Prejudice Isn't Daring; It's Boring

So, yes, we all know that Rod Liddle's shtick is to try and be as offensive as possible so that he can chuckle at those po-faced ninnies who dare to be offended by his courageous insistence to tell it like it really is. But like his comrades Clarkson and Littlejohn Liddle confuses being offensive with being provocative. The latter requires that you be, you know, interesting. Here's Rod however:

'The first of an occasional series – those benefits of a multi-cultural Britain in full. Let me introduce you all to this human filth.

It could be an anomaly, of course. But it isn’t. The overwhelming majority of street crime, knife crime, gun crime, robbery and crimes of sexual violence in London is carried out by young men from the African-Caribbean community. Of course, in return, we have rap music, goat curry and a far more vibrant and diverse understanding of cultures which were once alien to us. For which, many thanks.'

My word! How daring! How delightfully refreshing to see someone trot out the kind of tired, stale prejudice you can find in thousands of boozers across the country! Or at any BNP meeting, for that matter.

As Charlotte Gore points out, if you're going to do this sort of thing it does help if you can at least get your facts right. The majority of crime in London is committed by white people. I assume that you know this, which makes me wonder why you didn't limit yourself to saying that young black men commit a disproportionate amount of crime and that the arrest rate for blacks is 3.8 times that of white people? Then again, we're familiar with this and so perhaps limiting yourself to an observation that is, like, true wouldn't be shocking enough would it? And nor, of course, would actually addressing problems.

But it's your suggestion that blackness is somehow the cause of these problems that is shameful. Worse than even that, mind you, is your insinuation that if only we could send Black Britons back to Africa and the Caribbean we wouldn't have any of these problems because, you know, it's all the fault of "multi-culturalism". If that were true one wonders why Glasgow's murder rate is two and a half times that of London. It's not because there are gangs of McYardies terrorising entire communities. I'd also suggest that comparing offending rates between black graduates and those who fail to even sit, let alone pass, their A-Levels might reveal that class, educational achievement and any number of other factors might have a little more to do with crime rates than pigmentation.

(For that matter, have a look at any Victorian edition of the News of the World and you'll find a rich, even loving, catalogue of any number of horrendous crimes that, again, reminds one that skin colour is not a useful metric for measuring man's depravity. Correlation does not equal causation.)

There is, however, one area in which the reactionaries have a point: the left's inclination to see people as members of a group rather than individuals is tedious and, often, less than productive. Which makes one wonder why you insist on doing likewise, lumping all blacks (and all muslims) together as though skin colour or religion reveal, determine or dictate everything. Personally, I prefer to see people as individuals.

Accusations of racism are often too easily made and perhaps you don't care if you're so labelled. But if you do then perhaps you should cease peddling nonsense that a reasonable person might reasonably consider racist. This isn't a question of being "politically correct" it's just a matter of behaving in a decent fashion.

Spectator

Black Welshmen condemn BNP leader Nick Griffin’s controversial TV comment

Anti-racism campaigners last night condemned British National Party leader Nick Griffin for claiming there was “no such thing as a black Welshman”.

The newly elected far-right MEP sparked anger after saying: “There is no such thing as a black Welshman. You can have a black Briton; you can’t have a black Welshman. Welsh is about people who live in Wales since the end of the last ice age.”

Vaughan Gething, the first black President of Wales TUC, hit back last night and said: “This exposes the lies behind the new suited image of the BNP. Nick Griffin is wrong, plain and simple. I am proud to be Welsh. Proud to be British. Proud to be black. There are tens of thousands of people like me across Wales. We have been here for centuries. This is our country.”

Mr Gething, 34, a partner at Thompson’s Solicitors in Cardiff, said he warned of the BNP’s growth during his address to the Wales TUC last year. He said: “This is not a group of fringe activists to be ignored. This is a group to be taken on and beaten. I know that I exist. I know that I’m proud of who and what I am. I know this is my country – our country.”

He told the Western Mail last night: “As someone who is black and Welsh, I find Nick Griffin’s comments not just offensive but pretty amazing. He’s still peddling the same lies and, as a matter of fact, he’s wrong. It’s ridiculous.”

Mr Gething added: “I get offended every time I hear Nick Griffin speak. His view of the world is deliberately divisive and unpleasant. I wouldn’t share a platform with him, but we’ve got to challenge the BNP. Lots and lots of what he’s saying simply isn’t true.”

