Do you need a ‘special set of skills’ to know someone’s race: Liam Neeson’s Confession.
So Liam Neeson has made headlines. We have seen and heard what he has said so there will be no point in repeating it. But what struck me was his question: What colour were they? No, he didn’t about the colour of their eyes or their shoe size but needed to know their skin colour. As usual, if you read things, I’ve written you would know that incidents such as these remind me of similar incidents that happened in my past.
Growing up in North London, during the 60s, I had an English childminder, who conveniently lived next door to us. I believed I was ‘handed’ over to her when I was zero years old and I stopped being looked after when I turned 13. She was seen as a member of the family and to a certain extent, I considered her to be a second mother. I also believe that as she did not have children of her own, she saw me as a daughter.
When my parents decided to move and settle into a house, in the same area but quarter a mile away from the childminder’s home, she would visit on a weekly basis, and continued to visit and be a part of our lives right up until she passed away.
But I do recall numerous conversations we had, especially about incidents between people, or a fight had taken place where somebody was arrested, her immediate question would always be — what colour were they? As a young child, it was difficult to work out what exactly she meant So much so, this line of questioning became a part of my own psychology. So, if there were incidents that I read about or discussed on the news, I would wonder, what race were they? Praying and hoping that the participants were not black. And my reasons for that line of thinking is, yet again, the black community is being demonized and blamed. In the same way, I’m imagining that Liam Neeson instinctively felt he had to ask that question because somewhere deep in his subconscious, black men constantly go out and do these things!
If anything good came out of this, at least he was honest about the way he felt. But I hope that I don’t have to worry about my son and nephews going out, and coming across prospective Oscar-nominated, elderly white men, possessing a special set of skills (holding a cosh!) looking to ‘kill’ them because somehow, they are responsible. Mr. Neeson may not be a racist, but he needs to do more to set the record straight if he wants fans (or customers) to continue to support him.
