Can Racism be justified?

I return to that divisive subject of racism, once again breaking my own ‘Blog Rules’.  I had promised to steer clear of these controversial topics by not volunteering my opinions.   Looks like I just can’t keep my opinions to myself or let’s say guys like Sterling keep provoking me.   It has been widely reported that the owner of LA Clippers, one Sterling made some disparaging remarks about black people in a phone call to his girl friend.  I must admit, it happening in the US and in basketball that I do not devotedly follow, I shrugged my shoulders a bit.  Then in quick succession I got to know of two other events, FC Barcelona's Dani Alves' defying stunt of eating a banana that had been thrown at him and the matter of the Ugandan Blogger who claims she was denied entry to the Irish Pub Bubbles O'leary in Kampala on the basis of the colour of her skin. These two stories got me going again and for the latter, a small part of me began to wonder, how this could be happening in Kampala, a place teeming with loads of exposed people.

Now, I should probably put it on record that I find Alves together with Pepe of Real Madrid to be two of the most annoying people in football, but for his spectacular act I found myself a passionate applauder and I was not the only one. Within a matter of hours Alves’ exploit had gone viral on social media and a number of stars and statesmen replicated it.  But I digress.  That is not the reason, I returned to the subject of racism.  I suspect that there is a little bit of weariness about the whole racism issue – you just have to look at the online comments and understand that there are people who now react to the problem with a mixture of resignation and sneering lassitude - one reader suggested ‘why don’t we just stop talking at all.’  I came back to this issue because during one of the online discussions, a friend of mine suggested that speaking out against racism is fighting an unnecessary war - and he was not done, “why criticize others for racism when we practice it here in Uganda among our tribes”.   I was dumbfounded.  I could not believe it.   First and foremost, I do not believe that speaking out or taking action against racism is fighting an unnecessary war, secondly I have never believed that racism is equivalent to tribalism – which is what is practiced in Uganda.  To make sure I wasn’t wrong I looked up both words.  You know sometimes you are so shocked that you aren’t sure any more if you know what you know.  There was my moment of uncertainty, may be these words were actually one and the same, I started thinking.  Well, according to the Collin’s English dictionary;

Tribalism – the state of existing as a separate tribe or strong loyalty to one’s tribe or tribal values.

           

Racism – the belief that races have distinctive cultural characteristics determined by hereditary factors and that this endows some races with an intrinsic superiority over others.

            or

abusive or aggressive behaviour towards members of another race on the basis of such a belief

Clearly the two are not the same and for Africans who still have their roots on the continent and have experienced both, you can’t equate one to the other.   Racism is wrong in so many ways, but mostly that it is meant dehumanise, to make one inferior and not worthy.  No one wants to be abused or attacked because of the colour of his or her skin, no one wants to be denied a seat, a job or treated like an outcast just because he is of a different race.  In my earlier post, I reiterated that while some people consider it racism, calling me black is not racist but when one takes some negative action or justifies their abusive behaviour/ attitude because I am black, it becomes racism and I will fight it whenever I can.  Racism cannot be justified in the 21st Century.

The day despondency takes over and we give up taking action against what is wrong is the day we give up our rights to live as human beings and that’s what made the movie The Butler difficult viewing for me. We should not make being dehumanised and abused because of our race acceptable in return for tranquillity.  Racism is wrong and should be fought and I cant believe that a public place in Uganda can get away with excluding some people just because of the colour of their skin.  I haven’t really faced outright racism but during my constant travels, I have experienced restrained acts of bigotry in Egypt and the US.   On foreign land and dealing with an immigration officer, I have quietly but agonizingly lived through such incidents.  However, I am not prepared to accept racism even in the most subtle form in my country, I will speak out and let who ever cares to know that I have the same right as them to be served or use a public facility irrespective of my colour.