Does anyone remember these few lines? I don't think I've got it right and would be grateful for corrections and any details of origin.
He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool. Shun Him.
He who knows and knows not that he knows is a stray. Lead him.
He who knows not and knows that he knows not is ignorant. Help him.
He who knows and knows that he knows is wise. Follow him.
Tuesday 6 April 2010
Tues 6th April 2010 - Political Correctness
The following letter was brought to my attention as a result of the observations I recently blogged about the Legacy Commission.
Dear Sir,
Michael Richards, an American actor, better known as Kramer from TVs Seinfeld, was accused of making racist comments in his comedy act. He made the following points in his defence when the case came to court.
"Someone finally said it. How many are actually paying attention to this? There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, etc.
And then there are just Americans. You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You call me 'White boy,' 'Cracker,' 'Honkey,' 'Whitey,' 'Caveman'... and that's OK..
But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head, Sand-nigger, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink .. You call me a racist.
You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you... so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?
You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day.
You have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day.
You have Yom Hashoah. You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi.
You have the NAACP. You have BET (Black Entertainment Television). If we had WET (White etc), we'd be racists. If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.
If we had White History Month, we'd be racists.
If we had any organization for only whites to 'advance' OUR lives, we'd be racists.
But, we have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that??
A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any colour can be in the Miss America pageant.
If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships... You know we'd be racists.
There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US . Yet if there were 'White colleges', that would be a racist college.
In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.
You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.
You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.
I am proud... But you call me a racist.
Why is it that only whites can be racists??
Yours,
Etc
Dear Sir,
Michael Richards, an American actor, better known as Kramer from TVs Seinfeld, was accused of making racist comments in his comedy act. He made the following points in his defence when the case came to court.
"Someone finally said it. How many are actually paying attention to this? There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, etc.
And then there are just Americans. You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You call me 'White boy,' 'Cracker,' 'Honkey,' 'Whitey,' 'Caveman'... and that's OK..
But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head, Sand-nigger, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink .. You call me a racist.
You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you... so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?
You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day.
You have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day.
You have Yom Hashoah. You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi.
You have the NAACP. You have BET (Black Entertainment Television). If we had WET (White etc), we'd be racists. If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.
If we had White History Month, we'd be racists.
If we had any organization for only whites to 'advance' OUR lives, we'd be racists.
But, we have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that??
A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any colour can be in the Miss America pageant.
If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships... You know we'd be racists.
There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US . Yet if there were 'White colleges', that would be a racist college.
In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.
You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.
You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.
I am proud... But you call me a racist.
Why is it that only whites can be racists??
Yours,
Etc
Monday 5 April 2010
Monday 5th April - Election - The Secret Vote!
Election Time.
May 6th it is. I have already received leaflets telling me who will win where and why other parties have no chance. It is as though the votes have been cast and counted. The main parties keep copious records of past voting performance and write to each category accordingly. Special letters for Hard Tory/Labour/LibDem, Soft T/L/L, Member T/L/L, Did Not Vote etc etc. They know to whom to offer transport, whom to knock up, whom not to encourage. It is all very sophisticated, very anti-democratic and very depressing.
Canvassers work from lists which identify individuals and give most likely voting intentions. These lists are updated with confirmation or otherwise of accuracy of prediction for the forthcoming election. The data will distinguish between your voting record and intentions for local and national elections. This information is then used to update computer records which spew out the appropriate 'personalised' letter to consolidate known support or try to influence soft targets.
The voter, like the MP or Councillor when elected, is treated with utter disdain. Pure lobby-fodder for the election machine.
You don't have to submit to this invasion of your privacy. One wonders what the Human Rights Commission would make of it.
On Election Day there will be party supporters placed at polling Stations to collect the Polling Number of those who attend to vote. This data will again be fed back to HQ where the computer will identify those 'known' supporters who have not yet voted and perhaps need a reminder of the importance of doing so and would they like a lift?
You do NOT have to give your number. It is all so anti-democratic that one wonders how much less secretive the vote can be. My advice is, "Don't co-operate in this invasion of your privacy".
