I’ve been thinking a lot about racism recently. Again.
One of the interesting thoughts that went through my head was that racism is a lot like alcoholism. It is a desease that needs to be cured. There are many stages, like in alcoholism – from very passive to very violent. And curing racism should probably start from the same point as curing alcoholism – realization of the problem. Like an alcholic should say to himself that he is an alcoholic, a racist should say to himself that he is a racist.
That last thing is, of course, a hard one to do.
There are just so many excuses for both racism and alcoholism, and there is so little information about both of those problems. Most people would agree that both alcoholism and racism are bad things. Realizing though that you are a racist or an alcoholic is difficult, because you try to be good so hard. You need extra proof. You have to be convinced that there is something bad about you. And all the information out there is so general and so remote. It’s not about yourself. It’s about those bad guys. You don’t go around drunk breaking things or killing black people. You are not an alcoholic. You are not a racist. No way.
There do exist many organizations that help alcoholics, Alcoholics Anonymous being the most famous one. There are clinics. There are doctors. There are pills. There are chapters in psychology books.
But I haven’t heard of Racist Anonymous. Yet.
I think you are right. I was furious to know about a black student who had been killed in St. Peterburg recently. Unfortunatly it becomes an ordinary thing. :-(
Terrible, yes. But not to forget that the majority of racists are very quiet. They don’t go around attacking people. But they help maintaining stereotypes and attitudes.