Television, radio and newspapers as well as the social media were all full of news these last few days about a terrible massacre in a church in Charleston South Carolina wherein six women and three men were killed. The suspect was already apprehended; a twenty-one year old who looked just like any other young man we meet in the street, in the mall, in schools and everywhere we normally walk around feeling safe and secure. The investigators say that this is a hate crime, one of those tragedies between individuals, individual and group, or between groups. The horrific incident happened inside a Black Church and the murderer is a white young man. He entered quietly into the church where a Bible Study was going on and sat with the group. Near the end of the meeting, he stood up and started firing the deadly shots. We are not yet sure what triggered this young man to commit this terrible crime, how he built-up that hate against this religious group in a place of worship that has been there for decades.
We have heard of other cases wherein members of the police force had shot and killed Black members of the community wherein members of the town or city rose in demonstration, sometimes with violence, to protest what is perceived as discrimination against the Black people.
We are fortunate here in Canada because we seldom hear of cases of blatant discrimination. In Toronto at present, there is an on-going discord about carding, a system of gathering information which is considered discrimination against Blacks and immigrants. There is a strong movement to have carding abolished.
Let us pause for a moment and look at ourselves. Do we discriminate against each other?
In the Philippines, regional groups discriminate against one another. The remarks often appear as jokes but there is an undercurrent of discrimination. A person or a group may be criticized for being too stingy by a remark like –“Hindi mo ba alam, Ilocano iyan?”
We often look up to the rich, and down on the poor. We gossip about some families who exist on “tuyo and kangkong”. There is a group termed as the “bakya crowd,” people who always wear wooden shoes because they are cheaper or their work needs this kind of footwear.
Even among children, there is discrimination, “Huwag mong isasali iyan sa takbuhan, lampa iyan.”
We have unpleasant nicknames for people—“si Kirat, si Payat, si Taba, si Bungi.”
We discriminate for no reason at all. ”Mabigat ang dugo ko sa taong iyan.”
Discrimination is a tool for survival. It is a means of maintaining our “amor propio” by showing we are superior to other individuals or groups. A person who has a higher position in an organization may become bullish or even tyrannical to those under his/her supervision to maintain a position of power. This is even true of groups of people. One group from a certain country or region may look down on another. This is known as ethnocentricity.
Institutionalized discrimination exists for the maintenance of power. This type of discrimination is expressed in some rules formulated by certain organizations to prevent particular groups of people from penetrating the group or acquiring the power that the founders believe inherently belongs to them.
When President Barack Obama got elected as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, many individuals I talked with prophesied that discrimination against the Blacks in America is coming to an end. Apparently it has not. Instances of conflicts between the White and Black population continue to take place. But that is not a sign of making the situation worse. It is the evidence that community groups have achieved more power and courage to express that they are being discriminated against and that they are not taking the situation sitting down. The demonstrations against police brutality is one of the evidences of the Black people’s readiness to fight for their rights.
What do we do when we think we are discriminated? Try the positive means of overcoming it. Talk it over with the person concerned. If the discrimination is institutionalized, there are agencies we can appeal to like the Human Rights Commission. But appealing to these organizations takes a long time. It is often better to negotiate with the particular organization that is responsible for the discrimination. What is important is for the discriminatory individual or agency is to be aware that you know your rights.
Rosalina E. Bustamante
June 21, 2015