‘The waste of talent is the worst thing.’ Photo: by Yasin Yusuf on Unsplash.
Pride and prejudice: Tony D’Souza probes populism
‘We have created an unequal society and, in the eyes of many, are being held to account.’
White people just don’t get racism. How could they when they have never suffered it? How can they understand when they belong to the tribe that perpetrates it every day all over the world? To understand it, you have to belong to a race other than the one that imagines it invented civilisation. You have to be insulted on a daily basis for decades. I am not talking about big insults. I am talking about the constant supply of subtle ones, the everyday racism that you grow up with, the casual, corrosive racism that informs your life. The sneer of the police officer, the condescension of your manager. The superior attitude of the academic who thinks you can’t be that smart. The white kid who is half your age and who has already learned to discount you because his parents told him he is better than you. Not for any reason, you understand. Not because he is better looking, brighter, or more gifted. It’s just because he is not the same colour as you. You are in the ‘wrong’ tribe.
