The way we approach the topic of racism is how most of us do - from an emotional perspective.
Now, I have my personal experiences and the strings of thoughts and emotions connected to them. Those get repeatedly triggered by
- social media accounts I follow, addressing the topic
- books I read
- continuous experiences
- memories
- events happening around the world and brought into focus by media outlets
There is also the “black community” trying to advocate awareness for existing racial issues, creating unity and re-establish a sense of empowerment amongst black people.
And there is the “white society”, whose legacy is a system of white supremacy still strongly in place in large parts around the globe.
White society consists of individuals experiencing race from an entirely different standpoint. Racial issues are something most white people either never experienced personally, consciously don’t want to get involved in, purposely ignore or contribute to.
Before we go further here, let’s clarify that this post’s purpose is not about blame. It is about giving my impression of where black and white communities correlate within the human system and what we can do about it.
But since the topic is race and its issues, we will have to look at ugly things.
I said it’s going to be a tough one, and I mean it. It doesn’t matter which colour your skin is; what I am about to convey will trigger and surprise you. So, I invite you to just observe what we are about to discuss here and don’t put your ego into the matter. Be assured that my intention is indeed to go beyond the contrast of black and white.
Sit back, fasten your seatbelt and wander with me through one of humanities most sensitive topics.
In 2020, racism was put once again into society’s focal point through the death of George Floyd, who was murdered by a police officer during an arrest.
From a black perspective, given the history of racism, especially in America, nothing was surprising in that case. The crucial key element was that somebody with a phone camera was there at the right time, recording the entire scenario. Besides many different forms of evidence displaying similar humiliating situations for black people (be it by police, their white neighbours or even strangers that just randomly call the police on them), George Floyd’s case was the one that made it to the top list of public attention.
Unfortunately, with humans, it is mostly traumata that triggers change.
Getting out of comfort zones, taking up challenges and overcoming limits often precedes great despair. The George Floyd case sparked such a change and caused a ripple effect on the vast ocean of mass consciousness.
People around the world went to the streets and said, “No more!”. And there, the discussion began about a new definition of who we are as humanity. It also increased the focus on the struggles and dissension that exist.
Dealing with racism leads white people often to arguments about who they are not, while the legacy of historical racism requires black people until today to define who they are. The entire topic is but an identity crisis for both communities.
The Black Community
What may sound like one voice of unity is in itself a diverse structure, consisting of black-skinned people and their varied experiences and viewpoints. It is also telling how we rather use the term black “community” instead of “society”, as we do when describing the unit of white people on the globe. The word “community” mirrors exactly the minimised social stance we take when there is actually a majority of black people living on the globe.
The history and troublesome experiences of the African diaspora (most dense in America and the Caribbean) established a powerful and solid character behind the term “black community”. In the face of racial issues, the black community is where all black folks lean on when looking for a sense of identity, empowerment and solace. But as mentioned before, we are not just one united voice.
For those growing up in western society, the definition, freedoms and limits of a progressive lifestyle are gapping compared to black people in African or Eastern culture. Thus, as soon as the focal point shifts away from racial issues, the black community is as much divided on any topic as it is the case in white society.
The only strong bond that unites the black community is the colour of our skin and the experience of racism that is triggered by that.
White Society And The Current System
History has it that white colonialism had a powerful impact on the globe. Unfortunately, human history is filled with violence against each other, no matter the skin colour.
However, we must raise awareness for the current system we live in, where whiteness is advantaged and entitled compared to being black.
White people exploited mental, physical and environmental black and indigenous resources and constructed the current system on the backbones of the suppressed.
There is no single aspect within our interactive structures (economics, politics, education etc.) that does not display the footprint of white colonialism and/or its disproportional effects on black lives.
From the head of white successors on African and Caribbean money to the depiction of a white Jesus figure praised around the globe - whiteness is promoted even when illogical.
