And then looking at my book on jean michel basquiat on Friday and getting very excited about his pictures for the first time. I think I was merely excited when I very first saw them. Now they seem to represent a way forward for me.
Sunday, 15 July 2012
Some good things are happening
These words from Tim Etchells I read on Thursday: "Reading the materials these days you’d know that art is about celebrating, bringing together, and affirming. You’d know that its about creative self-expression. It’s harder somehow to find reference to things like the fact that the arts might challenge, provoke or disturb. It’s hard to find an emphasis on things like difficulty, difference, division or dissent."
And then looking at my book on jean michel basquiat on Friday and getting very excited about his pictures for the first time. I think I was merely excited when I very first saw them. Now they seem to represent a way forward for me.
And then looking at my book on jean michel basquiat on Friday and getting very excited about his pictures for the first time. I think I was merely excited when I very first saw them. Now they seem to represent a way forward for me.
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
I thought all Africans...
I thought all Africans were supposed to be good runners
1. I think the white old man intended it as a supportive comment.
2. Assumption – that all Africans are supposed to be good runners – where does it come from?
3. Assumption – that the black runner (who was walking) is African!
4. The idea that it might be a supportive comment – when the runner had already run around 9-10 miles! And was walking cos he was very tired!
5. Assumption – that it was ok for the white old man to voice this idea.
6. How did the black runner/walker feel about it…?
7. It was said in a working class Sheffield accent.
8. Ignorance??
9. Or something else?
I thought all Africans were supposed to be good runners
I was running in the Sheffield half-marathon, for the first time. I have never run long distances before and was very pleased with myself that I was getting towards the end of this run – the longest I had ever done. I had noticed various people that seemed to be running at a similar pace to me, even though they weren’t always visible. One of these was a black guy – quite a bit younger than me and fit-looking and wearing a basketball shirt. Around the 10 mile mark, I saw him ahead – he was walking. Lots of runners did this throughout the run. I guess that I think that they didn’t train properly but this is of no matter. It could well be that the black guy had just started walking for the first time and soon started running again – but all of this is speculation.
As I approached him on a bridge (we had now entered a one-time industrial area of Sheffield and the bridge was very reminiscent of the type I knew from my childhood) an old white man (possibly wearing a cloth cap also reminding me of my childhood) shouted to the black guy: “I thought all Africans were supposed to be good runners.” I was both shocked and unsurprised by this comment. Shocked at its insensitivity – apart from all of the huge assumptions being made by the old white man, which I’ll come back to soon – the runner had already run 10 miles and, no doubt, was feeling tired and taking a break.
Before we go any further, I am absolutely convinced that the old white man intended his comment to be supportive. I think I am familiar enough with white working class culture to be very sure of this. I think he was, in his head, saying: “Run like you can – like all you Africans can.” He was, ironically, praising the black runner. This is part of the unsurprising part. But I could be wrong. It’s is very possible that I don’t know enough about working class culture to ‘know’ this.
I’ll return to the other part of the unsurprising part later.
I overtook him and spent the next period thinking about what I had just experienced. Running long distances is good for this – it provides lots of opportunities for reflection. Here is what I came up with:
Assumption 1 – that all Africans are supposed to be good runners. Maybe, the old white man has watched lots of African runners on TV? The famous Ethiopian runner - Haile Gebrselassie – was the epitome of this – running in bare feet and running for his life. All Africans are good runners aren’t they? Look at him run.
With a population of around 1 billion people, Africa is going to throw up some good runners. But name me some other famous African runners. I was struggling and running to Wikipedia before long. The most famous runner in the world at the moment is Usain Bolt and he is Jamaican. Michael Johnson is American and Linford Christie is British. What these all have in common, and with the half-marathon runner/walker, is that they are black. And all black people are descended from Africa – so the old white man shouting on the bridge in Sheffield wasn’t completely wrong… was he?
Assumption 2 – already touched upon above, that the black runner was African. While all black people do indeed descend from Africa, for most of them their descendants’ departure from that continent was so long ago as to make the label ‘African’ being applied to them meaningless. For the white old man on the bridge, black meant African. Is this ridiculous? The label ‘African-American’ is preferred by some black people in the USA. And Mumia Abu-Jamal labels himself and other black people as ‘African’(?). But, ‘African’? For all black people?
Assumption 3 – that it was o.k. for the white old man to shout this to the black runner/walker. Because, I believe, the white old man saw it as supportive. But, how could he perceive it to be so? The black man had already run 10 miles. But the white old man maybe didn’t know that – he maybe didn’t know the race course. But, does this excuse his comment? It is possible that the comment was either implicitly (but not deliberate) or explicitly racist.
