By Gavin Mackintosh
Winston Churchill was an admired leader with a reckless and sometimes tongue.
Churchill’s tongue was sometimes despicable, his insensitive comments towards people of other races called for reproach in his time and ours.
If his derisive views about other races was accepted in his time, it shows how backward and narrow minded people of his generation were.
John Charmley, authour of Churchill, says the former wartime leader believed in racial hierachies and eugenics. He says Churchill saw himself and Britain as being the winners in a social Darwinian hierarchy.
Churchill statement to the Royal Commission in 1937 is well documented, but deserves close examination.
He said: “I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.”
His comments here attempts to justify the victimisation of the Red Indians and the black people of Australia on the personal view that his race is superior, higher grade and wiser.
Churchill’s view was foolish for a man claiming to be of a higher grade and wise. His high status and accomplishments led to an arrogance that could not have been supported by logic even in his days.If he felt he was of a superior race, he must also have considered gays to be of an inferior sexuality. Victimisation of gays was widespread decades after he passed away, his outlook on life suggests he would have despised gays as a lower grade of people.
Churchill’s granddaughter, Ms Soames acknowledged her grandfather had often held views which “particularly now are regarded as unacceptable but weren’t necessarily then”. In other words, there is no absolute standard of conduct that exists throughout the ages.
Ms Saomes view is protective of her grandfather’s history, but the reality is that human beings have always been able to differentiate right from wrong throughout history. People simply conform to fit in with the popular view, but know when an act is right.
If Churchill’s philosophy is mitigated by the fact others shared a view he helped disseminate, it is like saying the actions of police men who condone the brutal acts of their colleagues against black men or who act with excess force, are equally mitigated by the fact the practise is widespread in their profession.
Churchill stood out in many ways, but not when it comes to respect to the livelihoods of other races. He did not hold up overall standards any respectable citizen of any country wants their children to emulate.
His statute is still a symbol of British history, and Boris Johnson’s comments that we can’t erase the past at a stroke is right. Britain has come a long way when it comes to race and equal rights, but this country is still one of the best countries in the world. Police brutality in Britain does not compare with America, neither does racism.
Calling out racism wherever spotted is good, but causing destruction and mayhem in protest against racism is not the answer.
The protests of the last few weeks can be taking as an opportunity to right the wrongs of the past moving forward, not worsening it through bitterness and conflict.