The burden of being a Black politician

It was a victory for Boateng in many ways. When his historic promotion to the Cabinet office was announced - the first Black MP to hold the post - the Labour party machine quite rightly made a big fuss; singing from the Downing Street 'roof tops', that another milestone had been passed.

Boateng himself sought to play the down the race angle. 'I'm a Minister who happens to be Black', he stated before paraphrasing Dr Martin Luther King, that he wanted to be judged not by his colour but by the content of his character.

Much of Black Britain, however, was furious. Many felt here we have an articulate, powerful Black man, capable of verbally crossing swords with the very best, reaching high office, only to state, oh and I just 'happen to be Black'. Boateng appeared to be a millions miles away from the 'today Brent tomorrow Soweto' speech that marked his arrival to Westminster back in 1987.

But Boateng is older and wiser now. He is still passionate about Black issues; he took a keen interest in the Damilola Taylor case as he did in the Stephen Lawrence case, eventually, along with Doreen Lawrence and Bernie Grant persuading Jack Straw to hold a public Inquiry.

But on the day of his historic appointment his message was not directed to Black Britain but rather a plea to the dominant society, and in particular the media. It was a plea that demanded he be taken seriously as a multifaceted, multi-talented politician, not as a one-dimensional, single issue MP.

The late Bernie Grant was not so lucky. Unlike Boateng, Grant was always keen to wear his 'colour on his sleeve', but he was never afforded the space to comment on other issues such as, better working conditions, education or economic development, unless it was coupled with race.

The burden of being a Black politician is not confined to the UK. When I visited the Mayor Harry Johnson Jr of Jackson, Mississippi, USA, he invited me to a breakfast meeting with the city's 'movers and shakers'.

He outlined his grand plan to rejuvenate 'downtown' Jackson where 'white flight' - white families fleeing the town centre to live in the suburbs - had left the city's nucleus a virtual ghost town after dark. Johnson, a second term Mayor easily won over his select audience delivering facts and figures with the self assured charisma that American business expects.

After they all left he took me to one side and said 'Even after all this time, I, as a Black Mayor am still faced with the tension of high expectation from the cities Black communities and high anxiety from the white. And I might add, it's not going away anytime soon. You just have to deal with it'.

Whether it's the US or the UK this high expectation/high anxiety is very real. With only twelve elected representatives to Westminster, we in the Black communities expect our Black and Asians MP's to champion and help redress the socio-economic factors that have shackled progress within Black and minority ethnic communities. The flip side of that coin is white communities at times feel that the Black politician is only capable of dealing with all things Black, or worse still that he or she is driven from an anti white position.

But the burden doesn't end there. The Black politician along with other would-be or recently elected politician from all sides of the political divide are told that, 'if you want to get on, keep your head down and toe the party line'.

This was no more evident than when I got a sneak preview of the Labour Party' s National Executive Committees Race Task Force interim recommendations, on how the Party could attract more Black and Asian members and increase the number of Black MPs. Six out of seven are Black or Asian including Trevor Phillips, Shahid Malik and Bhikhu Parakh.

The problematic issue for them centred on the question of implementing targets for more Black MPs. One would think that this would not be a contentious area as targets and performance indicators underpin much of the Governments work in all other areas. Wrong. Word had it that Milbank feared targets for Black MPs would be seen as quotas, and that just wouldn't do. So what would the Task Force do? Well, I'm afraid not a lot.

'We will discuss if we need some type of medium to long-term action plan, including the possibility of clear targets for the Party at English regional level, and in Scotland and Wales.' (NEC Race Task Force)

Being a Black politician is not easy. At times it must feel like you're being manoeuvred like Dr Dolittle's double headed 'Push me pull you'. And as Mayor Jackson highlighted "it ain't going away anytime soon". Dealing with these tensions requires wisdom, integrity and enough thick skin to deal with the accusatory bullets that come from all sides.

The political parties could also help. We know that they are desperate to be more representative, driven more by the realities of a changing society than a moral imperative. But that's fine. What they lack however, are the 'cojones' to face down the bigoted back lash to targets and other positive measures that would begin to ensure we no longer waste our home-grown Black British talent.