I've noted a certain trend in society that seems largely to have gone unquestioned: Example: In the 1700s European Jews were banished eastward to an area along the Russian-Polish border that became known as the Pale of Settlement. The land was poor, there was no hope of social advancement, the weather was harsh, there was little way to make a living, and people lacked the basic necessities for a happy, healthy, comfortable, prosperous, respectable life. The same people who banished the Jews then complained that they were dirty, worthless, and unproductive people — this after having robbed them of any way to be otherwise.

Similarly, in ancient Greece, well-known as the pinnacle of philosophical thought and great advancement, two thirds of Athens' residents were slaves. And the slaves, deprived of their rights, education, dignity, and freedom, were criticized by their enslavers as having no dignity and being uneducated.

In the same fashion, those who created the peculiar institution of slavery in the Americas robbed the Africans of their dignity and condemned them to a life of misery, pain, suffering, poverty, despondency, and uncleanliness. AND THEN these same perpetrators called their Black captors dirty, unkempt, lazy, and uneducated.

We can find other similar experiences throughout history, back into the beginnings of civilization.

Essentially, the idea is this: One group robs the other of education and then complains that their victims are uneducated. And in the situation of Black people in colonized areas around the world, the oppressors took away opportunities to earn a respectable living and then complained that there was crime among the Black population. This is still going on around the world without pause or reflection.

It's all insanity and psychopathy: Racism creates racism. Racists create problems that racists complain about. I can very clearly see how feelings of uncleanliness and the social stigma of worrying about being unclean is tied to racism.

Good article!