Traces of racism and glaring inequalities in living opportunities, prosecution, education, business and social interaction are still prevalent. There is also the aftermath of enforced family separation, neglect of interracial children and the psychological and physical abuse of blacks by their white oppressors.
There is looted identity in the museums of white civilisation and distorted history in their books.
Statues of white oppressors like Belgium’s King Leopold II., still throne upon everyday life and are honoured for their contribution to an inglorious past.
Thus, being black within the dominant structures of a white system subsequently requires black people to go in critical confrontation with their own identity, to an extent that white people never experience.
Black people carry within the ancestral trauma from a not so distant and very intense impact of an oppressive system.
The legacy of white supremacy created a world in which your skin colour does matter, in particular white skin colour!
We must understand that the system results from racism and still holds traces of active efforts to suppress others.
White people deceived, conquered, brutalised, raped and tortured indigenous and black people, clear off any charges.
As a matter of fact, in many instances, they even made the oppressed pay for when they eventually reached some level of independence.
Improving the current system requires active awareness and engagement on the issues that prevent progress. The challenge modern white society faces is that theoretically, most white people do want better for all. But the comfort of existing entitlements hesitates to move effectively in the direction of meaningful change.
There are still purposely racist white people in social and crucial public structures whose voices and actions are louder than the intentions of those that try to be “woke”.
In the realms of political correctness, white people become so confused about what to say and what to do to address topics of race that some get frustrated. Evidence of such frustration fuels the black perception of white people being unwilling even to promote simple steps of change.
It also cannot be denied that white people generally reach quite fast a point of exhaustion, defensiveness, and ignorance when interacting with the traumatic incidents of the past and their results.
Given the uncomfortable past, it is logical that white descendants don’t want to be associated with their legacy, though they benefit from its results. Those who are bold enough to walk within the awareness of inequality within the system find themselves in an even more difficult corner, asking:
Does acknowledging the past as a white person mean to feel shame for their own skin colour? How to talk about this past as a white person without having to point out that you are not responsible for what happened? How to discuss among other white people that are not ready for change or approaching it differently? How to meet black people at eye level and not causing any offence or trigger an accusation of racism? What does change towards equality actually mean for white people?
The white identity is challenged, and it is indeed easier for many to stay where they are within the system and ignore what’s going on.
Personal Impressions
I will briefly cover my personal experience to make visible racial aspects, circumstances and conditions modern life still offers black people.
Born as the child of a German-Iranian mother and an African-American GI-soldier, I was given away to white foster parents.
I don’t know my father as he went back to the US before I was born, and I was told my mother took drugs, which was why I was taken from her. My German grandmother didn’t want to care for me because I was black, and she didn’t like her colleagues to talk about her having a black grandchild. At the time (1987), in conservative Bavaria - Germany, it was also not looked nicely upon children that resulted from a non-marriage entanglement.
My foster parents had five own grown-up children, and I was their only long-term foster child. They already were quite old, and my foster-father was in retirement.
The details of my upbringing can be read in my autobiography, and I will only cover highlights of the racial discrimination I experienced.
Both people were horrible, but my foster mother was in particular nasty and mean. Whenever she was in the mood, she assaulted me and engaged me in mentally and physically disturbing games.
I had to kneel naked on a piece of wood while she would stand behind me, occasionally beat and tell me what a worthless nigger I was.
I had to stand naked in the stairwell for hours to strip me of my dignity.
I was not allowed to attend my church firming because my foster mother decided I was not worthy enough on the day of the event. Instead, I had to write thousand times: “Ich bin eine dreckige Auslaendrecksau” (“I am a dirty foreigner bastard”)!
When I reached the age at which the youth welfare office would ask me if I wanted to get to know my real mother, my foster mother explained to me that she was a “Niggerhure” (nigger whore) that people laugh about. She threatened me if I would agree to see my birth mother, she would beat me to death - and given what I experienced, I believed her.
