The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #121919 Message #2669644
Posted By: GUEST,Tom Bliss
02-Jul-09 - 08:45 AM
Thread Name: Motley Morris banned !
Subject: RE: Motley Morris banned !
David, there are indeed different levels of racism, but to ignore the casual, the habitual or, more pertinently, the institutional (which the first two engender - and which can lead to some seriously unacceptable behaviour) just because they are not as immediately damaging as the violent is to miss a crucial point.
We can easily take for granted the liberties most of us enjoy in Britain today. But they exist only because enlightened people in the past have been prepared to struggle against casual, habitual and institutional oppression.
Anyone who has suffered bullying at school or at work knows that it doesn't have to be violent to be damaging.
There is no clear criterion here. Blacking is a complex issue isn't always unacceptable per se. It's all about attitude - and if your attitude is to avoid offence, and/or to avoid association with more overt racism then you have a duty honestly to ask yourself some serious questions.
My problem is people merely saying, we're right now because we were right before, and therefore everyone else is wrong.
Folk is at a crossroads just now. How can we choose the right road if our minds are closed?