves oppressed by racism - without the existence of the racially oppressive policies of paler-skinned people, the concept of Black politics, in a just sense, would be meaningless. Black politics needs the Evil of paler-skinned people to absolve darker-skinned people from their own sins (this is, of course, also a mutual feast for paler-skinned people who wish to indulge in racial oppression). In a world free of the oppression of racist paler-skinned people, Black politics would itself become synonymous with the divisive oppression of racism.

There DOES exist a movement of White Supremacist politics, but its expression comes in the form of capitalizing actions rather than capitalized words. We know this movement as the force of everyday UK 'democratic' politics - comprising the interactions of Conservatism, Socialism and Liberalism. Oppressors do not need to describe themselves - just their victims.

There also exist darker-skinned (and paler-skinned) Individuals who have struggled to develop a Human capability of sufficient maturity as to enable them to overcome the adverse effects of such oppressions as racism - these Humans have no need to subscribe to an emotionally comforting Colour club. These Human Individuals (each one different) are united only in their struggle to define and do what is Right. Rather than rallying round a random flag, a common colour chosen by chance, Humans only achieve a true unity when, in the search for Human progress, they value the potential of Individual difference.

Unfettered difference is essential for ascertaining the Truth. It's pointless for everyone to search for dinner down the same rabbit-hole at the same time - it's far better to let everyone follow their nose and to discover who has the best sense of smell! A commitment to difference is essential for progress down the path of Truth. A thriving organic culture must be nourished by such values.

For a Human Being to call himself Black is to utter a cry of despair and is a justifiable expression of awareness of his victim status - but for a Human Being to commit himself to being Black is a divisive act of complicity in his own racial oppression. There is only one Human Race, composed of uniquely created individuals, and further racial subdivisions are a sociological myth - a system of pseudo social science set to snare suckers.


Confusion of Terminology

Many darker-skinned people do not identify themselves as Black - especially Human Beings who have one paler-skinned parent and one darker-skinned parent. These particular Human Beings are all walking talking witnesses to the fraudulence of race because they know both parents to be members of the same Human Race - and the names of these Human witnesses are duly besmirched in an attempt to invalidate their vital testimony. They are patronizingly called 'mixed-race' and 'dual-heritage', but are no less 'mixed' than any other Human who has the mixed genetic and cultural heritage of two separate parents originating from the Human Race - some people may be shocked to discover that these curiously-named-people are normal members of the Human Race! After all, were we Humans not all mixed, we would be clones! Whatever will the next term be? Variegated? Does one win a special sociological prize for inventing a new label? Commonly used descriptive conventions are fine and practical, but to constantly re-invent such terminology is ever to re-enforce the mythical and divisive concept of a multi-racial world.

The term 'half-caste' has its meaning complicated by connotations of class (especially for anyone with a Hindu parent) - however, 'half-caste' has always maintained a strong 'streetspeak' currency due to this term's convenient homophonic associations with the word 'cast' (meaning hue). Of course, I would still stress that all Humans are naturally cast (moulded) from two halves - half father and half mother. It is interesting that, although 'zebras' are a common sight on UK streets, we do not use this somewhat amusing American term for couples of contrasting skin-colour - instead, the British seem to prefer to agonize over the etiquette of socially acceptable terminology for the offspring of 'zebras'!

I recently read a report where an African described an African born child as 'half-white' and, as a descriptive convention, this label struck me as simple and practical - although Europeans would probably favour 'half-black'.

There is no racism implicit in any of the aforementioned terms - they are just words. Racism is in the mind of the reader and in the eye of the beholder. May the best word win!


