In a recent conversation with a friend, Racial Injustice and Systematic Racism in Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada came up. We conversed about the cause, symptoms and perhaps the cure of this horrible sickness in the society and the ACC. We expressed the following two positions because of our heritage and background.
· Caucasians were colonisers and have to repent
and seek reconciliation with the Indigenous People of Canada and the New
Canadians.
· Caucasians have apologised for their actions.
However, they can solve the problem by empowering and delegating decision
making to the Indigenous Peoples and the Visible Minority.
The first position submits
that the Caucasians should feel remorse and lead the way forward because of the
sin of colonialism. While this is noble,
it is neo-colonialism because Caucasians still are in authority and are engaged
for self-serving reasons. Moreover, they
are the decision-makers and can think, speak and decide for everyone.
The alternative suggests power-sharing and empowering others, so the discriminated lead the discussion and discern the solution. Although intellectually, this concept sounds good – practically, it is impossible to achieve until the difference between race and Caste is discussed, and Caste replaces race in societal and ecclesiastical discourse.
Racism is the scientifically false belief that groups of humans possess different behavioural traits corresponding to physical appearance and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against other people because they are of different races or ethnicities. Modern variants of racism are often based on social perceptions of biological differences between peoples. These views can take the form of social actions, practices or beliefs, or political systems in which different races are ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities. In terms of political systems (e.g., apartheid) that support the expression of prejudice or aversion in discriminatory practices or laws, racist ideology may include associated social aspects such as nativism, xenophobia, otherness, segregation, hierarchical ranking, and supremacism.A caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and day-to-day social interaction and exclusion based on cultural notions of purity and pollution. Its paradigmatic ethnographic example is the division of India's Hindu society into rigid social groups, with roots in India's ancient history and persisting to the present time. However, the economic significance of the caste system in India has been declining as a result of urbanisation and affirmative action programs. A subject of many scholarships by sociologists and anthropologists, the Hindu caste system is sometimes used as an analogical basis for studying caste-like social divisions existing outside Hinduism and India.
From the above definitions, it can be argued that racism and the caste system are identical in nature and overlap. It can also be concluded that both systems are designed to oppress and discriminate against the other. There might be other similarities – nevertheless, the differences between the two are significant to this discussion. First, racism and race are directly related to and is dependent on the context and the socio-political-ethnic formation of the society. Caste is permanent and transfers from one context to the other. Second, an oppressed race in one culture can be the dominant race in another culture. For example, South Asians are oppressed in the global north but enjoy autonomy and respect in their countries of origin.
Furthermore, socio-political change in the context can exalt the oppressed in power. South Africa, for example, experienced power transfer and transformation of racial identity because of the will of the dominant culture. Second, lower Caste can never assume to be in power regardless of the authority, status or appointments, members of the Caste, may achieve and enjoy. Third, racial tensions can be discussed, eased and diminished – Caste cannot be replaced, shrunk and changed.
White privilege, or white skin privilege, is the societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people in some societies, mainly if they are otherwise under the same social, political, or economic circumstances. With roots in European colonialism and imperialism and the Atlantic slave trade, white privilege has developed in circumstances that have broadly sought to protect white racial privileges, various national citizenships, and other rights or unique benefits. White privilege denotes both obvious and less obvious passive advantages that white people may not recognise, distinguishing it from overt bias or prejudice. These include cultural affirmations of one's worth, presumed more excellent social status, and freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely. The effects can be seen in professional, educational, and personal contexts. However, the concept of white privilege also implies the right to assume the universality of one's own experiences, marking others as different or exceptional while perceiving oneself as usual.
It should be noted that Caucasians, in general, have conscientiously appealed to 'White Privilege' to denounce their past actions. However, the sad reality is that they have inadvertently used the privilege to chart future racial relations, lines of communication and establish parameters to either accept or reject the person, race or opinion and conviction.
Debate on Equal Marriage in the Anglican Church of Canada is submitted as the example of 'white privilege' carefully guarding the discussion and, under the guise and shroud of equality, rejecting all those who disagree with them. This rejection and refusal to acknowledge diverse positions have superseded race and ethnic background. The group in power has equally discriminated against and ridiculed Caucasian, Indigenous and Ethnic minorities in the Anglican Church of Canada.
Thus, it is not racial discrimination; otherwise, conservative, fundamentalist, and evangelical Caucasians would not have been cast aside. Instead, it is a modern iteration of the caste system that can and has divided the Caucasians on dogma while keeping them united in their dealings with the Indigenous and Ethnic Minorities.
The Anglican Church of Canada's governing Caucasians will refute this point by stating the Indigenous ministries at the National Level, various task forces to end racial and sexual discrimination and their commitment to having ethnically diverse volunteer and paid leadership in power corridors.
This claim should be examined through the evolution (devolution) of racial harmony in American and Canadian society. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s brought forth the constitutional changes in the United States of America. The election of Senator Barrack Obama as the President of the United States was a momentous occasion – but it failed to strengthen racial relationships and change the prevalent attitude towards African Americans. Law Enforcement Agencies harassed and killed Blacks regardless of provocation or just cause; ethnic minorities, regardless of their religion or country of origin, are perceived as an enemy of the state, and conspiracy theorists still question President Obama's birth certificate. Caucasian Americans are divided on indiscriminate violence and harassment of African Americans based on their political and religious persuasion.
Discussions, task forces, patronising of the other, and changes to the canons and constitution will undoubtedly make the group(s) in power feel good about themselves. However, it will never address the discrimination and marginalisation of the other. Human Rights Advocates have pointed out ways in which, particularly in the hiring process, biases, assumptions and preconceived notions are integrated into an interview process to tilt the balance in favour of a privileged candidate. It has also been documented that unsuccessful indigenous or ethnic candidates are patronised, and their confidence is shattered through careful destruction of their experiences and qualification.
In conclusion, Caste is permanent. In the Anglican Church of Canada, the caste system is embedded in the practice of Caucasians in Power. They are the superior race because of their doctrine, dogma, expression of faith and belief that everyone, regardless of his/her race, has to agree with them. There is no room to dissent or discuss, or compromise. Either one agrees despite his/her personal belief or is cast aside. The elite would like to be diverse but have deliberately decided the space and authority they will afford to the other. BIPOC should be a clone of a Caucasian candidate or mindset to be hired at the executive level; in other words, BIPOC will never be there because how can s/he be an elite. Regardless of self-adulation for being just, Caucasian Elites of the Anglican Church of Canada have caused irreparable damage to the other. It is because of their belief that they are not racist or discriminatory – the problem is that no one can meet their standards, expectations, or fully agree with them.
The way forward for the Anglican Church of Canada is to decide that they want to be an inclusive church or maintain the status quo. If the answer is 'Inclusive,' then the elite must address the 'Caste system' through self-introspection and honest and vulnerable evaluation of the structures to determine how they have nurtured and guarded it. Second, destroy the structure and invite lower caste members to join them in rebuilding the structure and the church. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatama Karamchand Mohandas Gandhi destroyed the caste structure in 1947. Their vision and courage resulted in the election of a Dalat woman to be a chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and all Caste coming together to rebuild India after centuries of division and colonialism.
By: Edmund Laldin.
It cannot be reproduced or used without the written consent of the author.
