Fifty Shades Of Racism-‘We Need To Be Mindful Of The Needs Of Others And Afford Everyone The Same Rights.’

Romford Rabbi Lee Sunderland is a much respected member of the Havering community. Today, he shares his views in the Havering Daily on the anti semitic remarks by Labour MP Diane Abbott.

If you were to ask the Community Security Trust – the organisation that provides and monitors security for the Jewish community- if antisemitism is dead in this country, they will tell that to the contrary it is , unfortunately, alive and well. It doesn’t happen everyday nor does every Jew face prejudice but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. Diane Abbot needs to be aware that Jews were not victims of apartheid – aside from those jailed alongside Nelson Mandela and its other opponents – but they were the prime target of the Holocaust. Few people of colour were targets or victims of that horror . By Diane Abbott’s absurd calculation Jews do not face racism and neither do those of colour!

Racism , prejudice , discrimination etc are all strains of the same disease. The bullying hatred of the different who need to change the very essence of what they are as people just to fit in, but who are nothing other than different. It doesn’t matter how often it happens . Since 9/11 we have learnt one thing- a potential target must behave like an actual target. Those who live under the constant cloud of potential prejudice have the right to feel unsafe and the need to be protected.

Racism comes in differing guises as new potential targets come to the notice of bullies. Unfortunately, in the Jewish community we have a saying that if others are being targeted at least we are being left alone….for a while.

Racism and xenophobia are based on stereotypes that have been recognised over time, or negatively portray orientation and practices that are part of the identity of the victim and difficult or impossible to lose. Prejudice is something quite different. It is not directed at those stereotypes it is to cause disadvantage to the way of life because of the situation of the victim . Victims can face these at different times and indeed some hate can lay hidden, yet prejudice still be prevalent. And because there seems to be no racism it doesn’t mean prejudice isn’t there. But essentially it is all bullying of the unfair kind, turning differences of no fault of the individual, into weapons with which to antagonise them.

One of the problems with this issue is the uses and definitions of language. Racism is illegal prejudice that may not be seen as being in the same league. It is immoral but not necessarily as illegal or taken as seriously or be as easy to prove. Another issue is defining groups. Diane Abbott mentions redheads. I fail to see how they can face racism, they are not a distinct race, yet they can face discrimination and bullying.

Those who have been victims of these pathetic evils can feel the burden constantly and are taught that the abuse they suffer is always there ready to pounce at anytime. They don’t have to be bullied constantly to feel that negativity. But neither are they to be removed from the list of victims because they haven’t experienced hate for a while. Is Diane Abbot suggesting by insinuation that the Holocaust never happened? Or can it be written out of history because it hadn’t happened for decades? If so when are we to give apartheid the same treatment and forget about it and anti colour racism?

These evils exist the victims still suffer from the mental if not the physical scars. Prejudice still exists . More and more minorities are seeking acceptance and legal and social acceptance. Rather than being so demanding of our own rights we need to mindful of the needs of others and afford everyone the same rights, assistance and dignity we wish for ourselves. Sometimes that means we can’t have everything we need to forgo something now and again so as not to tread on other people’s toes . What we must do is accept that throughout time we have all been subjected to prejudice -we have all been victims. We must not try and dismiss any group’s past because they enjoy in the present what they always ought to have always had . There are no winners in highlighting one group’s ills over another but there are losers . The loser is a society that thinks it can choose who to bully now or who to think has never been a victim because they have been left alone for a bit . Denial of another’s pain is the most evil racism of all . It writes their past out of history and ignores centuries of pain .

Diane Abbot your people, my people and so many others have suffered for too many centuries. Instead of erasing these ills from history, let us all work hard to eradicate ALL forms of hate abuse and shape the kind of society we all want our own people to be able to live in .

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