Rapper Akala explain systemic racism in a matter a fact non-confrontational manner
Rapper writer Akala appeared on Frankie Boyle’s Autopsy of UK’s Election. The segment was an examination of whether Britain was racist to the core.
Many seem to sometimes believe that racial strife is an American thing. Some even insinuate that the Europeans somehow have been better than the US in the way they deal with systemic racism. I have heard this type of nonsense at parties, in coffee shops, and elsewhere whenever we have flare ups in America.
The face of America for years, even before President Obama, has been diverse (Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Andrew Young, Ronald Brown, etc.) Yes, there are serious systemic racial problems in America, but that is true throughout the world. With all the pains we are going through right now, we are doing a much better job than most because irrespective of the fear and through the pain, we are tearing off the scab that exposes the infection. That infection remains dormant and hidden throughout Europe and Latin America.
Akala’s response to the question the segment posed was on point. “I wanted to give a short answer but I can’t because it is too complicated a question,” Akala said. “I think that when we talk about race we tend to focus on individual acts of prejudice. … Unfortunately the issue of race if we understand it is a lot more insidious. And it takes more of a historical view to understand the difference between individual bias and structural racism and privilege. And the idea of Great Britain was intimately tied to th fact that Britain has invaded every country on the earth, literally. … So the idea of our greatness was intimately tied to this idea of empire. Which was intimately tied to what Rudyard Kipling called “The White man’s burden,” to go and civilize all these stupid brown folks that have been writing and having civilizations for thousands of years. But let’s forget all of that.”
He systematically showed the how ingrained the problem was by giving perfect examples.
Watch the entire snippet above. There is much to learned from it. It will enlighten most irrespective of race.
(h/t AJ Joshi)