Really: some of my best friends are black. My sister is married to an African. I love Chinese food... We all know these claims immediately following the one of not being a racist. Racism is a real thing, it happens, we can all see it's effects every day.
source: The Blue Diamond Gallery
But I'm not racist, and neither are you, I'm sure. Still, as I mentioned, it happens and not only in western countries. I have a rather unique perspective on this matter of racism, on account of where and when I was born, and the color of the skin, hair and eyes I was born with. My mother gave birth to me in 1968 in Suriname, she being of mixed race and my father a genuine black man with a big afro (back then). They both had black hair and dark brown eyes, so it was kind of a shock for them to see me come into their world with the whitest blond hair, the lightest blue eyes and matching milky white skin; one of my grandfathers was a white man, and his "whiteness" decided to skip a generation and come back with a vengeance in me...
Back in 1968 Suriname was still a colony of the Netherlands, so technically I'm born a white negro on the colonial grounds of a white country. One leftover from being ruled by white people is this paradoxical Stockholm syndrome; somehow people with lighter skin are respected more. The drug stores in Suriname back then were full of products to give brown skin a lighter tint, and afro's were treated with a hot iron comb to "straighten" it, so people could have the white man's hair, be it black instead of blond or red. And I swear that nowhere in the Netherlands I've seen the kind of adoration of the Dutch royal family like I've seen in Suriname. Research among black children shows that when given the choice, they'd much rather play with dolls that have white skin, blond hair and blue eyes. My parent's initial shock quickly turned into pride, as they paraded their ultra light-skinned kid around town; I cannot consciously remember these baby days, but I was quite the spectacle, this little lily-white kid in a country predominantly occupied by African, Hindustani, Indian, Indonesian, and Chinese people.
This diverse racial mix in the country, and the color of my skin made it so that I was quickly introduced to the phenomenon of racism; like I said, this isn't exclusive to white people, and sadly colored people are racist among themselves to. And don't for a second think that black people, my people, aren't ever racist against white people; my fellow countrymen that don't know me, often begin talking among themselves in their, and my, native tongue, convinced that I can't understand what they're saying, and trust me when I say they have their version of the N word for whiteys. I just noticed how I'm perfectly comfortable with writing "whitey", which is a derogatory term, but dare not utter the N word... Best to be aware of the effects of social pressure and the politically correct rage of today. I'll have to deal with that somehow; never too old to learn I guess...
And I guess I don't even really know where I'm going with this. I just felt the urge to share some first hand knowledge on a touchy subject. Especially now the economies of western countries have forsaken their respective middle classes, and the manufactured political correctness that's killing real debate, which in turn is arresting mutual understanding, causing the need for some good old scapegoats. But I lack the inspiration to do so today, maybe because it comes so close to home. I'm lucky then, that Joyner Lucas said it all really:
we were all humans until
race disconnected us,
religion separated us,
politics divided us,
and wealth classified us.
His music video went viral in 2017, but I completely missed out on that; I only discovered this brilliant, in my opinion that is, rap song last week, when my son showed it to me. In little less than seven minutes we get to see and hear every stereotypical viewpoint from the white and black man's perspective, which I found a very effective way of explaining how mutual misunderstanding leads to mutual hate. I hope you can watch this without taking offense...
Joyner Lucas - I'm Not Racist
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