Hello!
Been a while, hasn't it? Been meaning to write but have been busy with new job and stuff (more on that in next post).
I am still to write my yearly round up, but today I thought I would deal with something that has been bugging me under the surface for a while and today popped its head up and screamed OI! at me.
The idea of debunking racism by being racist. Was chatting with the fab @poppycocktails on Twitter about it and wanted to get our thoughts down coherently. If there are any ideas that aren't coherent, be sure that they are mine and not hers. She was very clear. Me, not so much.
Now, don't get me wrong, I know and will reiterate that it is not the intent of people who are doing this to be vindictive or racist. I know and will reiterate that their intent is good and well meaning, even if the ideas behind their actions are deeply flawed. I know and will reiterate that it comes from a good place and that I will be seen as a baddy for pointing any of this out but you know me. I'm nothing if not honest. Even (especially) if it is going to get me into hot water.
So what has got my goat this time? The idea of the Good Brown Person.
The what now? (I hear you ask)
You know. The Muslims and Sikhs and refugees (gonna count them in as Brown to illustrate my point.) who are 'helping out' with the clean up after the floods in Yorkshire.
Syrians who want to give back to the communities that have shown them kindness.
The Sikhs and the Muslims who have been cooking and cleaning,
'Aren't they great?!' the narrative screams. 'THEY'RE NOT ALL EVIL AND SCARY OR JOB STEALY OR ANYTHING! Look, they are good ones.'
The problem with this is that as well meaning as I truly believe it is, it is wrapped in a subtle racism.
These Sikhs/Muslims/Refugees are not 'giving back' to communities, they are members of those communities and to label them otherwise, to hold them up as a shining example of a religion or a race is othering and missing the point.
By showing off the Good Brown People, (well meaning as it is, and I cannot reiterate this enough) it buys into the very narrative it is trying to debunk. It misses the point that actually, Muslims/Sikhs/Immigrants are not an homogeneous group of people whether they are attacking people at a Eagles of Death Metal gig or sweeping up their front yards in Yorkshire.
All of us have the capacity to be shits or angels or somewhere in between. Most of us, I would suggest fall into the latter category and are somewhere in between. ALL OF US.
So, Lazy Muslims/Sikhs.Immigrants are a thing. Not all of them are out trying to prove that they are not like the others. Holding up Good Brown People to show that shouldn't be a thing. It's desperately sad that we have come to this. No matter how well meaning people are being. (I truly believe they are. I may have mentioned this)
You would do better to argue with those that think that All Muslims Are Terrorists or that All Immigrants Steal Jobs or that All Sikhs Rip You Off and that NONE OF THEM EVER EVEN TRY TO INTEGRATE that actually they are human beings and they are the communities that they have gone in to 'help'. That they are the infrastructure of teachers and doctors and public servants and cleaners and nurses and leaders that idiots think that they are a drain on.
They don't have to integrate into communities. They are the communities.
Even better. Try to stop thinking about the Good Brown People as THEY and start just thinking of US.
I usually have a pithy rejoinder to end a post with but today I am stuck for one. (I'm blaming the work lurgy)
I will just end with the thought that I will stop being pissed off when we, the people, start realising who we, the people, actually are.
