Anti-Black racism: A critical look

(Link on DailyTrust site)

The recent riots in the United States against the brutal killing of one George Floyd, an African American, by a White police officer, have once again highlighted not only the plight of the Black community in the country but also the persistent issue of racism against the Black race the world over.

Basically, people of all races consciously or subconsciously discriminate against people of other races in different subtle and blatant ways. However, the question of whether a particular race is more racist than the other remains debatable in the absence of any objective and exhaustive research in this regard. Yet, judging by the socio-cultural and tacit institutional recognition of racist attitudes and actions, countries of the Euro-American axis may appear more racist than others. This is, among other things, given the prevalence of unapologetic White supremacist groups, which blatantly push for preferential consideration for people of Caucasian origin i.e. the White on account of their race.

While their thugs are notorious for racially-motivated crimes, nationalist politicians effectively represent the political front of the racist tendency. With whole parties of their own or as influential members in other parties, they partake in politics and indeed win elections. They are likewise all over the public and private sectors and the security establishments of those countries.  

This explains why the Black is subjected to racial profiling in the Euro-American axis probably worse than anywhere else. The basic principle of the presumption of the innocence of an individual until proved guilty largely applies the other way round there when a Black person is involved. It’s quite common, for instance, for a Black dude innocently strolling into or around a typical White neighbourhood in, say, Los Angeles, to attract a phobic suspicion from the residents and even interrogation from the police patrol around simply because, being Black, automatically makes him a potential suspect until somehow proved otherwise.

Likewise, a typical Black fellow in a typical shopping store is viewed as a potential shoplifter, and is covertly or even overtly monitored by the store attendants. Even in George Floyd’s murder case that sparked the recent riots in the US, the store attendant involved was said to have suspected the victim of presenting a counterfeit $20 bill to buy a cigarette and therefore reported to the police who responded with their typical racist-motivated high-handedness when a Black man is involved.

In the Indo-Chinese axis also, the persistent racist-motivated harassment against the Black, which recurrently escalates into indiscriminate violence against African communities and individuals has exposed the hitherto largely unknown but deep-rooted Indo-Chinese anti-Black racism. In India particularly, there is a pre-existing culture of discrimination against the relatively darker-skinned Indians. The situation has also got worse for other vulnerable Indian communities since the beginning of the current nationalist government in the country under Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, a notorious Hindu chauvinist.

Arabs equally exhibit anti-Black racism in various ways. Their racism, however, is more of an individual tendency than an institutional or communal phenomenon, as it’s the case elsewhere. Interestingly also, Arabs are, ironically, more obsessed with their deep-rooted culture of clannism, which is a persistent residue of their pre-Islamic Jahiliyya culture, and which still effectively partly determines clannish and individual social status. This explains the failure of Arab nationalism championed by the likes of Jamal Abdul-Nasir of Egypt, and others. However, while this may not necessarily suggest less anti-Black racism, it explains their relatively less obsession with it, which, in turn, explains their relatively less aggressive show of racism against the Black at least compared to the foregoing.  

Now, though critics of racism against the Black are typically and rightly passionate in their criticisms, their largely simplistic perception of the phenomenon renders their anti-racism recommendations too unrealistic and indeed too idealistic to be adopted. They ignore the basic fact that anti-Black racism is a universal phenomenon; and that no race, including the Black themselves, is innocent in this regard.

Interestingly, while the non-Black races discriminate against the Black as exemplified in the foregoing, the Black betray anti-Black discrimination mostly in the form of subconscious glorification of the White and their choices and subtle preference for the relatively lighter-skinned among themselves. In fact, some even get carried away sometimes to sound or behave worse than the White racists. For instance, a particularly darker-skinned Black fellow is more likely to be mischievously taunted for his complexion in say, Nigeria, than in, say, Norway. He is also more likely to be discriminated against in a competitive environment in Nigeria on account of his ethnicity than he is in, say, Australia on account of his race.  

Likewise, despite the notoriety of the US police for racist-motivated high-handedness against the Black, a typical law-abiding but less-privileged Nigerian is much more vulnerable to police harassment, brutality, and, of course, extortion in the streets of Kano than he is in the streets of Kansas.

In short, whatever discrimination a typical Black fellow endures in any non-Black country on account of his race is less than what his typical African-based counterpart endures on account of his ethnicity.

Anyway, anti-Black racism is obviously borne out of deep-rooted racial stereotypes of the Black who are looked down on as less intelligent, less competent and less civilized compared to other races, which many attribute to genetic factors claiming that the Black race is naturally genetically disadvantaged intelligence-wise. However, while this claim is absolutely ridiculous as it contradicts the spirit of Divine Impartiality, it’s admittedly not easy to outargue its theorists in the absence of any instance in human existence where the Black race, in general, has ever matched up to, let alone outmatch, any non-Black race as a whole in any competitive human endeavour.

Legal injunctions, policies and other relevant measures can only address anti-Black racism superficially; also, while absolute commitment to relevant moral values remains the only permanent panacea for the phenomenon, the Black as a whole can only acquire appropriate recognition among other races according to the extent of their collective competitiveness in all competitive human ventures.