It is time to stop attempting to deform natural realities to match political ideologies, and instead accept the racial realities which exist and deal with them as best we can. MX Rienz
In 2008, scores of people chanted the famous “Yes we can!” slogan after Barack Obama, having The Audacity of Hope that a black man could be the leading force of the world’s leading country. Today, that hope is but a shadow of reality. And Obama’s presidency and resultant abilities as such are neither undermined by nor judged according to his blackness – until racialist science proves otherwise, that is.
Racialism is the idea that individuals fit into a particular category within a racial hierarchy. It supposes facts about the intellectual capability, physical appearance, biological and social characteristics of a given race. Race, its formative societies as well as ensuing characteristics, constituted the bulk of anthropological and scientific research three decades ago. At present, it (Racialism) is a concept unforgotten but little studied, for what it proposes, if proved, would shatter the foundation of nations and bring about the probability of a global reform, except if science held less significance in our modern world.
Life as we know it would not exist in a world removed from science, since for life to be protected and sustained; it must depend on operative systems such as legal and medical schemes – both of which are science-based. At the very least, science governs life: consider that guilt is made absolute when science links an individual to a crime, in the face of which he is utterly defenceless. Science is thus, fate too. Clearly, its unquestionable authority lends it the title of the Divine, as well as the holder of Truth. Yet, I doubt that people would be willing to accept science as Truth, if it reveals Race to be biological, and Racialism, a fact. For then, it vehemently opposes the major religious doctrines of the world:
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians: 328)
"O mankind! We have created you from a single male and female and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know each other. The most honourable of you in the sight of Allah are surely the righteous." (Quran, 49:13)
Racialist Theory would then destroy the unity which religion strives to create amongst diverse nations, and trigger a war not just between groups of people, but between Science and Divine Truth, in which case the latter may be distorted, or the former exposed as a lie.
In his book, The Great Betrayal: Fraud in Science, Horace Freeland Judson writes extensively on the issue concerning the fake data which many scientists produce in order to gain power and approval. And among them is Charles Darwin, who based his theory on a futuristic discovery of transitional fossils* – none of which have been found and the rest found out… to be manufactured. If science does, however, provide Racialism with the credibility it currently lacks – whether as an actual fact or a fraudulent one – all of the world’s ‘development’ tactics would be in reverse. Modernism will ironically become a backward idea, a counter-science (due to its quest to oppose the Enlightenment - the Age of Reason)
For all that the world has worked towards, changed and attained – Freedom in an Apartheid South Africa; Abolishment of Slavery in America during their Civil War; and Equality in pre-Revolutionised France – it will never be able to re-establish a converse state: Racialism within a modern society. Too much will have to be changed, and accepting such change will result in the Palestine-Israelite situation reflecting itself in every country in the world.
If, as Racialist theory states, Asians are situated at the top of the racial hierarchy as the more developed race, and Blacks at the bottom due to their being less intellectual in comparison (!), then no Black person will occupy management positions within any organisation. Racialism would prove them much too inept for any such thing, and Apartheid regulations similar to the Coloured Labour Preference Policy would be reinstated into employment schemes in every sector. Consequently, Black Employment Equity Acts would have to be dissolved. While it makes sense to offer a job to the person (proved by science to be) most able to execute its tasks best, does it mean that the opportunities awarded to individuals to excel in such areas will be restricted to a select few? Surely, if Blacks are less intelligent than Asians, then awarding them with academic opportunities are a waste when they can instead, be utilised optimally by their superiors. Bantu Education would probably ensue, accompanied by Sharpville Masacres and the like (okay, maybe that is a bit extreme. Although, wars do persist across centuries…). If Blacks are lesser intellectually, Racialism would be the indirect cause of them being perceived as lesser human beings, too. At present, such ideas are too far removed from the situation we find ourselves in here in South Africa, with our equal and many human rights. However, enough segments of Racialist indulgences remain within us to pick up exactly where we left off…
All History is current; all injustice continues on some level, somewhere in the world. Alice Walker
Urinating in soup and feeding it to Black workers is something that would have been brushed aside by the Apartheid government as trivial. The four students from the University of the Free State who did so were quickly pardoned by the university’s Vice-Chancellor, and the dignity of the Black domestic workers is now something left to them to fight for on their own, without the support of what would have been their greatest ally in a quest for justice – the institution itself. Their sub-human treatment of Blacks is not much different from that of Sara Baartman and her experiences of being sold to an animal trainer and caged for ‘civilised’ people to ogle at.
Simplifying the world into organised units may make its management easier, as was the opinion of the Apartheid government, and the ideal view of Racialism. However, in light of Marshall McLuhan’s theory and prediction of the world as a ‘Global Village’ (a state in which South Africans already are, living in a multi-racial and cultural society), establishing a hierarchy will be impossible. What will become of ‘hybrid’ individuals, whose ancestry includes Indonesian, Malaysian, European and Khoi? Therefore, in order for Racialism to work, it can only function within societies with clans of people who are all ‘pure bloods’. Bearing this in mind, it is fair to state that the quest of Racialism is to eradicate unity, and with it, refute all ideas of a democracy.
The term “homo sapien” means “modern/ wise man”, and it is divided into different classes. Not surprisingly, Africans have the least favourable description, as indolent and impulsive, as opposed to whites who are governed by laws, and Asians who are governed by opinion. The theorists (for example, Linnaeus) who are behind these classifications of human beings are all White. Thus, when Blacks are classified as inferior homo sapiens, and consequently, less wise, it is from a subjective standpoint. Like the European Colonisers, these theorists have themselves been indoctrinated by notions of Cultural Imperialism, and their perceived elite status brought with it far-fetched ideas and drastic measures by which superiority was to be maintained by its rightful possessor, resulting in racist statements like the following: “The selective elimination of inferior human strains will tend to eradicate many mortal inequalities”(!). Science provides fact. Its results, irrespective of the judgements held by the scientist, are objective. The subjectivity associated with Racialism therefore makes it unscientific. And since it is unproven, it may just be a counterfeit produced to gain power.
Harold Wilson states that “he who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery”. If Racialism becomes fact and a necessary change, I presume that the world would exist as a graveyard for centuries after. Perhaps my knowledge and understanding regarding the issue is too limited, that I would opt to lie in my own grave, in blindness and perplexity. Which does not seem all that absurd, in light of a quote that says, “the circumstances of the world are so variable that an irrevocable purpose or opinion is almost synonymous with a foolish one”.
