The “Racist” Label

From Dictionary.com:
rac·ism
[rey-siz-uhm]
–noun
1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.


I enjoy posting comments on sports articles in Yahoo!. I like to think that I have a unique insight due to my combination of nationality and geographic location. Thanks to the influence of Belgium and the fact this country is “Tennis Crazy” with Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters among the best players in the world, tennis articles are one of my favourite places to make a response and many of these regards the American Number 1, Serena Williams.

I have never been a fan of the Williams sisters. While Venus has a likeability that would be fine on her own, the personality of Serena and the parents always rubs me the wrong way and the way Serena never seems to give enough credit to her opponent when she (albeit, rarely) loses and her behaviour on the court (example; 2009 US Open) doesn't do much to endear me either. I sometimes echo these feelings in my comments on-line.

Here is a piece of advice: Never criticize a black athlete on-line because then you are a racist. I have discovered that any comment that takes a negative spin on a African-American athlete suddenly brings out an army of protectors who label you as a bigot and anti-USA. Some of the comments posted are very confrontational which, consequently, causes many of the real bigots to come out and post their own trash. It is such a downward spiral that I'm surprised Yahoo! has not disabled comments on many of these articles.

The same rules apply to comments about President Obama. There are many political analysts who believe he got a free ride during the election campaign as the Republican Party was having trouble finding ways of criticizing him without sounding racist. Comments made about him being a community organizer blew up in the GOP's face and references to his Liberal and Socialist tendencies were handled with care as it might make them look insensitive to the needs of the black community.

Here in Belgium and Europe we see the same rules applied to the Muslim community. Despite the fact that much violent crime is committed by criminals with a North African origin, the press and police are hesitant to mention “Moroccan”, “Tunisian” or “Algerian” for fear of reprisals. The one time they got it wrong ( a murder for an i-pod was committed where the press originally referred to the assailants as Moroccan when it was later found out they were Polish) there was a major response from the Moroccan community about how their ethnic group was being singled out unfairly. While 4.4% of the Belgian population has a non-European nationality, 19% of all prosecuted cases, and 24% of cases presented in youth court involved non-European nationals. (unconfirmed statistics as presented on Wikipedia). The highest percent of these crimes are committed by North Africans with the next group being Eastern European.

One of the most publicised cases where a case was clearly divided on racial lines was the OJ Simpson case. I still try to understand how so many educated blacks continue to defend him and suggest conspiracy theories for a man who was clearly guilty of his actions. The fact he was found innocent only shows the weaknesses of the American judicial system. It does nothing to convince the rest of us he was innocent as the civil trial later proved.

Let's face it, racism has taken a new spin a long time ago where most issues of racism favour other ethnic groups and not white people. Many of these phenomena are not limited to the United States, but are prominent throughout Western Europe as well.:

- Affirmative Action has created many situations where white candidates for schools and jobs have been passed over for lesser-qualified candidates from other ethnic groups as employers are becoming more afraid of a law-suit claiming racial bias.

- Police have areas where they don't go any-more allowing certain ethnic groups to operate “above the law” or under their own set of rules.

There are other cases in point to be made, but I am neither an expert in the field nor enough of an analyst to decipher data from around the world that might be faulty or biased in its own right so I will leave the rest to those reading, but you get the idea...

All-in-all our world has taken another step in the wrong direction. While Affirmative Action and other steps to eliminate racial bias were created with the right intentions, the long-term effect is that they have created an un-even playing field that has see-sawed to the other side and Whites are having to fight more and more for their own rights.

The fact is, I don't like Maria Sharapova or a number of other tennis players for a lot of the same reasons I don't like Serena Williams. I am equally a big fan of sports figures, both past and present, who are black, but exemplify the qualities I like in a superstar. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with my personal set of values. But God forbid that I criticize the obvious flaws of Serena Williams.

It makes me a racist; even if not by definition...and this makes me an Angry Man.

Losing My Backbone

The night of the USA-Ghana match in the World Cup I went downtown Ghent, Belgium to watch on a big-screen TV on a city square. There were about 300 to 400 people there for the match and the atmosphere was electric. Although the African support for Ghana outnumbered the few Americans there, that was no big deal and I had no sense of any potential problems no matter who won.

The same cannot be said for those of other nationalities that were there. There were a group of Moraccans sitting together who were obviously not going to be rooting for the States that night and during the match, since I was wearing a USA soccer shirt and hat, some ignorant Belgian walked by, looked at me and said United States of F***G America. While there is no doubt some of it was in my head I was reminded of why I sometimes feel uncomfortable exposing my nationality over here.

Most of Belgium was pro-Ghana in that match. This in itself is not surprizing since Belgium has long had ties to sub-Sahara Africa (both good and bad) and there is a large immigrant community in Belgium from places like the Congo, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast. Nonetheless, the mood on that plain was very clear where the alliances were and that included full-blooded Belgians. What were their reasons?

