In my Twitter stream this morning I noticed a tweet with an image purporting to be of a man robbing a petrol station in Despatch. Based on the number of these types of crimes you would think that this would be a pretty normal and mundane occurrence.
But, the comment – “Only in #PE #Despatch a white man robbing a petrol station.” – attached to the tweeted image got me thinking about racism and how we unthinkingly perpetuate our supposed differences.
It is shameful that we only think that such crimes are committed by people that are not white and consequently the thought of a white man committing such a crime is seen to be as funny.
A criminal is a criminal.
On top of that the tweet in itself doesn’t offer any supporting evidence of an actual crime being committed and, quite frankly, could just be a man walking underneath a CCTV camera. Taken a bit further – this man has not been caught in the act, nor has he been arrested or convicted except by our perceptions.
- Are we racist or elitist if we expect certain races to have higher moral and ethical values?
- Are we racist or elitist if we forgive other races more readily for their transgressions?
- Maybe we have failed in benchmarking accepted morals and ethical values?
https://twitter.com/khayalanga/status/388149339165831168
Alan Straton
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Advocate Johan Kruger, Director: Centre for Constitutional Rights says it so much better than I here: http://mycapetown.co.za/news/2013/10/no-place-for-racism-in-our-society/