The idea that the old man’s comment was based upon’ ignorance’ is an unsurprising one and one that is often heard in certain circles. But was the comment based upon ignorance? Who are we - white, middle class, university-educated citizens – to say that the old white man is ignorant? He almost certainly will know lots of things about lots of things that I, and probably we, don’t know that much about. Maybe he knows something about cutlery or steel production or engineering? He will almost certainly know a lot about Sheffield geography and culture. Maybe he knows something about families and parenthood. Or, maybe he is a fluent Mandarin speaker or a physicist or artist or dental surgeon? To use the term ‘ignorance’ based upon his comment to the black runner is misleading and inaccurate.
1. I think the white old man intended it as a supportive comment.
2. Assumption – that all Africans are supposed to be good runners – where does it come from?
3. Assumption – that the black runner (who was walking) is African!
4. The idea that it might be a supportive comment – when the runner had already run around 9-10 miles! And was walking cos he was very tired!
5. Assumption – that it was ok for the white old man to voice this idea.
6. How did the black runner/walker feel about it…?
7. It was said in a working class Sheffield accent.
8. Ignorance??
9. Or something else?
I thought all Africans were supposed to be good runners
I was running in the Sheffield half-marathon, for the first time. I have never run long distances before and was very pleased with myself that I was getting towards the end of this run – the longest I had ever done. I had noticed various people that seemed to be running at a similar pace to me, even though they weren’t always visible. One of these was a black guy – quite a bit younger than me and fit-looking and wearing a basketball shirt. Around the 10 mile mark, I saw him ahead – he was walking. Lots of runners did this throughout the run. I guess that I think that they didn’t train properly but this is of no matter. It could well be that the black guy had just started walking for the first time and soon started running again – but all of this is speculation.
As I approached him on a bridge (we had now entered a one-time industrial area of Sheffield and the bridge was very reminiscent of the type I knew from my childhood) an old white man (possibly wearing a cloth cap also reminding me of my childhood) shouted to the black guy: “I thought all Africans were supposed to be good runners.” I was both shocked and unsurprised by this comment. Shocked at its insensitivity – apart from all of the huge assumptions being made by the old white man, which I’ll come back to soon – the runner had already run 10 miles and, no doubt, was feeling tired and taking a break.
Before we go any further, I am absolutely convinced that the old white man intended his comment to be supportive. I think I am familiar enough with white working class culture to be very sure of this. I think he was, in his head, saying: “Run like you can – like all you Africans can.” He was, ironically, praising the black runner. This is part of the unsurprising part. But I could be wrong. It’s is very possible that I don’t know enough about working class culture to ‘know’ this.
I’ll return to the other part of the unsurprising part later.
I overtook him and spent the next period thinking about what I had just experienced. Running long distances is good for this – it provides lots of opportunities for reflection. Here is what I came up with:
Assumption 1 – that all Africans are supposed to be good runners. Maybe, the old white man has watched lots of African runners on TV? The famous Ethiopian runner - Haile Gebrselassie – was the epitome of this – running in bare feet and running for his life. All Africans are good runners aren’t they? Look at him run.
With a population of around 1 billion people, Africa is going to throw up some good runners. But name me some other famous African runners. I was struggling and running to Wikipedia before long. The most famous runner in the world at the moment is Usain Bolt and he is Jamaican. Michael Johnson is American and Linford Christie is British. What these all have in common, and with the half-marathon runner/walker, is that they are black. And all black people are descended from Africa – so the old white man shouting on the bridge in Sheffield wasn’t completely wrong… was he?
Assumption 2 – already touched upon above, that the black runner was African. While all black people do indeed descend from Africa, for most of them their descendants’ departure from that continent was so long ago as to make the label ‘African’ being applied to them meaningless. For the white old man on the bridge, black meant African. Is this ridiculous? The label ‘African-American’ is preferred by some black people in the USA. And Mumia Abu-Jamal labels himself and other black people as ‘African’(?). But, ‘African’? For all black people?
Assumption 3 – that it was o.k. for the white old man to shout this to the black runner/walker. Because, I believe, the white old man saw it as supportive. But, how could he perceive it to be so? The black man had already run 10 miles. But the white old man maybe didn’t know that – he maybe didn’t know the race course. But, does this excuse his comment? It is possible that the comment was either implicitly (but not deliberate) or explicitly racist.
The idea that the old man’s comment was based upon’ ignorance’ is an unsurprising one and one that is often heard in certain circles. But was the comment based upon ignorance? Who are we - white, middle class, university-educated citizens – to say that the old white man is ignorant? He almost certainly will know lots of things about lots of things that I, and probably we, don’t know that much about. Maybe he knows something about cutlery or steel production or engineering? He will almost certainly know a lot about Sheffield geography and culture. Maybe he knows something about families and parenthood. Or, maybe he is a fluent Mandarin speaker or a physicist or artist or dental surgeon? To use the term ‘ignorance’ based upon his comment to the black runner is misleading and inaccurate.
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