Racial Tensions
Hello Everyone, I hope you're all well and feeling as if this New Year might well turn out to be better than the agonising months spent in lockdown. I am aware some parts of our world are still living with restrictions and we can only hope their borders will open again and the citizens will feel as if they are free once more. As the title of this post suggests, I want to talk about what defines the word 'race' as, to some, it seems to be a long way from being as obvious as I believed. This post is prompted by the comments made by Whoopi Goldberg on her show 'The View' which I have to admit, did stop me in my tracks.
Here is the quote:-
"Well, this is White people doing it to White people, so y'all gonna fight amongst yourselves," Goldberg said, referring to the Holocaust.
While none of the co-hosts pushed back after that statement, the conversation then turned to how some are attempting to ban problematic parts of the nation's history, particularly history dealing with race and racism, from being taught in schools.
Goldberg responded: "If you're going to do this, then let's be truthful about it because the Holocaust isn't about race." She added that the Holocaust, which saw an estimated 6 million Jews and 5 million others killed as a result of the Nazis' racist ideology, was about "man's inhumanity to man" and said it involved "two White groups of people."
Now, as has been suggested, did Ms. Goldberg genuinely believe the Nazis only saw the Jewish and others as 'white' people who just simply didn't agree with their political ideology? I personally would hope not and to be fair, she has since sincerely apologised for her remarks. But what saddens me is the belief it was only 'white' people who were murdered during the Holocaust because even doing the most basic research, as an example, we learn the Roma Gypsy community was almost completely wiped out, as somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000 were exterminated. As they originated from Northern India before moving into Europe, it would seem unlikely they would define themselves as 'white.' Even the 6 million Jews who were tragically lost were not all from some white middle-class suburb, but from across a whole swathe of Nazi-occupied territory. I am hoping, the whole controversy Ms. Goldberg's remarks has made many people rethink how they define race and ethnicity.
The actual number of races recognised by the various scientific and anthropological experts varies considerably from anything from around four to thirty, as it seems few can agree on what actually defines one set of people and another. I can imagine this is incredibly frustrating for the academic community but, to be honest, I see this as a distinct advantage. After all, if we all struggle to see what makes us fundamentally 'different' from each other, I would hope this might promote more understanding and empathy between the various communities which populate our shared home. Now, obviously, I am not suggesting we are all the same- not by a long way- but we do all share similar values, the importance of family, equal rights, justice for all, etc. As an example, if mothers were brought together from even the shortest list of defined races, ( Caucasian, Asian, Negroid, and Australoid), they would all express the same hopes and fears about their children. Obviously, there would be stark differences regarding faith, belief systems, etc but they would have far more in common than perhaps even they would believe.
Aside from race, there is another point I should like to make regarding the comments made, where it's suggested the Holocaust was all about the differing opinions of two groups of white people. I would hope I have already shown, there were far more nationalities, ethnicities, and races involved and deeply affected by the horrors inflicted by the Nazis. As I'm sure you know, the Allied Forces were a combination of people from across the world who came together to fight a common enemy which was seen as a threat to freedom. It would be quite a task to name them all here, but as some examples, there were the Gurkha regiments from Nepal, the Sikh regiments from India, the 1.2 million black servicemen from the USA. Arguably all from different races but united against the Axis forces. When the concentration camps were finally liberated, the devastation was felt by all mankind regardless of race or ethnic background. I would find it almost impossible to believe those who were first there to help the prisoners, wasted time trying to determine who was any particular race but focused entirely on trying to save lives.
I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound like a history teacher, but I was genuinely shocked when I heard Ms. Goldberg's remarks and have been left wondering if maybe they were based on her own ignorance of the facts. If so, I sincerely hope she will take some time to really learn, visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, and begin to understand why so many were so offended by her.
Finally, as I have often said here, I do feel the rich diversity of people within our society is something to be treasured. Every race, all ethnicities, have something to bring to the world as a whole, we can learn so much from each other and when we can look past any perceived differences, we can achieve amazing things and as has been proven, defeat the most loathsome of enemies when they try to threaten our freedom.
Take care out there xxx
