Why?

I consider myself as “white” in that my ancestors all came from Europe and my skin colour is lighter than that of “people of colour”. And I recognize that in many ways this has allowed me privileges not given to those who skin colour differs from mine. Likewise I speak the only language I know – “English”! Furthermore my heritage and inherited customs are also “English”.  

But does this make me “better” than those with a skin colour that differs from mine?; or “better” than those who worship God in a manner different from the way I do?; or “better” than those who speak a different language – even two or more languages?; or “better” than those with different customs and a different heritage?

Surely, surely we can move on, beyond such puerile thoughts and beliefs?

We need diversity; we need the “differences” – these things give us a focus rather than just navel gazing. A lack of “difference” in a group or society often brings out the worst in people and the resultant “mob” formation may have disastrous consequences. One just has to witness the frenzied mobs at recent political rallies or at football matches in England and Europe, or the extreme neo-Nazis or any extreme religious group to understand the effects that may influence much larger populations. 

Should such extremes enter main-stream society then confusion and a breakdown of law and order is inevitable. This has unfortunately been witnessed too often in the 20^thCentury. Apart from the horrendous massacre of about 6 million European Jews by the Nazis (1933-1945), there was the awful Pol Pot (1975-79) in Cambodia whose henchmen killed an estimated 2 million people. Then there was the deranged Idi Amin, the Ugandan president in the 1970s under whose rule about ½ million people died. Also never forget the “ethic cleansing” in the 1990s in what was Yugoslavia and the similar, current,  “cleansing” of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and the present day “re-education” of a million Uyghur Muslims in China. The list is almost endless. 

And why? In the name of all that is wonderful – why?

I know this sort of thing has been going on for centuries but can’t we learn anything from the past? 

Rene Girard, in his book “The Scapegoat” states that a Portuguese monk, Fco de Santa Maria wrote that, “As soon as this violent and tempestuous spark is lit in a kingdom or republic, magistrates are bewildered, people are terrified, the government is thrown into disarray….. All the laws of love and nature are drowned or forgotten in the midst of horrors of great confusion; children are suddenly separated from parents, wives from their husbands, brothers and friends from each other….” 

That was written in 1697! What has changed?

Here is a quote from a speech by Frederick Douglass (African American, a former slave, social reformer, orator and statesman) on the 24^thanniversary of emancipation, Washington, DC, 1886, which has great relevance today:- 

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” 

Then there is the famous warning by John Donne the 17^thCentury sermonist and poet who wrote, “… any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

Maybe we should all bear this in mind?

We never seem to learn!

I hadn’t heard this old “protest” song for many years and it brought back memories from my university days. I looked up the lyrics and they struck home. Bob Dylan wrote the lyrics and the song in 1962 at the height of the “Cold War” between the USA and the (then) Soviet Union; the Vietnam War was already seven years old, with no end in sight and the Civil Rights movement in the USA was still in progress and far from resolution (and it’s still going!).

Now I ask the question, “What have we learned since it was first sung about 56 years ago?” 

My answer? Nothing much.

Many people of colour are still not recognised as “people”; in spite of the United Nations best efforts wars are still being fought; human induced climate change is still not widely accepted; many millions of people still aren’t free; many people (in positions of leadership) still pretend they don’t see; too many people are incarcerated unnecessarily; too many people are still dying from mistreatment and abuse. 

Read on.

Blowin' in the Wind

Bob Dylan(1962)

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, 'n' how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, 'n' how many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky?

Yes ‘n’ how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take ‘til he knows

That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind

The answer is blowin’ in the wind.