What is racism

Surely I’m not the only one weary of the constant denial of racism from Britain’s United Kingdom Independence Party.

Of course, we all know that the incidence of racism across all parties is one from which none is entirely immune. However, whilst other parties have the occasional bout of racism UKIP has inculcated a particularly nasty strain.

My diagnosis as a Doctor of Racism, is that UKIP are ridden with the social transmitted racism. (STR) A virulently contagious virus that seems to have infected the very heart and soul, the very microchondial DNA of the party.

At times, the sheer volume of racist rhetoric that seems to trip from the mouths of UKIP parliamentary candidates at every available opportunity, makes me feel,  like a damn alien in the land of my birth.

I am a black man whose fought racism most of his adult life. I was born into a black family with a tradition of fighting racism and that history has given black people like me a sixth sense, much like Spiderman,  our senses tingle when we encounter subliminal or overt racism. 

We know racism when we see it and whist it may not be immediately obvious to white people in 30 years campaigning I’ve never made an accusation of serious racism that has not been proven, ever. It’s the subtle indicators of body posture, eye movement and speech. When I encounter racism it is usually an intellectual and  visceral experience, as it is for most black people. Of course the vast majority of those bitty racist incidents are ignored by me and the vast majority of Black people. But when its serious, then we must stand strong.

I remember when the BNP told us that they were not a racist party, whilst Combat 18, their para military wing, were marching in South east London with placards proclaiming the racist murderers of a young black man Rolan Adams, as ‘heroes of the white community’.

In 30 years of challenging racism within the police or politics I have made a number of  serious accusations of racism. All without exception, were routinely denied. That’s the psychological nature of racism. It requires power, shared privilege, prejudicial assumption, racial stereotyping and routine, regular denial. 

Denial of racism ticks like an atomic clock;  you’re guaranteed to hear one each and every second of the day.

The defensive mantra of all aspects of racism is deny, deny, deny. Examples of accusations of serious racism that have resulted in immediate acknowledgment, admission and apology are as rare as hens teeth. I challenge anyone reading this to cite me one, just one example of such.

Go ahead make my day.

When I listen to UKIP’s leader Nigel Farage, my finely honed anti racist senses go into overdrive. Despite his trenchant denials that UKIP is a racist party, I think he is simply calculating that the level of racism in British society right now, allows him to get away with such a grand deception.

Robert Blay, the UKIP candidate for North East Hampshire constituency, once again provides a profound insight into the real political DNA of UKIP. 

In response to a question about whether his Conservative opponent Mr Ranil Jayawardena could potentially be a future British Prime Minister, this thoughtful Englishman, who was being secretly recorded by the Daily Mirrow, back stage of a UKIP Nigel Farage rally in Ramsgate, Blay once again exposed the dark heart of UKIP.

He said…

“ If he is I will personally put a bullet between his eyes.  If this lad turns up to be our Prime Minister, I will personally put a bullet in him.  That’s how strong I feel about it.  I won’t have this f***** as our Prime Minister. I absolutely loathe him."

He then added for good measure:

“It makes me quite sick. But I’ve always said in my constituency you could put a monkey out there with a blue rosette on and it would win.” “His (Jayawardena’s) family have only been here since the Seventies. You are not British enough to be in our parliament.  I’ve got 400 years of ancestry where I live. He hasn’t got that."

It is entirely incredulous for UKIP to suggest that this represents an isolated incident. Nigel’s calculation is simply that there is  enough of a  substantive minority of white people in Britain today, who are in complete denial about the reality of breadth and depth of racial discrimination.

Further, it has now become a requirement of mainstream politicians to dismiss, downplay and disregard the true extent of this scourge.

Racism is a self contained, illogical, tautological self reinforcing irrational belief system that is oblivious to facts.

Blay’s reprehensible comments provoked a mild response from Farage who sought to minimise and downplay the explicit and dangerous racism of Blay by describing Blay’s comments as ‘silly’ and dismissing accusations of deeper problems as being as a result ofhis parties ‘poor vetting process’.

The reality is that too often a  racist sentiment seem to be a qualifying characteristic for UKIP membership.

Nigel Farage and UKIP should have reported the matter to the Police, that they have not done so, frankly speaks volumes.

Let’s be clear,  Blay broke the law with his comments and yet UKIP having heard one of their members incite aggravated racial violence and consipring to commit a racist murder of an Indian Conservative did not see fit to report this matter to the police.

Today OBV has requested our sister organisation the Society of Black Lawyers to write to the Chief Constable of Kent demanding that Blay be arrested and face serious criminal charges.

Any party that took these matters seriously would have done so in order to ensure there was not a scintilla of doubt about their commitment both to the rule of law and challenging racist violence. UKIP’s will no doubt  throw Blay out of the party at some point, but the reality is the informal culture of racism in UKIP is the real problem.

Over the years I have trained many institutions seeking to tackle racism, it is a fact that the informal culture of any institution eats formal policy and even the law for breakfast. Thats the power of racism a Muslim can visit a website and find themselves subject to immediate arrest by the police armed anti terrorism squad, yet a white man can threaten to kill an Asian man in broad daylight and nobody phones the police.