Shitting Ourselves10 Down With The Hood Doc

As a direct result, racism is rightly on the political downslide. In the UK, positive discrimination and political correctness gone overboard is making for a more inclusive society by force, but is it doing a lot to integrate? Yes it is creating opportunities for all across the UK, but a lot of community initiatives seem to add up to individual or ethnic justification and very little mutual appreciation, or cross-over. It’s not enough to get the odd Sheikh, Muslim, Christian and Atheist around the same table on a daytime television magazine show, gleefully expounding what a wonderful country to have such freedoms. Nice though that is to see. We’re still congratulating Nitin Sawney in being the latest multi-cultural exponent in music. Fair play to him. But music has not been constrained by tight cultural definition for decades, while it always benefits from musicians’ and listeners’ immense respect for all its varied traditional roots. It speaks to us all and we take a lot from that. Because of political correctness, many ethnic promotional events in the UK seem to be exclusive rather than multi-ethnic, much less involve any of the traditional indigenous population. That’s ‘white’ to laymen but we’re scared to say that, it’s prejudicial but ‘black’ is fine for all nonwhites. If you’re so precious about it, we could do away with the chessboard and call everyone grey, but we’ll then be back to lights, darks and shades. We could use the graphite scale – “didn’t you hear? She’s a 3H and he’s a 4B!” Michael Jackson will be a Typex. The nearest thing you’ll get to an English cultural event is a farmers’ market, May Day with Morris dancers (they’re such a quintessential part of our heritage), or Saint Georges Day when English people who are not BNPs, (and BNPs), are brave enough to fly the flag when there’s no international footy match being played. Growing ethnic groups need self-contained communities where they can be at ease with their prevailing ethos and lifestyles and I think that’s enriching, if we all get on while respecting the laws of whatever country we happen to be in. But it so often seems to lead to exclusivity and we regularly see people up in arms with the cry of ‘prejudice’ or ‘discrimination’ when the smallest thing doesn’t go their way. Not always regarding injustice. There is also massive disregard for UK law, by immigrants and ‘foreign nationals.’ We need a level playing field for all and that means no discrimination. The term ‘positive discrimination’ is positively discriminatory and indicates a substructure of discrimination in whatever institution employs it. Doesn’t it? Just as ‘foreign national’ is a discriminatory term. Have we not got sufficient diversity in this country to stop calling people by their cultural identity? Make your mind up; are they nationals, citizens, or what? All campaigning to bring about acknowledgement and cultural respect goes through the same pendulum-swing and rarely does the momentum settle half-way. You get what you want, then you push it as far as you can, not to join the mainstream with everyone else on an equal footing… to become the mainstream and marginalise those who marginalised you. I was really impressed listening to an Afro-Caribbean rapper, at a Greenroom Theatre event called ‘Speakeasy.’ His stuff was powerful and poetic, inspiring and above the norm – (sullied by the eighteen year-old female poet who got up afterwards, spouting venom and outrage at the slave-labour trade, we the audience were apparently perpetuating; she must have been studying it at six-form college. She, certainly, has never seen it in this country and probably none of her parents have, either. She didn’t say anything a fifteen year old Icelandic couldn’t have thrown together, looking at a sketch of a slave boat, head to toe with bodies, in a text book. But she’s hailed amongst Manchester’s finest anti-racism poets. She was told she was good, too early, by box-tickers too busy chatting though her performance. She should do us all a favour and write something she knows) – at least it was refreshing, listening to this crafted young rapper, addressing racism; he actually made a good case, aiming his arrows at our common human sensibilities and hypocrisies. It’s difficult to be thought-provoking on a subject that’s been flogged to death (and should keep on being expounded, lest we forget, which we have) but his aim was sharp and intuitive, until he shot himself in the foot by asserting that all whites originated from the pitch-black tribes of deepest Africa. (Not ‘Black’ as in non-whites, which is true, of course). Genetics, geographical history and archaeology might have something to say about that. If he’s right, Michael Jackson has been regressing all these years (more than culturally, it seems). Well, I’d go along with that. But, by his reckoning, it should be pallid Caucasians and Goths

