Of Fiji, Race, and All That

I must confess that I feel safer writing this column for an American publication than for a British one, and not merely because of the relative protection of distance. Since Prime Minister Harold Wilson made racism a punishable offense, the resultant “race-relations industry,” as it is rightly styled, is quick to interpret any remarks on the subject as a case for either persecution or prosecution.

Even so, I shall begin with a spot of self-exculpation. I am not a racist if the term implies legal or political discrimination against individuals or groups on grounds of race, color, or creed. My marriage to the daughter of a distinguished Indian jurist should count in my favor if there is a Day of Judgment. I spoke up in defense of Aboriginal rights in my native Australia when the authorities refused to allow the famous Aboriginal painter, Albert Namatjira, to attend an exhibition of his own works in Adelaide. Moreover, during some twenty years, I refused many official invitations to visit South Africa because of apartheid as it then was. My first and only visit so far was in 1984, by which time P. W. Botha had begun to dismantle petty apartheid.

I must confess that I feel safer writing this column for an American publication than for a British one, and not merely because of the relative protection of distance. Since Prime Minister Harold Wilson made racism a punishable offense, the resultant “race-relations industry,” as it is rightly styled, is quick to interpret any remarks on the subject as a case for either persecution or prosecution.

Even so, I shall begin with a spot of self-exculpation. I am not a racist if the term implies legal or political discrimination against individuals or groups on grounds of race, color, or creed. My marriage to the daughter of a distinguished Indian jurist should count in my favor if there is a Day of Judgment. I spoke up in defense of Aboriginal rights in my native Australia when the authorities refused to allow the famous Aboriginal painter, Albert Namatjira, to attend an exhibition of his own works in Adelaide. Moreover, during some twenty years, I refused many official invitations to visit South Africa because of apartheid as it then was. My first and only visit so far was in 1984, by which time P. W. Botha had begun to dismantle petty apartheid.