To:
letters@guardian.co.uk Date: Saturday, 16 April 05 |
||
|
||
Dear Martin (Mr
Jacques),
In response to your
comment in today's Guardian:
"The
Middle Kingdom mentality".
What is my race if not my super-extended family (the people, past and present, I most closely relate - and am related - to)?
Skin colour is just a
genetic marker, but to
maintain that it doesn't (or
shouldn't matter), is saying
that it doesn't matter who
your parents and ancestors
are. It may not matter to you,
but it certainly matters to
me, and to a great many other
people, as well - of all
races.
I don't think of my
family (or race) as being
superior to other families (or
races), but because it is MY
family (race) it is of
special importance to me.
These are the people I
identify with and care most
about. I am strongly
prejudiced in their favour,
but do not think that this
makes me "racist".
Although some people - and you
may be one of them - seem to
think that it does.
It seems to me that
they (you?) have made a kind
of religion, a new "faith",
of "anti-racism",
condemning all those who do
not share your beliefs and
feelings as non-believers,
i.e. "racists"
(creating for yourselves a
convenient niche in the
socio-economic environment).
I'm not defending
those who are offensive (let
alone aggressive) towards
people of different race. When
members of my race do that I'm
ashamed for them. But the
feelings that cause it go very
deep and relate to a
threatened sense of identity.
Branding them as
"racist" is
misguided, resulting in
suppression rather than
resolution, which requires
retaining (and cultivating) a
sense of one's own ethnic
identity without the need to
put down others.
I am an ethnic
European and as such have much
to be proud and ashamed of.
I'm not Black, Asian, Chinese,
Japanese, or any of the other
1001 races which populate our
planet.
But you cannot define
race, you object. True. But
there are many important
things - the most essential
amongst them - that cannot be
defined: love and truth, for
example. Being a white man, a
European, is an essential part
of my and many other people's
identity. Do others not also
have a sense of racial
identity? Many black people
certainly do.
Race is important and
matters - certainly to most
people - as an essential
component of their identity,
so I suggest you look up
the word "racism" in
your dictionary and stop
applying it where it is not
appropriate.
|
||
|