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| W.E.B DuBois |
"A system cannot fail those it was never meant to protect"..... W.E.B. DuBois
The afore-stated quote with the requisite attribution to the great W.E.B. DuBois essentially sums up the crux of the piece. Racism, as I have always stated is not a behavior, nor is it a word, action or an attitude. Racism at its very core is an institution with its attendant benefactors as well as victims.
There is nothing more disheartening than to hear people of an ethnic background in particular refer to an individual, an action or a statement as racist. The institution is what is racist. Yes, the institution that deemed the black man and woman as less than human and forced people of African descent in particular into an artificial class, then proceeded to accuse them (to this day regardless of geographical location) of all manner of sin with the sole intent of damning and systematically subjugating them.
Whether it is in South Africa (pre or post apartheid), Brazil and other parts of South America, the United States of America or countries in Europe like France and England, the system has always ensured that "people of color" (blacks in particular) remain at the bottom. Brazil for example, has the second largest concentration of people of African descent (blacks) after Nigeria. In Brazil, the poverty level among its black or "colored" population is terrifying with the unemployment rate among the latter in Brazil well over the 50% clip. The same scenario plays out in the United States with black unemployment rate nearing 10% (blacks make up only 13% of the US population) and 1.6 times the US national unemployment average. The same pattern of subjugation is also found in South Africa where the majority population of close to 90% is black (African) but the broad unemployment rate among South African blacks (who are the majority) stands at a staggering 45% and should be more if the unemployment among the "mixed-race blacks" (designated as coloreds by the former racist apartheid regime) is also taken into consideration.
The sole intent of racism (as an institution) as designed by White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP) was to ensure the continued dominance of other ethnic (non-white) groups by minimizing the traditional ways, religion, ideals and institutions of non-white racial groups, while promoting those of the colonialists and western imperialists as superior to those of the former.
It is not surprising that countries like Japan, China and the Asian Tigers, who have maintained their core culture and traditions are the ones that have been able to compete and even out-duel the global WASP economic powers. The Chinese, Japanese and the Asian Tigers have kept their culture and institutions the way they have always been even in the face of some of the most debilitating wars and conflicts with the West, as they understand its existential importance to their survival.
African countries on the other hand continue to imbibe the alien cultures and values of the West with its attendant negative consequences. As a people, we (Africans) have essentially abandoned our traditional institutions including our language, thus embarking on a journey that may not augur well for the future survival of our people. The debilitating effect of colonialism and racism continue to take its toll on our people, our institutions and our way of life. In sports for example (soccer or football for one), we disregard our best local talent and seek even the most unqualified white expatriates to fill the same role while paying them exorbitant amounts of money, a fraction of which the local handlers would gladly take, and produce better results than the white mercenary.
Our women have been told that their natural beauty is not enough, and that they must purchase and wear human hair procured from dead women in India and other parts of Asia and Europe to be considered beautiful. The same racist institution also tells them they must bleach their skin so they can be light skinned like Beyoncé (the white held ideal of black beauty) and inculcates the black woman with anti-male propaganda that has inevitably seen the black man and the black woman increasingly at odds with one another.
The most obvious example of the effects of racism is the most recent US elections in 2016 that saw Donald J. Trump elected as the 45th POTUS. There is no question that Donald Trump's election was in response to the election of his predecessor, Barack H. Obama as the 44th POTUS. Obama (who is half white and half black/African) was elected in 2008, against all odds as the so-called first black POTUS. He (Obama) endured some of the most contentious times any POTUS has ever endured in the history of the United States and by the end of his tenure, the majority white population already had enough and any white person, no matter how unqualified, would do. The election of Donald Trump was essentially a white backlash to the election of the first black POTUS!
When you see all these scenarios, it is clear to see that racism is an institution, an evil and methodical system of continued oppression, marginalization and consequent decimation of a class of people by and with the apparatus of national and global economic, executive, judicial, legislative and military power.
Africa must realize that the second scramble for the continent is already in effect and those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.
#racism #imperialism #neo-colonialism #white supremacy
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