Colour Schemes

Nearly every Human is slightly genetically different from the next, and through sexual selection, Humans can, in minor ways, adapt relatively quickly to suit the environment in which they find themselves. For example, skin pigmentations can either be evolved to give protection against the sun's strength (ie dark pigmentations in tropical and equatorial regions) or can be evolved to allow extra absorption of solar energy (ie pale pigmentations in colder regions where the sun's rays are less powerful). This means that a paler-skinned person who migrates from Europe to Africa will probably suffer a little over-exposure to sunlight (causing sunburn and heat-stroke), whilst a darker-skinned person who migrates from Africa to Scandinavia will suffer a little under-exposure to the sun's rays (causing coldness and under-production of vitamin D3). This could explain why darker-skinned people get SAD (Seasonal Adjustment Disorder) in the European wintertime and why paler-skinned people go MAD (Mental And Deranged) under the African midday sun! Humans can also fine tune their skin pigmentation by tanning.


The House of Colours

It makes little sense for Black politicians to join the UK's major political parties - the need to implement all-Black short-lists in specific constituencies demonstrates that these parties suffer from institutional racism and an unwillingness to undergo general change. Although a Black political party would make a strong political point (vis à vis the depth of racism in the UK), the establishment of a voluntarily-funded and separate Black Parliament (without legislative power) would make an even stronger one. Surely would not Black MP's be more conspicuous by their complete absence from the Houses of Parliament?

(Incidentally, I consider that, for a dissenting Labour or Conservative MP, the honourable response to Parliamentary approval of the Iraq War would have been to have rolled his/her party membership into a fat joint and to have smoked it in the middle of Parliament Square! That's what I would call really strong action!)


Oppression Flows Red - What Colour is Freedom?

Ultimately, however, it is the freedom-hostile nature of UK political 'democracy' which facilitates the oppression of UK minorities and, thus, racism. Participation in the present (institutionally racist) UK 'democratic' process, inane compliance with compulsory UK taxation and acceptance of the UK's compulsory piss-poor public services (the institutional tools of racists) will only prolong oppression (and racism).

The real problem is oppression - racism is simply one tool employed by the oppressor. After all, when someone puts a gun to one's head does one:-

A: try to remain calm?

B: crap oneself?

C: wonder which box one's assailant would tick when answering an ethnic diversity questionnaire?

D: any combination of the above?

If one survives this ordeal, the shit in one's underpants will always emit the same stink - regardless of one's assailant's skin-colour. Should one be shot dead, the colour of one's brains on the pavement will always be the same - regardless of the skin-colour of one's assailant.

WHATEVER YOU DO - DON'T MENTION HIS COLOUR!

OR

WORDS THAT SHOULD BE BLACKLISTED.....AND THEN BURNT!

OR

WORDS THAT DESERVE A THOROUGHLY GOOD SPANKING!

OR

LOCK THAT WORD UP AND THEN THROW AWAY THE KEY!


See:

http://www.blink.org.uk/pdescription.asp?key=9508&grp=21


Well! Shiver me timbers! Trevor Phillips has uttered one sentiment with which I can whole-heartedly concur! It does not follow, when racists have used a particular word against non-white-skinned people, that this particular ‘radio-active' word should be buried in a leaden tomb at the very bottom of the deepest, darkest ocean - lest it contaminate those reckless souls that may be tempted to use it! Why should racists be allowed to determine the lexicon of those they seek to oppress? After all, if racists were to decide to ‘sully' a long list of hitherto ‘innocent' words, ‘religiously' observant non-racists would find very little ‘pure' word-room in which to manouevre! No wonder that so many non-whites (with a sense of humour) enjoy ‘reclaiming' words such as ‘nigger' - even the filthiest white-trash and racist-scrap would appear to have some value after recycling! It's definitely a case of cutting out one's tongue in order to spite one's mind.....

Lester Holloway reckons that "The word also takes us back years to an era when signs saying 'No Coloureds, No Irish, No Dogs' hung on windows. We should not allow Trevor to turn back the clock. If he likes the word 'coloured' and doesn't like the word 'multicultural' we have to wonder what's going on."

