I was disturbed by comments made recently by an Irish landlord in London, who argued to Channel 4 News that the British government should curb immigration.
Being Irish in London means that he himself belongs to an ethnic minority. But such views among minority communities are not uncommon. A few years ago, Channel 4 interviewed a Jamaican and a Sikh who both said they vote for the racist BNP. More recently, others with ethnic minority and Jewish backgrounds said on TV that they are members of the racist English Defence League (EDL).
When I hear people openly expressing such views, I always ask myself why on earth any sheep would want to wear a wolfskin. To understand this requires looking at a number of possible contributory factors, from the economic to the psychosocial, political and historic.
Economically, as immigrants move to a new country in search of work and a better life, some of them might want to show the local population that they are better and more productive than other migrants. They also see new immigrants as opponents in the labour market who might compete with them for the same jobs in a shrinking market.
The psychosocial factor is there as well. Several times I’ve had arguments and debates with people from minorities who see white people as a better race than other races. In fact, some people think that whites are superior to their own race (inferiority complex) while they see themselves as superior to other ethnic minorities (superiority complex). They also want to socialise with white-skinned people only, and try to exclude other minorities from the same social circles.
In 2003, Martin Jacques wrote an article in the Guardian on what he called the ‘global hierarchy of race’. He highlighted how he, as a white man, was treated with respect in Hong Kong while his Malaysian wife, who could speak Cantonese and is closer to their culture, had to suffer racism. Jacques concluded from his experience that being white is a privilege, making one more likely to be treated with respect anywhere in the world.
My personal experience only confirms that. Having a slightly lighter skin, many people assume that I’m a European until they ask me about my name or my ethnic origin, and then all of a sudden I get treated by some as an entirely different entity.
Politically, probably one of the most known British trademarks is the ‘divide and rule’ policy that was used in different colonies, including Ireland. It has been used even in Britain itself to justify the recent austerity measures, by creating divisions between public sector and private sector workers. Treating different minorities in different ways creates divisions among these minorities, which can lead to hostilities.
That brings us neatly to the related historic factor, the result of centuries of western dominance of other nations. This has led to a view of whites as masters who should be feared and obeyed, and that the way they live is the right way.
Almost all of those from an ethnic minority background whom I spoke to said they experienced some sort of discrimination, or were treated with less respect than white people by other minorities, including people from their own places of origin. It makes me sad that we all won’t accept that we are all equal, and nobody is better than anybody else because of their race or ethnic origin. And it is especially disgraceful that the idea of white supremacy has supporters among ethnic minority communities.
Mohammed Samaana is a freelance writer based in Belfast.
