The great white lie

The Great White Lie...

George Floyd Video - warning - distressing scenes included

I've been told my entire life to calm down. That I'm overly emotional. To grow thick skin.... Mostly by white people whom I love and were looking out for my interests. People trying to help me.

I'm not racist...  I even have lots of friends who are white....See the irony?

Racism has always struck a chord with me.

Maybe its because my cousin got bashed when he was young just for being brown in a country town.

Maybe its because I've been called "smelly curry c$!t"" in light jest over 100 times.

Maybe it's because I've endured racist jokes throughout my lifetime. Jokes about aboriginals predominantly about their brown skin which matches mine. But also racist jokes against Asians, Africans, Lebanese, & Indians.

Often with people often qualifying me prior 'You're an Aussie right"....

"Course mate"

Like they had any intention of stopping even if I hesitated. Not that I ever did. Too scared....

The worst part is that then... I'd always have to laugh, no matter how disgusted I was.

To think more than half my life i was ashamed of being Indian. I can't explain why. But we just weren't cool like Italians, Japanese or Americans. We didnt have Al Pacino, Kill Bill or MTV.

It's an identity issue I've owned and I now have great self esteem in my race despite still getting "Apu'd" on a regular basis. I still believe "People should be judged not only on the colour of their skin but on the content of their character..."

Tibo Rogers. A refugee from Sierra Leonne.
Tibo Rogers. The hardest working bloke I've ever met.
Tibo Rogers. A bloke who never saw his family again from 9.
Tibo Rogers. Who got educated in a refugee camp where he lived for 17 years.
Tibo Rogers. A bloke who has moved 4 times in his life for insecure, hard jobs at UNHCR  because he wanted to give back.

Tibo Rogers from a white man in the city of Brisbane while I was next to him in front of 100 people in broad daylight.
"F*&K OFF TO YOUR OWN COUNTRY YOU BLACK C$!T". 

I hate racism because it strips away all your accomplishments - all your efforts. All your love. To reducing you to an inferiority based on your skin colour. People of dark skin are seen as inferior in society because the world tells us this and reinforces it through media, story books, toys, history. Everything we grew up with. 

Al Clayton who is a prominent Fundraiser who often keynotes at conferences once explained the three archetypes of homo sapiens in a talk I attended in 2014. 

1. The Planner/ Builder - They build things. Plan and strategise. They are the rulers of the world now as they can make Visions turn to Reality. Civil engineers, entrepreneurs, CEOs. They play an important function in today's society.

2. The Nurturer - They care for others. Nurses, Teachers, Social Workers. My industry is filled with compassionate nurturers and they play a vital function in society

3. The Warrior - Traditionally and historically this archetype was neccasary. Today in a peaceful, ordered society they have no value adding function to most...

These people are said to have Bi-Polar and are overly emotional. They look to change the norm of society through war. They are fighters.

Two of these people are Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill. What they have a particular skill in is rallying a group into action. Using their emotion to galvanise a crowd. I don't ever want to even appear to praise a man as despicable as Hitler but no historian could deny the fact that he had a skill to whip a crowd into a ferver. If you don't believe me watch this. Hitler's speech in 1936. This power can be used for good or evil - and we have had warriors like Hittler, and others like Gandhi who were also driven by their indignation and emotional reaction to an event (Gandhi being kicked off a train for being brown).

These people are said to have little to no value in society today because we aren't at war. Because emotion leads to instability. And instability to change. But why are we so against change?

Because life is pretty good for some...

The great white lie. I no longer feel warriors are without value. Just annoying to those who rule.

I'm not saying we should riot. I'm not saying we should go to war. My life has been spent trying to avoid it and I've seen the damage it has done to societies first hand.

But I will not calm down and I will not grow thick skin. This is BS and has to stop. They say the pen is mightier than the sword.

Well I truly hope so. But I will not calm down....

And if you get angry or overemotional. You are allowed to. There is value in that. In drives change in society.

PS - I went to a Gail Kelly talk (Female CEO of Westpac at the time) around 2012. She was asked by the male interviewer a despicable, though probably innocent rather than malicious question. 

"As a woman - do you think you are more emotional? And do you think that emotion plays a role in leadership?"

She answered with class.

"Emotion is a tool and we have to know how to use it." 

I intend on using my passion and anger for minorities as I fight for equality employing non-violent methods. Mandela and Gandhi are both my heroes and they employed different strategies successfully. 

I believe in resilience and am spending my life in it's application and education. We do need to grow thick skin. I also don't think being sensitive to race is mutually exclusive or accepting it.