Racism is like a Cadillac, they bring out a new model every year.
Malcolm X (1925-65)
The story of the three Chelsea fans who are suspected of turning away a black person from entering a train on the Paris subway station of Richelieu-Drovat highlights the many “Cadillacs” and shades of racism in today’s Europe as well as its ability to appear and vanish.
One of the suspects in the Paris metro affair is Richard Barklie, 50, when a black man, Souleymane Sylla, was shoved from entering a carriage. While this was happening, supporters were heard chanting: “We’re racist, we’re racist and that’s the way we like it.”
Barklie claims that the black man was shoved away because the carriage was full and had nothing to do with racism.
Read full story here.
Barklie, who was a former Northern Ireland police officer, is also a director with the World Human Rights Forum, a charity.
He has been suspended from his job pending the outcome of the investigation, according to the Daily Mail.
Barklie also claims that he isn’t a racist or holds bigoted views on religion.
“I don’t hold any racist views and as I’ve already put out in the media, I do a lot of human rights work in Kenya and India and various other parts of the world,” he said.
Here’s a question for Barklie: If you do human rights work, why didn’t you tell the people in the carriage to shut up and make room for the person who was pushed out?
How does Barklie’s behavior fall in with European racism?
It’s a clear example of now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t racism but also a shameful lack of leadership from Barklie for not standing up for someone who was wronged.
Well, the whole thing is rather clear cut for those yelling and showing.
“Here’s a question for Barklie: If you do human rights work, why didn’t you tell the people in the carriage to shut up and make room for the person who was pushed out?
How does Barklie’s behavior fall in with European racism?
It’s a clear example of now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t racism but also a shameful lack of leadership from Barklie for not standing up for someone who was wronged.”
Why did he not do anything? If you are not a person that wants to see racism everywhere, there are other possibilities:
The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are present. The probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders. In other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help. Several variables help to explain why the bystander effect occurs. These variables include: ambiguity, cohesiveness and diffusion of responsibility.
Also I remember that you have talked about these types of harassment in public transportation earlier. Then you told people that they should first and foremost be concerned of their own safety when tackling these situations. Maybe that only applied to a non whites?
True, Yossie, safety is the main thing when confronted with these types of things. However, I have and would stand up for anyone who I think is being harassed. I’ve done so before.
What would you have done?