Gabazira's blog

Let us start with a confession: we were born into a tribal society.  So, it’s crucial to put both racism and tribalism in context before we earn the right to complain about racism and its ‘cousins’.

Race is a group of humans that share common physical characteristics and ancestry while a tribe is humans that share lingo, social norms and behaviour, etc.

Both tribalism and racism are unwanted vices.  But our focus on this blog is racism and its other extensions or ‘cousins’. They are all part of the same wicked family.

To the big question:

Shall we ever witness a society that works effectively to solve intractable global challenges, when racism continues to seed distrust, untruth, tension and hatred amongst God’s people? Simple answer – Nope!

Over the past weeks, we have been exposed to, watched and heard (we hope) the #Black Lives Matter (BLM) cries, moreover, at the highest decibels possible. One thing is clear – the #BLM cries are of pain and misery that have accumulated over time. They can’t take it any more. These black kindred have run out of road – the bubble of tolerance, silent-hurting and deafness-to-offence has burst.

The assassination of common sense:

Like others before us have done, we interrogate why in 2020, we have to remind you or anyone, that the life of another human being, be it as it may, black, matters.  Common sense has been assassinated. Common sense is dead!

Do we have to remind or educate you that #BLM? Even have to go as far as writing #BLM on paper? And take to the streets to be heard on a subject as straight forward and divine, at least for those that believe in the Almighty God?

At the Effectiveness lab, we want to believe that the answers to all the above are ‘No’. However, taking ‘No’ for an answer is a victory of idealogy over experience. The latter would be pure utopianism. Something is broken in society. No wonder, the #black person is wailing.

Black people constantly find themselves in the position of the underdog. #Black people weigh the least on the race-scale. For reasons best known to the race-judges, blacks more often than not, don’t meet race-weight requirements.

Only that determining acceptable race-weight and the calibration of the race-scale are done independent of the affected party – the black soul. Who calibrates the race-scale? Why have a race-scale? Weren’t we all created equal before God, for those that believe, worship and obey?

Even atheists know that all humans should enjoy inalienable rights. Denialists should be challenged at that.

Racial acrobatics and the unconscious racist – the black African’s perspective

Generally speaking, we are born #black, brown, or white and equal before God.  However, for reasons best known to the perpetrators of racism, we end up carrying skin-colour tags, that is code for assigning class and all the accompanying affiliations – good and bad.  Colour becomes your societal passport.

It’s interesting that when we are born, we are all innocent baby-souls that have no attachment to the perceptions, habits and other stuff that get encoded into skin colour. It must be the conditioning of the brain that is the source of racism.  It’s social mechanics and reengineering. The belief that one human is lesser or better than the other, purely because of their race.

We in this blog use the example of athletics – and the famous 100M race. For this short but highly competitive and difficult run, #blacks start the race at a point that’s 10M behind the official 100M race start-marker. In effect, the poor black soul runs 110 instead of the official 100M distance, but has to finish the race at the same end-marker with others that started 10M ahead.

And we aren’t insinuating that #blacks be judged to different and softer standards. We are only advocating for a level playing field.

In the circumstances above, blacks have to work harder for their accolade, and many, sadly, surrender before they finish. They may not bother trying or working harder, believing they will never catch up in the race, given they have to run an extra 10M.

As others get discounts on the race track, the #black soul is instead subjected to complex compounding.  Perpetual tailing is a hard game.  Even the strong will get to a point and surrender. But the latter is the ultimate prize for the racist. Hard or harder, never surrender. Keep trying, even if it’s hard and only gets harder.

We commiserate with all those #black people that  have suffered racism. Indeed, #BLM. We all should enjoy, without any limitations, the undeniable right to be who we want to be.

Brethren and sisters – ‘pole sana’ as the East-Africans say, ‘manti’ the folks in Nakabugu say – it’s all to say, very sorry!

The unconscious racist:

To your incredible pain of direct racism, allow us tag another racial cancer. Cancer that is also a driver of racial bias and disharmony, albeit, mostly off the radar. It’s an unconscious habit, bred in those that carry it; a habit propelled by years of systemic biases. The acrobatics of race and racism, we call it.

There is a dichotomy to racism, and the other part is easy to miss.  There is the direct racist that openly discriminates, and on the other hand, subtle and unconscious, is the individual that throws racism at others, but mostly unawares. It’s done without them always realising they are at it. It becomes habit and automatic – it’s deep in them; learnt and passed on to future generations.

It’s the unconscious racist that we don’t want you to forget in this racial discourse.

But let us get into that next week.

Oooh Uganda! May God Uphold Thee…