Racism and Humanity
In the Facebook, I see many of my friends have changed their profile picture to "Stand Against Racism" regarding the incident in Aluthgama. But in my opinion I would say it is too late. Human mind does not work like that. From the prehistoric times (Cro-Magnon against Neanderthals) to uncountable examples from known history (Hitler against Jews, Apartheid in South Africa, Whites against Negroes), I can confidently say that the human mind is programmed to racism. It might have played a protective role in wild humans the enmity towards dissimilar organisms improved his survival. Racism was there even before humanity was there in humans.
So coming to other topic, what makes us humans? The humanity in us. Do we have humanity in us? I believe everyone have it in their hearts buried deep in a corner. It tries to come out of hiding but it rarely manages to do so and we see them as acts of kindness in the world outside. But the power of those random acts of kindness is immensible. For me "Stand Against Racism" is those random acts of kindness where humanity in us comes out to light. But in a country like Sri Lanka, it will take a lot of dedication and leadership to eliminate racism, which is remotely possible in the current context and whatever the actions taken would only subdue it for a while but it will come out another time in near future. One peculiar thing is that they are shouting against racism when it has been happening in the country for a very long time from a simple text book like history books in schools to ethnic war for the past 30 years. I end this post with the lyrics from a song called Re-gaining Unconsciousness by NOFX.
" First they put away the dealers,
keep our kids safe and off the street.
Then they put away the prostitutes,
keep married men cloistered at home.
Then they shooed away the bums,
then they beat and bashed the queers,
turned away asylum-seekers,
fed us suspicions and fears.
We didn't raise our voice,
we didn't make a fuss.
It's funny there was no one left to notice
when they came for us.
Looks like witches are in season,
you better fly your flag and be aware
of anyone who might fit the description,
diversity is now our biggest fear."
So coming to other topic, what makes us humans? The humanity in us. Do we have humanity in us? I believe everyone have it in their hearts buried deep in a corner. It tries to come out of hiding but it rarely manages to do so and we see them as acts of kindness in the world outside. But the power of those random acts of kindness is immensible. For me "Stand Against Racism" is those random acts of kindness where humanity in us comes out to light. But in a country like Sri Lanka, it will take a lot of dedication and leadership to eliminate racism, which is remotely possible in the current context and whatever the actions taken would only subdue it for a while but it will come out another time in near future. One peculiar thing is that they are shouting against racism when it has been happening in the country for a very long time from a simple text book like history books in schools to ethnic war for the past 30 years. I end this post with the lyrics from a song called Re-gaining Unconsciousness by NOFX.
keep our kids safe and off the street.
Then they put away the prostitutes,
keep married men cloistered at home.
Then they shooed away the bums,
then they beat and bashed the queers,
turned away asylum-seekers,
fed us suspicions and fears.
We didn't raise our voice,
we didn't make a fuss.
It's funny there was no one left to notice
when they came for us.
Looks like witches are in season,
you better fly your flag and be aware
of anyone who might fit the description,
diversity is now our biggest fear."
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