The world we live in remains a disturbingly dangerous and very fragile place, largely because of our own making. Amin Maalouf opens his provocative book, In the Name of Identity, with an analogy that may be worth reproducing for this polemic. Maalouf talks of “a young man born in France of Algerian parents clearly carries with him two different allegiances or belongings, and he ought to be allowed to use both … in fact such a youth’s personality is made up of many more ingredients. Within him, French, European and other Western influences mingle with Arab, Berber, African, Muslim and other sources, whether with regard to language, beliefs, family relationships or to tastes in cooking and the arts”. Maalouf goes on to say that “this represents an enriching and fertile experience if the young man in question feels free to live it fully — if he is encouraged to accept it in all its diversity. But it can be traumatic if whenever he claims to be French other people look at him as a traitor or renegade, and if every time he emphasises his ties with Algeria and its history, culture and religion he meets with incomprehension, mistrust or even outright hostility”. Maalouf’s book, though one could disagree with some of his arguments, implies that some of the unexplainable recent heartbreaking events globally were inevitable.
The racial profiling and other forms of profiling that are ineluctable manifestations of the appalling human relations breed violence, hatred and other devastating consequences. There are many instances where people are profiled in the name of respective identities and some of the instances result to loss of life. There are many people that rot in jail for crimes that they did not commit or for trials that were prejudiced by their respective identities. There are people who kill or have killed or have been killed in the name of identity. There are children who have been denied opportunities that could have improved their life chances, simply in the name of identity. Talking about children, I am reminded of a recent journal article in the Social Psychology Quarterly, by Jamie Doyle and Grace Kao of the University of Pennsylvania, estimating the determinants and direction of change in individual racial identification among multiracial and monoracial adolescents as they transition to young adulthood. Among the main findings, Doyle and Kao find that “expressing a mixed-race identity during adolescence does not signal the completion of an identity process”. One of the important points they make is that “while results clearly show that many adolescents (especially multiracials) change their racial identity in their transition to adulthood, [it] cannot [be assumed] that this magnitude of change will continue to occur over the life course”. They also state that change in racial identification is however not random, it is associated with social demographic characteristics and other factors. An important message from the article is that identity is complex and as such using identity to shape one’s life chances should be questioned.
It could be argued that we are all guilty of some profiling of some kind. However, it would seem that in many cases the people that suffer mostly from racial profiling, as an example, are non-whites generally. Arab-Muslim communities have probably been the most affected by racial and ethnic profiling at the airports in the recent times — take for instance the so-called random security checks in European and American airports. Black Americans are probably the most affected in United States, take for instance the recent case of Professor Louis Gates and statistics which suggest that one out of three black Americans have been arrested! South Africa has more painful cases such as the killing of a homeless black man by a group of white boys because he was suspected of being a criminal and about to commit burglary in that neighbourhood. The other disturbing case in the context of South Africa is the killing of an eight-year-old boy by a white farmer who argued in court that he thought the boy was a baboon. Being racially profiled is an everyday experience in present-day South Africa, in the convenience stores or in clothing shops or in the roads. These unfortunate practices seem to be perpetuating hatred on one hand and fear on the other hand, effectively reproducing mistrust between different population groups.
It is in this context, among others, that the recent decision by the principal of a university in South Africa to pardon young white male students who forced black female and male cleaners to drink urinated soup and to perform humiliating acts raises emotions amongst the many in the black community. In societies, or rather in the world, where racial profiling is ubiquitous, decisions of leaders — in whichever sector — must be cognisant of the challenges that need rigorous corrective mechanisms. In the case of South Africa, where racism and white supremacy remains pronounced, like in other parts of the world, no effort should be spared in addressing racial profiling. It is also why I think we, especially we South Africans, need to give each other the benefit of doubt. We need more humility and respect for others, even if we disagree with them. We also need to accept that we do not know everything — no one knows everything or knows enough about the other person. As argued before, disciplined dialogue has many advantages for our fragile society.
Although humanity has learnt a lot from ugly histories, it would seem that little is being done in addressing problems such as profiling along racial, gender, religious, cultural and ethnic lines. The consequences of profiling in the name of identity remain sadly vivid in our memories as we think of Rwanda in 1994 or September 11 or the Holocaust. Perhaps what we need to try and do more is to tolerate each other. Perhaps we need to listen to each other more. Perhaps we need to interact more. Let us give each other a chance. We are all imperfect. For the sake of our children, their children and their children’s children, we better rid our global human society the cancer of racial profiling which condemns many into poverty and even to loss of life. The humiliation that people suffer in the name of imposed identities culminates to undesirable outcomes such as anger, hatred, fear and so on which can result in retaliation with far-reaching consequences that reverse the remarkable traction that the global human society has achieved so far.
