It's not perfect, but its a start

I have been doing a significant amount of thinking around what has been going on lately.

I have recently had a stint in hospital, and with isolation, you get a great time to reflect.

I have not been enjoying the mass amount of violence and hate that has been occurring from everyone. However, have enough understanding to know, that sometimes if after all attempts have been made for peaceful reform, unfortunately the next common denominator is violence. It was inevitable.

What I do believe in though, is the urgency required behind bringing us together and united on such a matter. The way I have always found to increase understanding is via knowledge. We need more knowledge, so we can understand one another, and this should not be mistaken for an ‘us vs. them’ statement. It should act as a message to all.

I have made an attempt to make sense of my thinking and this is where I am at, I have compiled a question followed by my thought process. I appreciate this is not finished yet, but it is a start. 

 1.      Is it a unfair statement to say all countries in the world are racist? Equally knowing this isn’t the specific issue in hand, yet believe it is an essential question to ask in the knowledge that everything may not matter equally, but it all matters.

 2.      I have done my best to organise how I see racism, and have made an attempt to rationalise it into something like the below, possibly a tiered system of racism. 

·    Tier 1 | Out and out racist, one who seeks to bring harm or death to another person just for the colour of their skin. E.g Hitler/ KKK. 

·      Tier 2 | Outspoken and violent racism. One that seeks to gain advantage over people of another colour because they believe they are entitled, due to their heritage. E.g. British Empire/ Dutch Empire/ Spanish Empire/ French Empire. 

·      Tier 3 | Systemic racism, much like the above although, occasionally violent seeks subtlety, yet with a very clear intent. Behind closed doors a distinct dislike, but not overtly racist. E.g America but in particular the former confederacy regions (and probably a few more examples here, but I am working on that). 

·      Tier 4 | Societal racism - offensive jokes and bullying, primarily down to lack of education that we are all equal and only bleed one colour, a dislike based upon family conditioning or community conditioning. E.g schools and football matches. 

·      Tier 5 | Non-participant racism - may witness others being racist but will not stand up to and fight for what is morally correct. E.g friends sending WhatsApp jokes about a racial incident or that has racial slurs attached to it. 

·      Tier 6 | White Privilege - a term now understood to mean, not enough consideration has been given to oneself who is white and as to how that may have benefited them in their current doings. E.g. non-meritocratic job promotion due to unchecked racial biases against the other candidate. 

I appreciate what I have written here is not a perfect science and it is work in progress, but I am attempting to make sense of it, and I strongly believe and always have done, that good questions lead to great answers.