Subscribe

Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis
[contact-form-7 404 "Not Found"]

Subscribe

Are You Racist?

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

Martin Niemöller

In response to the videos of the killing of George Floyd, black squares started appearing all over people’s social media feeds. It was a public protest in solidarity with his family and the BLM movement and against police racism and brutality. I too felt the outrage, yet I was disturbed by this outpouring. I had seen it all before and knew these knee jerk protests would be fleeting. Change takes continual, consistent and sustained effort for a very long time. Today’s causes célèbres are forgotten by tomorrow.

Instead of a plain black square I published this slideshow on my social media to highlight the hypocrisy in this very public but temporary outrage. It really pissed people off. Well, hey it was meant too. Most who posted a black square will likely do nothing to change their behaviour as they think they aren’t racist. Yet most will benefit from the status quo and the invisible privilege of being non-black. As a white man I felt ashamed. Institutional racism is so damn ugly but I am a beneficiary. I wanted to really think about and examine what my role is in maintaining the status quo. How do I benefit from this inequality? What can I do to change it? How can I take this outrage and keep it up? Can I actually do something or anything useful?

I changed the hiring policy in my business after this. That was one positive thing. No more white men. Positive discrimination is necessary if you really want equality. To the people posting black squares I say earn the right to do that. Come back to me in a year and tell me what you did.