BRITAIN
'Reverse racism' – a term recently born in the West, thrown around to define an act of race-related discrimination towards a white person by a person of colour. The term caused anger and a backlash from racial equality activists who argued that white people cannot be victims of racism. Meanwhile, Freedom of Information requests from police departments reveal hundreds of reports of racism with white victims. Alisha Jackson explores the means for redefining ‘racism’ and prompts for a final definition of the word.
Reverse racism – a term that started appearing on social media and a subject of tension. It clashes with the leftist approach that white people cannot experience racism, but it also picks at the bigger question of what is racism in 2017. Initially, it was simple, a meaning that many people commonly understand as discrimination because of one’s skin colour. However, since movements like ‘Black Lives Matter’, to which white America responded "all lives matter", the question of who can and cannot be racist erupted.
In February 2017, the trailer for Netflix tv series ‘Dear White People’, a follow up from the 2014 film which addresses racism in U.S. universities, has nearly half a million dislikes on Youtube, with calls for a Netflix boycott claiming the series is “racist towards white people”. Tech giant Google also went under scrutiny when The Sun reported that it promotes that ethnic minorities cannot be racist towards white people by tailoring its search results to provide mostly left-leaning answers. The topic was raised moreover, following louder talk of police brutality on ethnic minorities and the denial of the term ‘reverse racism’, both of which like the Black Lives Matter movement, transplanted to the UK.
But in the UK, the police reports suggest otherwise. Sampled through five police stations of Britain’s most populated cities: London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle, Freedom of Information requests revealed in the turbulent months of June and July 2016, hundreds of reports of racism where the victim was categorised as ‘white’.
"It really all comes down to semantics. At some point, the actual meaning of “racism" got mixed up with other aspects of racism — prejudice, bigotry, ignorance, and so on,” wrote Zeba Blay in her article '4 reverse racism myths that need to stop', that was published in the Huffington Post. The extended definition that equality and social activists are reinforcing refers to the system of institutional disadvantage by skin colour, where the pangs of historical oppression can be felt by minority groups in 2017.
Zita Holbourne, activist, anti-austerity campaigner and co-founder of the welfare group ‘Black Activists Rising Against Cuts’ grew up walking along streets where the National Front would march and look “menacingly” at her as a child. She says that life taught her to “not allow them to intimidate us”, but that it was also important to strike the balance between that and safety. She addresses cuts to the arts and culture in the UK, highlighting that without initiatives that promote equality, “people are less likely to embrace diversity.”
She said: “I think the effects of austerity combined with this promotion of xenophobia and racism has actually divided communities.
“Alongside that, we’ve seen the slashing of budgets for events and initiatives that promote equality, promote the benefits of diversity and multi-culturalism in terms of religious festivals, cultural festivals, Black History Month, things that bring people together and help people to understand each other’s cultures,” she said.
A spokeswoman from the Metropolitan Police says that the force have had to make direct action in response to the dramatic rise in racism.
“Over the last two years, the MPS has increased specialist investigators within the 32 London borough community safety units by 30 per cent, with more than 900 specialist members of staff dedicated to investigating all hate,” she said.
"It really all comes down to semantics. At some point, the actual meaning of “racism" got mixed up with other aspects of racism — prejudice, bigotry, ignorance, and so on,” wrote Zeba Blay in her article '4 reverse racism myths that need to stop', that was published in the Huffington Post. The extended definition that equality and social activists are reinforcing refers to the system of institutional disadvantage by skin colour, where the pangs of historical oppression can be felt by minority groups in 2017.
Zita Holbourne, activist, anti-austerity campaigner and co-founder of the welfare group ‘Black Activists Rising Against Cuts’ grew up walking along streets where the National Front would march and look “menacingly” at her as a child. She says that life taught her to “not allow them to intimidate us”, but that it was also important to strike the balance between that and safety. She addresses cuts to the arts and culture in the UK, highlighting that without initiatives that promote equality, “people are less likely to embrace diversity.”
She said: “I think the effects of austerity combined with this promotion of xenophobia and racism has actually divided communities.
“Alongside that, we’ve seen the slashing of budgets for events and initiatives that promote equality, promote the benefits of diversity and multi-culturalism in terms of religious festivals, cultural festivals, Black History Month, things that bring people together and help people to understand each other’s cultures,” she said.
A spokeswoman from the Metropolitan Police (Met) say that the force have had to make direct action in response to the dramatic rise in racism.
“Over the last two years, the Met has increased specialist investigators within the 32 London borough community safety units by 30 per cent, with more than 900 specialist members of staff dedicated to investigating all hate,” she said.
Do we need to re-define ‘racism’?
With increasing reports of white victims of racism, does the word need to be redefined? ‘Show Racism The Red Card’ is a charity that has been educating children in British schools on what racism is since 1996 with the help of high profile footballers such as Thierry Henry and Ryan Giggs. Campaign worker for the charity, Gav Sutherland said: “Racism is racism. There’s no such thing as reverse racism. Anybody could theoretically be the target of racism. If you’re a white person and you’re discriminated against because of your nationality or your skin colour, that is racism and it’s wrong.”
He added: “Although it can be a real problem, it’s proportionally not as big a problem towards minority groups, and that’s because white people in this country are not generally in a minority most of the time.”
The two different concepts of racism show mixed understandings. Theoretically, the argument that black people cannot be racist cancels out the possibility of ‘reverse racism’ where white people can be victims of race. The viewpoint does not condone or deny discrimination towards white people, but looks to redefine the meaning of ‘racism’, to clarify and reinforce the idea that white people were never at a disadvantage because of the skin colour.
Zita Holbourne is fervent in clarifying the viewpoint.
“No, white people are not going to be the victims of racism. They may experience prejudice – anyone can be prejudiced to someone else of a different race. But when it comes to racism, racism is about power or privilege combined with prejudice and that’s what forms racism,” she said.
“Now black people, those who are deemed to be minority ethnic people in the UK, are not the people that have power and privilege, so therefor they’re not racist,” she said, adding: “I think it’s just lack of understanding about what racism is or isn’t. So there are people that equate prejudice to racism, without fully understanding what racism actually is.”
By addressing discrepancies between the two meanings of the word ‘racism’, the former, general, more wide-spread and easier to understand, and the latter, refined and arguably more accurate that equality activists reinforce, attention is drawn to the indirect institutional racism that is still a large part of society with lack of diversity within higher salary work forces and poverty that stretches over ethnic minority groups. The denial of the term ‘reverse racism,’ is succeeding as a form activism.
