To me personally there has always been a semantic abuse of the term "racism", because the context within which racism is used often implies or assumes discrimination, which is not always true. Racism is something found among all nations, between Germans and Italians, English and French, Zulu and Xhosa, etc. It persists among all African tribes, in India and even China. Had it not been for racism we would by now not have had different nations and races in the World. Racism is a natural selective affinity that groups of people have for people of their own kind, for types being drawn to types. Even people of language are naturally drawn to people who speak the same language, without the existence of any physical difference in appearance or outward features. People of a certain language group flocking together can also be viewed or perceived as being racist, as with English and Afrikaans speaking people in South Africa, who tend to flock together.
The fact that someone prefers to associate more with his own does not automatically mean he or she discriminates against all the rest. There will however always exist a measure of discrimination. Nations have a tendency to discriminate against foreigners and one finds this in any country in the world, some more and others less, but it exists everywhere.
The fact that one is a racist (prefers to stick to his own), does not mean that he should discriminate against someone of another race, sex, religion, purely on the basis of such difference. A Black, Female, Coloured and White doctor cannot be paid differently based purely on the racial or gender differences, just as much as Lesbian and Gay doctors would not be paid less and non-Christians would not be paid less than other doctors, it would be looking for trouble.
The problem in South Africa did not stem from "racism" as much as it did from "discrimination". The problem in SA today arises not from racism, whites not getting married to blacks, but from a black Government discriminating against everyone who is not black.
Unfortunately even when blacks and whites do marry it also leads to discrimination, because coloureds are not black and therefore they cannot get jobs either, just the same as Asians cannot get jobs, because they are not black. There are as many coloureds and Asians (called Indians in SA) complaining against racial discrimination due to the racially-discriminating Transformation and BEE policies as there are whites complaining about it.
The fact remains that blacks are still flogging together and whites and Indians and Coloureds are still sticking to their own and they still tend to live among themselves, accept for the ANC Government that are trying to force blacks on to whites, by forcing blacks slums to be formed within traditionally white communities and suburbs.
The interesting thing is that where blacks move into traditionally white communities and suburbs, no one has ever complained and this spontaneous residential integration has not led to any conflict. The only conflict that does occur is when the ANC Government tries to force community integration down people's throats by establishing slums within suburbs. In these cases even the blacks already settled in the suburbs join the fight against the force-feeding, because of economical and safety reasons, just like everyone else.
Racism is not the problem, racism is not what leads to conflict, it is discrimination on the basis of race that leads to conflict. Discrimination on the basis of language, gender, nationality is what leads to conflict. A black family could live in a white community for decades without their children marrying into a white family and that preference for the white children not being interested in a romantic relationship with the black children would never lead to conflict, because the blacks would usually also naturally marry a black. It is a known fact that a Zulu would very, very rarely marry a Xhosa or some other black nationality.
It is only when a black is refused to buy a property in a white community, because of his colour, that conflict would arise, but conflict would not arise due to natural selection based on race. Racial conflict within our schools are actually extremely rare, yet at the same time interracial romantic relationships within racially integrated schools are equally rare.
Interestingly, something people outside of SA does not know and what they have never been told, is that the greatest racial discrimination exists among blacks themselves, between the Zulu and the Xhosa and between the Xhosa and the Sotho and between the Pedi and the Tswana, etc. When a Zulu marries a Xhosa they are usually kicked out of their families and they are not welcome with either of their tribes, this is what people in the rest of the world do not realise. These people would kill each other and one of the greatest threats to stability within SA is the friction between the Zulu and the Xhosa nations, it is a pressure-cooker waiting to explode.
Racism and discrimination are two very distinct concepts and the two should never be confused. The word "racism" cannot and should never be used where the word "discrimination" should be used instead.
Discrimination on the basis of gender is not racism, yet it remains discrimination. Discrimination on the basis of religion is not racism, yet it remains discrimination. Discrimination on the basis of sexual preference is not racism, yet it remains discrimination. The same applies to discrimination on the basis of class, education, wealth, status, language, etc.
Racial pride does not automatically imply discrimination. To this end I wish to use the following example of a man that is proud of who and what he is. Had he been white he would have been labeled a racist, but the fact is even-though he is black, he still remains a racist, but this in itself does not necessarily mean he discriminates against anyone purely on the basis of race.
