Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 20. August 27 1979

Real Racism

Real Racism

Dear Sir,

Over the last few weeks I have been accused of being a racist due to my comments about the race-conscious attitudes of what I called the immigrant races of Malaysia.

Racism is a term which I generally dislike because it has been subjected to such a degree of abuse that it has been rendered ambiguous. On the one hand, a small group of label-happy foreign student-radicals might term the legitimate protectionist measures of the New Zealand Government, racist. On the other hand an unsociable minority of Maori gangsters might decide that a satirical show performed in good humour is racist. In fact, however, racism is a very different thing. It is the theory that human ability is determined by race and hence a belief that one race is superior to another.

Let me relate to you a very startling incident that I recently witnessed which I am reluctantly inclined to term as an expression of blatant racism.

At a certain dining hall used by students of variety of nationalities, person A (who was an ethnic Chinese -not from the People's Republic) was having lunch. Person B, a Negro, came and sat on the other side of the table, a couple of seats away from that opposite A. Suddenly A got up and moved to the next table with her plate of lunch, bowl of soup, and cup of coffee.

I know the attitudes of A well enough to be able to tell you that the only reason she moved was because of racial prejudice. I thought this was absolutely disgusting and find A's action very immature and low; infact lower than what she would have certainly termed as he the uncivilised table manners of filthy native B'. Mind you, the only outstanding qualities in B in terms of either appearance or manners were his dark skin-colour, negroid facial contours and pepper-corn hair.

It is customary to accuse Europeans of racism, nazism, apartheid and their associated evils. But during my five years of contact with people of various national, cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds I have found out that Europeans are not the worst offenders in this regard. Infact, the subtle racism that some people so often accuse the average European New Zealander of is very moderate compared to certain non-Europeans, both foreign and local that I have come across in this country. Racism was a new concept to me before I came to New Zealand as I come from a fundamentally non-racial Islamic nation.

Yours sincerely,

Abu Sajed.