Not even a hint of racism can be tolerated

This column appears in this week's INM Irish regional newspapers.

By Michael Commane
Over the years I have heard and read about the evils of racism. It shows its ugly head from time to time. We hear stories about how people who have come to live in Ireland have suffered racist taunts.

Out walking with my dog on Friday I passed a door with 'State your name nigger' written across it. It was a goods entrance into an architect’s office. It stopped me in my step and I asked myself what sort of a moron could write something so horrible as that.

I called into the office to tell them what was written on the door. The secretary took note and said she would take action. It was new graffiti as I pass that door every day and I had not seen it before.

Anyone who reads this column will know that I have an interest in all things German. I like Germany and the Germans. But I have walked in evil places; Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Oranienburg. I have seen piles of human hair, gold fillings from human teeth. I have seen a roomful of cases containing the belongings of innocent people who thought they would need the contents for their stay in their new 'homes'.

And all this happened in one of the world's most civilised cultures, the land of Goethe, Schiller, Bach and Beethoven.

The moment we put a name on a group of people, once we single out a religious group, a nationality, a specific culture for a particular behaviour we are walking on terribly thin ice.

It's not a big step to go on and scapegoat a group for all our woes.

It's obviously a terribly easy thing to do. It might even seem to solve problems for us.

That was part of the lure of the evil of the Nazis. They promised to solve so much through their racist policy.
All forms of racism and xenophobia try to lure their listeners into the belief that those being scapegoated are the cause of all our woes.

Certainly we have every right to object to certain or particular policies of the Irish Government. We can disagree with aspects of US foreign policy, we can be critical of Israeli policy towards Palestine. Only on Friday the Israeli air force killed the leader of a Palestinian militant faction in an attack on a car in the Gaza Strip. Of course we can object to that. That's all healthy political debate.

But we can never cast aspersions on entire peoples or cultures and we must never use derogatory terms to describe a group or nation.

Some months ago after the publication of the Cloyne Report it was reported in the media that a Catholic priest preaching during Mass alluded to the fact that our Minister for Foreign Affairs was an atheist and that the Minister for Justice and Defence was a non-practising Jew.

If the priest said what was reported then it was an appalling comment, stupid too. But far worse than that. It was indeed dangerous and the reference to Mr Shatter had all the clothes of racism. It was as if to say, a Jew is one thing but a non-practising Jew was something else. And to say this in the context of the celebration of the Eucharist is really intolerable. Fortunately the priest’s congregation did issue an apology.

Over the last few years a number of murders have taken place in Germany. At the time it was generally believed that the victims were involved in crime.

It has now transpired the innocent victims were killed by neo-Nazis.
It's now Sunday and that graffiti I saw on Friday is still on those doors.

I intend to keep calling to the office until it is removed.

It's important that we never tolerate the slightest hints of any form of racism. Too many people have paid far too much at the hands of racists. And it seems we can never let down our guard in the battle against it.

In times of recession and despair racism moves about like the 'devil prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to eat'.

We need to be reasonable, kind and compassionate too, and never underestimate the power of truth and logical argument.

It’s not too long ago at all since we were known as the ‘dirty Irish’ or the shop notices that read, ‘Irish need not apply’.

You’d imagine we would have learned from that. Sadly not.