She held a knife on my throat and prophesized that niggers like me end up on the streets anyway. There was no place and reason for me to exist, and I was only good for the money.
Two times per week, I was to take a bath, and she loved to come and watch me during this vulnerable moment. She would stand behind the open door, invisible enough so I wouldn’t see her but loud enough for me to know she was there. At some point, she would reveal herself, point to my penis and ask me why I didn’t wash it correctly. After that, she forcefully did what I will not further explain.
I ran away from this family at the age of 14. For most of my early childhood years, I was allowed to stay in the middle of my room. Sometimes I could read some children’s books, and I could also do my homework for school. I was not allowed to have friends or play around. Standing in the middle of my room was the safest way for me to be. It was best to avoid showing any signs of my own will and individuality.
I want to point out that at this stage of my life, I didn’t fully understand that the colour of my skin was the subject of this violent behaviour. I grew up as the only black child in the village; I compared and identified myself as somewhat white. Sure, I saw I had dark skin, and I sure hated it, but I didn’t fully comprehend my outside appearance and what it meant to others.
In the years to come, when life further introduced me to social life, friends, and workplaces, I realised that my skin colour was the reason for irritation. When I applied for jobs, I preferred not to put a picture on my resume to boost my chances for an interview. When I got to know new people, they usually expected some sort of “cool gangster.”
When experimenting sexually, I was reduced to the size of my penis and expected to fulfil the fantasy of a dominant and aggressive black rapist. This continued experience led me to the conscious choice not to date white gay men anymore.
As I mentioned earlier, it took some time for me to realise that I was black, though my skin colour is rather brown as to being dark-black.
People would sometimes say, “you are not really black”, but society surely treated me as such. Whenever I grow my hair, which naturally turns to dreadlocks when long, I have people trying to touch my hair. The excitement for such a common human feature is, until this day, beyond my understanding. It is also disrespectful when people rub their hands in there without even asking. When applying for a job, I sometimes was asked to cut my hair off to be considered for the position.
I hated my hair and my skin for many years. I felt utter disgust and was afraid looking into the mirror because I thought it “abnormal” if you are not white. The beauty standards around me consisted of entirely white models, and my environment constantly confirmed that I didn’t belong to this society with my appearance.
The experiences of my upbringing and the path that I walked from there made me commit myself to a journey of self-discovery. While I acknowledge racism throughout my life, if I look behind the masks and scenes, I come to question racism.
My foster parents used the language of racism to hide their own emotions of insignificance and sadness for life.
The people I met throughout life that fit the term “racist” were rather victims of their own powerlessness, idealisation, hidden admiration, prejudices, ignorance and mental limits when confronted with my physical appearance. None of this defines my identity, even though some might have put more effort into trying to convince me that it does.
From the perspective of a higher mind, I believe that racism is an illusion that we keep reinforcing from both sides of the contrast.
The Nature Of “The System”
So with all that put into perspective, the colour of our skin seems to automatically assign us specific roles, expectations, advantages or drawbacks in our societal interaction and navigation.
When we talk about “the system”, we refer to the construction of economics, politics, social structures and every other segment that we utilise to preserve and enhance our human existence.
Now, as humans, we have similar features that define us as a race, but the core nature of humanity is an expression of cultural and individual variety.
We have to keep that in mind when we aspire to a global goal of equality. Global equality - and it doesn’t matter if we discuss this in terms of race, gender, social class and status or anything else - is part of a shift towards a social state of balance.
Perfection will here never be achieved because there will always be a desire for development. It is the very nature of existence to express itself in variety. New aspects will introduce themselves to life, while old concepts may lose value.
I am but convinced we can reach a state of greater balance.
The alchemy of transformation seems to be triggered by the friction of contrasting poles.
It is this game of contrast that promotes the necessary movement towards an environment of mutual understanding. The tug-of-war between black and white people was the essential driving force from which the ideal of equality could even form as a desirable concept for society. But, we cannot shift towards this ideal if we keep doing what we are doing. We cannot stay in a pattern of blame, and we cannot keep contributing to a condition of despair.