being pulled up by the police, protesting – ‘is it because I is black, innit?’ That still wouldn’t stop people jumping on the racism trump card, when it suits. It is an inverted racism. I get on great with many members of the Indian and Pakistani communities in my area, they’ve lived here longer than I have and most of them are British, which makes no difference to me. But I have had four British-Pakistani dudes and their Pit-bull at my door, threatening to burn my house down with me in it, because I asked a lanky fifteen year old why he kept staring at me every time he passed. He told them I had threatened him with violence - lying little six-foot shit-stirrer but they’re canny at using this ploy; the first thing out of their mouths is that I must be racist! Now that’s racism. Young Muslims speed past my house in their Subaru Imprezzas, or suped-up, florescent under-bellied, Honda Civics and Corsas, with their boom-boxes rattling the walls. I see younger ones eyeing and chatting up white girls, hiding their alcohol and drugs in a corner of secluded wasteland in case their parents find out. I know some will feel driven to those measures by restrictive religious and familial standards and, to be honest, who hasn’t done that kind of thing? But these young dudes assume the arrogance of racial and religious superiority and racist attitudes backed by the racism card, while secretly envying the western life-styles they’re ‘deprived’ of. Get into scrapes that fly in the face of their principles and laws, or perceive the slightest level of grievance and they’re up in arms en masse, spouting murder and burning effigies. Since I was threatened, I’ve had no further trouble. We pass each other in the street and I get looks like they’ve marked my card. I know how to get to them through their parents or local Imam; or I could go to press and cause a stink. I also know (but do not associate with) racists and extremely violent people who beat up people of a different colour, just for the fun of it. I’ve known criminals who would do me a favour, if I asked them to. There are easy ways to start a tit-for-tat race-war. Why don’t I do it? Because I choose not to be a weak-willed petty-minded racist git. The rights I campaign for are human rights. They assume I haven’t got friends of different ethnologies? They assume their experience is disassociated from that of other communities and western culture. Pakistani women are bound to be in two minds regarding freedom of choice, but they would be the best candidates to debate it. They endure much more than we give them credit for but they’re not all oppressed, in the West. Some choose tradition and some independence, but they usually have to move to where they’re not known for an independent life. Their men don’t. We’ve all heard stories of alienation and sometimes victimisation from family. Many of them are naturally beautiful and I’d love a Pakistani partner, but I no longer believe in marriage and I imagine we’d get stick from all quarters, where I live. If I moved ten miles down the road, no-one would bat an eyelid. The more traditional older generations really have a struggle on their hands with younger ones adopting western standards and it must be heart-wrenching for them. Fundamentalists can obviously manipulate this fear and the fear of not obeying their god. So, get the tools out, religion, racism, nationalism and patriotism are great for that. But western families and youths get through life pretty well, whatever personal choices they make. Independent views, by definition, fly in the face of tradition but it doesn’t necessarily mean disrespect for it. It will always unearth intolerance in any culture, though, and people who are forced into doing something are more likely to hate it, than those who choose to. The best anyone can hope for is to be given sufficient knowledge and experience for it to be an informed one. People always exercise their personal choice as soon as it is free from oppression. Campaigning for the right to be different is good for all of us. Whilst positive discrimination discriminates in someone’s favour, though, someone else is being positively discriminated against. That isn’t equality. “So what?” you say “shouldn’t it be our turn, for a change?” Yeah, that’s moving forward. I genuinely hope Obama’s presidency doesn’t turn out to be merely a poke in the eye for racists and that they’ll join the rest of the real world, in celebrating getting that long held handicap out of the way. Manchester’s finest anti-racism poet, at this very moment, will be penning her tribute to how Lewis Hamilton and Barak Obama revolutionised our world in just two days. What’s the betting? As Mailer tried to tell feminists in 1971, it takes a lot more than gaining the high ground in a debate to bring equality. The struggle has been fought for centuries and just look what

