Racism's head on a platter

I tried...I really tried to get into a racist’s mind (in order to comprehend it) but I had no success whatsoever: I failed in yielding to ignorance. Whenever I hear, watch or witness racist remarks and acts, my heart saddens and my intellect repudiates it.

Portugal is a country that takes pride in its cultural diversity and ethnical blends. After the US 2008 elections people would participate in forums stating that we are the country of the “Barack Obamas” (I’d beg to differ for although we have plenty of mulattoes here, it must be said that, generally speaking, they are hardly like President Obama).

Racism dwells in Portugal.

It is not blunt, it is not loud; it is as quiet as the Angel of Death.

It all starts in school: teachers will refer to the minorities as “You people” (Jewish kids are excluded for, in Portugal, they make a secret out of their ethnicity); they’ll flunk minorities living in poor neighbourhoods, with the poor excuse that “what chance do they have anyway? Let’s not elude them!”. These teachers will prove innumerable times to be exactly what they are – a bunch of ignorant low-lives who contribute to the economic regression of our nation.

Then it continues in universities: Professors will still be treating the minorities as “you people” and they will go even farther – they mistake black student A for black student B and when a correction is made, the sub-human professor will shout that he has no obligation to tell black students apart for they are all the same, they all look alike...I rest my case.

I could go on and on with examples, but what I’ve just shared offers a pretty good idea of how rotten the foundations of this country are. Yes, we all dance Kizomba now; yes, our most internationally known artists stem from the minorities (ex: Mariza and Buraka Som Sistema); yes, the nation is eating Muamba (an Angolan dish) and Cachupa (a Cape Verdean dish); yes, the Portuguese youth uses the African interjections; yes, the Portuguese marry East-Europeans; yes, the Brazilian rhythms & cuisine are much appreciated; yes, yes, yes....but no, no, no.

If one the foundations of any economy (Education) suggests that racism (thus the humiliation of human beings based on their ethnicity) is acceptable; and brainwashes kids into thinking that they’re nothing, that they do not stand a chance, that school is not for them and delinquency is the only way out...this country deserves to be the laughing stock of Europe.

I have a Portuguese friend who was infatuated by a Jewish young man. I encouraged her to pursue a relationship with him, because he struck me as a delightful human being. A minute passed and she decided to appal me by saying that despite her feelings she could never introduce him to her family...G-d forbid that she’d introduce a Jew to her father. I vomited...in shock I wondered what kind of sub-human dared to call herself my friend...obviously, I had to tell her off.

I am multi-racial; my skin is fairer than many Caucasian’s; I was victim of racism only once in my life (I was 7 years old and a little dark white girl [in private school] called me "nigger" – I didn’t even know the meaning of such word, for my parents never made use of such language at home, yet I felt the hatred in her mental-diarrhoea [of course, my mother managed to get her expelled from the school]) but from that day onward I pledged myself to defend the defenceless...and for that reason:

I want the head of racism on a Platinum Platter!

Image: Salome with the head of the Baptist by Onorio Marinari