Another of the many processes which offend democracy as you and I understand it occurred at last week's Bristol's Full Council Meeting (30th March). At the conclusion of a debate on Revised Equality Procedures, a Named Vote was called for. This is a device used to embarrass or threaten your councillor to abide by the Party Whip. The way each councillor votes will be recorded in the minutes and published. One needs to be fairly strong to vote according to conscience or as electors have indicated, if the Party deems it unwise to do so.
What a travesty of democracy. Again, I would be interested in the views of others on this denial of Human Rights in our so-called democracy.
Some years ago when I voted contrary to the Party's wishes and was subsequently invited to sign a Behavioural Contract which would gaurantee future compliance, I resigned rather than submit to this bullying. I wrote the following as a spoof election address:
(note - Dennis was the Party Whip)
Please vote for me and I'll intend,
To represent you to the end.
When it comes my vote to count,
Your interests will be paramount.
I'll promote your wishes, and endorse,
Together we'll be quite a force.
My conscience will inform me how
Best to implement my vow.
But Dennis has a duty too,
And he tells others what to do.
You have the power to vote me out;
My duty is to you, no doubt.
But Dennis has more power than you,
And he will tell me what to do.
And when I've found out what you want,
And others, if there's clear intent,
I'll go to Council, speech prepared,
For full debate with others shared.
Views, yours and mine, yet more informed,
By argument and counter-claim;
Trust me to cast my vote, assured,
In your best interests and the ward.
But all this prep's to no avail.
It's Dennis who will set the sail.
But when I used not his suggestion,
I was asked the dreaded question.
"Will you give an explanation,
Of your seeming aberration"?
For Dennis has the power, not you,
And he will tell me what to do.
For, Against or to Abstain,
Is not your choice but Party gain.
Party first and voter second,
Democracy's not as you reckoned.
May 6th it is. I have already received leaflets telling me who will win where and why other parties have no chance. It is as though the votes have been cast and counted. The main parties keep copious records of past voting performance and write to each category accordingly. Special letters for Hard Tory/Labour/LibDem, Soft T/L/L, Member T/L/L, Did Not Vote etc etc. They know to whom to offer transport, whom to knock up, whom not to encourage. It is all very sophisticated, very anti-democratic and very depressing.
Canvassers work from lists which identify individuals and give most likely voting intentions. These lists are updated with confirmation or otherwise of accuracy of prediction for the forthcoming election. The data will distinguish between your voting record and intentions for local and national elections. This information is then used to update computer records which spew out the appropriate 'personalised' letter to consolidate known support or try to influence soft targets.
The voter, like the MP or Councillor when elected, is treated with utter disdain. Pure lobby-fodder for the election machine.
You don't have to submit to this invasion of your privacy. One wonders what the Human Rights Commission would make of it.
On Election Day there will be party supporters placed at polling Stations to collect the Polling Number of those who attend to vote. This data will again be fed back to HQ where the computer will identify those 'known' supporters who have not yet voted and perhaps need a reminder of the importance of doing so and would they like a lift?
You do NOT have to give your number. It is all so anti-democratic that one wonders how much less secretive the vote can be. My advice is, "Don't co-operate in this invasion of your privacy".
Another of the many processes which offend democracy as you and I understand it occurred at last week's Bristol's Full Council Meeting (30th March). At the conclusion of a debate on Revised Equality Procedures, a Named Vote was called for. This is a device used to embarrass or threaten your councillor to abide by the Party Whip. The way each councillor votes will be recorded in the minutes and published. One needs to be fairly strong to vote according to conscience or as electors have indicated, if the Party deems it unwise to do so.
What a travesty of democracy. Again, I would be interested in the views of others on this denial of Human Rights in our so-called democracy.
Some years ago when I voted contrary to the Party's wishes and was subsequently invited to sign a Behavioural Contract which would gaurantee future compliance, I resigned rather than submit to this bullying. I wrote the following as a spoof election address:
(note - Dennis was the Party Whip)
Please vote for me and I'll intend,
To represent you to the end.
When it comes my vote to count,
Your interests will be paramount.
