Of course we are. At heart every Goan recognizes that. Some will fight it with the fibre of their being, some others will either think it is not necessary to change, or are too lazy to do so, or do not admit to it. After all, if you don’t admit to it, it isn’t there.
Not only are are racist, we are casteist also. Hopefully, this is not manifested in daily living, but it certainly raises its head in some situations, like when a family member wants to get married out of the ‘caste’ boundary. No wonder then there remains a hidden hatred of their former bhatcars by those who eked out a living by actually working on the land. Now, With grabbing of houses and land, revenge is the sweet order of the day. Let us put this in context of the times. In Africa, Goans would not intermarry with either blacks or Sikhs or Ismailis in any notable number. They might have married whites if they got a chance, but the opportunity wasn’t there. Is there an explanation for this besides racism? Yes there is. In Africa there was a strong social bond among Goans, in fact almost as strong as in the Mormon community. If you did something proscribed by the community, you were ‘shunned’. What could cause this shunning? A marriage with a non-Goan and to a lesser extent with someone even out of your ‘caste’. The Catholic religion was no less to blame. Marriage to a non-Catholic would mean a cut-off, a kind of ‘excommunication lite’. Shunning would also occur if any one of your family took an anti-colonial political stand. Which Goan would marry a Black in these circumstances? Today, things are a little different. Marriage-wise we have not sufficiently integrated. In an arbitrary conclusion I would say there are about 5 to 10 per cent mixed marriages. Most of these are with whites, perhaps because they are a majority of the population except in the big cities, but that trend of marrying mostly whites is changing I am glad to note. More Goan youth are marrying others, with Blacks forming a sizeable section of ‘others’. Co- incidentally Goans marrying non-whites are from families where the fathers are ultra racist/casteist/religionist. Poetic justice, like the mundcar-bhatcar relationship. As I end, I must clarify that my views are my own, from my personal observation and not from a reading of any sociological essay or text. While I am willing to put these conclusions in context with someone else’s convincing arguments that are diametrically different, observations indicate what is happening, arguments what should happen. Of course I am happy to hear of others’ observations or their formal study. Roland. Egas D’Souza wrote; I saw a story which said the main reason for Idi Amin's "All Non-Citizen Asians expulsion Act" was that he considered the Asians to be racists and would never marry the local Africans.
