Because everyday is Blog Against Racism Day

[eumelia]

So International Blog Against Racism Week ended yesterday and my default icon is back to cute Chibi!Mel.

However, that doesn't mean we stop blogging, talking or generally being pissed about racism and racial discrimination.

Due to my somewhat controversial (though it really isn't) entry "What is this symmetry you speak of?", I was told that I don't take into the account the motivation behind the racial discrimination that permeates the culture and society in which I live.

I quote the comment:

Your post started out saying how privileged you are and then you went off to say how racist your country is. The pivot/changeover of your post is where you said that you have never experienced racism. I posit that you have. It just doesn't fit your narrative, nor that of many other Israelies, so you ignore it.

You see Israel as a bully, a regional superpower who, externally, runs roughshod over weaker neighbours (Palestinians) and abuses the "other" internally.

The people who are writing "Arabs out" and suspect every Arab of being a potential terrorist see Israel as surrounded by "a ocean of enemies" who want to "throw the Jews into the sea". Where you see malicious behaviour, I see fearful behaviour

I am not supporting racism, I am not saying that Israel has no racist elements in it, I will never accept "Honour" killing as anything but the heinous, rancorous act that it is.

What I am saying is that in an otherwise enlightened post, you are wearing blinkers which are preventing you from being a fuller part of the solution. If people are scared and that leads them to racism, you cannot just say "Stop, What you do is Wrong" and expect them to change.

You are, of course, part of the solution already, and that is a Good Thing(tm)

:)

Emphasis mine.

There is a problem with citing a motivator for such behaviour. It can be easily construed as excusing the behaviour in some ways at worst or falls into that problematic category of "hate the sin, not the sinner" at best.

Basically, it reduces the accountability and responsibility of the those committing racist behaviour be it in words or in action.
And that is, how you say?
Not cool.
All prejudice, each and every single one can be reduced to its fear factor.
Fear of the Other, whoever they may be does not excuse the behaviour (including mine) of those who perpetrate and perpetuate the racial discrimination I witness in my day to day life and that others experience as a part of their identity.

I don't think humans by their nature are malicious, fear is a far bigger motivator than Evil. And because we as humans are so far removed from anything "natural" it's idiotic to proclaim anything to do with human behaviour natural - no to mention cultural differences in which Nature can have very different meanings.

In any event, the reason why someone says or does something racist matters little to me, this also true when someone says something racist or racially prejudicial and qualifies it by saying "but I didn't mean it that way"..
"Text is everything" said Derrida.
It's also nothing if you're going to ignore the context and the power structure of social interaction.

In short, this is the conversation we all have to have: