Was Mahatma Gandhi a racist?

[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?

[walrus]

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, why do u excuse Gandhi being a racist

[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, why do u excuse Gandhi being a racist

You missed the point. I thought I was clear enough.

[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

[Freedom]

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

He did. Read the article.

[X]

He was a product of his time, so he would have held prevailing beliefs. Even today, Indians in Africa think they are superior to black Africans .

Just because he held views that people don't agree with nowadays, it does not diminish his achievements. People seem to be rewriting history according to their own moral code.

Muhammad Ali was an incorrigible racist when he was young too.

[TitoFan]

That's my point. It does not diminish his achievements. Yes... prevailing beliefs back then were different. Society as a whole was a bit more racist, and it was viewed as the norm. As we've evolved, we look back and consider a lot of those things as racist. You meet a lot of older people from previous generation who still hold racist views. It was the way they were brought up... they can't be any different. So when you look back at a historical figure, you do have to consider the context of the time in which he/she was living.

[brocktonblockbust]

What's wrong with racism?

[TitoFan]

It denotes ignorance.

[Master]

What's wrong with racism?

What's wrong with you?

[Spicoli]

What's wrong with racism?

The troll is strong in this one.