I have vehemently been opposed to racism in any shape or form, all my life (which is a long time)... but going back to the beginning of the 70's, when it was a lot worse than it is now in the UK, two things happened that affected me greatly and undoubtedly acted upon my own personal interpretation of what is right and what is wrong.
The first instance was when we moved house and I had to attend a new school, aged fourteen in 1972. There I was, it was my worst nightmare... I was 'the newboy'. I had long hair as we all did, I'd lost all my old friends and I was standing in the playground surrounded by unfamiliar faces in a school in what I considered to be out in "the sticks" too far away, from London. One boy stepped forward and shook my hand. Julius. Julius was the one and only black kid in the entire school. A descendant, of the great Zulu nation, highly intelligent, warm and friendly, always laughing... but as I later came to respect, only a complete idiot would even contemplate getting into a fight with Julius. Julius's best friend was a boy (also called Chris) who had also been cursed with the 'creative disease'... an extremely talented artist. A year or so later, Chris, Julius's best friend committed suicide. This undoubtedly affected Julius in many ways. However, Julius was black, he stood up for himself, he answered back to the teachers (as did I). I got to stay, whereas Julius after relentless hounding by many of the teachers, was forced to leave. I have never forgotten Julius, my first friend at that school.
The second instance was around 1975. MacDonalds was new to the UK and the first MacDonalds near to us had just opened. I went to town on my motorbike to buy a record and thought I'd try a Big Mac out for myself. On the way out, a young black guy was coming towards me, so I held the door. To this day I cannot forget the look of sheer disbelief and amazement on his face that I, a white kid had done such a simple act on his behalf. We just smiled at each other, two decent human beings in a fucked up world. And I have never forgotten that day either.
In the seventies, the National Front and other extreme right wing movements were prevalent and gaining ground in the UK. In opposition the 'Rock Against Racism' movement was formed and grew from within the music business. Punk was big and most of the Punk rock bands supported it, organising concerts, supporting the cause... that 'we are all one'. Musicians, back then were all pretty much of the same mind, supporting and promoting noble causes, rather than just promoting themselves. However, the world has changed. Generally speaking, basic human rights for all of us have improved over the decades. But now, we are seeing progress halted and retroactive steps being taken by populist Nationalistic leaders in the Free World in order to gain support from those who fear change, those who hated the progress that we had made and an attempt to return to the past. A past when mistakes that were made, should not have been forgotten.
Between the years 1939-1945 Hitler's fascist Nazi party exterminated between 5-6 million Jews as well as many other races, also including the Disabled, Gays, Romani, Freemasons, even Jehovah's Witnesses. The total murdered by his fascists is estimated to be around 17 million Human Beings. Hitler's plan was to establish the Aryan 'Herrenmenschen' or 'Master Humans' who would dominate and rule the world.
Hitler however, had also not forgotten about the thousands of African/Germans who's position became more and more precarious. People in mixed relationships could be targeted for sterilisation, imprisonment or murder. In 1942, Heinrich Himmler, who was one of the architects of the Holocaust, ordered a census of the black people living in Germany. This was probably the beginnings of a plan of mass murder, but was fortunately not carried out by the time the Nazis themselves were defeated by our forefathers... many who sacrificed their lives, in order to defeat the rise of fascism in Europe.
I wonder how many people actually realise the horrors that we narrowly avoided, the sacrifices that were made and the absolute insanity, that hatred can create, when you begin to think that you are in some way, superior? And as often is the case, it is the sheer ignorance of the facts, that allows them to even begin to contemplate it.
