Racist treatment of Abbott says a lot about Britain
Diane Abbott is a pioneer many times over, in the realms of politics, physics and psychoactivity. She is Britain’s first Black female MP; and perhaps because of this she is a lightning rod for racism, and something of a truth serum for racists.
When it comes to Abbott, even the most sophisticated and seasoned of British racists (respected globally for their subtlety) can no longer conceal their bigotry.
So it should come as no shock to learn that the Conservative Party’s largest donor, Frank Hester, allegedly made comments that pathologised Abbott on to all Black women (this is a concept known as racism) and spoke of how she should be shot (depending on who you ask, this is a concept known as violent racism or incitement to racism).
Abbott is not a vast vote swayer or a threat to Conservative Party rule or a competitor to Hester and his ilk. Yet there is a seemingly permanent lust for her blood – politically and, now it would appear, literally.
But this is nothing new. For decades now, the mildest of Abbott’s errors – such as having a drink on a sunny day on a train – have developed lives of their own.
Her more serious errors – which are mild by comparison to the likes of, say, Boris Johnson – are treated as earth-shattering capital crimes.
But in the treatment of Abbott, we learn about the true nature of Britain.
Something never felt right about Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street speech on racism, extremism and British confidence, post George Galloway’s victory. But in light of his silence and refusal to call out the Islamophobia of Lee Anderson and a belated response to Hester, the penny has dropped. It was just words, self-serving and insincere.
Racism in politics is rife. And the likes of Sunak, who should be a symbol of anti-racist progress, is the opposite of what he posits himself as. If he cannot call out and condemn immediately the alleged call for the shooting of a fellow MP on the basis that she is Black, then what on earth difference does he make to Britain as the first non-white Prime Minister?
No one should be fooled by the crocodile tears of the Labour Party either. Some of the worst incidences of racism that Abbott has had to contend with over the years have come from within her own trenches (from which she is suspended right now).
For the most part, the Conservative Party has made Abbott contend with words; Labour has made her contend with actions. It was not Tory party officials who pointed reporters to the toilet the then-shadow home secretary Abbott had sought refuge in to shed tears during the 2017 election, and it was also not Conservative donors who made a Labour MP a star for claiming to have told her to “f**k off”.
Hence it should come as no shock that Labour is investing more in turning this into a squabble about funding than a soul-searching on how the machinery of politics treats Black women. (It should be noted that Labour treats Black men just as badly, if not worse, than it does Black women.)
If you think racism in politics is bad, brace yourself for news on racism in policing and prosecutions. Case in point: some people have called for the Conservative Party to give Hester back the £10m he gifted to them. Some have suggested that he be stripped of his OBE. I could not care less if either of those things happen.
But he could be subjected to the same fate of many Black and Brown people across Britain. His phone could be seized, his body searched. He could be handcuffed and thrown in the back of a police van, then left to languish in a police cell for 10 hours.
The CPS could charge and prosecute him. His family may then be publicly named and shamed in newspapers for the crime of being related to him. And no matter the outcome of the case, he would be left fighting depression.
Like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X before her, Abbott will become a gushingly beloved figure in Britain – but only when she is in the grave and can be manipulated for the benefit of the establishment.
Do not be fooled by the crocodile tears of the Labour Party either