To:
Thinkingallowed@bbc.co.uk |
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Dear Laurie et
al. at
Thinking
Allowed, BBC
Radio 4
As you will
know from
previous
emails, unlike
you (the cool,
disinterested
academic), I'm
passionately
interested in
race and
identity and
the
relationship
between them,
so your
interview
with Bridget
Byrne (of
Manchester
University) in
Wednesday's
broadcast was
a riveting
listen. One
thing she
said, however,
I found rather
puzzling: ".
. . . if we
want to think
of 'a time
beyond race' .
. " You didn't
query it, so I
presume that
you understood
what she
meant. I, and
perhaps some
of your other
listeners,
would be very
interested to
know what it
was.
Our race is
determined by
who our
forebears were
(telling us
about our
roots and our
history), so
it is hardly
surprising
that it plays
such a central
role in
determining
many (I would
think, most)
people's sense
of identity.
So, unless we
are seeking to
create a
society of
individuals
who are all
of more-or-less
homogenously
mixed race, I
do not see how
there can ever
be "a time
beyond race".
To me, my
ancestors,
roots and
history (and
with them,
necessarily,
my race) are
always going
to be of
central
importance,
although as a
white man I'm
not supposed
to feel like
this and am
under a great
deal of
pressure to
suppress such
feelings. No
one wants to
be accused of
"racism", but
that is what
happens to any
one who feels
(and dares to
express) a
sense of white
(native
European)
identity.
Rather, we are
supposed to
feel ashamed
of being
white, because
of
colonialism,
slavery and
all the other
terrible
things that
white men were
involved in,
not to mention
our
responsibility
for most of
the problems,
horrors and
injustices of
the modern
world. It is
an attitude
that we
inflict upon
ourselves, I
suspect, at
least in
part, as a
consequence of
our Christian
culture, which
has imbibed us
over centuries
with a burden
of guilt
for "original
sin".
This is an
incredibly
interesting,
and important,
subject - as
is the whole,
wider question
of identity.
It was the
Nazi's evil
exploitation
and
manipulation
of Germans'
sense of
national and
racial
identity which
resulted in such
remarkable
achievements
(not all bad)
and the
horrors of
WW2 and
Auschwitz, but we
won't prevent
such
manipulation
and
exploitation
in future by
denying and
suppressing
such an
important
natural
tendency.
Rather, we need
to understand
it and create
social
structures
that
allow us to
express,
maintain and
cultivate it
in a humane and
civilised
fashion, since
it is essential
for human
diversity.
Otherwise, a
few
generations
down the line
(assuming that
we solve the
"sustainability
problem")
our
descendents will all be of
more-or-less
homogenous
mixed race and
culture - and
anything but
"diverse".
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