Well fear not Lester! There is no mythical present which has vanquished the racist terrors of the past - a past where blacks were negros and the favour of whites had to won. Politically-correct patch-makers do not want anyone to ‘turn back the clock' because they know, deep-down, that the UK's ‘clock' of human decency was never wound up - and that, despite a multi-culture of liberal and leftist policies, this ‘clock' has never moved on.

As for Lee ‘rose-tinted' Jasper, he needs to get himself down to Specsavers, on the double! In effect, Britain has always been ‘segregated' and continues to be ‘segregated' to this day. In fact, while UK minorities continue to be oppressed, it is in the interests of survival for minorities to become more ‘segregated'. Mr Jasper states that Mr Phillips "should seriously consider whether he is in the right job." Is Lee Jasper after Trev's job?

Unfortunately, the meat of Trevor Phillips' speech was, as usual, comfort food for racists. Just as his ‘Sleep-Walking into Segregation' address was a coded attack on Muslims who, quite reasonably, choose to keep themselves-to-themselves (he implied, with a cynicism which Blair would have envied, that Muslim self-segregation is causing terrorism - whilst totally disregarding the slaughter of Middle Eastern Muslims caused by Western military occupation), so Trevor Phillips' latest offering now contains a dictat which states that there should be "national agreement on some of these issues" ie. he believes that minorities should gratefully accept the names that they are given by racists.

Fortunately, Shami Chakrabarti recognises that "it's all too easy to bang on about shared language and rather harder to stand up for non-negotiable values such as ... freedom from arbitrary arrest." She alone seems to recognise that it's people (through their actions) who are racist - and that words, on their own, can never be racist. She's obviously somewhat irritated by the irrelevance of this discussion in the context of a society where Muslims and other non-whites are being arbitrarily arrested and summarily executed.
In a country where race mythology is used to divide, rule and oppress, we should not be worrying about which race-label to use - we should really be questioning whether we ought to give any Human any race-label at all.



Marmite

“Phillips speech will be particularly galling for those who have fought for years against words like 'half-caste' and 'coloured' to assert their identity as being Black.”


Trevor Phillips' casual approach to the word ‘coloured' is probably due to a generational influence. One's use of language often gives away one's age. People from different age groups will refer to the National Assistance Board, the DHSS, the DSS or the DWP, but they will usually all be describing the same government department - likewise different people will refer to people of Afro-Carribean origin as either negro, coloured, people of colour and black. The use of these words is simply a matter of personal preference - in the same way as my experiences of traffic conditions and roadworks, when I used to drive from Clerkenwell to Shoreditch, tended to make me a ‘City Road man', rather than an ‘Old Street man'; similarly, the lottery of one's formative experiences might lead one to be a ‘tit man' instead of a ‘bum man'!

I cannot count the number of times I have heard people from older generations (both black and white) use the word ‘coloured' - but does this make a black pensioner, who uses the word ‘coloured', ignorant about race-issues? Equally, I am not bothered when I hear a racist use the word ‘coloured' - because I realize that his actions speak far louder than his words. Clearly, this sort of terminology only becomes important when a society dominated by white racists demands it to be so - but it is that same racialized society which has today necessitated the racial description ‘black'. It is, of course, not the skin-description ‘black' about which we are arguing, but the insidiously weighted racial-description - which is the result of a sinister fabrication (race).

In terms of physical description, I will always consider a particular friend of mine to be ‘half-caste' - because, in 1983, when I had mislaid his address and was attempting to locate him, my then girlfriend described him as ‘half-caste'. I had never before heard this term used (indeed, I did not even know that there existed a term to describe his particular complection), but the term proved invaluable in finding his exact whereabouts in the general area in which I knew him to reside. However, I will always primarily think of this man as my friend rather than as a ‘label'. It is unfortunate that so many people are more concerned with the label than with the Human to which it is attached - though, I suppose, this is hardly surprising in an age where people are obsessed with ‘designer labels'...

