‘Casual’ racism versus ‘normal’ racism debate continues, albeit without the mainstream media
The year 2017 had begun for the New Zealand with an opportunity to refine our collective understanding of the ‘casual’ and ‘normal’ racism when Sir Peter Leitch’s “white man’s island” comment was not well received by the intended target of that comment - a young Maori girl.
That incidence was leapt by the mainstream media to bolster a case against any visible evils of racism in our otherwise harmonious and globally acclaimed great Kiwi culture.
Unfortunately, that spontaneity is missing at this instance where apparently a Kiwi-Indian Sikh truck driver was subjected to “go back to your country” rant and “were you born here” scrutiny in the public space.
Although, mainstream media’s lack of interest is understandable to the extent that this instance does not involve a high profile ‘white’ and an ordinary ‘Maori,’ space where historically New Zealand society had to deal with its most intriguing challenges and therefore naturally have an audience.
Regardless of this fact, it cannot be ignored that there is a need to bolster our collective wisdom about what constitutes a racist slur in public space and what is an acceptable conversation in a private space, either as banter or in a flared up conversation.
It is important to acknowledge that ‘banter’ and ‘flare-up’ both are important and unavoidable part of our day to day lives.
However, both needs to be tempered and shaped by a mutually agreed level of modern etiquettes required to live amicably in a twenty-first century liberal society.
In a survey conducted by Mediaworks earlier this month to gauge how casually racist we are – a question “were you born here” to an Asian immigrant was not considered a racist slur by 71% of the respondents.
But when this question is preceded with a “go back to your country” rant, then obviously the offensive power ingrained in the question with an intention to hurt its target is magnified manifold.
For an Indian diaspora, receiving such a rant, just a day after a tragic incident in the United States (US) where “go back to your country” rant was followed by three gun shots resulting in one fatality and two critical injuries clearly have a different meaning.
In some other times, the normal Kiwi relaxed attitude would have prevailed, and community would have less incensed with a “flared up” conversation between two individuals in a private space.
But in present time, Indian diaspora’s collective sensitivity towards a “go back to your country” rant seems to have heightened.
Make no mistake; there is no intention to exonerate the alleged perpetrator in the video from the responsibility to restrain from racist slurs based on colour or ethnicity of the skin, irrespective of being a private or public conversation.
The only intention here is to be fair to everyone in true Kiwi spirit, including the alleged perpetrator of the crime.
Having said that, it is also required to bring to fore that reverse racist slurs offered by many in the community within the comforts of social media space is neither acceptable nor recommended.
For every victim of prejudiced action or rant, verbal or physical, there is one Ian Grillot, who is willing to risk his life to prevent a perpetrator of racial abuse from succeeding in inflicting any pain, psychological or physical, on the victim.
For uninitiated, Ian Grillot is a 24-year-old ‘white’ man in the US who was shot and injured for coming to rescue of two Indian techies under a racist attack where one victim was eventually killed.
Fortunately, we live in New Zealand and not the US, and it’s our collective responsibility to avoid precipitating social cleavages to a level comparable to many other countries in Europe and North America.
Towards this goal, there is a persistent need to raise awareness about the casual and normal racism.
There is no space for denial or a relaxed approach towards individual acts of prejudice as it is these individual instances that shape a society’s collective image and Kiwi culture is too precious to be allowed to be spoiled by our lack of willingness to tackle the problem hard before it raises its ugly head.
Especially, when world prepares to observe the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in three weeks time on March 21.
Mainstream media would do well to continue shaping the public debate on the casual versus normal racism.
The year 2017 had begun for the New Zealand with an opportunity to refine our collective understanding of the ‘casual’ and ‘normal’ racism when Sir Peter Leitch’s “white man’s island” comment was not well received by the intended target of that comment - a young Maori girl.
That incidence was leapt...
The year 2017 had begun for the New Zealand with an opportunity to refine our collective understanding of the ‘casual’ and ‘normal’ racism when Sir Peter Leitch’s “white man’s island” comment was not well received by the intended target of that comment - a young Maori girl.
That incidence was leapt by the mainstream media to bolster a case against any visible evils of racism in our otherwise harmonious and globally acclaimed great Kiwi culture.
Unfortunately, that spontaneity is missing at this instance where apparently a Kiwi-Indian Sikh truck driver was subjected to “go back to your country” rant and “were you born here” scrutiny in the public space.
Although, mainstream media’s lack of interest is understandable to the extent that this instance does not involve a high profile ‘white’ and an ordinary ‘Maori,’ space where historically New Zealand society had to deal with its most intriguing challenges and therefore naturally have an audience.
Regardless of this fact, it cannot be ignored that there is a need to bolster our collective wisdom about what constitutes a racist slur in public space and what is an acceptable conversation in a private space, either as banter or in a flared up conversation.
It is important to acknowledge that ‘banter’ and ‘flare-up’ both are important and unavoidable part of our day to day lives.
However, both needs to be tempered and shaped by a mutually agreed level of modern etiquettes required to live amicably in a twenty-first century liberal society.
In a survey conducted by Mediaworks earlier this month to gauge how casually racist we are – a question “were you born here” to an Asian immigrant was not considered a racist slur by 71% of the respondents.
But when this question is preceded with a “go back to your country” rant, then obviously the offensive power ingrained in the question with an intention to hurt its target is magnified manifold.
For an Indian diaspora, receiving such a rant, just a day after a tragic incident in the United States (US) where “go back to your country” rant was followed by three gun shots resulting in one fatality and two critical injuries clearly have a different meaning.
In some other times, the normal Kiwi relaxed attitude would have prevailed, and community would have less incensed with a “flared up” conversation between two individuals in a private space.
But in present time, Indian diaspora’s collective sensitivity towards a “go back to your country” rant seems to have heightened.
Make no mistake; there is no intention to exonerate the alleged perpetrator in the video from the responsibility to restrain from racist slurs based on colour or ethnicity of the skin, irrespective of being a private or public conversation.
The only intention here is to be fair to everyone in true Kiwi spirit, including the alleged perpetrator of the crime.
Having said that, it is also required to bring to fore that reverse racist slurs offered by many in the community within the comforts of social media space is neither acceptable nor recommended.
For every victim of prejudiced action or rant, verbal or physical, there is one Ian Grillot, who is willing to risk his life to prevent a perpetrator of racial abuse from succeeding in inflicting any pain, psychological or physical, on the victim.
For uninitiated, Ian Grillot is a 24-year-old ‘white’ man in the US who was shot and injured for coming to rescue of two Indian techies under a racist attack where one victim was eventually killed.
Fortunately, we live in New Zealand and not the US, and it’s our collective responsibility to avoid precipitating social cleavages to a level comparable to many other countries in Europe and North America.
Towards this goal, there is a persistent need to raise awareness about the casual and normal racism.
There is no space for denial or a relaxed approach towards individual acts of prejudice as it is these individual instances that shape a society’s collective image and Kiwi culture is too precious to be allowed to be spoiled by our lack of willingness to tackle the problem hard before it raises its ugly head.
Especially, when world prepares to observe the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in three weeks time on March 21.
Mainstream media would do well to continue shaping the public debate on the casual versus normal racism.
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