:: racism ::

Trust me, a 20-something white male from Johannesburg, South Africa, to comment on one of the thorniest issues in this country, if not the world. But I've decided I'm sick of the crap that we have to listen to periodically, where the Racism Card is the last one called when someone is losing an argument.

For the record, I have been labelled a racist more times than I care to remember. Most of the time, I've been called that simply because I've got a white skin and an opinion. I even wrote into a popular magazine in the late 1990s to have my say about what role us white boys have played in post-apartheid South Africa, and was published too. I even called myself Paleface to make a point.

I have a very simple policy on the concept of "racism". The dictionary records it as "the behaviour based on that assumption that one race is always superior to another." In other words, a racist would be that person who considers his entire race (in South Africa this is usually indicated by skin colour) to be superior to another race. In a word, bullshit!

Let's look at the facts here: I am a person who happens to be white, but I do not pretend to like every single white person in existence. In fact, I have several enemies who just happen to be white. Besides, I have a number of black friends too (it's a cliche as well as the classic defence).

Now, let's extend this analogy to, say, homosexuality. I have been exposed to a number of homosexuals who I find extremely shallow, irritating, who are only after physical relationships. Does that make me homophobic? If you answer "yes", does your answer change if I told you I'm also gay?

I think that the "racism" thing comes down to a number of factors. On the one hand, there is a huge cultural difference between suburban white people and rural black people. Heck, there's a huge cultural difference between white English speaking suburban people and white Afrikaans suburban people. If you take it even further, you'd have white Afrikaans suburban people having a problem with the mentality of some white Afrikaans farmers.

In the end, you've got to consider the circumstances. Are there economic, social, cultural or language barriers? Do you have to like someone? A recent debate was sparked in the South African rugby team, where a white guy was accused of being a racist because he wouldn't share a room with a black team mate. His defence is that he doesn't like the guy. I sure as hell wouldn't want to share a room with the white guy. I couldn't even share a house with my ex, and he's got curly hair and a funny accent.

So, the moral of the story is, not everyone is a racist if they happen to have an opinion. I am the first person to say that I don't like stupid people. I also have very little in common with accountants and find them exceedingly boring. Does that make me a racist if statistically all stupid accountants were black? For goodness sake, grow up. This is such a petty issue and we make too much of it. I'm not a racist - I am just very specific about who I spend my time with. Life's too short to stress about skin colour.

Copyright © 11/11/2003 Randolph Potter

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