And The Lynching Continues

Two racially charged events shock both the UK and the US this week.

In the US, teenager Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty for going across state lines with illegal weapon shooting two people dead and wounding another.

In the UK Azeem Rafiq provided evidence to a Parliamentary committee investigating institutional racism in cricket.

These two events once again exposed the racial fault line in both countries.

In the US, right wing commentators viewed Kyle verdict as evidence of an effective justice system.

While many black and left wing Americans saw the verdict as evidence of a justice system rigged in favour of whites.

In fact, Kyle was not even arrested after the murder.

He walked past rows of Police officers, and went far away from the scene. It was only after the expression of outrage at Police actions that he was arrested.

In his testimony to the parliamentary commit Azeem tearfully recounted the racial abuse he suffered in the hands of his team mates and club.

While it may appear as if the two events are miles apart therefore cannot be compared, the reality is, both of them are rooted in similar psychological profile.

The Root Causes of Racism in the UK and US

When I was baby setting my ex’s son one night, he asked me to give him kiwi.

I cut the kiwi into halves and gave him the first half. While he was eating, I took another spoon to start preparing the second half for him.

When he saw what I was about to do, he stopped me, saying his mother use the same spoon for both halves, so I needed to wait for him to finish and then use the spoon he was eating with.

Our interactions of that night continues to play in my mind. For me, that was a classic example of indoctrination.

For him that is how his mother does things, this means, that’s the right way to do it. That is exactly the process through which kids learn.

No child is born a racist.

Kyle Rittenhouse was not born with hatred of blacks.

No.

It’s society that taught him and all those celebrating the verdict to hate blacks.

Therefore, except society changes, we will continue to see the likes of Kyle Rittenhouse.

Cricket UK had a crisis meeting on Friday to develop strategies for stemming out racism from cricket.

Would their strategy work?

No.

Because racism is not a cricket problem.

It’s a society problem.

It’s similar to the efforts to stem racism from football.

Has that worked?

No.

There is also attempt to stem racism from social media.

That also has not worked because at the root of racism is a society that was created with hate.

Except we are honest with ourselves and tackle racism from it root, no amount of cosmetic measure will work.

And the Lynching Continues

Years ago, the favourite Sunday past time of many Americans was going to watch the lynching of black people.

This was because at the time, society was told that blacks were inferior to whites.

And lots of prominent white scholars produced research papers supporting such views.

The eugenics movement was supported by almost all of the prominent scholars at the time.

Many of the people we consider heroes today were the ones who financed the eugenics movement.

When slavery ended and the civil right legislation was passed, the lies about the superiority of the white race was never refuted.

There was no Nuremberg trial for slavery neither was there a truth and reconciliation commission for Jim Crew and many of the horrific crimes whites perpetrated on blacks during the battle for civil right.

We have generations of whites who have been brought up on lies fed to them by their parents and society that they are superior to other races.

And those lies still continue till this day.

Until we are honest with ourselves and admit that therein lies the root of racism, no amount of crisis meeting would tackle racism in cricket, football or any area of society.

We all know if Kyle Rittenhouse had been black walking towards rows of Police officers fully armed that night, he would have been shot dead.

Those celebrating the verdict do not comprehend the precedent that has been sat. I can wager that in the not so distance future, another white kid is going to open fire on group of protesters.

People might not be dressing in their Sunday best to go and see a black man been lynched but the lynching continues through the activities of the Kyle Rittenhouse of this world.

Except we examine our collective conscience and invoke our shared humanity deep in the knowledge that every life has value, no amount of law will end racism.