Campbell wouldn’t know racism if she tripped over it

When I was a boy things were decidedly different in this country, it was a time of change and upheaval. Britain had emerged from WWII poorer, Empireless and weak and for those that had grown up in the most powerful nation on earth, this was quite a shocking change.

For most the Empire was an abstract concept, they knew it existed, they also knew that it belonged to Britain, but for most the peoples of the Empire were conquered peoples, subjugated and in many cases deemed to be savage or primitive. It was quite a shock then during this time of change, for the former peoples of the Empire to arrive in Britain and to live and work amongst them.

How many is enough?

I was quite surprised to hear Lenny Henry complaining recently about a lack of ethnic diversity on television. He said:

“When I started, I was surrounded by a predominantly white workforce, and 32 years later, not a lot has changed,”

I am not sure what he really expects to see in his workplace, but with 90% of people in the UK being white, almost all workforces are likely to be predominately white. The laws of probability states that for every 100 people in the television industry, just 2 will be black and 90 will be white.

When I was a boy, the only time that I would see a black man on TV was when my father walked over to turn the set on and I caught sight of his reflection. These days television is positively brimming with black people, and other ethnic minorities for that matter. Certainly a marked change from a few decades ago. Indeed, Lenny Henry claims that nothing has changed since he started his career, but that isn’t true. Lenny Henry was unique, because he was the only black comic on TV at that time. I remember seeing him for the first time on New Faces.

Black Heritage and Culture

Nottingham has in recent years become almost as famous for its crime rate than for its legendary son, Robin Hood. Nicknames such as Assasination City and Shootingham say it all really, so I wasn’t too surprised to hear of boys from a Nottingham school being excluded for bringing in a knife.

That was until I read that they were primary school children.

Three boys have been excluded for seven days and a 10-year-old boy they allegedly threatened has been told to stay away for three days.

A vegetable knife was found in the bag of the 10-year-old who attends St Ann’s Well Junior School, Nottingham.

Split Personality?

Well it seems that no sooner was my ban lifted on the prejudiced blog of Stefania Harris, than it was reimposed. I did however manage to make one comment that was retained, pointing out the errors with the original post, comment number 85 is mine.

Again Steph, who at this point had assumed the persona of an 18 girl called Amie, changed my name to ‘Gareth’ but rather than troll, this time I was labelled ‘retard’. Ha Ha, such hilarity! It never grows old! My name isn’t Gareth yet she continuously addresses me as such, ha ha!

‘Amie’ went on to answer my comment stating:

@ Gareth

You’re so stupid.

I admit, I was dumbfounded by such a witty retort, but I read on.

No one ever said that interracial relationships were uncommon in the black community. Steph said it wasn’t common for white women to date black men and the number interracial marriages is 2% of the total.

Females are over 50% of the population. White females are 92% of the female population. Black men are less than 1% of the male population. And you want to look at the percentage of black men dating white women to make a statement about interracial dating in the UK?

*roll eyes*

‘Amie’ I don’t see your point. The original post clearly implied that Britain, and white people in general, were racist and had negative attitudes towards black people. The primary focus was that white women do not date black men.

This is completely untrue; you then roll out a lot of percentages that only prove one thing, it is impossible for more than 600,000 women (1% of the population) to be dating black men, as there is only 600,000 black men in the UK!

Furthermore you ignore that fact that mixed race children (those born of black and white parents) will soon outnumber black people in Britain, proving categorically that white people and black people not only date, but also have sex and therefore children!

Your view of a racist Britain is a complete fallacy and entirely based on a childish and ignorant grasp of maths and percentages!

*Slaps Head*

Free Speech

I have never agreed with censorship in any form, indeed if there had been censorship then Ignatius Sancho would never have been able to do what he did to aid the abolitionists. This of course then begs the question of what we do about those that are spreading malicious, hateful or dangerous lies? For me, the only option is to confront them, challenge them and disprove their claims.