Stating that the origins of racism, which came to the agenda with the death of George Floyd, who drowned as a result of police violence on May 25th in the USA, go back a long time, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan draws attention to the fact that racism in America has not only biological but also economic aspects. Stating that everyone is against biological racism but economic racism is silently approved, Tarhan noted that the reason for such serious reactions in the latest incident is economic racism.
Üsküdar University Founding Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan made evaluations about racism and racism psychology, which came to the agenda with the death of George Floyd in the USA.
Noting that human beings have a basic personality development and an identity development, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "Identity development is very suitable to be defined as racism. Identity development are social roles. It is as if these social roles are accepted as biological roles and a kind of discrimination is made in relation to this. When racism is mentioned, it is generally understood as biological racism, which is ethnic discrimination. The person finds his/her own race special, whichever genetic pool he/she belongs to."
Humanity has paid a very heavy price
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan noted that there have been many painful events in the past due to racism and that humanity has paid a heavy price and said, "The embodiment of racism is Hitler. Hitler practiced racist fascism, he saw his own race as the Aryan race. Later he called Turks and Japanese culture carriers. He called the French a black race. He already considered black people as an underdeveloped race and even not as human beings. In Paris, gardens of humanity were established near the Eiffel Tower. Hitler also called the Jews a mushroom race. What does this mean? When there are mushrooms in one's garden, one uproots them. He wrote this as a Nazi doctrine in his book 'Mein Kampf' and convinced people at that time. He turned racism into an ideology at that time. He started the second world war with the claim that 'German people are superior, they have the right to dominate the world'. Thus, racism in Western civilization came to fruition and led to the first and second world wars. After the second world war, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was declared in 1948, saying that racism was wrong and against human rights. But at two great costs," he said.
Racism does not exist in constitutions but continues socially
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan noted that although racism seems to have been eradicated, it continues socially, "It is not in the constitutions of countries, but it continues socially. For this reason, racism is a perception of civilization. When we say racism, let's not only understand biological racism, which is related to the human race. We can also understand this racism: For example, there are cultural discriminations that are mistaken for racism. In fact, cultural discrimination is seeing another culture as a lesser culture. For example, Hitler did this. In fact, Hitler even made use of Darwin when he created his doctrine."
Religious discrimination is also racism
Noting that another type of racism is religious racism, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "In other words, seeing one's own religion as superior to other religions. Those who have this kind of thinking say, 'Everyone else will go to hell except me, I will go to heaven, people of my race and religion will go to heaven'. This has to do with the conception of God, with religious teaching. This is a kind of religious racism, religious discrimination. A person can carry this as a belief, they can live this, but in social life, if you say 'Christians cannot enter here', if you say 'Muslims cannot enter here', you are practicing racism. No one can say 'Muslims cannot enter this school'. This is discrimination."
Discrimination in three areas is against human rights
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan noted that discrimination in three areas is currently seen as a violation of human rights in the world: "The first is racial discrimination. The second is identity discrimination. The third is discrimination based on age and gender. When you discriminate against people based on these, you are violating human rights."
Nationalism is not racism
Stating that nationalism is not racism, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said: "Belonging to a nationality is like belonging to a family, like belonging to a city. One can rejoice, boast and be happy with it. This is something related to belonging and it is a beautiful feeling. But if this beautiful feeling is evaluated as 'we are the superior nation and other nations are secondary' and people are marginalized, there is a kind of narcissism here. All forms of racism fall under the concept of narcissism in psychology. One is biological narcissism, another is the narcissism of nationalism, another is social narcissism. There are various types of narcissism. In narcissism, a person sees himself/herself as special, important, and superior, and sees other people as inferior. This is not a healthy situation. Where this thinking exists, there is no healthy society. There is no peace, there is no justice. There is narcissism in the psychology behind racism."
Racism can also be practiced without realizing it
Noting that the problem of racism cannot be solved without knowing and understanding what narcissism is, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "Another situation that should be emphasized in racism is this; racism can be unconscious. There is also hidden racism. A white mother is walking with her child and a black person comes from the opposite side. The mother grabs the child's hand and pulls him towards her. She is not aware of it. This is called an automatic stereotype in political psychology. The person with automatic stereotypes is actually afraid of it, and he does this because he is afraid. And because he is afraid, he discriminates."
Discrimination is also racism
Noting that discriminating against people is also a form of racism, Tarhan said, "This includes all kinds of lifestyle discrimination. For example, describing an average person in Anatolia by laughing and making fun of them is racism. It would be wrong if it is a subject of humor and belittling them. This is also a form of racism and against human rights. There are narcissistic nourishments and satisfactions behind this. People try to satisfy themselves in this way. This is called occupational thought disorder in psychology. Some people become narcissists of their own profession. They see their own profession as special, important and superior and look down on others. Racism is more common in society than we think. Narcissism is also behind this. As we call it, there is a burden disease, a sense of arrogance. However, if you fill a room with all the evils, arrogance opens the door, pride opens the door, lies open the door."
Racism in the US also has an economic dimension
Stating that racism in America has not only biological but also economic aspects, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "Everyone is against biological racism but silently approves economic racism. Because there is interest behind it. In this latest incident, such serious reactions emerged because it was economic racism. Americans could not foresee this. However, 5 US citizens consume as much as 25 world citizens. The American people have now woken up and reacted. But racism is such a situation that when discrimination continues, enmity develops. When enmity progresses, demonization occurs. It means that a section of society has developed hatred to the point of demonization. In America, a simple protest turned into looting. This is a sociological crisis. The bleeding wound has erupted from somewhere. If this situation is not read correctly, if income inequality is not eliminated, the crisis will explode from a small spark."
There is no ethnic racism in Turkey
Noting that there is no racism in Turkey, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "We do not practice economic racism as a state. Since our people know this, the allegations of racism could not be justified. As a culture and society, we do not discriminate against a black person. Because there is no racism on the street. As a society, we are on the side that spoils the game of those who play games. We have a lordship in the society coming from the empire. Our people do not have this discrimination in their structure. Kurdish, Turkish, Laz, everyone lives in the same place. The role of the state is very important in this issue. In our culture, there is an understanding that obeys and trusts the state. There is no such discrimination among our people."
Sharing culture is the biggest enemy of racism
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that our culture has a culture of charity and said, "The culture of sharing is the biggest enemy of racism. It is not one's religiosity, wealth, etc. that protects a person. What protects man is his accountability. If a person is accountable to the Creator with a clear conscience, that person will not make these mistakes. Even if he makes mistakes, it is as if an invisible hand, a guardian angel, is protecting well-meaning people from making mistakes. This is called the law of hidden psychology. Conscience is already a reflection of the creator."
