Caribbean Matters: Racism rears its head again, this time in UK politics

The United Kingdom is home to a notable Caribbean diasporic population (though as of the 2021 United Kingdom census 81.7% of the population is white). Sadly, it is no stranger to the ills and evils of anti-Black racism in its politics.

We’ve covered the Windrush scandal here in “Caribbean Matters” multiple times in the past, but the latest scandal over racism in the U.K. revolves around comments made by a top donor to the Conservative Party (the Tories): white software CEO and multimillionaire Frank Hester. Hester remarked about Diane Abbott, Britain’s longest serving Black MP and the first Black woman elected to parliament, that looking at her on TV makes you “want to hate all black women” and that “she should be shot,” The Guardian reported.

Abbott, whose parents were part of the Windrush generation, migrating to England from Jamaica in 1953, has been an inspiration to many Black Brits, especially to younger Black women, both in the U.K. and in the Caribbean. In response to these ugly and racist comments, there has been a firestorm of protest. There has also been anger expressed over what is seen as an unsatisfactory response from the Tory Party over demands that they return Hester’s donations. Protestors are also critical of the Labour Party for not really standing up for Abbott.

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Multiple protests broke out in support of Abbott and in response to Hester’s remarks, which he has admitted he made. From Rowena Mason and Aletha Adu at The Guardian:

After the publication of the remarks, a statement from TPP said Hester “accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbott in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”. The statement said Hester abhorred racism, “not least because he experienced it as the child of Irish immigrants in the 1970s”.

Channel 4 News posted this news story covering the protests, Abbott’s speech at the protest, and individual responses:

Times Radio spoke with protestors in this clip—many of whom are now thinking about not voting for the Labour Party.

On X (formerly Twitter), Nadine White, race correspondent for The Independent, posted this clip of the protest, in which you can hear the crowd chant “When you mess with Diane Abbott, you mess with us.”

For those of you who are not familiar with Abbott, I always think of her the way I do of Shirley Chisholm here in the U.S. Chisholm was another groundbreaking Black woman politician born of Caribbean immigrant parents. Chisholm went on to become the first Black woman elected to our Congress, in 1969. Close to two decades later, Abbott became the first Black women elected to the British Parliament, in 1987.

Abbott’s authorized biography, written by Robin Bunce and Samara Linton, gives some great background about her and her place in history. It’s reviewed here by Africanist/Feminist historian Dr. Kate Law for the Women’s History Network:

In many ways, Diane Abbott is a pioneer. In 1987, she became the UK’s first black woman MP. This alone was a historic achievement and should entitle her to a place in any serious history of British politics. However, this was simply the first in a series of ground-breaking accomplishments. She was also the first black woman to run for Labour party leader, the first black person to represent their party at Prime Minister’s Questions and the longest-serving black MP.

[…]

Abbott often describes herself as ‘the daughter of these immigrants you’ve heard so much about’. She was born in 1953 to a Jamaican nurse and welder and grew up in Paddington, which, at the time, had one of the largest black populations in the country. Her childhood home was located little more than a mile from the frontline of the 1958 Notting Hill race riots.

Abbott’s parents, both of whom had left school in rural Jamaica at fourteen, were determined that their children would get an excellent education, and Abbott did. After moving to Harrow, she attended Harrow County School for Girls, the local state grammar school and went on to attend the University of Cambridge, where she read History at Newham College. Diane was one of two young black people to gain a place at Cambridge University in the 1970s, and the only black person from a state school to study at Cambridge during the decade. Cambridge was the making of Diane in two ways. Firstly, it was there that she became a socialist. Secondly, her time at Cambridge gave her the confidence to deal with the British establishment on equal terms.

As the first Black female MP in Parliament she has helped pave the way for other Black women to get into politics. But sadly, her high profile has seen her regularly become a target of vile abuse, especially on social media from keyboard warriors and sections of the mainstream media.

