19
ISSUES: Racial & Ethnic Discrimination
Chapter 1: Racism & discrimination
The idea of post-racial society glosses over the structural
racism that runs so deep within all societies – it makes us
believe that any oppression suffered by people of colour
has absolutely nothing to do with their race.
Now that seems like a convenient and effective way to
allow racially oppressive structures to continue to exist
and thrive.
Race is a total social construct, one constructed in
Europe during the time of the colonial civilising
missions when people were categorised into racial
hierarchies with black at the bottom and white at
the top.
Any conversation about race must contextualise
this and accept that modern day racism is
inseparable from the colonial period and was
about more than the colour of people's skin, it
was about the cultural supremacy of white Europe
over everybody else.
So it’s possible to not see race if your friends are
highly assimilated into western culture, but that
doesn’t mean you’re not racist, it just means you
see them as being nearly white.
You could, for instance, have many BAME friends
whilst maintaining a negative view of South Asian
or West Indian culture, because you deem them to
be alien and inferior to your own.
To refuse to see this ignores the context of how
modern racism came to be what it is and ignores
the barbaric, violent history of Europe and America
that put these regions in a position to claim to be
superior to those elsewhere.
Any notion of being race blind is nothing more than
racist ignorance that protects and accelerates the
status quo.
The reason people can afford not to see race is
because they are white, they are comfortable and
they aren’t constantly reminded that they are
different.
They are able to see through the racial constructions
because these do not impact upon them and they
have so much privilege that they can choose to
ignore it.
People of colour who are systematically oppressed
cannot pick and choose whether they see race or not
– they see it every day and cannot unsee it, because
that is their experience.
If you are someone that speaks of how “colour-
blind” they are then perhaps consider all of that and
consider what a fortunate position you are in if you
can choose to see past these social constructs that
are our racial classifications.
21 June 2016
Ö
The above information is reprinted with kind
permission from Consented. Please visit www.
consented.co.uk for further information.
© Consented 2017
How positive or negative would you feel about
the following characters being played by
Black Minorty Ethnic actors?
Positive
Negative
44%
Source: YouGov, April 2016
25%
31%
32%
20%
27%
34%
Mr. Darcy
Hamlet
Robin Hood
