10/20/2016 Criminalisation of Racism: Another form of race denialism | Daily Maverick http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2016-07-21-criminalisation-of-racism-another-form-of-race-denialism/#.WAku2ZN95R1 1/4 Home (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/) Sections Wired World (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/section/wired-world/) South Africa (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/section/south-africa/) Africa (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/section/africa/) World (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/section/world/) Business (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/section/business/) Life, Etc (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/section/life-etc/) Sport (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/section/sport/) Opinionistas (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionistas) Special Features Coughing Up For Gold (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/specialarticle/2014-03-14-coughing-up-for-gold/) Until Julius Comes (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/specialarticle/2014-07-22-until-julius-comes/) Brain Porn (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/specialarticle/2014-10-07-brain-porn-best-of-daily-maverick/) Daily Maverick Podcasts (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/specialarticle/2016-05-30-daily-maverick-podcasts/) Podcasts (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/specialarticle/2016-05-30-daily-maverick-podcasts/) Newsletter (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/page/Subscribe-to-First-Thing) Search () About About Us (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/page/about-us/) Contact Us (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/page/contact-us/) Search For people who didn't join the struggle to be stupid 20 October 2016 22:49 (South Africa) (http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/) Opinionista Joel Modiri Criminalisation of Racism: Another form of race denialism Joel Modiri Joel Modiri Joel Modiri teaches jurisprudence at the University of Pretoria. He writes in his personal (and ideological) capacity. 21 Jul 2016 01:04 (South Africa) The recent outbursts of white racial bigotry and violence on social media must be read as revelations of what is already there in the collective white psyche, as making public what are deeply held private thoughts of white South Africans. This is so because racism fundamentally concerns the doubting of the humanity of Africans. European colonial racism constructs the false superiority of white identity precisely through the Othering of Africans as irrational, savage, animal-like, wild (‘cheeky’), uncivilised and incapable of self-government. This construction then becomes the basis for the social, economic, legal, and political organisation of racialised societies in which Blacks generally come to occupy the underclass, the abject poor, the subordinated, “the wretched of the earth”. The historical legacy of this European fantasy we call “white supremacy” is then one of structural racism, white cultural and social dominance, and tremendous economic inequality between Blacks and whites.