Muhammad Ali - Racial Integration
Facebook Discussion
The following were comments made to the above by of respected friends of mine on Facebook :
(T.K.)
"Racism does imply discrimination just like "Banking" or "science" does. The problem is that there are again other things implied with the usage of the term discrimination.
As I already said in many other discussions, there are two core issues with the term "racism":
1. It is an unjustifiably negatively loaded term. Unjustifiable since the negative associations did actually originate from issues that were not caused by "racism" itself. I'm speaking here i.e. about violence between race groups (cause is conflict of interest) or poverty of specific ethnic groups (cause is economic incompetence of the group).
2. It groups several political or ideological concepts that are not necessarily identical or connected together under one umbrella term. These concepts would include :
a) (White) Separatism or Preservationism
b) Separate Development
c) White Supremacy (Whites ruling other ethnic groups),
d) hate for specific racial or ethnic groups.
Interestingly in politics the term "racist" has almost exclusively been used for people or organizations furthering concepts a) or b), while conjuring up associations with the concepts c) and d)."
(J.L.)
Hatred and man's inhumanity towards his fellow men has been present since the dawn of time.
Discrimination can lead to racism, as can basic early learning from parents or peers.
Hidden political agendas (justification for the masses, etc) can breed protectionism (and engender hatred, discrimination, and racism).
Truthful reparte' and honest, open communication must bring mankind together - before we exile our selves to extinction!
(K.B.)
Human evolution has always been about group survival. The whole of human history is about group conflict/ competition for resources/ territory. What relative peace exists now is a temporary blip in human affairs as the "brain viruses" of humanitarianism, Christian compassion, multi-culturalism, equal rights and multi racialism destroy those stupid enough to fall under their spell.
(S.L.)
Your point is well made I really appreciate you putting it in its own note. In America, we generally have the reverse connotations for those two terms, but the point still stands-
Discrimination- selecting one thing over another. It is neutral when used properly. It does not imply a mean motive.
Racism- predetermining a person's character on the basis of race alone. It generally has a negative connotation.
This is what I believe on the subject:
1) People-groups cluster together naturally
2) Because of sin-nature, these groups often incorrectly transition from love for connection with their group to hatred for those in other groups
3) Because man has a natural desire for God and the spiritual element, in the absence of the gospel, people will worship demons in direct opposition to ll that is good and true.
4) Although there is a fundamental need for each individual in a collective to respond to the call of Christ for salvation, there is a real danger in approaching these people while they are in their group because part of their group cohesion is based on demon worship.
5) Any faith system not based on Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures is anti-Christian and demonic. Some of these religious systems are more dangerous than others.
6) The demon-worship practiced by many African tribes is particularly pernicious and has resulted in the present crisis n South Africa, Zimbabwe and throughout the African continent. It poses a real physical danger to anyone in its path and a spiritual crisis that may lead to damnation for anyone in its path without Christ.
(T.K.)
Steve: "Racism- predetermining a person's character on the basis of race alone. It generally has a negative connotation...."
And it doesn't exist in reality either, hence it is a straw man that, if used in arguments, will lead the debate to nowhere.
Of course it is possible to predetermine certain behavioural patterns based on a persons racial traits. But that's a bit like predicting the whether from the clouds or other signs. This is by the way a quite useful skill to have when dealing with people like the later is for farming. And I think that's why certain interest groups make such a fuzz about "racism" or for that matter race and behaviour. It must be made suspicious or a taboo in order to prevent people from making the right decisions. This then again can further certain other agendas.
(S.L.)
T.K.- that is an excellent point! The problem so often is that someone decides to label another as a racist. They generally don't care if it is true or not. Then we're in a non-productive straw man argument.
We spend so much effort trying to rid ourselves of racism when we were never racist at all. To be honest, I'd rather not spend anymore effort contemplating something that is someone else's fantasy.
In America, as soon as I start standing up for White Africans, someone will call me a racist. It's so predictable. I'm not going to respond to ignorance anymore. We've got bigger issues to deal with. People are being murdered by demonic ignoramouses. I'm tired of the dialogue about race. Let's move on to stopping the murders and punishing the offenders.
(J.L.)
Amen!
(K.B.)
Its getting to the point now where a racist is just any White person that won't allow themselves or their kids to be murdered. Like the predatory Aids infected blacks in Sweden propositioning white women,then, on being rejected, accusing the woman of racism.
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