One of the hardest things to understand as a white person, is what it is like to be a black person. I think that the events of the last week should tell us to try harder to find a way of understanding.

There was a chap on the radio earlier today who caught my attention. He described himself as six foot three and of West Indian descent. He explained a situation where a woman ploughed into his car. The accident was her fault but because of his colour and size, he had to consider the perceptions of passers-by.

That was a good way of explaining being black, I thought. It is the perception that if there is an incident where there is a black man involved, it could all become a bit lively. How on earth do we pull people away from that psychology? Something that is ingrained in them courtesy of a life of negative information.

Negative Stereotypes

I am no expert on this, so I feel nervous even writing about such a subject. However, these negative stereotypes are a self-fulling prophecy of the worst kind. If people are denied rights and opportunities and are treated differently by the law, how can anyone who is right in the head, expect good results in society?

What has been happening in the US over the last week has made me realise what an awful situation that country is in. It is blatantly apparent that in some States, if you are an individual with a rabid angst towards black Americans, there is only one place to get in on the action. In the police force.

It is so bad that if you are black and you have committed or are suspected of a minor offence, your life might be in danger. The officer who arrests you will often get away with an internal inquiry. This is known as ‘marking your own homework’ and disappears into the system.

To get the officer arrested and charged with murder, a city needs to go up in flames. Otherwise it will be just another case that gets swept under the carpet and forgotten, along with peaceful kneeling down protests that the president laughed at.

A Man I Know

I know a chap who is of West Indian descent who works for my business as a contractor. It is really interesting talking to him about being black in 1980’s Brixton. Basically, if you were black, you learned to keep your head down and keep your mouth shut when the police were around. You could easily get nicked for nothing, but resistance made the situation ten times as bad and could easily turn innocence into guilt.

He says that from his point of view, life is better now. His fear for the next generation behind him, is that there are still people who would rather we went back to the 80’s. The ability for the police to stick the boot in without the fear of an investigation; just like the good old days.

There is nothing ‘woke’ about fearing the condoning of a return to ‘the good ol’ days’ and we must, as a society, continue to be appalled by race hate and keep on evolving. The road to righteousness is littered with potholes right now but turning back won’t mend anything.

The world must and do better. It could start by getting rid of all these raging populist leaders who stir up all the hate.