Ali G, "voice of da yoot", would ask this question indignantly when challenged. Ali G, played by Borat - sorry, Sacha Baron Cohen - was, of course, white. His blackness was an illusion created by ghetto slang, gestures and clothes. Far from being unfairly stigmatised for his "blackness", he was permitted to voice idiotic, misogynist and generally Neanderthal opinions by the indulgent dupes he interviewed. The results were hilarious.
Blacks, in a culture where racism is regarded as a mortal sin, are indulged and forgiven much: think of the over-promotion and cosseting that goes on in the public sector for the sake of "diversity"; think of Zadie Smith's pretentious, verbose and hugely overrated novels. Then there are the violent rap lyrics, which we must celebrate as part of black culture, the woman-hatred and gay-bashing that is excused, not to mention the low achievement and disproportionately high crime rates that we must "understand".
All this is very irritating, but perhaps it may be seen as a reaction against the genuine racism that was quite widespread as late as the Eighties. It may disappear, as fads and trends often do. Far more serious than the indulging of rappers or ethnic chick lit is the shameful adulation of mass murderer and psychopath Robert Mugabe.
Hitler made a big mistake. He could have got away with his crimes had he been socialist, or Muslim or black African. In fact, he would be celebrated. Rian Malan, in The Spectator, takes no prisoners - unlike his subject:
I first saw Robert Mugabe in the flesh at a UN Earth Summit in Johannesburg in 2002. His arrival on the podium was preceded by US defence secretary Colin Powell, who was booed and jeered, and by Tony Blair, who met with similar indignities. Mugabe, on the other hand, was greeted by a tumultuous standing ovation. I wrote it off as a passing fad. At the time, black power fanatics were still pumped up over Mugabe’s ethnic cleansing of white farmers, and one assumed their enthusiasm would wear off once the consequences of Mugabe’s folly manifested themselves.
Not so. By 2004, Zimbabwe’s economy was in freefall and his subjects were growing hungry, but Mugabe was more popular than ever. No, not in Zimbabwe. His fans were black people elsewhere. He received standing ovations in many African capitals, and at President Mbeki’s 2004 swearing-in ceremony. By then, it was clear that his ‘fast-track land-reform programme’ had not significantly reversed his unpopularity at home, and he had already taken to bludgeoning black opponents and rigging elections in order to stay in power. His black supporters didn’t care. Mugabe was giving the whites hell. Mugabe was therefore a hero. ‘Mugabe is speaking for black people worldwide,’ wrote the Johannesburg commentator Harry Mashabela.
In a report for the Sunday Times four months ago R.W. Johnson interviewed a game ranger who said Zimbabwe’s hyenas were developing a taste for human flesh, the result of scavenging on corpses ‘cast into collective pits like cattle’. He concluded that Mugabe’s misrule had resulted in as many as two million deaths — twice as many as perished in the Rwandan genocide — and that ‘the number is now heading into regions previously explored only by Stalin, Mao and Adolf Eichmann.’
It was against this backdrop that the UN’s Commission on Sustainable Development met to elect a new leader last Friday. The chair of this body rotates between regions; this year it fell to Africa to make an appointment, and African countries were bent on installing Mugabe’s man. Western diplomats initially thought this was some sort of joke, but as the day passed, it emerged that Africans were indeed of the opinion that a body dedicated to fostering development could credibly be chaired by a murderous regime that had reduced a once-thriving nation to absolute penury. The West was dumbfounded. ‘Beyond parody,’ said an Australian newspaper columnist. ‘Appalling,’ said his Prime Minister, John Howard. ‘Preposterous,’ said the American human rights lobby Freedom House. But Africans wangled support from Latin America and their motion was carried...
It seems to me that last week’s events in New York render a terrible verdict on well-intentioned do-gooders and the climate of impunity they create for African dictators. These thugs and kleptocrats know there is no downside; blacks — some blacks — don’t care what horrors they inflict on black people, so long as they can make anti-imperialist noises. As for whites, they will take any insults you dish out and come to feed your people anyway, thereby sparing you from the consequences of your incompetence and criminality. ..
Blacks everywhere continue to adulate him, and to insult the West by appointing his despicable government to positions of honour. There is only one way to end to end this farce: cut off the aid and let Mugabe face the music.