We should — bearing in mind the research findings of Doyle and Kao — make sure that the boy (and girl) that Maalouf talks about is not traumatised by our “incomprehension, mistrust or even outright hostility”. William Wordsworth, in one of his timeless poems, The World is too Much with Us; Late and Soon, potentially captures where we have gone wrong:
“We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune.”
We need to find a way back into tune: getting rid of racial profiling must be one of the starting points. We are probably all at fault — “we have given our hearts away”. It starts with me and you. No human being is lesser or bigger than the other. We owe it to, at least, future generations to give each other a chance.
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16 Responses to “Profiling in the name of identity”
Finally the huge pink elephant has been addressed…As a South African I have noticed that racial, cultural and religious profiling is still very much present and what makes matters worse is that it been thought of as non-esxistant just becuase people would rather ignore it. If we could learn to tolerate other human beings, that will lead to dialogue which will,hopefully, lead to understanding. With this snowball effect it may even overcome the fear of what we think we know or myths and untruths about other cultures,races and religions which will destroy the fear which is used to fuel such hatred. Why not just simply look at the next person as a human being who has feelings, dreams, fears etc.just like yourself and not put them in a box and ship them off as “one of those”
Superb post - insightful, well researched and extremely apposite. Your post would make an excellent speech in parliament, and would generate much deserved applause.
Well put. Not sure if I’m alone in my struggle against this sort of thing. And by struggle I mean trying to force myself to not instantly place people in boxes of my making. Its so hard, I don’t even know where to start …
Goodday Dr. Vusi
I don’t know if human beings can ever possibly oneday learn to live without identities for the sake of future generations. I am even pessimistic if in our lifetime we could ever possibly go beyond this curse of racism and racial profiling. Strides have been made by our generation in technology and sciences but we have failed dismally to face on racism and any form of discrimination. As long as there is a caste system in India, as long as the US and EU airports continue to harass Arab-Muslims and as long as whites in S.A should always be forgiven for committing racial crimes such as recently a white security manager at Sun City called Nelson Mandela a K something and many other incidents, blacks and whites will forever hate each other. There will always be that filling of resentment, hate, fear, pity and all the words that describe our coexistence.Am sorry Dr. V i think even future generations will still have the same problem of race as we do.
“…8 years experience in blah..blah..blah..”. When is this pathetic racist propaganda going to end in the seemingly ‘new’ S.A. I am begining to think the labour ministry, whichever dept this concerns is failing in observing the essence of BEE and supporting the aspirations of potential black professionals. The unreasonble demand for so much years of experience has ensured aspiring black professionals like us, of have spent the last decade permeating into the extremely restritive pro-apartheid career stratum, have now to spend another decade looking for( or struggling to) a decent job
Small start - when you start talking about a person (or persons) avoid mentioning their ethnics, often irrelevant any way.
You will find yourself seeing them as just people instead of “them”
Racism is an old things dates back in the Old Testament in the Bible in the book of Genesis when Moses married an African woman and has gone through out the ages even shows up in the Shakespearean era( The Moroccan prince/king in the merchant of venice).Racism and tribalism is a human trait that will never be wiped and all we can do try to be diplomatic about it.Everything bad is always associated with black ,we are called black people,we have black sheep,the black market you name it its associated with black and white doves are associated with peace and on the contrary black people have always complained about being called names in the new South Africa,question has anyone ever asked a white man how he feels like when he’s called umlungu or an indian man when he’s called ikula or ugobongwane .Black men moans and complains everyday of the racial prejudice shown towards but has he ever thought of how the other people feel when he calls them all sorts names.
Excellent article, Vusi.
I think that most liberal whites in SA don’t have empathy for those black fellow citizens living in poverty, merely sympathy. It is important for those better off to understand that adolescents of poor families have the same dreams, desires,love of family, fears and hopes as theirs. It is somehow the harnessing and fulfilling of these dreams rather than the dashing that will change society (both the rich and poor) into being more tolerant and crime fee
I found your article articulate and interesting but
I was hoping you would address the phenomena of black South Africans hating black foreigners (Makwerekwere).
Or don’t you regard this as racist profiling?
By only giving examples of white originated racism without counterbalancing your article with other “profiling” is in itself an example of profiling.
Unfortunately the profile created is one of continuing as a “Victim” which I don’t think you are.
If globalization leads to all of us in this small corner of the earth regarding ourselves as human beings first, Africans second, South Africans third and so on, then some progress towards breaking the vicious cycle of profiling may be made. Our Bill of Rights lists “human dignity” right after the right to life in the line up of guaranteed rights. Through education, education and more education we may some day learn that according human dignity to all - “do as you would be done by” - is the way toward that non-racial non-sexist nirvana of which our Constitution speaks so bravely and so boldly. It is certainly worth striving for, especially as the alternatives are all so exceedingly unpalatable.