Black Welshman Wayne Lee, of the Valleys Race Equality Council, dubbed Mr Griffin’s Tuesday night remarks “bizarre” and “offensive”. Mr Lee said: “I think being Welsh is something that’s self-defining. You decide for yourself and nobody can tell you what you are or you’re not. How do you define any ethnicity? Imagine your parents are Welsh, you were conceived and born in another country and then came back to Wales. Would you still be Welsh?”

Mr Lee, whose parents are from Jamaica, said when he goes to the Caribbean local people realise straight away he is British. But he added: “I would describe myself as being a black Welsh person. I was born in Wales, received my education in Wales, work in Wales, pay my taxes in Wales, I have voting rights – I am a Welsh person. I support Cardiff City, I’ve got a broad Cardiff accent and I’ve got Welsh friends who speak the language fluently. I think what Nick Griffin said is an odd thing to say. I find it comical but offensive at the same time. It’s bizarre.”

Cardiff South and Penarth AM Lorraine Barrett said: “I think Nick Griffin’s comments are absolutely disgusting. This is just more hate-filled rhetoric from the BNP. This kind of talk will only create or exacerbate racial tensions. It’s an absurd statement and has no place in Welsh society. I am lucky enough to represent a very multicultural constituency in Cardiff and I know this will cause offence there. I think he should apologise immediately.”

South Wales East Plaid Cymru AM Mohammad Asghar, the Assembly’s only ethnic minority member, said: “Wales has a proud record of welcoming people from many different countries over the years. There are many black and Asian Welsh people, some of whom come from families who have lived here for several generations. I come originally from Pakistan. I have lived in Newport for nearly 40 years and I am a proud Welshman and a proud member of Plaid Cymru.”

As reported yesterday, Mr Griffin, who lives in a village outside Welshpool, Powys, sparked outrage while speaking on Channel 4 about the threat of a legal injunction against the BNP which could lead to fines or even imprisonment over a potential breach of race discrimination law relating to its membership policies. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has given the BNP until July 20 to amend its constitution to make sure it did not discriminate against members on grounds of race.

Mr Griffin said: “Our legal counsel says that it is very clear that we are a Section 25/ Section 26 exempted organisation because we are here for specific ethnic groups. It is nothing to do with ‘white’. We are really talking here about the English, the Scots, the Irish and the Welsh, collectively the people who are ethnically British.”

It was when the interviewer asked Mr Griffin if that meant a black Welshman would be welcome in the party that he made his remarks.

Wales Online

BNP and "bloodless genocide"

BNP leader Nick Griffin has been forced to drop the carefully constructed veneer of respectability wrapped around his party by trying to defend the contents of a leaked BNP document, the "Language and Concepts Discipline Manual". During an interview with the BBC Griffin asserted that black Britons and Asian Britons "do not exist" and that people from afro-Caribbean or Asian backgrounds should be described as "racial foreigners". Griffin also said that to describe black and Asians as British was a sort of "bloodless genocide" because it denied indigenous people their own identity.

The document describes the BNP's "ultimate aim" as the "lawful, humane and voluntary repatriation of the resident foreigners of the UK". This is not about controlling immigration. This is about racial segregation. Think about a black or Asian person you know, perhaps a friend or work colleague. Now picture them being told by a BNP administration at some point in the future: "You might have been born here and your family might have come here generations ago. But we say you are not British. You are not one of us and should not be living here. So we are offering you money to leave this country and live somewhere else". This should fill any decent person with horror. Ask yourself, what happens exactly if this supposedly generous offer is rejected? Are we supposed to believe the BNP would leave it there?

With the comments Griffin has made today, he might have finally reminded some people who have been voting for that party in protest against other parties, what the true nature of the BNP really is. After all, this is the kind of thinking the BNP tries hard to keep under wraps as it tries to win over people who feel let down by the main parties. Regardless of the makeovers and efforts to cover up the skinheads and replace boots and jeans with shoes and suits, racism has always been - and remains - at the heart of that divisive, unpleasant and statist party.

Tony Sharp

You can listen to the programme referred to in the article here or download the podcast (13MB) here.

The BNP's bizarre 'Language and Concepts Discipline Manual ' can be obtained as a pdf file from here (Warning: link goes directly to the BNP site).