Moreover, not only have I, by accident of circumstances, internalized the term ‘half-caste', but I also prefer this term to the racially-loaded ‘mixed-race' and the sociological non-descriptive mouthful of ‘dual-heritage' - because I am attracted towards the term which, in Western understanding, has the least racial connotations.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

FENCES

Prompted by references on the Blink website, I have recently viewed the film Rabbit-Proof Fence and it’s theme has now been instantly suggested to me by Frank TALKER’s image of ‘dark purlieus’ within the racist psyche (see Frank TALKER comment, 13.04.05 http://www.blink.org.uk/feedback.asp?key=5990). Being a huge Ingmar Bergman fan, I naturally enjoyed this film’s scenes of wild windswept grassy plains, the latent leporine symbolism and the tense psychological drama! However, the most impressive aspect of the movie was its beautifully blatant and simple symbolism - which was right down this rabbit’s rambling intellectual warren! I was especially struck by the way the thought-sequestrating reason-proof fence, which, in the racist mind, divided Aboriginal from European, was outwardly expressed by the attempted creation of a culturally asphyxiating human-proof fence, which was intended to prevent the communicative free-flow of life-enhancing human intercourse. Inspiringly, though, this story describes how the vision of two committed children extended far farther than the range of this fearful Fence of Futility - such that they outflanked the reach of its unrealistic ambition. Accordingly, I would prescribe Rabbit-Proof Fence as a welcome antidote to the pervading toxic futility of the film Walkabout.

Urgent to emulate the former German oblivion to the function of the Konzentrationslager, we in the UK are also building fences behind which we are increasingly reluctant to let our conscience venture.

'MIXED RACE' RELATIONSHIPS

See post by 'Lester' Blink Forum:

http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:S4apgpVQzvoJ:www.blink.org.uk/////
forum/viewtopic.php%3Ft%3D31%26sid%3D6b85405cd9cb622dc842a656754aabb8++site:
www.blink.org.uk+%22lou+sid+linesman%22+cultural+values&hl=en&
amp;amp;gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=2


It's for the individual parent to choose whether to play a full and influential part in the upbringing of children - and this is largely a question of the maturity of the relationship.

Unless there is an enforced prohibition of culture in the Carribean and in Africa, I see little chance of these cultures being 'lost'! I'm fairly sure that traditional European rather than Afro-Carribean culture is in need of being granted heritage preservation orders and the designation of sites of special scientific interest! Nevertheless, true cultural values must be rediscovered, reproved and re-authorised by each new and independent generation - in order to prove the real worth of those individuals. And if worthy individuals fail to endorse certain aspects of their forefathers' culture, those cultural phenomena will have lost currency - according to a natural order. Cultures which must be preserved are cultures which have given up the will to face reality and which have failed and died. Cultures are based upon the universal recognition of the achievements of individuals - individuals who recognise that there is always room for improvement. A culture which considers itself to be of such perfection as to be deserving of a glass case is yesterday's culture. Culture must live and develop to be worthy of the name.

One has only to read a few of Frank TALKER's posts to become aware of the comprehensive failings of traditional European culture, but traditional Afro-based culture too has it's drawbacks eg. male and female circumcision. On the other hand, the invention and vision of Ghanaian music is truly marvellous.

Any good relationship (no matter the cultural background) is founded upon love and the joy of creating something which is original and which aspires to fulfill the highest human ideals. Such relationships are the only possible nurseries of culture and it's amazing how we humans compost and recycle that which has real worth. I would reckon that the freedom of spirit required to enter a 'non-conformist' relationship is a promising ingredient for the soup of culture.

If individuals (whatever the colour of their skin) do not to fail in their relationships, do not get married for the wrong reasons and do not fail as parents, how are those same individuals ever to learn to recognise what is of value? Everybody must be able to make mistakes.


I have complete respect for what 'Lester' has (most sincerely) written, but the problems which he identifies concern individual maturity and are not problems which arise from the colouration of culture. Real cultural values can always be shared. What is more important: the value, or the skin-colour of the person who holds the value?