Kapai: Racism exists because we allow it to exist

I get lots of interesting emails in my inbox, most of them positive and most from free independent thinkers.
And then there are emails that are thought provoking and well worth a wider audience who I hope can understand why I have changed the email below to have a local, not American, message.
This was Michael Richards' _ better known as Kramer from Seinfeld _ defence speech in court after making racial comments in his comedy act. It's titled Proud to be White and he makes some very interesting points, especially as he said publicly what many have been thinking privately.
There are Poly Kiwis, African Kiwis, Indian Kiwis, Asian Kiwis, Arab Kiwis, etc.
And then there are us white Kiwis. You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You call me ``Pakeha', ``Baldheads', ``White boy', ``Honkey', ``Whitey' and that's okay.
But when I call you, Hori, Nigger, Curry Muncher, Yarpie, Kike, Towel Head, Camel Jockey, Gook, or Chink, you call me a racist.
You have Maori Party and you have Waitangi Day. You have Matariki Month. You have Chinese New Year and Polynesian Festivals.
You have what Maori call the Hori Story or MTV (Maori television). If we had WET (White Entertainment Television), 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 organisation for only whites to ``advance' OUR lives, we'd be racists.
A white rugby player cannot be in the Maori All Blacks but any colour can be in the All Blacks.
You have Maori sports awards exclusive to Maori but if we had the Pakeha sports awards we would be called racist.
Every year in Tauranga there are Maori tertiary scholarships for Maori-only students to be schooled in Maori tertiary establishments but if we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships ... You know we'd be racists.
There are over 60 openly proclaimed Maori Kura and 400-plus Kohanga Reo in New Zealand. Yet if there were white colleges and white kindergarten that would be a racist college and pre school ...
In the hikoi to Parliament, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights and you were. 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, rape us, and shoot at us. But, when a Pakeha police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a Maori 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?
For my two bob's worth, whatever colour we were born with racism has no respect for religious freedom or the colour of a man's skin. It exists because we allow it to exist.
It exists in every pocket of the planet. I have seen it between blacks and whites in the USA, Poms and Pakis in London, Israelites and Palestinians, Yarpees and Kafas in Joberg, Yobos and Abos in Townsville, Half Castes and Hori in Te Puna and Maori and Pakeha in Tauranga Moana.
The sad situation is racism only exists among the extremists who fire cheap shots from the fringes.
And if we allow racists remarks to propagate without questioning them it can grow into something far more serious than just words.
For a start it can make society sound far more adversarial than it really is and the recent raruraru (rumblings) in Bethlehem is a prime example.
What we can't afford to do is for the centre to stay silent when the ugly head of racism rears its head. Because when the center stays silent we only hear extreme views.
Sometimes sticking your head up in the center can be the loneliest place on the planet (believe me). But we the center cannot afford to stay silent.
When it comes down to it we are all more the same than different and race relations are like a marriage.
You have to work on it if you truly love whom you live with and where it is you call home.
Pai marire
broblack@xtra.co.nz