We Can Be Less Racist. Stray Thoughts of A Toronto Goan - By Roland Francis
We are honest, we are compassionate and kind, we are educated, sportsmanship and music is in our blood and fear of God in our psyche, but we have our faults and sometimes they overshadow the virtues. Under the banyan tree of our blessings, I wonder where those ugly traits could come from. It's not that our heritage was bed-rocked in war, competition or deprivation. In fact, when you look at other races and communities, we are heirs to one of the most peaceful, co-existential ancestry lines in a fertile land. We were once Hindus, but even after converting, there was no being 'more Catholic than the Pope' for us. We embraced the Hindus, as they did us, no bitter recriminations from either side for changing religion. However, no one can credibly deny that we possess two hugely undesirable burdens we could do without. We are racists of a high order and we are always critical of the members of our own community who take leadership roles, giving unflinchingly of their time and effort. Popularly known as the crab mentality, it is not unique to Goans, but a blot on the community character nevertheless. Perhaps the racism came from the Catholic Church in Goa and the caste system it perpetuated as a colonial strategy. Instead of firmly abiding by Christian teachings, the Church not only turned a blind eye to outright discrimination, but actually perpetuated it. Separate pews in Churches and Chapels to divide the casteless, poor and humble, graves of different classes in cemeteries, distinguishing clothing and responsibility in church processions, denial to the priesthood for the less privileged - the list goes on and on. Nurtured in the village, these habits were transported to foreign lands where instead of weakening, they became even stronger and extended beyond generation. Added to the Indian abhorrence for a darker skin, look for yourself and see how many of our younger generation marry whites and how many blacks. That is telling evidence. In present times, this manifests itself in Islamophobia, the latest form of racism. I have been an unwilling witness to Goans railing about the Muslims being natural terrorists, religious zealots and worse. Why this selective hatred? Have we not forgotten the racism experienced by the Diaspora in earlier years? The fair-skinned perpetrators have evolved for the better and moved on. We seem to have been stuck in the groove. Every time I go to a Goan function, I am grateful for the good time. Of course I regret that we have to restrict ourselves to mere song and dance and the occasional Konkani play, but hey, I go to meet people, listen to live music and take a break. Therefore I am grateful to those to make such things possible by working behind the scenes, tirelessly, driving all over the place (Toronto has huge spaces, often you have to drive 10 kilometers or more for the littlest thing), blocking their personal time for all this. It irks me no end when I hear unnecessary and unwanted criticism about the people involved. Goan clubs and associations which are the lifeblood of the Goan community in Toronto as elsewhere in the Diaspora today as they were in Africa, Pakistan or any large city in India, especially Bombay, in the last century, are recently in an unwelcome trend, seeing much infighting. Money is not the problem. Most of them have healthy cash inflows and even healthier reserves. The problem is in the egos. Some bring their volunteerism with an agenda. They are a definite minority but they can raise havoc and sap the energy of the others, discouraging formation of future committees. For example one club had its Treasurer resigning and walking away with the books, refusing to turn them in. In another, each member thinks he is the President, confusing everybody. In a third, resolutions passed are blithely ignored by vested sections. Hope all this goes away. More of it and we will lose the gifts handed down to us by the founding visionaries of those organizations. Let better sense prevail. Forwarded by Eddie Fernandes