I'll promote your wishes, and endorse,
Together we'll be quite a force.
My conscience will inform me how
Best to implement my vow.
But Dennis has a duty too,
And he tells others what to do.
You have the power to vote me out;
My duty is to you, no doubt.
But Dennis has more power than you,
And he will tell me what to do.
And when I've found out what you want,
And others, if there's clear intent,
I'll go to Council, speech prepared,
For full debate with others shared.
Views, yours and mine, yet more informed,
By argument and counter-claim;
Trust me to cast my vote, assured,
In your best interests and the ward.
But all this prep's to no avail.
It's Dennis who will set the sail.
But when I used not his suggestion,
I was asked the dreaded question.
"Will you give an explanation,
Of your seeming aberration"?
For Dennis has the power, not you,
And he will tell me what to do.
For, Against or to Abstain,
Is not your choice but Party gain.
Party first and voter second,
Democracy's not as you reckoned.
Sunday 4 April 2010
Sunday April 4th 2010
I'd like to share a few thoughts re Bach. Last Wed (31st March) went with friends to a performance of St Matthew's Passion at Bath Abbey, with table booked at Tilley's Bistro for interval.
"Lucky sod", I hear some of you say, and to an extent you'd be right. Lovely friends, smashing meal but I was left wondering whether anyone really enjoys what went with it. I must be honest; for years this group has attended the Christmas performance of Handel's Messiah. Last December I gave it a miss. I really was suffering from culture fatigue. I have counted the stained glass windows in the Abbey so many times that I thought there might be new non-cultural experiences awaiting me. I won't tell you how many there are, windows not experiences, but it is good exercise for the idling brain and, because one cannot see all from any one seat, it needs an imaginative architectural bent to predict repeating patterns in unseen places. Anyway, the Bach excursion has topped up my culture tank for a few years or so.
At a couple of places in the performance there was an opportunity for audience participation. Whether this was in Bach's mind I cannot say, but what a cunning ruse. Who is going to complain about a concert in which one took part, however uncomfortable the seats and impaired the view?
I also learned the origin of the phrase, 'Going to the Wall'. For those who don't know, a lady sitting on the side stone ledge, in answer to my 'How do you come to be in the cheap seats?' jibe, explained that the poor would be seated in church or wherever after toffs had taken theirs, and would be guided to these side stalls. Hence, I took it, 'Going to the wall' meant being or becoming poor.
I gathered from the programme that meddling Mendelssohn was responsible for my pleasure that night. Bach had died many years before this piece became a favourite and it was Mendy, not unlike our own Mandy, who spun it into a show-stopper. Let sleeping dogs lie, I would have recommended.
I did wonder whether, had Bach had the benefit of our modern past-times - TV, ten pin bowling, binge drinking etc., we may have been saved centuries of person hours spent deceiving each other as to the pleasure we were gaining from Johann's particular genius.
"Lucky sod", I hear some of you say, and to an extent you'd be right. Lovely friends, smashing meal but I was left wondering whether anyone really enjoys what went with it. I must be honest; for years this group has attended the Christmas performance of Handel's Messiah. Last December I gave it a miss. I really was suffering from culture fatigue. I have counted the stained glass windows in the Abbey so many times that I thought there might be new non-cultural experiences awaiting me. I won't tell you how many there are, windows not experiences, but it is good exercise for the idling brain and, because one cannot see all from any one seat, it needs an imaginative architectural bent to predict repeating patterns in unseen places. Anyway, the Bach excursion has topped up my culture tank for a few years or so.
At a couple of places in the performance there was an opportunity for audience participation. Whether this was in Bach's mind I cannot say, but what a cunning ruse. Who is going to complain about a concert in which one took part, however uncomfortable the seats and impaired the view?
I also learned the origin of the phrase, 'Going to the Wall'. For those who don't know, a lady sitting on the side stone ledge, in answer to my 'How do you come to be in the cheap seats?' jibe, explained that the poor would be seated in church or wherever after toffs had taken theirs, and would be guided to these side stalls. Hence, I took it, 'Going to the wall' meant being or becoming poor.
