Despite 3 weeks under the Brazilian sun, my new color couldn’t persuade my friend Darren (I call him Black Mamba). He argued that I couldn’t understand the Blacks’ struggle because of the color of my skin.
In all my life I have never allowed anybody to put me in a box and won’t start now with my skin limiting my outreach. If I have to become balck to understand I will do it. Are you following me?
In Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance <!–[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]–> Obama tells his story as a person of mixed race: black father, white mother. One day he made a choice: to be Black.
Darren explained to me that you are black unless you are 100% white. There is no such thing as mixed race in reality. As you would say: it’s black or white. It sounds so Anglo-Saxon!
The young Barackdidn’t have a choice. He had to be black. He couldn’t be white. So we embraced the Blacks’ struggle. He became Black.
There was another point in the conversation with Darren which made me think. ‘Have you noticed Blacks don’t go to continental Europe on holiday?’ He’s right. ‘They don’t like to go to a place where they are despised eg Italy, or barely tolerated eg France’.
So, where do they go? This might be problem if I become black. I love working in Brussels and dining in Paris!
I had a meeting with Lord Victor Adebowale at the House of Lords last December. He’s a Labor Lord, runs the largest social entreprise in the UK and is black. He made the same point about going to the continent and being treated as an illegal immigrant or a waiter. Not appropriate for a Lord.
Charles, a French friend black as well, put it in a nice way: ‘If you are black in London they offer you a job but they don’t have lunch with you. Paris is the opposite: French de souche have lunch with you but don’t employ you’.
We preach equality in Europe but we still have a problem with race… and discouraging hundreds of thousands of tourists!
I remember the first time – 10 years ago – a guy from the Carribbean called me Latinos because I’m Italian ie not 100% White. I was shocked and tough: “Dear, I’m not racist, but you are Latino, while I’m a European i.e. I belong to the rulers!”
Nobody has called me Latino recently. I would have been delighted in these days – never understood Michel Jakson. On the other hand, I’ve been frequently reminded that I should be careful being too judgmental as I come from one of the most corrupted Western countries led by a buffoon as Prime Minister. I can’t say this is offensive, but it’s irritating… and I’m ready to give up my nationality.
I can reconnect all of this to another episode that happened more recently. It’s not about race but the community to which you belong to. I was in China in 2007. At a seminar on civil society, a Chinese NGO leader asked me: “Why do you work for the Brits”. He implied I betrayed my home country somehow. My answer was quick: “why not? Next time I could work for the Chinese”.
Something has changed my perception. The boundaries of my community have expanded. My sense of belonging and allegiance has crossed the border within I grew up. Giving that answer to the Chinese guy I didn’t mean that I’m a mercenary selling out to the best offer but, on the contrary, I can’t see a real difference between a Chinese and a Briton. As today I can’t see a difference between Blacks and Whites… including all the nuances between the two extremes.
I must explain this. What I see today is diversity in every individual and, at the same time, unity in diversity. we all belong to the same species, leaving in the same planet together with all the other living creatures.
Diversity is the key value of our century. In a globalizing society we have to learn leaving in a society made of multiplicity – the opposite of the Nation State. We have to appreciate and value diversity.
Racial identity, as any other identity, is just a layer of diversity. Every layer makes life and society richer.
Diversity, especially when identifies a specific group of people, carries on some historical burden. Fine. We can deal with it. We mustn’t ignore it but accept it as boundary that can be crossed. It’s challenge.
“Where shall I start?”, you will ask me. I might encourage you to look for diversity when you choose your occasional partners. This would contribute to intercultural dialogue expanding your understanding of diversity. Perhaps the European Commission might even fund what could be defined a multicultural sexual Erasmus!
I’m sure this would be a popular programme to reconnect Citizens to Europe 🙂
I’ve personally piloted and tested the success of this methodology. So I’m moving to the next step. Now I’m working with Muslim groups to reconnect them to broader civil society. I’m not Muslim and must confess my ignorance of Islam. However, I’m glad Islam exists enriching the world and offering me something new to learn.
I’m planning the first march of Muslim civil society leaders to Brussels in the next months. It will be glorious. My next targets are immigrant networks. Very popular in Italy.
If I’m not killed before, Pope Benedict will have to beatify me as a black activist… although I haven’t included beatification in my New Year resolutions!
