The New EDI: Exclusion, Diversion & Inequality

For many years there has been a distinct embarrassment to flagrantly show the true face of Racism and we have all made judgements about whether it was intentional or non-intentional or indeed how that Racism was defined. Seemingly the whole Asylum Seeker/Refugee crisis has presented a new rationale to justify racist thinking spearheaded by the threat of the supposed Islamification of Europe. We, in the UK, flirted with Racism in the context of Brexit and many of us believe that it was largely about “ Keeping Britain White” and ultimately resulted in the first ever Prime Minister who was not White…..a bitter irony for some!

Received wisdom has always been that “Racism” was not a good thing and it was the mark of a degenerate society and many of those who harboured racist views recognised it as a guilty emotion and were able to delude themselves with the illusion that it was not hurting anybody directly, but failed to recognise that  most racism is a consequence of what people do not do as opposed to what they do. Nonetheless the efforts invested to deal with it in the here and now has very often been more tokenistic than a game changer in the hope that foundations had been laid for the world to go down the right path. Western communities developed structures that were designed to identify and respond to Racism and even if the penalties rarely matched the offence, they believed that it was a work in progress. However, the threat of asylum seekers/refugees encroachment has tested the most ardent liberals who have concluded that perhaps we have gone too far in pandering to the demands of those who believe that Racism is still alive and well in many of our institutions.

However over the years many of our efforts to demonstrably respond to Racism has been aimed at the racists who wear their views on their sleeves who have collectively organised themselves into organisations and political parties fuelled by bogus principles of patriotism and with their tiny selection of deluded followers occupy our time with their versions of Racism acting as a distraction to the places where Racism truly festers which operates very often unchallenged within the mesh of systemic Racism that infects many of our big institutions. Let us not deceive ourselves by thinking that marching against fascist groups in city centres is the battleground. The battleground is very often in so called respected institutions where Racism manifests itself by our failures to challenge protected by the gatekeepers who supposedly represent our interests.

Ever since the Americans played their part in eradicating the scourge of the Nazi regime in Europe during the second world war, this country has followed American fashions like a lovesick puppy and whatever America does today, as day follows night, we in this country will do it tomorrow….and this ranges from language to fashion, to music to industry and to politics. However, the latest turn in American politics is a dangerous path for us to follow and those waiting on the wings to demolish any progress that has been made with regard to Diversity and Anti-Racism are only too eager to have their say and to have their day; particularly when they see the threat to the dominance of White men dictating the agenda!

The immediate targets will be “Johnny Foreigner” and basically that means anybody who does not look white; whatever they want to call themselves. So those of us who delude ourselves that we are safe from this labelling….well you better wake up for as long as you pretend to be “One of us” you may come to realise that you are “One of Them” and there are many who have lived here for generations who now have to face that realisation. America is already targeting those who have lived in America for decades and have paid their taxes and many of those in Latino communities who supported the new regime by strategically distancing themselves from Black communities now find themselves being hunted by ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents…..regardless of whether they fly the Star-Spangled Banner in their front porch.

The warning signs can be seen with The Windrush Generation and what happened to them to get a glimpse of what could happen to many of us in the UK…..some were imprisoned, some deported and some lost their lives. Also, we are starting to hear politicians on all sides criticising the number of migrants in the Health Service and we all know that “migrants” is now the modern euphemism for those who are “Not Like Us” in the words of Kendrick Lamar.

As America chooses to eradicate decades of civil rights achievements and look to cancel those who have been chosen to wave the flag of “Equality, Diversity & Inclusion” it seems that the UK may very well go down that road despite little valuing those who were employed to be the shield to deflect criticism of the failures of the systems to properly address the issue.

Unfortunately staying under the radar, not challenging Racism and remaining apolitical may not be enough no matter how hard we try to be more of the Us and less of the Them…Racism makes no such distinctions.

Don John

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