David Olusoga: from the small screen to the lecture theatre

Without disagreeing with any of the other points made in the article, I feel the need to point out that the proportion of self-declared black and ethnic minority people in the UK was only 13% in the last census not one-third.

The racism rooted in the view that that other was subhuman may conceivably be eliminated as the facts emerge stronger and stronger in support of the setentiousness of that view. Rightly so and high time. But the racism that serves as a ‘go to tool’ is a more elastic and resilient weapon when all else is failing inside stiff interpersonal or intergroup competitions. the weaker but ‘more entitled’ unable to draw on merit or having exhausted as much of it as he’s got and yet feeling outcompeted becomes tempted to weaponise prejudice as his last hope to clinch a coveted goal or influence . Race card ( less often gender card ) in such predicaments becomes utilitarianly handy for the competitor who has otherwise run out of ideas. He/she finding himself at the edge of failure patently about to lose to that ‘other’ ( underdog... cultural, academic etc etc ) cries talyho to rally the troops and voila ... the rescue mission is accomplished. This other type of racism ... weaponised last ditch gap survival tool is almost immortal and Darwinian . It’s beneficiary is not under the kind of illusion/ misconception suffered by the first category of racism above. He has evolved past. But unfortunately he lacks what it takes inside the particular challenge to survive without resorting to race card ( or gender card or tribal card or etc ). Darwinism in its most egregious form then kicks in : color coded survival strategy . There is an ineliminability to this category of Darwinian survivalism driven by the ineliminabilty of stiff competitions amongst peers and non peers alike. Color becomes a self preservation camouflage factor eerily same as it was and still is in the Galápagos Islands where Darwin did his seminal work. A competitor on the prejudiced end of a merit based ‘fight’ can improve his/her chances by harder self application . Not so when it is tribal based and less still when color based. How do you morph from one color to another by hard or harder work ? You can assimilate into virtually anything you wish and thereby abolish to the extent of the assimilation any otherwise unfavorable diferences that set you apart from dominant group or advantages therefrom. But how do you assimilate into color ?!!! And therein lies the peculiar perniciousness of color influenced competitions.

The racism rooted in the view that that other was subhuman may conceivably be eliminated as the facts emerge stronger and stronger in support of the setentiousness of that view. Rightly so and high time. But the racism that serves as a ‘go to tool’ is a more elastic and resilient weapon when all else is failing inside stiff interpersonal or intergroup competitions. the weaker but ‘more entitled’ unable to draw on merit or having exhausted as much of it as he’s got and yet feeling outcompeted becomes tempted to weaponise prejudice as his last hope to clinch a coveted goal or influence . Race card ( less often gender card ) in such predicaments becomes utilitarianly handy for the competitor who has otherwise run out of ideas. He/she finding himself at the edge of failure patently about to lose to that ‘other’ ( underdog... cultural, academic etc etc ) cries talyho to rally the troops and voila ... the rescue mission is accomplished. This other type of racism ... weaponised last ditch gap survival tool is almost immortal and Darwinian . It’s beneficiary is not under the kind of illusion/ misconception suffered by the first category of racism above. He has evolved past. But unfortunately he lacks what it takes inside the particular challenge to survive without resorting to race card ( or gender card or tribal card or etc ). Darwinism in its most egregious form then kicks in : color coded survival strategy . There is an ineliminability to this category of Darwinian survivalism driven by the ineliminabilty of stiff competitions amongst peers and non peers alike. Color becomes a self preservation camouflage factor eerily same as it was and still is in the Galápagos Islands where Darwin did his seminal work. A competitor on the prejudiced end of a merit based ‘fight’ can improve his/her chances by harder self application . Not so when it is tribal based and less still when color based. How do you morph from one color to another by hard or harder work ? You can assimilate into virtually anything you wish and thereby abolish to the extent of the assimilation any otherwise unfavorable diferences that set you apart from dominant group or advantages therefrom. But how do you assimilate into color ?!!! And therein lies the peculiar perniciousness of color influenced competitions. Basil Jide fadipe. Justin Fadipe Centre.