I gathered from the programme that meddling Mendelssohn was responsible for my pleasure that night. Bach had died many years before this piece became a favourite and it was Mendy, not unlike our own Mandy, who spun it into a show-stopper. Let sleeping dogs lie, I would have recommended.
I did wonder whether, had Bach had the benefit of our modern past-times - TV, ten pin bowling, binge drinking etc., we may have been saved centuries of person hours spent deceiving each other as to the pleasure we were gaining from Johann's particular genius.
Saturday 3 April 2010
Saturday, April 3rd, 2010
Interesting few days. Attended another meeting of Bristol Legacy Commission. Some correspondence posted on this blog. Apparently, members of the Commission have been instructed NOT to enter into any discussion with me. Impressive slant on democratic involvement.
Letter published in Bristol Evening Post 1st April. Web search will show responses to date. Please add yours to keep this important pot boiling.
Bristol political scene gets direr by the day.
Have received LibDem election leaflets repeating the lie that 'party' has been using for years that "The Tories cannot win here". We know that they used to fill in postal voting forms for Care Homes in previous elections but I would be surprised if they have already completed enough to give them a majority.
Church scandals have hit the Easter holiday with uncanny timing. Is it right that the Pope's visit to UK will cost taxpayers £25mn?
Another speeding ticket. Did some research on Safety Camera Partnership website which revealed spelling mistakes in the Assistant Chief Constable's Home Page. If he can't spell, can we be sure he can use a camera? Brought the error to attention of contact email who, in thanking me, referred to it as a typing error. I replied that it was evidence of an inadequate education NOT finger trouble.
Encountered Green Party canvassers in Clifton Down. Lovely people but seemed unaware of current position in Bristol, both locally and nationally. Pity 'cos some good candidates and interesting policies.
Letter published in Bristol Evening Post 1st April. Web search will show responses to date. Please add yours to keep this important pot boiling.
Bristol political scene gets direr by the day.
Have received LibDem election leaflets repeating the lie that 'party' has been using for years that "The Tories cannot win here". We know that they used to fill in postal voting forms for Care Homes in previous elections but I would be surprised if they have already completed enough to give them a majority.
Church scandals have hit the Easter holiday with uncanny timing. Is it right that the Pope's visit to UK will cost taxpayers £25mn?
Another speeding ticket. Did some research on Safety Camera Partnership website which revealed spelling mistakes in the Assistant Chief Constable's Home Page. If he can't spell, can we be sure he can use a camera? Brought the error to attention of contact email who, in thanking me, referred to it as a typing error. I replied that it was evidence of an inadequate education NOT finger trouble.
Encountered Green Party canvassers in Clifton Down. Lovely people but seemed unaware of current position in Bristol, both locally and nationally. Pity 'cos some good candidates and interesting policies.
Friday 2nd April. Bristol Legacy Commission - Further Comment
( letter published in Bristol Evening Post, 1st April 2010. For comment see website of paper & scroll 'letters')
Dear Sir,
I have attended the last two Bristol Legacy Commission meetings in order to gain a better understanding of the approach the Council is taking to improved community cohesion. I have also followed the correspondence in the EP re City of Sanctuary application, including the articles submitted by Rev. Barrett. I tried to see it from a sympathetic viewpoint but was astonished by the extent to which the debates seem to be promoting the very dependency I would hope we were trying to remove. I would urge more people to attend these meetings and see for themselves.
I do feel strongly that the conventional teaching of slavery is damaging to the self-esteem of the black community. In any case, as any well educated historian will tell you, most slaves were rounded up by Africans themselves, marched to the coast and then sold to British and other merchants at the slave ports in what is now Ghana. The reason for this is that white men could not easily survive in the interior of Africa and so needed willing black collaborators to "harvest" the slaves. Slavery was certainly not a uniquely white European crime. These forts/ports are now holiday destinations for those seeking a better understanding of their background.
