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All races are equal

Thanks to my experiences as a pedagogue in the République Démocratique du Congo, I know that all races are equal. This means that the intelligence and talents are equally distributed across all races. Everywhere there are just as many very intelligent children and in all races all people have their own talents that they can develop. If there are differences in performance, in interests, in behavioral patterns or in norms and values, this is a consequence of social, economic, cultural, religious and political circumstances. But a fact is certain: every race can reach an ever higher level of civilization in its own way.

In the République Démocratique du Congo I trained future teachers and also had a test school for primary education. During my model lessons to black children, I soon discovered that there were a lot of very clever boys and girls among them. Also, it was touching to see in the morning how many childrencame to the school of kilometers away, through the tropical forest. I had chosen a school in the deep interior, far from the big cities. Unfortunately, secondary education was not available for most children, so their intellectual and cultural development remained limited. In Black Africa there is a huge potential of human talent that is still unexplored.

The area where I worked was not known for artistic activities. Images or masks were not made. There was a lot of ivory available, but only a few people used it as material for art objects or for jewelry. In fact, the cultural activities were limited to ritual dances and to long stories that were transmitted orally. A missionary at that time had the longest story published under the title:"Nsong'a Lianja Épopée Nationale des Nkundo". It is a mythical history of the Nkundo tribe. That missionary   stayed with his beloved blacks until his death when he was hundred years old.

Despite this lack of cultural and artistic activities, I had great admiration for the Nkundo people. They lived close to the equator, in the middle of the rainforest. It was very hot and humid every day. A permanent heat wave, as a result of which practically all activities in Europe would cease. The Nkundo's had in this heat yet developed a way of life and a culture which was adapted to the menacing nature. Unfortunately, this had not been sufficiently appreciated in the colonial era.

The latter says something about the fate that hangs over the black race. We view them from our own norms and values ​​and compared to a world view that fits European or Western circumstances. For centuries the black race was treated as inferior by all other peoples.That of course has a huge impact on the self-image of black people. That may a major cause of the underperformance of blacks in the fields of education and of their relatively large share of crime in the USA. A positive self-image is the engine of personality development.

Another negative factor are the living conditions in which millions of children in Africa have to grow up. In times of famine, many children are malnourished, precisely at a time when their brains are in full development. Malnutrition has an irreversible negative influence on the intelligence of these children.

I will not go into further possible negative influences on other races here. I prefer to limit myself to a few conclusions. Firstly, absolute priority must be given to child welfare and good education. Good, healthy and sufficient food for all children, wherever they are in the world, must be seen as an ethical duty that must be given priority. The same applies to the right to decent education. If I am talking about an ethical obligation, then this must be taken very seriously. This can only mean that food and education must be given absolute priority for all children in the world. Levinas would say that we have to get the bread out of our mouth to feed the Other, the person in need.

Specifically: before spending large amounts of money on armaments or space technology, we have to give all children in the world the best conditions to develop. Countries that do not fulfill this duty are rogue states. Government leaders in developing countries or in Islamic countries who spend enormous amounts of money on armaments and prestige projects are servants of Satan. I cannot say it more clearly (and are there still countries that are not rogue?).

Full text here: The end of multicultural societies or here: academie.edu


   © Juliaan Van Acker 2024