KIDS WATCHING RACIST MEN

As I write this, I’m aware that among us, there are people who understand that there is only one race, the human race. This however does not change that because nature thoroughly enjoy diversity, in all its forms,

The world has to endure the fact that racists exist, and, even within the races, tribalism exists.

I personally feel as though racism hits different, and this is because race differences are a lot more obvious compared to tribal differences, and so the prejudice has the luxury of starting from a mile away.

Now, one might ask, what could a black kid from east Africa possibly know about racism, and to that I say, racism isn’t something that is so far removed from the average human’s way of thinking. Good or bad, it is not entirely true that we couldn’t possibly know why someone would become a racist. Most of us do understand, we just don’t see the point of it in the grand scheme of things, if that makes any sense.

Racism; and tribalism, are a lazy brain’s way of making sense of its reality and protecting itself from the unknown. The human mind evolved to discriminate on the bombardment of information coming at it through the senses, so that it can filter out the useless information from the useful information, for survival purposes. The problems come when we fixate on these discriminative habits. Fixate meaning, choosing the easy way out, or the lazy way of thinking, instead of experiencing and creating new thought pathways, and forming new opinions. Because that would mean putting in an effort, and trying to understand something that is different from oneself, which takes time, patience and empathy.

Amerika. I wonder as I watch America glaze itself in a shiny coat of white nationalism, if those very proud people consider the black kids who watch them, and think to themselves, I could do that. And, actually have the aptitude to do it better than they could ever imagine. Ouroboros.

Don’t worry, we know the racism happens all over the world, but you’ve got to love the Americans’ panache.

Humans separate themselves in two ways, me Vs them and us Vs them. Many of us get over the me Vs them when we find belonging, however the us Vs them mentality seems a little harder for us to get over as a human race. The illusion of seeing others from a different group as ‘them’ comes from the need to protect one’s own from savages, who may not hold the same values as one’s own group. Us Vs Them. And how does a group become savage? When it chooses fear over compassion.

I can understand how people can fall into the grip of racism and tribalism, however, let’s not forget that our children are watching. And, to be a racist or tribalist, is to limit one’s opportunities to understand oneself as part of something bigger than thyself. To put this into perspective, this is like closing the doors to heaven on oneself.

Life on the material plane is very short compared to the eternal life our energies experience. And by showing the children that it is Ok to treat each other, or think of each other in this way, is to damn innocent souls on a journey of evolution. Then again, maybe this is part of the evolutionary journey.

The trouble with this approach to protecting one’s group from the threat of others, and their ways of doing things, is that, you can think of a million things that can go wrong, and come up with ways to protect yourself from them, and end up getting shafted by the one million and one thing you couldn’t imagine happening. So, instead of closing yourself off from the world and all its scariness, why not build a callus by opening up to it as it is, and learning how to engage with nature as it is, without judgement or assumption.

I mean, the discrimination isn’t natural, many of the same racists and tribalists usually end up developing fetishes for the very people they discriminate against, so why bother? Holding onto an identity for the sake of security is a bit of an exercise in futility, people change as they grow. Growth can be painful yes, but learning to make room for it in our lives is crucial, it’s inevitable, and the only way to truly get over the pain of growth is not by block its processes, and trying to hide from them, but by embracing it. We are avoiding turning into beautiful creatures because of our fear of growth, or need to hold onto something fleeting.

“Then again, what do I know? I ain’t shit…”

By – Simon Karanja