Was Mahatma Gandhi a racist?

[brocktonblockbust]

Concentrating solely on the plight of the Indians while ignoring the plight of the blacks doesn't make Gandhi a racist, nor does it diminish from the great things he did.

Considering blacks/Africans inferior and referring to them in degrading fashion..... that's racist.

Any questions?

Yes, plenty of questions. What is wrong with considering them inferior? I consider East Indians to be inferior to Black Americans in basketball does that make me a racist? I consider Mexicans to be inferior to Germans in learning the English language, does that make me a racist? I consider Armenians to be superior in learning Arabic and Farsi to Haitians and Jamaicans does that make me a racist? Mahatma Gandhi considered those people in South Africa inferior to Indians and he was referring to there spirit of entrepreneur ism and pragmatic and Progressive actions regarding education.

[TitoFan]

Concentrating solely on the plight of the Indians while ignoring the plight of the blacks doesn't make Gandhi a racist, nor does it diminish from the great things he did.

Considering blacks/Africans inferior and referring to them in degrading fashion..... that's racist.

Any questions?

Yes, plenty of questions. What is wrong with considering them inferior? I consider East Indians to be inferior to Black Americans in basketball does that make me a racist? I consider Mexicans to be inferior to Germans in learning the English language, does that make me a racist? I consider Armenians to be superior in learning Arabic and Farsi to Haitians and Jamaicans does that make me a racist? Mahatma Gandhi considered those people in South Africa inferior to Indians and he was referring to there spirit of entrepreneur ism and pragmatic and Progressive actions regarding education.

I think we both know that when you add those qualifiers, you're skewing the argument. Of course East Indians are generally inferior to Black Americans in basketball.

But when you have a quote like this:

In 1893, Gandhi wrote to the Natal parliament saying that a "general belief seems to prevail in the Colony that the Indians are better than savages or the Natives of Africa".


Then that in itself is racist.

[brocktonblockbust]

"better" in WHAT, though? Isn't that rather vague?

[TitoFan]

The vagueness is what makes it racist.

[brocktonblockbust]

The vagueness is what makes it racist.

I agree it's fishy and insinuating...... Racist is a stretch for me, albeit a SMALL stretch