I hope I can successfully convey the important message in here: No matter the colour of our skin, if we want to move forward, we have to accept at some point that the traumatic and disturbing history of human interaction also bears the very idea, potential and the necessary tools, to develop a society, that eventually serves the majority - equally.
This requires each individual to let go of bonds and concepts that tie us to karmic patterns between victim and abuser. We have to release ourselves from roles we keep playing and assigning.
We could say:
White society must accept, reflect and take up awareness and responsibility for the history of inequality that still nurtures the current system. They should foster a genuine approach for development - not based on emotions of shame or guilt but instead with an intention for collaboration and education.
The black community has to be mentally ready to go beyond deeply integrated emotions of unresolved psychological wounds, fear and the very role of victimhood.
Well, that’s the tricky point because black people still battle intense trauma of an unresolved past that gets additionally triggered by each new incident that confirms prevalent racism.
They also still search for a sense of identity within themselves. The black diaspora introduced to the white system became the confused fruit of an uprooted tree. We are different from the root in Africa, and as much as we long to return to a sense of belonging, the further we try, the more obvious the differences in life approach with our brothers and sisters in the motherland become.
And Now?
Given the century-long integrated and inherited patterns around the tug-of-war between black and white people, it won’t be easy to create a smooth shift within society. Most certainly not, if we keep operating from an emotional level and a closed mindset.
You see, the entire topic is nothing other than an identity crisis on both sides. Something that cannot resolve if one side keeps contrasting the other. We have to elevate our mindset and consciously perceive another beyond human labels.
Beyond skin colour lies the individual journey of each soul.
Our ego will most likely have a hard time with this. We love labels because that’s the standard way we humans define and reinforce our identity. Our ego will not easily give up emotions of defensiveness or blame. It will cling to them like a dog on its favourite play-toy.
But if we want to rise as humanity, we literally have to rise in consciousness. We have to raise our perspective to a level of a broader understanding of who we are.
Our emotions around race will not dissolve immediately. The process includes combining and integrating the lessons and wisdom behind our contrasting experiences when moving forward.
We must look at things differently - with the eyes of the soul. The soul distils wisdom from and breathes meaning into each experience.
Our soul is not trapped in human stories, limits and definitions. It operates from a divine understanding of eternity and evolvement beyond the mortal veil.
The souls perspective is one of unconditional love and compassion and emits those insights at any moment in time. It is up to us to be aware of and allow ourselves access to those emissions. Those words may sound cheesy, but I invite you to feel into the very meaning behind them.
The soul is an awareness of empowerment. It doesn’t need contrast but transforms contrasting experiences into wisdom.
The unique power of the soul is meant to shine through the human vessel. Its light has the ability to touch another in a meaningful way and uplift beyond the spectrum of human judgement and identification.
We spent centuries following religious and spiritual concepts, trying to understand and acknowledge a greater meaning behind our existence.
But we won’t be able to perceive divine perfection in our reality unless we go beyond the human mind and allow the presence of our soul to dominate our life experience.
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The journey to equality is a journey to empowerment.
The journey of empowerment is an individual journey of exploring our authentic selves. Something that the very system we live in requires us all to do.
Technology-Induced Change In Consciousness
Facilitated by rapid technological development and confronted by numerous social media channels that encourage self-expression, we all face currently a crisis of identity.
Our digital century provokes comparison whenever we use our mobile phones, laptops and tablets. Our digital identity is easy to access and alter. Checking our social media profiles, we are confronted by how others present themselves and challenged by how we will present ourselves.
While digitality provides immense potential for personal freedom, it also proves to be a seductive challenge for our mentality.
You have to know who you are and be confident in yourself not to fall victim to the digital environment of keyboard warriors, cancel culture and follower competition.
