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The disgraceful treatment of the United King’s (UK) first Black woman Member of Parliament (MP), Diane Abbott, and the aftermath tells you all you need to know about how race and power operate in Britain.
Recently, it came out that millionaire White businessman Frank Hester said during a meeting that his hatred for Abbott made him “hate all Black women” and that the Member of Parliament should be shot.
Frank Hester is an influential Conservative party donor who has given at least £10 million pounds or $12.5 million to the party in government. He’s also the recipient of hundreds of millions of pounds or dollars worth of government contracts.
Diane Abbott, however, is the country’s first Black woman MP, elected to parliament in 1987. She’s also a highly respected anti-racism campaigner who has worked for decades, both in and out of office. Abbott has been subjected to more online abuse than any other MP, particularly racism. In 2017, around half of the recorded online abuse aimed at women MPs was sent to her.
Imagine then, for a moment, the reality in which a man like Frank Hester could comfortably exclaim that his hatred for Diane Abbott fueled his hatred of all Black women and that Abbott should be shot.
Detractors will, however, argue that Hester’s comments were flippant, a joke, or taken out of context. Nevetheless, this is irrelevant. The only context that can produce such comments is one in which anti-Black racism and violence is normalized in a society. And normalized anti-Black racism, to be clear, is firmly embedded into the very fabric of Britain.
This is precisely why Frank Hester felt emboldened to say what he said in the first place. He was supremely confident of a lack of repercussions. And, to a large extent, he was right. He lives in a world where men like him can spout their vile views without consequence.
Importantly, we should understand that no other community in the UK would be treated in this way. Hence, if Frank Hester had been Black or Muslim and uttered derogatory remarks aimed at another community, religious or ethnic, he’d have likely been arrested or charged.
Calling for a member of parliament to be shot would cause alarm bells to ring for any other group. But Hester is a White man of privilage, a millionaire, while Diane Abbott is a Black woman. Hence, the virtual opposite happened.
The reaction and aftermath reflect the grim reality of how race and power still rule the roost in Britain.
The government for all its diverse credentials in terms of representation, including Britain’s first non-White Prime Minister, took hours and days to acknowledge and condemn the words of the Conservative Party’s largest donor.
Having eventually done so and conceded that Hester’s racist comments were indeed racist, the money donated by Hester remains in the party’s pocket.
The UK Labour Party’s reaction was also incredible, especially given that they are in opposition.
Diane Abbott remains ousted by the party over a highly questionable and suspect suspension, which many argue is a cynical tactic designed to prevent her from standing at the next general election.
At the moment, she’s prevented from running as a Labour Party candidate with a general election months or weeks away.
Notably, the Labour Party sought to fundraise off the back of Hester’s racist assault on Diane Abbott rather than lifting the suspension or showing basic solidarity with her.
To be clear, the weak response to the scandal is as grave as the problem it speaks to. Anti-Black racism is as deadly as ever in Britain, and Black women are the least protected in our society.
By failing to respond as they should, both the government and opposition have placed a target upon one of the most vulnerable groups and also on Abbott herself, who now says she feels unsafe walking the streets in the area she lives in and represents.
The message sent to the wider public by the irresponsible response is that Black women are fair game and that targeting them will largely go unpunished.
Frank Hester’s financial status, gender, and race shield him from experiencing the realities faced by those who are subjected to racist attacks.
The political elite, predominantly privileged White men, have effectively ignored what should have been a critical moment to address anti-black racism, allowing it to be discreetly disregarded.
We learned of Frank Hester’s remarks expressing disdain for Diane Abbott and Black women after his comments, meant to remain private, were inadvertently exposed.
Like so many of the other unheard stories, we might have missed this one.
But the fact Abbott was the target, in the midst of the treatment, she faces by her own party, has enraged thousands of potential Black voters, many of whom will likely abandon the party.
Her treatment is a microcosm of society and speaks to the thousands of Black women marginalized and mistreated throughout Great Britain. Black people go missing in disproportionately higher numbers in the UK.
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In recent years, two MPs have been murdered. In one case in 2016, Jo Cox was murdered by White supremacist Thomas Mair, who literally cried out “Britain First”, an echo of the former United States President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, as he killed the MP. MPs are also not safe. And Diane Abbott is a visible public figure.
The actions and inactions of our politicians and their friends in the media are not without consequence. They are failing to tackle and, in some cases, are using and peddling and adding legitimacy to dangerous narratives that have a very real impact.
I could compose a detailed thesis on how Black individuals, their lives, health, and education are being marginalized in Britain, amidst an unchecked and increasingly hostile anti-Black atmosphere that is being allowed to worsen.
It’s not a fringe phenomenon. The case of Diane Abbott shows us that nobody is safe and that Black people are not protected and valued in a society they built regardless of class or standing.
These things don’t matter to people who do not view Black people as equal and human.
Had Diane Abbott been of a different faith or skin color, the reaction to the nasty episode she faced would have almost certainly been entirely different.
Britain likes to promote its diverse cabinet and government on the grand global stage by peddling an image of equality, fairness, and opportunity. However, the reality is that we are living through a period in which gains once won through anti-racism and civil rights campaigning are being steadily undone and eroded. We have a government with no real plan which uses a culture war, with race at the center, to further its chances.
Labour in opposition is employing the same tactic, albeit with a slight difference in rhetoric.
The result is the same: a political race to the bottom in which critical issues of race and power are sidelined while a toxic environment continues to develop. These are dangerous times.
The treatment of Diane Abbott and the response to the racism of Frank Hester encapsulates at once how both power and race intersect in Britain at the cost of the black community.