I think teaching about the absurdity, ignorance and cruelty of racism might be useful, but black slavery is not as relevant to contemporary Britain or Bristol as is people trafficking, a more acceptable euphemism for slavery. More usefully, racism and bigotry prevention via education spreads the enlightenment net to cover Asians and other minority groups (including religious) as well. Another benefit of this would be to show the BME community that many other groups have faced prejudice and that they, the descendants of the African slaves, are not uniquely cursed.
Just ask the Welsh and Irish if in any doubt.
In addition, academic research in the US has shown that learning about accomplished role models from one's own group (e.g. Obama) has a more positive effect than enlarging the chips on people's shoulders. To be fair, there was some discussion of this at Monday's Legacy Commission meeting, but it seemed fairly patronising and, without using the word, was emphasising the importance of proportionality in representation and employment. Interestingly, several people were careful to point out that they were not in favour of quotas. The difference between proportionality and quotas is too subtle for my limited cranial capacity. As we know in Bristol, the Jewish/Zionist obsession with the Holocaust, which we encourage, is still being used to justify tremendous injustice against the innocent Palestinians. This is a very significant but not the only example of the harmful effects of promoting a victim culture in specific minority groups. For the good of our community, I believe we must stop this obsession with victims and martyrs.
I firmly believe that some of these politically correct behaviours to which we are so devoted in Bristol, and of which the Commission is an excellent example, are motivated by a kind of buried, latent, guilty, residual racism. By this I mean that some people promote the cruel absurdities of slavery in an attempt to prove to themselves and others that they have no racist feelings. The comments of the (white) councillors who were present at that meeting, plus the (white) council officers were in this category. They were trying too hard to be appalled. A true non racist is relaxed, logical and objective. Those representatives I've mentioned above used emotion and assertion to put over the points they were making and it was not at all convincing other than to those who were convinced already and had much to gain from their victim stance. Their jobs, careers and self-respect depend on them deceiving themselves that what is palpably false on any objective assessment, can be sufficiently convincing to justify the continuing payment of blood money in the form of grants to the alleged descendants of the alleged victims of the crimes largely perpetrated by their own countrymen.
I was left in no doubt that the work of the Legacy Commission, as currently conducted, is almost guaranteed to be dangerously counter productive to the cause of community cohesion and is likely to benefit extreme right-wing parties only.
The next meeting is on Monday, 14th June at the Council House, 6 - 8 pm. Visitors welcome.
Yours sincerely,
Roy Tallis,
Dear Sir,
I have attended the last two Bristol Legacy Commission meetings in order to gain a better understanding of the approach the Council is taking to improved community cohesion. I have also followed the correspondence in the EP re City of Sanctuary application, including the articles submitted by Rev. Barrett. I tried to see it from a sympathetic viewpoint but was astonished by the extent to which the debates seem to be promoting the very dependency I would hope we were trying to remove. I would urge more people to attend these meetings and see for themselves.
I do feel strongly that the conventional teaching of slavery is damaging to the self-esteem of the black community. In any case, as any well educated historian will tell you, most slaves were rounded up by Africans themselves, marched to the coast and then sold to British and other merchants at the slave ports in what is now Ghana. The reason for this is that white men could not easily survive in the interior of Africa and so needed willing black collaborators to "harvest" the slaves. Slavery was certainly not a uniquely white European crime. These forts/ports are now holiday destinations for those seeking a better understanding of their background.
I think teaching about the absurdity, ignorance and cruelty of racism might be useful, but black slavery is not as relevant to contemporary Britain or Bristol as is people trafficking, a more acceptable euphemism for slavery. More usefully, racism and bigotry prevention via education spreads the enlightenment net to cover Asians and other minority groups (including religious) as well. Another benefit of this would be to show the BME community that many other groups have faced prejudice and that they, the descendants of the African slaves, are not uniquely cursed.
Just ask the Welsh and Irish if in any doubt.