Paul Hoffman www.ifaisa.org.
Thoughts often lead to action or words. Words can also lead into action. If we think we’ll never overcome racism, then we probably won’t but if we think we can, we’ll talk the talk and eventually walk the talk. In the case of SA many people just need healing, serious healing and an end to the intergenerational transfer of racism! And xenophobia! It’s all ignorance really! All great challenges need a little bit of faith and positive action. When it comes to the US/UK vs Arab/ Muslim issue I think it’s not even about racism, it’s just a sad fight betweeen the East/West over who gets to control the wolrd’s oil and water.
Well Dr Gumede, you definitely set the example w.r.t. treating others as human. You are very inclusive and friendly to commentators of all descriptions (when you still had time to comment on comments).
Anything that has been constructed, can be undone and reconstructed. Identity is a social and political construction. It can be undone. It can be replaced with a focus on common humanity - for the common good. I choose to believe that.
Stepping my foot on South African soil on February 2006, I headed to commence my educational carrier in KZN precisely Merrivale. Few weeks in School, i found myself wanting in denying my identity as a Nigerian simply because I was detained unreasonably for 5hours at the airport and the prejudice that filled my institution about nigerians left me no choice so i claimed to be American or Ghanian in different circumstances. After one month, I retraced my stand and prouded myself as a nigerian engaging few mates on dialogues and dangers of generalisation.
Glancing through the Page 12 of the November 1,2009 Sunday times, i read how John Dludlu experienced unpleasant task of proving to the Department of Home Affairs that he is South African by birth after an anonymous allegation was made that he fraudulently obtained a South African identity.
Page 4 of the November 3, 2009 capetimes news also proved how a South African teenager committed suicide after a fruitless job hunt after a long wait for his identity document at the home affairs.
The Cape provincial speaker-Shahid Esau made matters worse by threatening to replace the “too many black women” staffers at the legislature with “boere”-white men. Of course, he did apologise but this reveals how we’ve been buried in our hostility and prejudice
Good work Doc, thanks for the remarkable difference by elaborating and creating awareness on these issues.
Kizito Okechukwu on November 5th, 2009 at 11:12 am
I would like to believe that the need for one to identify oneself is there and exists for purposes as diverse as the languages of the world. Profiling, on the hand, does not revolve around an individual but the group, and if conducted for suspect reasons the outcome will always be unsavoury, like Kizito has relayed.
Take the South African case where we have a past that blocked a certain part of the population from economic participation, and in our efforts to create equal opportunity, we opted to pass laws that will ensure that the previously excluded are now included. How then do we track progress? This would then highlight that it is too early (in SA) “too look at the next person as a human being…” if we are to achieve equality, does this not necessitate profiling?
The story of the people of Israel and it’s unfortunate idea that God is ok with (slavery, etc) certain people being superior to others feeds rather disgustingly into these “ineluctable manifestations of the appalling human relations” as these relationships were largely influenced by the Good Book. God chose the Israelites as the rightful beneficiaries of Canaan, the Zulu would tell other tribes that about KZN, South Africans the same to “Amakwerekwere” (Apologies), etc and so forth.
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Dr Vusi Gumede has post-graduate qualifications in economics and public policy, among others. He worked for the South African government for about 10 years, as an advisor, economist, policy analyst, etc. Prior to that, he was in the academic/research environment. He has remained in the academic/research environment, including having been a visiting scholar/fellow for various universities abroad and other international/overseas institutions, lecturing at the Graduate School of Public and Development Management at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, publishing in international and South African journals, contributing chapters in books, authoring working papers and policy briefs, and so on. Dr Gumede serves in a number of governance and advisory structures, including as a Trustee for the Southern Africa Trust. He consults for numerous institutions, including some South African government agencies/departments and the United Nations Development Programme.
Dr Vusi Gumede is presently an Associate Professor in Development Studies at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.
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Finally the huge pink elephant has been addressed…As a South African I have noticed that racial, cultural and religious profiling is still very much present and what makes matters worse is that it been thought of as non-esxistant just becuase people would rather ignore it. If we could learn to tolerate other human beings, that will lead to dialogue which will,hopefully, lead to understanding. With this snowball effect it may even overcome the fear of what we think we know or myths and untruths about other cultures,races and religions which will destroy the fear which is used to fuel such hatred. Why not just simply look at the next person as a human being who has feelings, dreams, fears etc.just like yourself and not put them in a box and ship them off as “one of those”
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