We are all irretrievably stuck with THE PHYSICAL!

It is so easy to point the point finger at others. We expect clergymen & women to be sinless and faultless – forgetting they are human. Yes, if you take an oath of office to serve & protect for example, you should try to keep that oath and such situations cannot be watered/down or likened to how ordinary citizens behave, as the consequences are much more severe as in the cases of miscarriage of justice

But the simple truth is that we are all hopelessly stuck with the physical. we take one look at someone and the only impression that register is whether they are black, white or whatever other colour. And we begin making up our assumptions straight away: what kind of neighbourhood have we just entered? what’s the likely danger? all based on a mix of news, hearsay etc. When we look for Chinese people, we are automatically looking for that picture we have in our head of what we think a Chinese person looks like, forgetting there are hundreds of thousands of Chinese people who do not look anything like that – you have the Uyghurs for instance. But we all have a mental barrier that is quite frankly, impossible to shift!

You hear phrases such as: ”that is so British”, which is usually linked to what we assume to be British, from TV shows or exposure to a Brit, which is never representative of the very very different types of Brits, which of course include the Scottish, Welsh, English and Northern Irish and in England alone, the mannerism and accent and appearance of those from the South East is indeed very different from the North East or elsewhere for that matter, before you even begin factoring in 2, 3 generations on non-white brits who may or may not fit into that TV-based expectation of what’s British

But we have that mental block. We look for rosy cheeks or yellowy skin (in the case of jaundice) but forget those are not generally applicable. But we remain stock in that mental block. We have been brainwashed regarding what’s beautiful and what’s ugly – the fashion industry is of course now trying to adjust a little and TV commercials are now trying to be a little more representative of the reality of society – with not so skinny folks finally getting a chance to be on telly, but we still decide some accents from the north of England for instance, are not TV-worthy. We’ve laid out that mental grade of where we draw the boundary: may be good enough for Coronation Street but not for the news at 10!

Elocution. One would think we’re still in the 1800s with finishing schools..

Add on the poverty line and you have the full picture.

But we sit at home and blame a policeman or policewoman for their behaviour. Yes, perhaps they swore an oath and we haven’t, but the same logic applies: they push around those who do not have the means to make them accountable. You think if those shoved face-down on the concrete and stopped/searched in America were wealthy, with ample access to lawyers and legal muscle that cops will continue pushing them around? of course not. They ate soft targets and will always be soft targets until they dust themselves up, get educated, create jobs, make money, gain ample access to lawyers, lobbyists etc. It is all circumstantial.

It has taken me decades of trying to look at people and ignoring their physical appearance: I avoid the ”where are you from?” or ”where are you from originally?” or ”where are your ancestors from?” question, which used to form in my mind the minute I see someone that one would automatically assume to be out of place? —- why else would one think to ask those set of questions?

Nowadays, I keep my mind blank when I see someone. Does it matter what colour they are? how cheap their clothes are? The moment you begin with those physical assessment, you cannot control your bias. It may begin with just an opinion and wanting to explore, but I now let people tell me – should they wish to – where they’re from or what their ancestry is, but whether out of general interest or not, I curtail my enthusiasm and retain a blank view of the physical. it is of course easier said than done…..