The vision planted in my brain
Martin Luther King day approaches for this year, and his famous “I have a dream” speech is played again. I think that most people know this speech and its key tenets, ending with, “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, free at last!” It was over 50 years ago, in 1963, that he delivered this speech in Washington DC, capital of the USA. And still, there are so many strains of inequality that are entwined in our society, and so many people who are blind to them. The stereotypes are so deeply ingrained that they’re invisible to most people unless we make a conscious effort to identify and change them.
But, I hear you ask, we’re in 2018. Aren’t we past this whole nonsense? Aren’t the people who keep on about divisions in society just creating problems? I don’t see colour, just live and let live.
My friend, I’m sad to report that racism — and its attendant ills of xenophobia, homophobia and misogyny— is still alive. While things are generally better than 50 years ago, there are still wrongs to be righted. This is both a systemic and an individual issue.
Systemically, we are moving in the righ direction most of the time. Barriers to free movement across the world are being reduced, education is improving and becoming more accessible and there is greater openness to learning from different cultures. In concert with this, though, are the movements that would hold to the past and insist on being the way we were. That people “know their place and stay in it.” That immigrants should “adapt or leave.” That there is racial superiority— which is really one of the stupidest mindsets in existence, if not THE stupidest.
Individually, most people are moving away from the segregation of the past. Those old ideas do pop up from time to time though... I had someone tell me that they had, “no problem with black people, they’re ok. But those Spanish, Portuguese and Italians — they’re dreadful!” Or the ones who argued that the whole discussion of racism was overblown. In all honesty, there are some people who seek to profit off the misery of others, and who seek to exploit systems to their advantage. They are, thankfully, very much the minority, but they are also, sadly, often the most noisy. They must not be allowed to control the conversation or to impede progress.
I recently participated in a committee focused on improving diversity and inclusion in the public service. I’m happy and proud to have been a member — prouder, almost, than of any of my other roles in the public sector. At the same time, I’m saddened that there was a need to do this. In my visions, we would all accept each other based on our characters, and not evaluate whether people were the “right sort”. In my visions, we would make friends with people whose company we enjoy, we would hire the most competent person, we would patronize the places that we like. In that case, the variety that we see on the streets would be reflected in the workplace, in social settings, in schools...
Someone asked me why I lead the visible minorities group, and what did I hope to get from it. I said that my dream would be that we would no longer need a group to promote the interests of racialized groups, in the same way that the women’s network had faded away over time. I said that in my view, we would really only be fulfilled humans when we stopped finding ever smaller ways to divide society and instead worked on building up humanity as a whole. I work for the day when the “diversity networks” are as anachronistic as stone tools, and we can truthfully call all people our siblings.
Yes, I’m a bleeding heart liberal. Always have been. Please God, I always will be. In the face of those who would shut the door and hunker down in their silos, I say that the world is bigger than you. Open up and let others in. The only way to fight fear is to face the thing you fear; and the only effective antidote for xenophobia and exclusion is to be open and adapt. I’m not perfect, and I have my own deep-set prejudices on which I will work. But don’t let them stop you from being a light to the world! And let freedom ring!
But, I hear you ask, we’re in 2018. Aren’t we past this whole nonsense? Aren’t the people who keep on about divisions in society just creating problems? I don’t see colour, just live and let live.
My friend, I’m sad to report that racism — and its attendant ills of xenophobia, homophobia and misogyny— is still alive. While things are generally better than 50 years ago, there are still wrongs to be righted. This is both a systemic and an individual issue.
Systemically, we are moving in the righ direction most of the time. Barriers to free movement across the world are being reduced, education is improving and becoming more accessible and there is greater openness to learning from different cultures. In concert with this, though, are the movements that would hold to the past and insist on being the way we were. That people “know their place and stay in it.” That immigrants should “adapt or leave.” That there is racial superiority— which is really one of the stupidest mindsets in existence, if not THE stupidest.
Individually, most people are moving away from the segregation of the past. Those old ideas do pop up from time to time though... I had someone tell me that they had, “no problem with black people, they’re ok. But those Spanish, Portuguese and Italians — they’re dreadful!” Or the ones who argued that the whole discussion of racism was overblown. In all honesty, there are some people who seek to profit off the misery of others, and who seek to exploit systems to their advantage. They are, thankfully, very much the minority, but they are also, sadly, often the most noisy. They must not be allowed to control the conversation or to impede progress.
I recently participated in a committee focused on improving diversity and inclusion in the public service. I’m happy and proud to have been a member — prouder, almost, than of any of my other roles in the public sector. At the same time, I’m saddened that there was a need to do this. In my visions, we would all accept each other based on our characters, and not evaluate whether people were the “right sort”. In my visions, we would make friends with people whose company we enjoy, we would hire the most competent person, we would patronize the places that we like. In that case, the variety that we see on the streets would be reflected in the workplace, in social settings, in schools...
Someone asked me why I lead the visible minorities group, and what did I hope to get from it. I said that my dream would be that we would no longer need a group to promote the interests of racialized groups, in the same way that the women’s network had faded away over time. I said that in my view, we would really only be fulfilled humans when we stopped finding ever smaller ways to divide society and instead worked on building up humanity as a whole. I work for the day when the “diversity networks” are as anachronistic as stone tools, and we can truthfully call all people our siblings.
Yes, I’m a bleeding heart liberal. Always have been. Please God, I always will be. In the face of those who would shut the door and hunker down in their silos, I say that the world is bigger than you. Open up and let others in. The only way to fight fear is to face the thing you fear; and the only effective antidote for xenophobia and exclusion is to be open and adapt. I’m not perfect, and I have my own deep-set prejudices on which I will work. But don’t let them stop you from being a light to the world! And let freedom ring!
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