The content you provide and follow is your responsibility. Your digital output attracts digital input, and because we tend to utilise our devices so frequently, our intake affects our entire mood, habits, life and well-being.
We can quickly lose control over the urge to present ourselves enhanced and likeable or busy trying not to miss out on the latest trends and notifications.
While theoretically obvious, it seems that most of us forget that we are not our digital social media alter ego. The pictures we post may seem like a representation of our personality, but in reality, they are nothing but a brief snapshot of a (mostly artificially altered) moment in time. The posts we like and the opinions we share may seem like we have a firm objective in life but mirrors only one of the various beliefs that linger within us.
What does this have to do with race and racism, you ask?
Technology and Artificial Intelligence doesn’t differentiate between black or white skin colour. It requires the individual to take responsibility for their in- and output. This, in turn, basically asks us to be clear and aware of who we are in order to control what we get and what we will become.
The utilisation of digital applications exercises the mindfulness required to regulate mental and psychological input and output.
The content we keep following becomes us and has the potential of significant influence on our identity. Amidst various digital opinions and profiles, where do we position ourselves, and what is our agenda with our output?
Those are the questions that help us discover who we are, what influences us and how to stay empowered in the face of variety.
Though digital technology can display racial content, it is in itself a neutral tool that allows you for a far-reaching expression of yourself. The digital challenges project on our devices, our personal struggles with identity and empowerment. No matter the skin colour.
Being aware and exploring how to be responsible with our in- and output, we learn to take responsibility for our own identity.
Digitally and in real life, we have to ask ourselves, how much of our identity is made up of content or people we follow/listen to and what is our very own intuitive truth?
Are we ready to collaborate, educate, inspire and uplift each other through authentic soul content? Or are we still victims of the labels we put on ourselves to tell a story in which we feel confirmed rather than authentic?
It is easier to identify with a group, to reinforce some sort of identity.
I can play with labels that describe where I was born, my gender, my sex, my skin colour, religion, political views etc. Those can be used to manipulate, control and influence others, but all of those things are nothing but illusions that distort and distract from who I truly am.
The story that I tell will always be a human story of what I experienced. But the wisdom behind how I balanced illusion and intuition along my way is the actual content that defines me.
My actions and output reveal where I stand compared to the aligned relationship between my authentic self and the illusions I fell victim to.
The human journey of a white person and the human journey of a black person is always a story about how aligned we become with the soul within us while being objected to the illusions of physical reality. It is, therefore, the same journey, played out on different sides of the racial contrast.
True empowerment and equality lie beyond this contrast and have first to be realised from within. Looking outside of us, we will only find a distorted picture of what we allow ourselves to be.
Humanity is used to operate within five senses and three dimensions, but I think hot topics like race and all emotional trigger points around it invite us to go beyond. I believe as a society, we finally are on the brink of a significant shift, ready to tap into our multidimensional nature. Multidimensional meaning, being aware of an imbalanced condition while not being trapped in it.
Instead, reaching another level of awareness that allows and therefore creates a dimension of balance.
We have to understand and be compassionate about the fact that everyday human life sucks us into a still low vibrating mass consciousness.
It requires your efforts to develop an enlightened awareness of the relationship between you and you and vibrate your highest understanding. Shine your soul wisdom upon the often troublesome topics of humanity and realise, you don’t need your race or any other labels to do so.
It looks dim at times, and history proves we navigated some dark chapters. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that we gradually move into divine sovereignty, and I wish for all of us to be so in sync with our soul that we can sense the truthness in these words.
In the end, it is up to you to contribute and create your own empowerment. The shackles of the past don’t have to keep binding black people into victimhood and white people to its cause. If everyone takes the necessary steps to understand who they genuinely are, there will be no need for separation. If you can face your own illusions of identity, see through the labels you assign to yourself and go beyond them - there we can meet another in great respect, compassion and understanding.
cobotis