In addition, academic research in the US has shown that learning about accomplished role models from one's own group (e.g. Obama) has a more positive effect than enlarging the chips on people's shoulders. To be fair, there was some discussion of this at Monday's Legacy Commission meeting, but it seemed fairly patronising and, without using the word, was emphasising the importance of proportionality in representation and employment. Interestingly, several people were careful to point out that they were not in favour of quotas. The difference between proportionality and quotas is too subtle for my limited cranial capacity. As we know in Bristol, the Jewish/Zionist obsession with the Holocaust, which we encourage, is still being used to justify tremendous injustice against the innocent Palestinians. This is a very significant but not the only example of the harmful effects of promoting a victim culture in specific minority groups. For the good of our community, I believe we must stop this obsession with victims and martyrs.
I firmly believe that some of these politically correct behaviours to which we are so devoted in Bristol, and of which the Commission is an excellent example, are motivated by a kind of buried, latent, guilty, residual racism. By this I mean that some people promote the cruel absurdities of slavery in an attempt to prove to themselves and others that they have no racist feelings. The comments of the (white) councillors who were present at that meeting, plus the (white) council officers were in this category. They were trying too hard to be appalled. A true non racist is relaxed, logical and objective. Those representatives I've mentioned above used emotion and assertion to put over the points they were making and it was not at all convincing other than to those who were convinced already and had much to gain from their victim stance. Their jobs, careers and self-respect depend on them deceiving themselves that what is palpably false on any objective assessment, can be sufficiently convincing to justify the continuing payment of blood money in the form of grants to the alleged descendants of the alleged victims of the crimes largely perpetrated by their own countrymen.
I was left in no doubt that the work of the Legacy Commission, as currently conducted, is almost guaranteed to be dangerously counter productive to the cause of community cohesion and is likely to benefit extreme right-wing parties only.
The next meeting is on Monday, 14th June at the Council House, 6 - 8 pm. Visitors welcome.
Yours sincerely,
Roy Tallis,
15th Feb., Bristol City Council Legacy Commission meeting
Dear Cherene,
Thanks for warm welcome at meeting on 15th February and it was good to meet you.
I attended because I am concerned with the feeble and apologetic pose BCC seems to adopt in relation to the city's past.
I was hoping to see a more positive approach to building a united community in the city. One that, perhaps, did not exhibit the guilt-ridden angst that has been promoted so much in the last few years, at least since the Macpherson Report of 1999, (I think).
I came with an open mind.
I'm afraid I left a very disappointed person.
When an organisation chooses such a laudable ambition as 'Community Cohesion' but conducts its activities in a way, it seems, directly opposed to the success of its objectives, it does cause dismay.
Community cohesion is such a wonderful phrase and something I hope all intelligent citizens would work towards. However, the obsession with BME issues is paradoxical given this aim. And even the BME focus seemed so predominantly Black and, perhaps, Caribean, in terms of activities supported that I fear we may be damaging rather than healing difficulties within our communities if the focus of the Legacy Commission is not to be changed radically.
For example, mention was made of the evil of people trafficking, something not unknown in current day Bristol, but then a curriculum development programme dealing with historic slavery was endorsed. Is there any fundamental difference between the evils of both slavery and people trafficking? And should not the current failures be of more concern than glorying in the past?
++The discussion reinforced my view that Bristol concentrates too much on promoting the victim culture. Many of the observations made emphasised the importance of proportionality (eg: a White dominated football industry) but failed to concede that the captain of the England team and the proportion of players in the national and other top teams was more Black than would be under true proportionality. Not that I agree with proportionality which is arguing, at best, for a new apartheid. I was even told a few years ago by an officer in the Equalities department in an open meeting that only black councillors can truly represent black citizens. Is this still the view of the Council?
I hoped we had moved on from such an ill-informed and anti-democratic opinions. From what I saw on Monday, there seems to have been little if any progress.
The paper on Education proudly highlighted where BME performance exceeded non-BME. There can be no clearer evidence of the racist competitiveness behind such assertions and it certainly did not sound to me like an argument leading towards cohesion.
Without knowing the full background behind the proposals for funding put to the meeting, and there seemed to be little encouragement from the Chair when members asked for clarification, it did seem to me that they were pet projects from members of the committee rather than issues of wider community concern. To a certain extent I accept that this is inevitable, but I did wonder what arrangements there are for members to gather wider concerns and feed them to the Commission. Again, if I have not done my homework, please accept my apologies. If there are opportunities to influence the content of the meeting, I would be grateful if you would let me know.