happened with the end of Apartheid. It takes getting real. Well, something really had to be done about it, sure, and the guidelines we have now in the UK are pretty good, over all. But positive discrimination positively engrains this black and white mentality and encourages all colours and ethnic communities to think in those terms. Many countries are way behind in this respect but racism was our heritage and we still have this chessboard mentality. People of all colours cling to it with pride. Sadly, it is still debatable whether or not the UK could handle a black PM. Some people won’t be satisfied until Austria has one. It matters not a jot what race your football team player is, as long as he’s tackling the opposition and scoring goals you’ll be out of your seat, carrying him on your shoulders. Without a significant, interactive multicultural commitment to demonstrating equality and inclusion in real terms, with significant rewards, the only result is disintegration. We are not the stupid nation that we dumb ourselves down as. Just look at the evolution of our tastes in music and who that depended upon. Stupidity is fashionable and cool though and some blame recent music influences. It’s been marginalised for so long, leading to self-harming, fights, robberies and stabbings. Foremost authorities on this are Rap and Hip-Hop artists who became the most vociferous of the ‘underclass’ and stuck to their guns and language to gain respect and show there’s more bling in turning to music. And all power to them. The BBC showed they were prepared to get ‘down with the hood’ when Jeremy Paxman (with a stiff-upper lip, what’s-it-coming-to smirk) interviewed a hip-hop artist on Obama’s victory. Problem in sharing their experiences is that they had to make the stabbings and gangs and shootings cool in their lyrics and videos not to look stupid. As long as some wear their stab and shot wounds as medals of honour they’ll never extricate themselves from the problem of youth violence. Did they learn nothing from West-Side Story? I’ve had enough contact with criminals to know they’re much, much more than all that and kids generally see through that, so what is it that we have to indulge stupidity? The music isn’t stupid. Watch teen-age Korean body-poppers and break dancers and tell me they’re stupid. They’re breaking boundaries. Wonder what they’d say about carrying weapons. It’s like some of the kids in this country have seen footage on Cambodia and some African civil wars, or some romanticised documentary on gangland New York, and think they’re missing out. Or is that now the way to bling? Kids who have little hope and less developed ability, but who aspire to being the next Fitty Cents, or Amy Winehouse, have to resort to knives and they have to be cool about it – make them a fashion accessory. They think Winehouse and Doherty just fell out of bed into that talent and lifestyle. We all like stupidity in its place but these young dudes in the UK, who can calculate just how far they can manipulate services and the police; who can’t add up but can quote the law and their rights… no, they’re just thick or stupid or both. Everyone knows you can only earn respect, the minute you demand it, you lost it and you’re sad, but hey – penises in urinals – earning respect is far too hard for some, so, knife it. Wonder where they learned that from? It didn’t start with rappers and hip-hoppers. I blame Trisha, but then Trisha is a soft target. Thank goodness a lot just settle for sex and babies and hang around street corners going “nt nt nt nt nt nt nt nt.” What? Come on… Yeah, we can laugh at ourselves and we even dumb-down our education system. But can’t we at least drop the racism crap? Lots of the younger generation have. So, who is perpetuating this? If it isn’t the government and it isn’t the schools and newer generations, who is it? “Well, they’re coming over here and taking our jobs!” Are they? Or is it greedy company executives, who want people that will work for next to nothing, giving them your jobs? Capitalism is such a supporter of society, see? Such a level playing field; such a respecter of law and community. And that’s not foreign companies. People naturally want to feed their families and any threat to that has profound effects. But you won’t find companies like Tesco and Sainsbury’s being heavily penalised by the government, for franchising unscrupulous slave labour traffickers. No, they’re an equalopportunities employer competing with China and Walmart; what do we expect? Surely wherever we are, we are just human beings with more in common than that which divides us and we should be respected for the contribution we make to the WHOLE society that surrounds us? ___