Her White counterparts do not experience anything like the same level of abuse. So this highlights the fact that we haven’t got there, far from it when it comes to dealing with all aspects of racism.

This proves to me that we still have a very long way to go in tackling and stamping out all forms of racism.

It’s worth mentioning here that Hester’s comments also throw a light on the fact that the issue  is not just about Diane Abbott. It’s about how Black people are generally perceived in British society. Do we really belong?

Simone Frazier reported for The Jamaica Gleaner:

Sharing poignant anecdotes from her family’s history, Abbott highlighted the invaluable contribution of black immigrants, including her mother, who have often been overlooked and undervalued.

“My mother arrived in this country in the 1950s as a nurse, part of that generation of black women who helped build the National Health Service. Yet, they were relegated to a special SEN grade, denied roles as Ward Sisters or matrons, and often relegated to night shifts. The disrespect persists, year after year.

“Just a year ago, I stood outside this very town hall, rallying for a 14-year-old black girl who was strip-searched by the police. We must stand firm to ensure that future generations of young black people do not endure the same racism we have faced.”

To add yet another wrinkle to this, a Black female Tory MP, Kemi Badenoch, is making the media rounds to dismiss the seriousness of Hester’s remarks (much in the way that Sen. Tim Scott has been seen as the token minority for the GOP). “We need to get to a place where we stop chasing people around and looking everywhere for the racism. … We’ve been talking about this for well over a week now,” Badenoch said, the Independent reported.

Lawyer and activist Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu’s discussed on X in detail the damage and impact that Badenoch’s comments have had:

This isn’t ‘a difference of opinion’ by Kemi Badenoch MP. It’s a calculated depraved perversion for political & personal gain rooted in the oppression & denial of Black women’s humanity. She is a classic racial gatekeeper doing incredible damage in her press rounds this morning on Frank Hester’s racist violence against Diane Abbott & Black Women saying ‘move on’, ‘stop looking for racism everywhere’ ‘he’s apologised’ ‘we’ll keep his money’. She discredits Diane racial trauma by saying she’s been suspended as MP ‘for same thing’. Kemi is using her race & gender to undermine racism & misogynoir as ‘trivia’ ‘flippant’. A Black mouthpiece for White supremacy & utter disgrace to her race, gender & ethnicity. From LBC to BBC to Sky News.

Ironically, Badenoch is currently the Minister for Women and Equalities.

Abbott was suspended from the Labour Party and stripped from her position last year due to comments she made about a study of racism in the U.K. Abbott was criticized for differentiating the racism against Black people from what is experienced by Irish, Jewish, Roma, and Traveller people, and has still not been brought back into the party, even after her apology was made. Other white male MPs have not been kept in suspension. Since the attack on Abbott #RestoreTheWhip has been a trending social media hashtag.

The widow of Bernie Grant, in a letter to the Guardian, weighed in about her husband’s abuse when he was in office. Grant was was born in Georgetown, British Guyana, migrated to the U.K. in 1963, and became a member of Parliament in 1987.

The first black MPs for almost 100 years – Bernie, Abbott and Paul Boateng – walked a tightrope to become selected and then again to get elected, and re-elected. Another candidate, Sharon Atkin, was deselected in 1987 for declaring the Labour party was racist. As they sought to establish the first black presence in parliament, there were huge expectations, and at the same time vicious abuse in the gutter press, intrusion into our families, threats of violence and, at best, condescension from parliamentarians themselves, as they sought to reflect the pressing issues facing the black community.

Abbott has also been one of the strongest voices in U.K. politics supporting Caribbean efforts for enslavement reparations. She was a co-chair of the 2023 U.K. Reparations Conference.

RELATED STORY: Caribbean Matters: Barbados PM Mia Mottley to deliver keynote at U.S. reparations convention

I’ll post updates on the situation to the comments section below, along with the weekly Caribbean News Roundup.

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