If it would be of any interest for me to expand on the points made, I would welcome an opportunity to do so.
If possible, I will attend the next meeting to see give a more balanced view of the proceedings than I gathered from just this one experience.
I have copied this email to the councillors who were present and my own councillor ( Simon Cook) and am happy for it to be used for wider circulation if you think it appropriate.
Please ignore if of no interest to you.
Yours sincerely
Roy Tallis
Thanks for warm welcome at meeting on 15th February and it was good to meet you.
I attended because I am concerned with the feeble and apologetic pose BCC seems to adopt in relation to the city's past.
I was hoping to see a more positive approach to building a united community in the city. One that, perhaps, did not exhibit the guilt-ridden angst that has been promoted so much in the last few years, at least since the Macpherson Report of 1999, (I think).
I came with an open mind.
I'm afraid I left a very disappointed person.
When an organisation chooses such a laudable ambition as 'Community Cohesion' but conducts its activities in a way, it seems, directly opposed to the success of its objectives, it does cause dismay.
Community cohesion is such a wonderful phrase and something I hope all intelligent citizens would work towards. However, the obsession with BME issues is paradoxical given this aim. And even the BME focus seemed so predominantly Black and, perhaps, Caribean, in terms of activities supported that I fear we may be damaging rather than healing difficulties within our communities if the focus of the Legacy Commission is not to be changed radically.
For example, mention was made of the evil of people trafficking, something not unknown in current day Bristol, but then a curriculum development programme dealing with historic slavery was endorsed. Is there any fundamental difference between the evils of both slavery and people trafficking? And should not the current failures be of more concern than glorying in the past?
++The discussion reinforced my view that Bristol concentrates too much on promoting the victim culture. Many of the observations made emphasised the importance of proportionality (eg: a White dominated football industry) but failed to concede that the captain of the England team and the proportion of players in the national and other top teams was more Black than would be under true proportionality. Not that I agree with proportionality which is arguing, at best, for a new apartheid. I was even told a few years ago by an officer in the Equalities department in an open meeting that only black councillors can truly represent black citizens. Is this still the view of the Council?
I hoped we had moved on from such an ill-informed and anti-democratic opinions. From what I saw on Monday, there seems to have been little if any progress.
The paper on Education proudly highlighted where BME performance exceeded non-BME. There can be no clearer evidence of the racist competitiveness behind such assertions and it certainly did not sound to me like an argument leading towards cohesion.
Without knowing the full background behind the proposals for funding put to the meeting, and there seemed to be little encouragement from the Chair when members asked for clarification, it did seem to me that they were pet projects from members of the committee rather than issues of wider community concern. To a certain extent I accept that this is inevitable, but I did wonder what arrangements there are for members to gather wider concerns and feed them to the Commission. Again, if I have not done my homework, please accept my apologies. If there are opportunities to influence the content of the meeting, I would be grateful if you would let me know.
If it would be of any interest for me to expand on the points made, I would welcome an opportunity to do so.
If possible, I will attend the next meeting to see give a more balanced view of the proceedings than I gathered from just this one experience.
I have copied this email to the councillors who were present and my own councillor ( Simon Cook) and am happy for it to be used for wider circulation if you think it appropriate.
Please ignore if of no interest to you.
Yours sincerely
Roy Tallis
May 2007, BEP letter re Slavery
(Letter to Bristol Evening Post, May 2007)
Subject: Slavery
Please let's move on.
There may indeed be an argument that the absolutely bestial cruelty inflicted by some slave owners upon their victims in the West Indies and in America are even more inexcusable because they were inflicted by people from a relatively advanced state of civilisation.
However, on the question of guilt and compensation, I do not think that the complainants have a valid case today.
If we go back eight or 10 generations to the heyday of western slavery, I have 250-1000 ancestors, and so do all British people now living.
