Racism in itself is a disgusting term, in fact whenever I hear the word, it reminds me of the many times I have faced this. As subtle as it could be, it still hurt very much by the mere thought of it.
The truth is, no matter how we define racism, the fact remains that it is the manifestation of how horrible the person (racist) is on the inside.
The Oxford dictionary defines racism using terms like “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism” all of which are very horrible acts against another individual (strictly referencing humanity).
So, can Black people be racist? irrespective of how much philosophy one wants to back it on, the simple answer is Yes! But the truth is, it is a defensive strategy that comes from the many years of abuse faced by us (this article is supposed to be short, so no time to get into this defensive mechanism).
Not too long ago, I went out with my friends ( In my Home Country) and one of the service attendants who is a black man made the most horrific comment against us. His statement was a direct act of saying we were lesser individuals than customers of other racial origins in the room; Whether he spoke out of ignorance or not, I cannot say. But what was eminent was the fact that even when he was being corrected to refrain from using such language he insisted that he has said what he said and if we want we could more or less “get out” from the premises.
And I thought hard about his behaviour and NO that is NOT racism, that is just a gross manifestation of how sometimes individuals of our race can facilitate racism through their actions and words against members of their community.
And as a general rule, when someone is committing a crime, and someone facilitates this crime, is it not likely that they are equally guilty of that crime?
Some of us, have been faced with racial discrimination, we have been in the heat of it at the same time we have received the very subtle form of it (you know, the one that even leaves you confused on whether you were abused or not). So, you could imagine coming to a place where you thought you could be safe and someone in your race without any cause, decides to use languages that fuel the act of racism against you.
But truly, can Black people be racist? Is it possible that while we can’t be racist against our own, we could be facilitators of this? Is it possible that the very horribleness of survival mode it is, can make us sell our kinsmen to the hands of racists? Should we not be equally charged if and when we do this?
If In fact, this is so, we should then start calling those individuals within our communities that facilitate racism whether intentional or unintentionally due to ignorance.