Mind the gap

This short piece from Franky Boyles new BBC show ’tour of Scotland’ highlights Scotland’s colonialist history and the perpetuation of trauma.
On social media many people responded to the themes raised in the short clip by framing colonialism as a faraway historical event- “we just need to move on” or the comments quickly become intellectual, focusing on today’s political issues - zero contract hours and austerity.
What creates the emotional ‘gap’ many white people experience when the history of colonialism and racism are raised? Why do so many of us feel the need to quickly create distance through politically abstract comments, comparisons or simply deem our colonial past to be no longer relevant?
Many white Scots became involved in profiting from and maintaining the crimes of the British Empire. Having a small population did not prevent us from being disproportionately represented in imperial endeavours. Scots funnelled obscene wealth back into our country, building cities, infrastructure and industrialisation. Our ancestors flocked to the Caribbean sugar colonies seizing opportunities to become plantation owners, slave traders, surgeons, bookkeepers and merchants – there were fortunes to be made.

The Caribbean slave societies had a reputation for being particularly brutal, in some over 40% of the African slaves would die within the first 3 years. Scots made lasting contributions towards racist ideology within religious, academic and scientific spheres. Many of us walk past the street names, statues and civic buildings named and built in celebration of this history without any idea or interest of the horror they represent.
I know Scotland’s colonial past is an uncomfortable truth for many white Scots, including myself. Some would prefer to blame it all on the English!
Though the uncomfortableness we feel is a million miles away from the daily impact of racism. Inaction creates complicity, so the next time Scotland or the UK’s colonial history is raised and you feel uncomfortable, defensive or disinterested (such as now perhaps), take a moment to notice what feelings you do have, if you really don’t feel anything then ask yourself why? Get curious and stay with your inner reactions rather than following the impulse to disengage.
The perpetrators of trauma ask only one thing of bystanders - to do nothing. Those who were harmed, on the contrary ask the bystanders to share the burden of the pain. As white Scots it is necessary for us to engage with the legacy and the tapestry of feelings connected to our colonial past, the trauma of racism and its continued impact on black and brown people today. The denial, repression and dissociation that come with trauma operates on a social level as well as an individual level, therefore as white people we need to understand and acknowledge our past in order to prevent history repeating itself.