In this "guilt by descendancy", may I point out that the United Nations decided, long ago, that the present or past occupation of territory by a certain community cannot be regarded as a pretext for occupying that territory. Hitler was quite wrong to claim the Sudeten land in Czechoslovakia because it was inhabited by ethnic Germans, and the Jews have no claim over Palestine any more than the Celtic Bretons can claim England.
African complaints about slavery should be met with a clear statement that such brutality was wrong, and a reproach to those, African or not, who practised it. But the descendants of an African slave-trader cannot be held responsible in any way for their ancestors' sins, and neither can the descendants of a European slave trader.
It is a principle of law that a man or woman is responsible for their own actions, and to some extent for the actions of their minor children or wards, or their pupils, agents or employees. But the buck surely stops there.
Subject: Slavery
Dear Sir,
Slavery
Slavery
Please let's move on.
There may indeed be an argument that the absolutely bestial cruelty inflicted by some slave owners upon their victims in the West Indies and in America are even more inexcusable because they were inflicted by people from a relatively advanced state of civilisation.
However, on the question of guilt and compensation, I do not think that the complainants have a valid case today.
If we go back eight or 10 generations to the heyday of western slavery, I have 250-1000 ancestors, and so do all British people now living.
It is quite false to picture the British or other countries as homogeneous societies, not interbreeding with other countries. In Britain today, one person in four has a foreign-born parent. The ideal of collective responsibility is therefore as unreasonable and unjust as the principle of collective punishment. There should be a statute of limitation - certainly not more than 100 years- beyond which complaints cannot be considered.
In this "guilt by descendancy", may I point out that the United Nations decided, long ago, that the present or past occupation of territory by a certain community cannot be regarded as a pretext for occupying that territory. Hitler was quite wrong to claim the Sudeten land in Czechoslovakia because it was inhabited by ethnic Germans, and the Jews have no claim over Palestine any more than the Celtic Bretons can claim England.
African complaints about slavery should be met with a clear statement that such brutality was wrong, and a reproach to those, African or not, who practised it. But the descendants of an African slave-trader cannot be held responsible in any way for their ancestors' sins, and neither can the descendants of a European slave trader.
It is a principle of law that a man or woman is responsible for their own actions, and to some extent for the actions of their minor children or wards, or their pupils, agents or employees. But the buck surely stops there.
Are we going to blame the present Duke of Wherever for the fact that his land was originally stolen from the people. What dangerous nonsense.
The Africans were at it decades ahead of anyone else, and still are. Well before mssrs Colston and others got involved, tribes were stealing other tribes' and trading them for trinkets. It is still going on in many parts of the world today, and it is to its eradication that all efforts should be directed.
Our ancestors put it on an efficient basis and it is this which has so annoyed them.
Most people, it seems to me, would be more tolerant of capitalism and enterprise if it were less successful or if they'd thought of it first.
This extreme jealousy can be seen in other current events as well, perhaps the main one being Zimbabwe's self destruction - blamed on the Brits of course.
The victim industry has become extremely irrational, expensive and damaging to community cohesion. Many of the articulate, educated, complaining descendants are no doubt in a much better position than they would have been had not their ancestors been removed forcibly from their homeland, tho' such logic seems to escape them when a trough of compensation loot is within their grasp.
Hence they see the need to foster guilt in their rescuers.
Yours,
Roy
The Africans were at it decades ahead of anyone else, and still are. Well before mssrs Colston and others got involved, tribes were stealing other tribes' and trading them for trinkets. It is still going on in many parts of the world today, and it is to its eradication that all efforts should be directed.
Our ancestors put it on an efficient basis and it is this which has so annoyed them.
Most people, it seems to me, would be more tolerant of capitalism and enterprise if it were less successful or if they'd thought of it first.
This extreme jealousy can be seen in other current events as well, perhaps the main one being Zimbabwe's self destruction - blamed on the Brits of course.
The victim industry has become extremely irrational, expensive and damaging to community cohesion. Many of the articulate, educated, complaining descendants are no doubt in a much better position than they would have been had not their ancestors been removed forcibly from their homeland, tho' such logic seems to escape them when a trough of compensation loot is within their grasp.
Hence they see the need to foster guilt in their rescuers.
Yours,
Roy
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