by Jayne Olorunda (Author of Legacy and publisher at Excalibur publishing NI)
Barely a day goes by when we are not confronted with a headline story about racism. I confess I have a habit of dwelling on these, as I’m sure anyone who has experienced racism first hand does. It is especially easy to do so when some of these headlines are on your doorstep. Yet as all of us dwellers know, such ruminating doesn’t get us anywhere. Certainly today's relentless stream of appalling racist incidents needs to be highlighted, just as those responsible need to be exposed and challenged. Yet for every bad news story some good news examples must exist, right? In writing this, the first of my monthly blogs for ROI against Racism I searched for some of these good news examples. I was ideally looking for a headline story promoting inclusion and diversity. I struggled with this, especially in finding the headline news examples. That’s because where racism is concerned it’s very rare that we see the good news stories. But they do exist and in such times when the extent of racism in our society is so topical it is becoming imperative that a balance between the good and bad is struck. If for no other reason than to reassure those people who feel vulnerable. The good work being done across Ireland North and South must be recognised, for without recognition of positive work I fear the momentum will be lost. We cannot afford this.
It just so happens that last week yet another despicable news story made European headlines. Even worse, it later emerged that this story had a direct link to Northern Ireland. This affected me profoundly. I am sure anyone reading this won’t need any prizes for guessing that the story I am about to mention is the Chelsea train incident. As I watched a man being denied the right to board a train because of the colour of his skin, I imagined how I would feel if that was my Dad, my sister or even me. How would anyone ever recover from that? To think that a group of grown men could publically intimidate and harass a lone man with such bravado and confidence is as frightening as their words. If you need reminding of these words, here they are again, “We’re racist, we’re racist and that’s the way we like it”. Their threatening behaviour even shook witnesses, some of whom looked on stunned. Incidents such as this would have been out of place in a schoolyard yet alone on a capital cities train system. Mercifully the man at the centre of the ordeal had no idea what the Chelsea fans were shouting, he couldn’t understand English. Yet even with no knowledge of the words, he still knew he had been subject to racist abuse. You see the language of racism is international. It is universal. Nowhere is immune and no interpreters are needed.
As it transpired the Chelsea incident was a little closer to home than I had initially thought. One of the alleged suspects caught on camera was from Northern Ireland. Not only that but he was a former police man and worse (for my family anyway), he worked in the victims sector. You see this story rang home for me on another level in that it resonated with part of my family history. My father, a black man, died on a train in Northern Ireland. The suspect works with victims of NI. He is being investigated for his alleged part in an act of racism towards a black man on a train. This could have been the same worker that any one of my family could have approached. Thankfully we didn’t. As I said earlier nowhere is immune, but situations like this can cause a crisis of trust. It cannot be assumed that because someone works with certain groups of people or is involved with humane causes that they don’t have racist tendencies.
The Paris train in question involved football supporters and that is disappointing. Because I know and have seen first-hand how hard the sporting world, in particular football strives to combat racism. I have seen the plethora of initiatives to stamp racism and indeed any type of prejudice out of the game. In the words of Nelson Mandela ‘sport has the power to break down barriers where nothing else can’. Many sporting bodies and officials recognize this and regularly use the power of sport to unite.
That said, would I be comfortable going to a football match? Yes. It’s no longer the game that concerns me, if it ever did. Instead it’s the supporters, despite footballs efforts I just can’t shake off the images of my childhood where football supporters were portrayed as violent far right thugs. The Paris incident has simply compounded and reinforced that line of thought. Yet it isn’t just football that I would avoid, there is also rugby. The difference being with rugby my avoidance isn’t due to the supporters but the players. I have lost count of how many times I have been asked to watch Ulster play this year and have declined. Since some of the team’s top players felt it was appropriate to ‘black up’ for fancy dress, the idea of rugby, well to be more precise Ulster rugby is now repugnant to me.
You see players in any sport are key to changing, creating or maintaining the reputations of their game. If the players choose to make a mockery of a group of people then they give the impression that it is ok for their supporters to do so as well. If players condemn something then their influence alone would have a huge impact. Many of the government, team and community initiatives fail to capitalise on the players enough. Players are sports best asset, they are role models, idolised and for the most part respected. Yet they just don’t speak out enough, they may condemn individually but to speak out as a team how much more powerful would that be? For example Chelsea was fantastic in condemning the events of last week, they immediately expressed their outrage. I can’t help thinking how much better it would been if the players had collectively spoken out to?
I don’t want to dwell on or totally blame the sporting arena for what I have come to see as selective racism, because selective racism is widespread. The notion that black people are acceptable if they are the surgeon saving your life, the banker, the boss, the president, the singer the actor, the footballer is part and parcel of our society. For some black people are ok when they have a purpose, if they look nice, have money, have power or they possess one of any number of desirable variables and dare I say they are far enough away? They are no threat, you can select to like or admire them, they benefit you in some way. What some fail to realise though is if you strip away the trappings, the titles and the fame then those apparently acceptable black people possess the same attributes that some take great offense to in everyday life. They are black, just like the black person that is pushed off a train, removed from their home, jeered at or even attacked.
Racism today is selective. People pick and choose who deserves it. Racism, one of the biggest inequalities of humanity in itself has become unequal. It is our society’s illness, our new plague. Thankfully some in our society are immune but not all. Racism if not dealt with correctly can be contagious, it can spread unless preventative measures are taken. The right influences, the right attitudes, the right information can keep racism at bay.
Across the UK and Ireland perhaps even globally great efforts are being put into eradicating racism and stamping out prejudice. Yet sometimes these efforts despite the best intentions can inadvertently perpetuate the problem. Our politicians and media in particular spring to mind here. They consistently talk of promoting ‘tolerance,’ but here’s the thing I don’t want to be tolerated, for that matter does anyone? I want to be accepted. We tolerate a cold, we tolerate the Irish weather. In my experience we tolerate people, things or the status quo because we know we have no other choice or because if we don’t we will be in trouble. I for one tolerate paying tax and I am sure I’m not alone! In our vernacular ‘tolerate’ implies putting up with something, we tolerate things we don’t like.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could see a change in the approach of our politicians and our media in how they speak about racism? For them to offer some constructive words by talking more about inclusion and acceptance and a little less about tolerance. As our pasts have shown you can only ever tolerate something for so long, before it becomes intolerable. If we could only move beyond a society based on ‘tolerance’ and selection towards one based on acceptance and inclusion then I believe we would see real change.
To find out more about Jayne, check out her twitter @jayne_legacy https://twitter.com/jayne_legacy
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