Travelator of Racism is an idea to describe how we can contribute to racism. Like an airport moving floor conveyor belt: active racism is walking fast along the conveyor belt towards the racist destination. Passive racism is like standing still and not making any effort to move. But still moving towards the same racist destination.

Some other people will sense the direction of the conveyor belt and want to turn around to move away from the racist destination. As long as they are walking faster than the conveyor belt they are being actively anti racist. This takes a lot of effort and the actively anti racist person has to walk faster in the opposite direction, to move away from the racist destination.

The idea that is being challenged here is that racism starts on a level playing field. People are people, and colour is colour. There is no colour issue when thought about at face value. If this is true then the view on race and racism would have to exclude slavery, discrimination, institutional racism, and a less than perfect interpretation of White history.

To widen the concept out – ask how was the floor conveyor belt built? How old is it? Does the speed vary? Are people able to get on and off the conveyor belt when they wish? Is the entrance to the conveyor belt policed? Or is the conveyor belt silently driven through views and beliefs that are in every part of our western life?

Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2017
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Disclaimer: This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only
This article is designed to provoke argument and critique