Based on history and politics it seems Belgians have a lot of reasons to be pro-American. I won't even go as far back as WWII as that is so cliché and I know Europeans are getting sick of being reminded of their debt from 70 years ago. However, it is very “present-time” to remind Belgians that our presence helped end the Cold War peacefully, NATO Headquarters is getting a new complex paid for largely by US tax dollars and that most Americans who come to Belgium invest and contribute a lot more to the local economy than the average African, who is more likely to be here to reap the benefits of a generous social system paid for by the Belgian taxpayer.

I really don't want anyone reading this to think I expect the rest of the world to root for us in sports. However, I don't see why a sporting event has to turn into soapbox for people to express their anti-Americanism. What is it that makes this guy think that walking by me and saying something offensive and povacative is acceptable?

Since the 70s and 80s and some high-profile hijackings of airlines and cruise-liners there have been times where being an American exposed you to a higher-level of risk. I suppose I wasn't in any real danger that night, but the very fact I was made to feel uncomfortable in this setting in a Western European country just confirms that something is messed up.

I would even dare suggest that Belgians and citizens of many other countries in Western Europe have lost the ability to think for themselves. They live in fear of what their societies have become and feel powerless to do anything about it. Everything they do has to be based on a “politically-correct” basis. Who determines the standards of what is “politically-correct” is another matter. When more Belgians are willing to refer to the U.S.A. as a Great Satan than admit they are tired of North Africans milking their society dry then they obviously have no back-bone anymore. It is a lot easier to criticize someone who won't run into your streets and break your store windows or set your cars on fire.

Then again, maybe I am the one without the backbone. I have so adapted myself to this situation that I no longer embrace my American nationality publicly, reserving it for a football match once every 4 years and then with reservations. It bothers me to the point that I have doubts about my own national identity or even how I would react in certain situations. I'm worried I would turn into the Apostle Peter; “deny, deny deny”...and this makes me an Angry Man.

American Ignorance –vs- Naivety

I am travelling in the United States as I write this and I admit I take some fun in telling people I’m from Belgium. My obvious America accent and familiarity with American issues make it almost impossible for them to believe. Well, OK, I suppose it is.

However, what really bugs me about Americans is how little they seem to know outside of their own little universe. A majority of Americans never leave the United States or, at the very least, never leave North America. While trips to Canada and Mexico might qualify them for international travellers, the fact is the rest of the world is an unexplored ocean for all the rest.

Questions about Belgium from family, friends and waitresses vary from “Where in Germany is that?” to “How has it been since communism ended there?” to if I’ve ever met Jean-Claude van Damme. (Actually, the questions about JCVD are acceptable as it shows they know “The Muscles from Brussels” is actually from there.) I have lived in Belgium for 20 years, but I bet if I was to go to my immediate family members and showed them a map without names they wouldn’t even get close to pointing at Belgium and I wouldn’t even think to ask them to point at The Benelux.

Another of the issues that annoy me is the lack of understanding Americans have for how the rest of the world thinks. I spoke to a lady today who actually believes Obama is damaging our relations with European countries. While my feelings about the Obama presidency will be saved for other posts, the simple fact is the rest of the world is starting to love us again since he was elected. My airport shuttle driver, who has been to Brussels and told me he and his wife loved it, summed it up by commenting on how Americans live in their own little universe where they think they are the only one’s on the earth so a Conservative naturally thinks everyone else hates Obama as much as they do. It is an unfortunate generalization that does not apply to everyone, but it is relatively accurate for a greater part of the population.

I had a fun discussion with a Dutchman on the plane flying to Philly. We were talking about a tour he once did in Philadelphia where the Americans taking the tour knew a lot of the history when they got to places like the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. He was very impressed about this. However, it is also true that if you were to ask the same Americans about Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar or Genghis Khan they would only be able to recall what they’ve seen in a Hollywood blockbuster. Better yet, ask them when the period of World War I or the battles of Napoleon and they will be totally lost. Even better, ask for the decade that the Soviets entered Prague or when China became communistic.

One of the ironies of our ignorance is that it doesn’t even fit with our potential image. A recent study regarding tourists abroad scored the Americans rather high. Although they didn’t do well for being cultured or easy when service was questionable, they did remarkably well for showing interest in local culture and in trying to speak the local language even if they did it horribly. Americans are naturally curious and interested in learning, but our school system has let us down and gotten lazy in teaching us about the world outside of our borders.

If you are an American and reading this you are probably thinking me an arrogant prick. I assure you, I have similar criticisms for my friends back in Belgium and the rest of Europe who formulate opinions about the United States without any real experience or understanding. Believe me when I tell you I have been equally critical of them in the subsequent discussions.

But I am an American and for this reason I want my country to look good. Our general knowledge and understanding of the rest of the world does not show much intelligence on our part and it is something we could improve on if we just opened our minds and pushed our schools to broaden the criteria. Perhaps, after a generation or two it would even help us deal with international problems in a more constructive way. In the meantime, please note that Belgium is not a part of Germany nor did Stalin ever have any power there.

Bad English

While walking in Budapest the other day I saw a pretty nice-looking restaurant. There was a menu on the outside, very professionally made as it was embedded in glass. Next to the same menu was a short story with the history of the restaurant claiming the owner was a “Hungarian-American”.

Problem was; the English on the menu was horrid. The word “caramelized” was used on more than one occasion and spelled differently (never right) each time. There were many structural and spelling errors and the translations of some of the food items were not always right.

Having seen this sort of thing many times I normally would have just rolled my eyes and moved on. However, the claim of an owner with American roots worked on me too much and I went in to complain. I give them credit for admitting they were aware of it and that they were trying to get it corrected, but I have to ask how a classy place like that could have allowed such a thing in the first place.

English is the most abused language in the world. The French take a lot of pride in the “proper use” of their language and they cringe at the versions rendered by people from Canada, Belgium and assorted African countries, but the differences can be attributed to different evolutions rendered by native speakers. This is common with many languages where emigration has created pockets of people whose language-use has evolved in different ways.

English, on the other hand, has a completely different problem. Take a Swede and an Italian doing business together and the chances are high they are communicating in English. Partners from Japan and Russia will likely speak English together. Facebook friends from Argentina and China will be chatting in English. InBev administrators from Brazil and Belgium…well…you get the picture.

With so many people using English despite not being native speakers and then communicating with other non-native speakers it only stands to reason that the language takes a major beating every minute of every day. However, this is no excuse for obvious misuse.

The Belgian Soccer League has installed a new system this year where the top six teams qualify for the “Play-offs”. These play-offs are a round-robin post season where all teams play each other in home and away matches and the total points determine the final winner. This, by definition, is not a play-off and emphasizes a new problem where words start to take new meaning after being applied in the wrong way.

By the time all is said and done we are going to have a completely new language. Belgian schools already differentiate American and English as two separate languages and I have heard of students losing points for having an American intonation or using American spelling (favourite –vs– favorite). Somewhere along the way the U.S. version has been deemed inferior.

What about this makes me angry? I suppose it is the feeling that there isn’t a dang thing I can do about it. We cannot force people to improve their English and it would be presumptuous for us to even try. In fact, we need to be grateful that all these other cultures have accepted English as the international business and travel language as this has made world communication much easier for all of us.

Nevertheless, we need to be prepared for the ultimate consequence and that is the further regression of the English language as we know it today and the advancement of Bad English.

Wrong Person – Wrong Time

I suppose the poor guy had no idea what he was getting into. After all, it wasn’t him who had denied my son his right to bussing citing “issues of safety”, but a colleague of his that he might not even know personally. All I knew is that a bus driver was getting on my case for parking in a bus zone while dropping my kid off at school despite the fact I had moved forward enough for him to pull his bus into the space and even though two other cars were sitting there already who had a lot less potential for being moved quickly. Hell, my car was running idle.

At that moment; He represented everything that was wrong in my life.

To give you some background I have a son who is autistic and has a mental handicap. It is a deadly combination as he is unable to relate to the same world we live in, he has no use for verbal communication and he will never be able to do very much on his own despite being fully functional from a physical point of view. Quite simply, if he wasn’t mentally challenged, he has the body of an Olympic athlete.

Herein lays the problem. As my son got older his body language and occasional bursts of outrage were less easy to control as he was much bigger and stronger. As a small child he probably didn’t hit anyone because everyone was bigger than him. Now, unfortunately, he is bigger and stronger than most and he no longer fears adults. He will always be able to go to school as Belgian law requires it, but other privileges were slowly taken away.

Boarding School from Monday to Friday? Taken away when he was 14 years.

Bussing Services? Taken away at 15.

He is too young to be put in a centre for adults, but too big and strong for staying where there are young children. It is a horrible age and no one seems to have a solution despite a lot of people getting involved and “offering their opinion”. The fact remains that despite the social miracle that is supposed to be Belgium, there are holes in the system as there are simply not enough beds available for the people who need them most.

If you think about it, if a normal kid had hit people as much as my son and disrupted schools and classes in the same way he would be removed from our care and put in a juvenile home. Since my kid is handicapped it is considered “normal behaviour” and we, as parents, are left to fend for ourselves. So here we are years later and my wife has lost her job, gone into depression and numerous other problems too varied to name largely because of the pressure this whole situation has put on us. The loss of the boarding school had been tough enough, but the loss of the bussing service was an even bigger blow.

So here this guy was in my face telling me I had no right to park in front of the school for 30 seconds. Not a great move. I found myself taking a defensive stance and getting ready to rumble. This is not me. This has nothing to do with the person I am. But there I was ready to go at it over a stupid parking space.

Things like this make me more understanding as to how other things happen in life. Road Rage is an urban phenomenon that demonstrates how we are willing to act out against perfect strangers in a way we never would do if we weren’t protected by a steel chassis and travelling 55 mph down a highway. Would you dare flip a stranger off while passing them on the side-walk? Most of us would say “No”. However, how many of those same people have flipped off people in other cars without giving it second thought?

We’ve got a lot of benefits in Belgium, but even this place is not perfect. Like in any system there are those who are left behind and, in this case, it is us. No place for a boy who, very honestly, is a danger to himself and to those around him.

No Boarding School.

No Bussing Service.

No Parking Space.